Word processor (electronic device)

A word processor is an electronic device (later a computer <a href="/facts/Software_application/YQuj7Kog">software application</a>) for text, composing, editing, formatting, and printing.
The word processor was a stand-alone office machine developed in the 1960s, combining the keyboard text-entry and printing functions of an <a href="/facts/Electric_typewriter/CHE43FWP">electric typewriter</a> with a recording unit, either tape or <a href="/facts/Floppy_disk/rShxfuxa">floppy disk</a> (as used by the <a href="/facts/Wang_Laboratories/8xc1hoDz">Wang</a> machine) with a simple dedicated computer processor for the editing of text. Although features and designs varied among manufacturers and models, and new features were added as technology advanced, the first word processors typically featured a <a href="/facts/Monochrome_monitor/epl74Qju">monochrome display</a> and the ability to save documents on <a href="/facts/Memory_card/Rwy2lKS2">memory cards</a> or <a href="/facts/Diskettes/rShxfuxa">diskettes</a>. Later models introduced innovations such as <a href="/facts/Spell-checking/Dg3GUjUd">spell-checking</a> programs, and improved formatting options.
As the more versatile combination of <a href="/facts/Personal_computer/koaYfNce">personal computers</a> and <a href="/facts/Computer_printer/PnDF2QuF">printers</a> became commonplace, and computer software applications for word processing became popular, most business machine companies stopped manufacturing dedicated word processor machines. In 2009 there were only two U.S. companies, Classic and <a href="/facts/AlphaSmart/t90JKyqS">AlphaSmart</a>, which still made them.[needs update] Many older machines, however, remain in use. Since 2009, Sentinel has offered a machine described as a "word processor", but it is more accurately a highly specialised microcomputer used for accounting and publishing. In 2014, U.S. company <a href="/facts/Astrohaus/TTQzlrSy">Astrohaus</a> launched the Freewrite series of electronic word processors.
Word processing was one of the earliest applications for the <a href="/facts/Personal_computer/koaYfNce">personal computer</a> in office productivity, and was the most widely used application on personal computers until the <a href="/facts/World_Wide_Web/wvnTrWFq">World Wide Web</a> rose to prominence in the mid-1990s.
Although the early word processors evolved to use tag-based <a href="/facts/Markup_language/WwhlNVIu">markup</a> for document formatting, most modern word processors take advantage of a <a href="/facts/Graphical_user_interface/wBlQFWDP">graphical user interface</a> providing some form of <a href="/facts/What-you-see-is-what-you-get/aGmcHWpX">what-you-see-is-what-you-get</a> ("WYSIWYG") editing. Most are powerful systems consisting of one or more programs that can produce a combination of <a href="/facts/Image/fY9DudpT">images</a>, <a href="/facts/Graphics/1V76IF8J">graphics</a> and text, the latter handled with <a href="/facts/Type-setting/CsKmfY0t">type-setting</a> capability. Typical features of a modern word processor include multiple font sets, spell checking, grammar checking, a built-in thesaurus, <a href="/facts/Autocorrection/ytmv8EFo">automatic text correction</a>, web integration, HTML conversion, pre-formatted publication projects such as newsletters and to-do lists, and much more.
<a href="/facts/Microsoft_Word/HPSu5W4j">Microsoft Word</a> is the most widely used word processing software according to a user tracking system built into the software. Microsoft estimates that roughly half a billion people use the <a href="/facts/Microsoft_Office/faD8vYG0">Microsoft Office</a> suite, which includes Word. Many other word processing applications exist, including <a href="/facts/WordPerfect/x0R6HU9f">WordPerfect</a> (which dominated the market from the mid-1980s to early-1990s on computers running Microsoft's <a href="/facts/MS-DOS/fVrrz1uN">MS-DOS</a> <a href="/facts/Operating_system/8XTuvMh2">operating system</a>, and still (2014) is favored for legal applications), Apple's Pages application, and <a href="/facts/Open-source_software/HzTaB8E9">open source</a> applications such as <a href="/facts/OpenOffice.org_Writer/561WcNgg">OpenOffice.org Writer</a>, <a href="/facts/LibreOffice_Writer/yKJw6vhp">LibreOffice Writer</a>, <a href="/facts/AbiWord/sAXf9YKV">AbiWord</a>, <a href="/facts/KWord/7fVdRE3s">KWord</a>, and <a href="/facts/LyX/dSrv830u">LyX</a>. Web-based word processors such as <a href="/facts/Office_Online/faD8vYG0">Office Online</a> or <a href="/facts/Google_Docs%2c_Sheets_and_Slides/mgEjwvIs">Google Docs</a> are a relatively new category.

Word processor (electronic device) open-in-new

Word processor (electronic device)