Ever since I started publishing iPhone J.D. in November of 2008, the #1 question that lawyers have asked me is: what is the best way to view and edit Word documents on an iPhone? When DataViz released the Documents to Go app in June 0f 2009, it instantly became a must-have app for many attorneys because it did a decent job of working with Word files. In subsequent years we saw many other iPhone apps that could work with iPhone files, but they were always lacking something. In June of 2013, Microsoft released Microsoft Office Mobile for iPhone. After I recovered from the initial shock of seeing Microsoft software on an iPhone, I then started to try out the app, and I was incredibly disappointed. The app was clunky, didn’t handle footnotes, couldn’t work with track changes, and amazingly didn’t even work with .doc files (only the newer .docx files). I couldn’t recommend the app to other attorneys, but I did hope that it was a sign of better things to come.
It turns out that it was. In March of 2014, Microsoft released Word for iPad. As I noted in my review, it was a fantastic app that did not have any of the flaws of the Microsoft Office Mobile for iPhone app. Microsoft has been improving the app throughout this year, and with each update I wished more and more that Microsoft would release a version of the app that worked on the iPhone so that I could finally delete the disappointing Office Mobile app.
Yesterday, Microsoft did it. Microsoft updated the Word for iPad app. The new name is simply Microsoft Word, and it is now a universal app that works on both iPhones and iPads. I spent last night trying out all of the new features of the new version 1.2 of the app, and Microsoft did a great job. This is an app that should be downloaded by every single lawyer with an iPhone.
Viewing documents
The Word app does a fantastic job of viewing Word documents on an iPhone, both the old .doc format and the new .docx format. In fact, it is even more powerful than Word on an iPad because you have two different ways to view a document. In the default Print Layout view, you see the document as it would appear when printed, with line breaks and page breaks in the correct location. Of course, on a small iPhone screen, this makes the text really hard to read, but it does let you see the overall look of the document. You can pinch to zoom, but when you do so, you only see part of a page at one time.
Second, the app includes a Reflow view, in which the text is larger and the line breaks occur wherever the text ends on your iPhone screen, not where it would end when printed out. You activate this view by tapping the Reflow icon at the top of the screen (the second button from the right). When you are in Reflow view, you can pinch to zoom, and that just changes the number of words that you can see at one time.
The Reflow view works great. Adjust the font size to whatever looks best for your eyes, and then you can review any Word document that someone emails to you.
And because this is the real Microsoft Word, you can view just about anything in a Word file. You can view tables. You can view footnotes when you are in Print Layout view. (In Reflow view, you see the main text of the document and the footnote number, but to read the footnote itself, switch to Print Layout view.) And if someone else has made redline edits to a document or added comments, you can view those as well.
The app also has a nice Find feature. To get to it, tap the three dots at the top right of the screen and then tap Find. When you search for a word, all instances of the word are highlighted in the document. You can tap back and forth arrows to go to each instances. Also, the place where you type your search term tells you the number of instances of that word. Tap the gear icon for advanced features like Find and Replace.
Editing documents
Editing documents works well in the Word app on an iPad with its larger screen. On the iPhone, everything is more cramped, but Microsoft still managed to fit everything in so that if you need to edit a Word document on your iPhone, you can do so. Just hold down your finger on some part of a document to make the cursor appear and the keyboard will come up from the bottom. You can edit in either the Print Layout or the Reflow view.
When you are done editing, tap Done at the top left to make the keyboard go away so that you can use the full iPhone screen to view the documents.
In the iPad version of Word, there are tabs across the top — Home, Insert, Layout, Review, View — that you tap to see a ribbon containing commands. The iPhone version doesn’t show those tabs to save space, but you can get to them by tapping the Ribbon icon, which is the third from the right at the top, the one with the letter A with a pencil on it. Tapping that button brings up one of the ribbons, such as Layout, and you can tap the word Layout to switch to another ribbon.
Underneath the ribbon name is a scrollable list of all of the commands. For example, if you have activated the Premium features in the app (more on that below), you can change to the Review ribbon to turn on Track Changes to create redline edits to a document.
At the top of the screen in both Print Layout and Reflow view, there is an undo button that offers multiple levels of undo. You’ll also find both an undo and a redo button when you bring up the ribbon.
