This free word processor looks and behaves almost exactly like its premium counterpart, and even has its own equivalent of OneDrive, offering 1GB free cloud storage. If you’ve used a modern version of Microsoft Word, there’ll be no learning curve when you switch to Writer – the word processing component of WPS Office Free. However, it has a limited selection of templates, there’s no way to import content from other Google applications, and any online tool is going to be surrounded by distractions like social media. It’s also a good choice for collaborative working, and means you don’t have to upload work to a separate cloud storage service. Google Docs is the most obvious choice, and has the advantage of saving your work automatically so you don’t have to worry if your connection fails. Here we’re looking at the very best word processors that can be used offline (particularly useful for distraction-free writing), but there are also several excellent browser-based tools to consider if you'd rather do your writing online. Even when they do, there can be compatibility issues with moving document formats between software platforms. However, while there are some good, free word processing programs out there, they tend to not have so many features as paid-for software. You might be able to manage without a spreadsheet tool or something for making slideshows, but text documents are unavoidable.
