Some time after Microsoft released Windows 11, the company again gave the Ribbon (and Office overall) a slight facelift, so it more closely aligns with that new version of Windows. It’s now flatter-looking, cleaner, and less cluttered, and it has high-contrast colors, which makes the icons and text on the Ribbon easier to see. In September 2018, Microsoft overhauled the way the Ribbon looks, and the company has continued to tinker with the design since then. Since it has been included in Office applications since Office 2007, you’re probably familiar with how it works, but if you need a refresher, see our Word 2010 cheat sheet. The Ribbon interface is alive and well in the current version of Word. We’ll be updating that story for Word 2021 soon, but in the meantime, check out “ What’s new in Office 2021?”) Use the Ribbon (If you’re using the perpetual-license Word 2016 or 2019, see our separate Word 20 cheat sheet. We’ll periodically update this story as new features roll out. This cheat sheet gets you up to speed on the features that have been introduced in Microsoft 365’s Word for Windows desktop client since 2015. For more details, see our comparison of the two Office models.

When you purchase a perpetual version of the suite - say, Office 2019 or Office 2021 - its applications will never get new features, whereas apps in the “365” subscriptions are continually updated with new features. Microsoft sells Office under two models: Individuals and businesses can pay for the software license up front and own it forever (what the company calls the “perpetual” version of the suite), or they can purchase a Microsoft 365 or Office 365 subscription, which means they have access to the software for only as long as they keep paying the subscription fee. Nearly everyone who uses Office ends up using Word at some point, whether it be for writing memos, typing up agendas, creating reports, crafting business correspondence or any of a thousand other uses. Word has always been the workhorse app of the Microsoft Office suite.

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