You cannot create or edit Styles in the Word app, but if you are opening a file created on a computer that used Styles, those Styles are still contained in the document on the iPhone and iPad. Also, you can copy text that has formatting applied to it, then select another word (or sentence or paragraph etc.), and then Paste Format to apply the same formatting to the selected text.
The File menu
When you are looking at a document, the second icon brings up a File menu that contains lots of options. You can turn AutoSave on or off. You can Duplicate a file (similar to “Save as…” on a computer). You can even view documents properties and restore earlier versions of a file.
Working with files, including new Dropbox support
If someone emails a Word document to you, it is easy to open it in the Word app. First, hold down for a second or so on the attachment icon at the end of the email. This will bring up a menu that includes a list of apps that you can use to open the file. Tap Open in Word and the Word app will launch so that you can work with the document.
One of the major updates to the Word app yesterday, in addition to iPhone support, is that the app now also supports Dropbox. In my tests yesterday, the works really well. After you give the app permission to access your Dropbox account, you can see all of your files and folders on Dropbox. Tap a Word document to open it in the app and you can view or edit your document. And with the AutoSave feature turned on (the default setting), your changes will be saved to Dropbox as you work.
Thus, the Word app will now let you work with files that you save locally to your iPad or iPhone, documents in your Dropbox, documents in your OneDrive, and documents in your SharePoint if your law firm uses SharePoint. You can also move documents between those different locations; for example, you can take a document saved locally on your iPhone or iPad and then tell Word to move it to your Dropbox folder.
As before, the Word app gives you the option to email a document to someone else. On July 31, 2014, Microsoft added the option to send a file as a PDF file or a Word document. Thus, you now have the ability to use your iPhone or iPad to quickly convert any Word document to a PDF document, which can be useful if you want to share a document with opposing counsel in a format that isn’t easily editable. Also, if your Word document is saved in Dropbox, you can now use the Word app to email someone a link to the file so that they can download the file from Dropbox.
Pricing
As before, the Microsoft Word app is free. Before yesterday, you could use the free app to view a Word document, but if you wanted to edit a document you had to purchase a Microsoft 365 account.
With the new version of the app, when you first start the app you are asked to sign in to your Microsoft account or create a new one. If you instead tap Sign In Later, you can use the app to view documents, but you won’t be able to edit them.
If you select Create an Account, Microsoft then asks for some basic personal information (name, email address, zip code, date of birth, sex, phone number) and then gives you a free Microsoft account. With this free account, you can use the app to both view and edit documents. For many attorneys, this will be sufficient.
[UPDATE 11/7/14: I’m not providing anyone with legal advice on your rights as a user of this app, but if you plan to use this app as a part of your law practice without paying for Office 365, I encourage you to read the License Agreement. You can read it in the App Store on your iOS device by searching for the app and then tapping “License Agreement.” I think it says that anyone can use the app to view a document, but the free license only allows you to “create, edit or save documents for non-commercial purposes.” Something to consider.]
To access the premium features in the Word app, you need to have an Office 365 account, which as I noted in September, currently costs $99 a year. The current Premium features in Word are:
- Insert section breaks
- Enable columns in page layout
- Customize headers and footers for different pages
- Change page orientation
- Track and review changes
- Add custom colors to shapes
- Insert and edit WordArt
- Add shadows and reflection styles to pictures
- Add and modify chart elements
- Highlight table cells with custom color shading
I suspect that most attorneys will only care about one of those features: track and review changes. While the free version of the new Word app can view redline edits that someone else has created, if you want to add your own redline edits, or if you want to review (accept or reject) redline changes that someone else made, then you need to have an Office 365 account.
$99 a year is a lot to pay just to have the ability to create and review redline edits on your iPhone or iPad. But of course, you get a lot more than that with an Office 365 account. That $99 gives you the premium features in the Excel and PowerPoint apps on up to five devices, and also gives you the full Office software (Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, etc.) on up to five computers, plus other features, all of which is explained on the Microsoft website.
Conclusion
I am incredibly impressed with Microsoft’s new Word app, and I think that every attorney using an iPhone or iPad should get it. Even if you never plan to edit a Word document on your iPhone, you should get this app just so that you can easily review any Word document that someone else emails to you. The Microsoft Word app is without a doubt the best way to look at a Word document on an iPhone or iPad.
