What Is Microsoft Word? A Beginner's Guide to What You Can Do with M365 E3/E5

About This Article
Rather than treating Microsoft Word as just a "word processor," this article provides a beginner-friendly overview of how to use it for work—covering co-authoring, track changes, comments, PDF conversion, and VBA. Based on Microsoft's official information as of September 17, 2026, it also explains the differences between E3/E5 and the web vs. desktop versions.

Verification Status: 📘 Microsoft Official Information Verified / Physical Device Unverified (2026-09-17)

Microsoft Word is designed for documents such as reports, procedures, regulations, contracts, and meeting minutes.It is used to format text into formal documents and finalize them while collaborating with others.That is the primary purpose of this application.

While Excel excels at tables and numbers, and PowerPoint at slides for presentations, Wordis designed to structure long texts to make them easy to read and develop them into final versions while keeping track of changes.This is its primary strength.

First, Learn Just Four Terms

The term "Object Model" also frequently appears in VBA. It might sound complicated, but you can think of it as Word'sparts list or map for programmatically interacting with elements like documents, paragraphs, tables, and characters.Microsoft provides a framework that treats Word elements, such as Document and Paragraph, as objects.

Where Does Word Fit into Your Workflow?

flowchart LR
    A[下書きを作る] --> B[OneDrive / SharePointに保存]
    B --> C[共同編集]
    C --> D[コメント・変更履歴で確認]
    D --> E{修正OK?}
    E -- いいえ --> C
    E -- はい --> F[最終版]
    F --> G[PDF化・配布]

For example, when "creating a new internal procedure," the workflow typically involves a writer drafting the document in Word, saving it to SharePoint or OneDrive, stakeholders adding comments, and reviewing track changes before finalizing the official version.

Does Word Differ Significantly Between E3 and E5?

In short,you do not need E5 solely to use Word.According to Microsoft's current service descriptions, both Microsoft 365 E3/Office 365 E3 and Microsoft 365 E5/Office 365 E5 include Microsoft 365 Apps for the web and desktop client applications.

The key here isnot to confuse the differences between E3 and E5 with the differences between the web and desktop versions.For example, according to Microsoft's Office for the web service description, VBA and Forms scripts are not supported in Word for the web, but are supported in the desktop version.

Additionally, "Microsoft 365 E3/E5" and "Office 365 E3/E5" are not the same. Microsoft 365 E3/E5 suites include Windows, management, and security components in addition to Office 365 services. Please check the official product name displayed on your subscription screen.

Try This First: Edit a Single Line with Track Changes

There is no need to dive into complex features right away.

1. Create a test Word document.

2. Go to Review -> Track Changes.Turn it on.

3. Rewrite a single sentence.

4. Add one comment.

5. Review the changes.

What happens when you succeed?

Instead of simply overwriting the text, you can track where changes were made. This is the major difference compared to only keeping the final version.

Change One Thing

Save the same document to OneDrive or SharePoint and open it in Word for the web.You will see that even with the same .docx file, there are differences in available features between the web and desktop versions.This allows you to experience those differences firsthand.

Familiar Example: The Proliferation of "Final" Versions via Email Attachments

Have you ever seen file names like the following?

手順書.docx
手順書_修正版.docx
手順書_最終版.docx
手順書_最終版2.docx
手順書_最終版2_部長修正.docx

Rather than Word itself,the practice of sending files back and forth via emailis often the root cause of the confusion.

By co-authoring a single file on OneDrive or SharePoint and using Word's comments and track changes, you can shift your workflow to focus on "what changed in this file" rather than "which file is the latest version."

Papanda in Practice: Listing Document Headings with VBA

This is a simple read-only example to check if the heading structure is properly configured in a long Word procedure manual. It does not modify the main text.

Note: Please test VBA in the desktop version of Word. On corporate PCs, macros may be disabled by administrative policies. If so, do not attempt to bypass them; follow your administrator's rules.

