Jane Atkinson-Weller | 21 March 2013

Now, I am well aware that the title of this blog post may make me sound a little over-excitable. But it is true, I do love a bit of business application geek-ary now and again and the new version of Microsoft Word has got me in a bit of a tizz!

Word is an application that practically every office worker uses, and updates and new features tend to have a lasting and far-reaching impact. In a world of iPhone apps, touch screen technology and panel interfaces, we all expect our office applications to be just as intuitive, easy-to-use and innovative as the apps we use at home. So the pressure is on Microsoft to make sure that Word 2013 delivers the goods.

Well, there really are lots of exciting new features and here follows my personal top 5.

Automatic bookmarking

A nice, simple little feature in Word which remembers the last place you were working in a document when you closed it. When you then reopen that document (on any computer or device), Word will show a pop-up on the right hand side of the screen, allowing you to click and go to the last edited portion of the document. This allows you to continue working or reading from where you were, without having to scroll through various pages to get to that point. Simple, yet very useful.

The new Design tab

Word now has a new Design tab as part of the standard tabs found on the Ribbon. This tab contains document themes and formatting to make the overall look of your document much better.

Ability to open and edit pdf files in Word

Have you ever opened a pdf doc, spotted a mistake, and not been able to correct it? Very frustrating. Well, Word 2013 now allows you to open and edit PDF documents. Simply open the PDF from the File tab and it will display in an editable view. It retains all the formatting and tables that may be within the document, and allows you to edit as needed.

Inserting pictures and video from the internet

Word 2013 gives you the ability to insert pictures and videos from anywhere on the Web. If you have a Microsoft account then you can even insert pictures from your Sky drive or Flickr accounts, amongst others.
Online pictures can be inserted via the Online Pictures button from the Insert tab. The Online Video button is also found under the Insert tab under the media grouping. Online video can be inserted by embedding the videos, rather than actually inserting the video into the document.

Contextual spell checking

Do you know your their from your there ? What about your were versus where ? I am sure you do, but how easy is it to mistype when you are in a rush? Spell check never picked these errors up. Well, now it does.
Proofing has been enhanced in Word 2013 with contextual spelling. This helps ensure you are using the right word in the right place. Text appears with a blue wavy underline and right-clicking opens a menu of alternatives. Ingenious.

Now this is by no means an exhaustive list of new features - just my personal favourites! To learn more about what Windows 8 and Office 2013 can offer your business, look at our new Experience Windows 8 and Microsoft 2013 New Features course and Word 2013 courses: Microsoft Word 2013 Level 1 , Microsoft Word 2013 Level 2 , Microsoft Word 2013 Level 3 .