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Microsoft Editor is a closed source AI-powered writing assistant available for Word, Outlook, and as a Chromium browser extension part of Office 365. It includes the essentials in a writing assistant, such as a grammar and spell checker. Microsoft provides a basic version of Editor for free but users wanting more feature will need to have a paid Microsoft account.

As of October 2024, Microsoft Editor whilist being a Microsoft product it is not available generally in all of Microsoft tools (even popular ones business ones such as their messaging client "Teams")

Tools and features

Editor score using :

• Corrections:
  • Spelling
  • Basic Grammar: Flags capitalization, subject verb agreement, hyphen use, and other basic grammar errors
  • Advanced Grammar (paid version) Flag indirect questions, misheard phrases, commonly confused phrases, and other more complex grammar issues

• Refinements (paid version):
  • Clarity: Flags incorrect use of words, uncommon jargon, abstract words, passive voice, and double negatives.
  • Conciseness: Flags wordiness, conjunction overuse
  • Formality: Flags slang, informal phrases, colloquialisms, contractions, and other markers of casual, more conversational language.
  • Inclusiveness: Flags slurs and deprecated descriptors of people
  • Perspectives
  • Punctuation conventions: Flags unnecessary commas, punctuation with quotes, sentence spacing, and other issues related to punctuation.
  • Sensitive geopolitical references: promotes using official or neutral names and phrases, and tries to help when names of places have changed over time.
  • Vocabulary: Flags vague adjectives, weak verbs, clichés, and other issues related to word choice. Recommends idiomatic collective nouns, such as beds of oysters over collections of oysters. Recommends using terms specific to the reader's country or region, such as parkade over parking garage for Canadian readers. Editor recommends avoiding words that are specific to a US region; for example, it will suggest replacing bubbler with water fountain.

Geopolitical references

As described by Microsoft's Detailed descriptions of grammar and refinement guidance of June 2020, the guidance on sensitive geopolitical references promotes

• using official place names, such as Canada over Republic of Canada,
• using the most politically neutral place name, such as Sea of Japan (East Sea) over East Sea,
• avoiding geopolitical terms that may imply bias, so it suggests using East Asia instead of Orient,
• avoiding the word 'dialect' for some languages,
• using current geopolitical terms such as Czech instead of Czechoslovak,
• using current place names, such as St. Petersburg over Leningrad,
• avoiding technological terms that evoke geopolitical or humanitarian issues, so it suggests using secondary database over slave database,
• using modern transliterations, such as Chongqing over Chungking,
• double-checking names of defunct geopolitical entities in modern contexts, such as asking if Eastern Germany is beautiful in summer might be more appropriate than The GDR is beautiful in summer,
• using official names of languages, such as Persian over Farsi, or European Spanish or Spanish over standard Spanish,
• and double-checking place names whose meaning has changed over time, such as Astana versus Tselinograd.

Platform support

• Windows supported / Linux unsupported
• Microsoft Edge
• Google Chrome
• Brave

See also

• LanguageTool
• Microsoft Graph
• Grammarly

References

1. ^ Gunnell, Marshall (6 October 2020). "What Is Microsoft Editor, and How Do I Use It?". How-To Geek. Archived from the original on 2020-10-12. Retrieved 2020-11-15.
2. "Microsoft Editor for Word, Edge, and Outlook makes you a better writer". Windows Central. 2020-03-30. Archived from the original on 2020-04-01. Retrieved 2020-11-15.
3. "Microsoft launches Researcher and Editor in Word, Zoom in PowerPoint". VentureBeat. 2016-07-26. Archived from the original on 2020-11-08. Retrieved 2020-11-15.
4. "Microsoft brings Teams to consumers and launches Microsoft 365 personal and family plans". TechCrunch. 30 March 2020. Archived from the original on 2020-11-15. Retrieved 2020-11-15.
5. Tung, Liam. "Microsoft: Chrome, Edge, Word and Outlook get this free Editor AI grammar assistant". ZDNet. Archived from the original on 2020-11-15. Retrieved 2020-11-15.
6. ^ Andrew Braun (2020-06-02). "Grammarly vs. Microsoft Editor: Which One Should You Use?". Make Tech Easier. Archived from the original on 2020-09-23. Retrieved 2020-11-15.
7. Kevin Okemwa (2023-08-09). "Grammarly vs. Microsoft Editor: Which one will help you write like a pro?". Windows Central. Retrieved 2024-10-21.
8. ^ "Detailed descriptions of grammar and refinement guidance". Microsoft. 2020-06-30. Archived from the original on 2021-06-27. Retrieved 2021-08-02. This document provides explanations and examples for the grammar and refinement guidance provided in the Microsoft Editor service.
9. "Microsoft Edge Dev is updated to version 88.0.692.0". BCFocus. Archived from the original on 2020-11-15. Retrieved 2020-11-15.

• Google Chrome extensions
• Grammar checkers
• Internet properties established in 2016
• Microsoft
• Microsoft Edge extensions
• Spell checkers