Sub ListHeadings()
    Dim p As Paragraph

    For Each p In ActiveDocument.Paragraphs
        If p.OutlineLevel <> wdOutlineLevelBodyText Then
            Debug.Print p.OutlineLevel, Trim(p.Range.Text)
        End If
    Next p
End Sub

What Does This Code Do?

ActiveDocument.Paragraphsiterates through the paragraphs of the currently open document in order.OutlineLevelidentifies paragraphs configured as headings rather than body text, andDebug.Printdisplays them in the Immediate Window.

In other words,this code inspects the areas recognized as headings without modifying the document.That is all it does.

What happens when it succeeds?

If the document has styles like "Heading 1" or "Heading 2" applied, the heading text will be listed in the VBA editor's Immediate Window.

Change One Thing

Change a single line of normal body text in your test document to "Heading 2" and run the code again. If that line is added to the list, you can see how the visual styles in Word connect to the document structure visible to VBA.

This example is a great starting point that can easily be expanded into a Daily Code Sample, such as "generating a table of headings for a procedure manual" or "validating heading structures."

With PowerShell, Start by Inspecting File Information Only

This is an even simpler, safer example that merely checks for a file's existence and its last modified timestamp.

$path = "$env:USERPROFILEDocumentssample.docx"

if (Test-Path -LiteralPath $path) {
    Get-Item -LiteralPath $path |
        Select-Object Name, Length, LastWriteTime
} else {
    Write-Host "[NOT FOUND] $path"
}

If successful, the file name, size, and last modified timestamp will be displayed.sample.docxYou can test this simply by replacing the placeholder with your copied test file name.

This script does not automatically edit the Word document's content. When starting with automation,it is safer to read first, experiment on a copy, and then write, rather than modifying production files directly.This is a much safer approach.

If You Have Access to Copilot, Do Not Stop at Just "Summarizing"

If your subscription and environment support Copilot, try specifying conditions clearly, like this:

この文書を「目的 / 現状 / 課題 / 次のアクション」の4見出しに整理してください。
元の事実は追加・削除せず、文書にない情報を推測で補わないでください。
推測が必要な箇所は「要確認」と明示してください。
最後に、人間が原文と照合すべき数値・日付・固有名詞を一覧にしてください。

The key is not just having the AI polish the text, butpreventing it from fabricating facts not present in the source text, and ensuring areas requiring human review are clearly flagged.This is the most important aspect.

What Do Administrators Look For?

While end-users focus on using Word, organizations have different administrative concerns.

Thesensitivity labelsmentioned here are a mechanism to classify documents (e.g., 'Confidential' or 'Highly Confidential') and apply protection based on organizational settings. This will be covered in detail in a subsequent Microsoft Purview article.

Common Misconceptions

"With E5, Word itself becomes a high-performance version."It is safer not to think of it so simply. You need to evaluate the differences between E3 and E5 based on security, compliance, and analytics across Microsoft 365 as a whole, rather than just basic Word usage.

Additionally,Word for the web is not simply the desktop version of Word ported directly to a browser.There are differences in Microsoft's official feature comparison tables. Depending on your tasks—such as VBA, mail merge, or offline work—the desktop version may be required.

Official and Primary Sources

• Microsoft 365 and Office 365 plan options (Microsoft Learn)

• Office applications service description (Microsoft Learn)

• Office for the web service description (Microsoft Learn)

• Word VBA object model (Microsoft Learn)

• Word VBA: Objects, properties, and methods overview (Microsoft Learn)

Summary

When learning Word, you do not need to memorize every single feature button.

First,we recommend experiencing the workflow of creating a document -> sharing it -> commenting -> reviewing track changes -> finalizing the official version.Once you understand this flow, looking at styles for long documents, VBA for repetitive tasks, and integration with SharePoint, OneDrive, or Purview for organizational use will make it much easier to understand Word's role within Microsoft 365.