With a free Microsoft account, you can also make edits to a document. And with an Office 365 account — which you may already have if you use the Office software on your computer in your office — you can access all of the premium features including full Track Changes access so that you can create redline edits to a document and can accept or reject someone else’s redline edits.
Longtime iPhone users have been waiting a long time for this moment, but now we finally have an excellent way to work with Word files on an iPhone. If a client or colleague emails a Word document to you while you are out of the office, you can now easily read and edit the document on your iPhone. And if you have your iPad with you, you can take advantage of the larger screen to work with the document. Either way, the Word app lets you do many of the same things that you could do with a document using the full version of Word on a PC or Mac, and perhaps more importantly, the powerful Word app lets you do just about everything that you are ever likely to want to do on a mobile device.
Click here to get Microsoft Word (free): 
Re: Track and review changes
While true desktop “track changes” doesn’t work you can change text color and strike through entered text, which pretty much accomplishes the same thing. All in all, the new iOS apps, being free, are an indicator that MicroSoft isn’t Bill Gates company any more.
Allowing storage on Dropbox is a great start, but I wish this app would allow me to save files to and edit files from my Transporter.
Releasing a free to use version was a breath of fresh air from Microsoft. Thanks for the information regarding the licensing agreement. I am still not much of a fan of typing large docs with the Iphone but on an ipad this app is fantastic. It blows away the google doc app.
is MS Word compatible with iPhone 4?
How can you recover a document? It just got deleted and I need it for tomorrow for a project
Oh no! If you were accessing it from Dropbox, there should be a backup that you can access through the Dropbox website. If it was just on the device I don’t know what to suggest. Good luck!
-Jeff
How do I write assignment on my ipad ms word app and save in dropbox?? Can I then also open the document up to edit on my laptop?? Thanks.
Gemma, simply create a new document using the Word app on the iPad. Tap the button at the top left to save it, and Word will ask where you want to save it — and give you a choice to save it to your Dropbox, assuming that you previously gave Word permission to work with your Dropbox. That’s it. Then the document will be available in your Dropbox folder so that you can open it up and edit it on your laptop. It is simple and works exactly the way that it should work.
-Jeff
Can you view comments on the side of a document with the free version?
I have the paid version so I cannot check this myself, but I believe that from the standpoint of viewing, you can do it all with the free version, including comments on the side of the document.
-Jeff
I have the free version of word on my Ipad and purchased the Office 365 version on my PC which allows me to download it to other devices as you mentioned above. The problem I am having is that when I try to “Go Premium” it wants me to download it from the app store, therefore, would have to pay for it again. How do I go about upgrading my free version on my Ipad with my password from my pc version?
I thought that all you need to do is use the (free) Word app on your iPad, tap the icon with your name at the top left, and then log in to your Office 365 account.
-Jeff
How do I attach 2 documents to one e mail on microsoft 365 word app for I pad ??????
Paula, I don’t know of a way to do that using the Word app only. You can email both documents to yourself (one at a time), then open each of them in GoodReader. Then select both documents in GoodReader and tap the email button, and that will create an email with both files attached. I realize that is cumbersome, but I’m having trouble thinking of a more direct way to do it.
-Jeff
YIKES! I have a 3 page resume!…how do I delet page 2 and 3 from Word on my iPad, free version?
Can’t you just select the text and press delete?
-Jeff
I downloaded Microsoft word for my iPad for the first time and started a paper in the free version. I switched to safari to look up something a few times and would go back and after a minute my document would show up again. I went back again and it was not there. I upgraded to personal and cannot find it. Is there any way to get it back?
You need to make sure that you actually tell Word to save the document. In my experience it is similar to Word on a PC; if you just open a document and edit it and then somehow the document goes away (e.g. Word crashes), if you didn’t explicitly do a Save or Save As, you may have trouble recovering the doc on a PC. On an iPad, if you go back to the iPad and the document isn’t there, unless you saved it, it may be gone.
-Jeff
Hi, is it possible in this app to rename a document file? I can’t seem to do this which I thought would have been straight forward?
Thanks in advance
I downloaded the free version of word on my ipad2. When I saved the document, I saved it to iPad istead of drop box or iCloud. I wasn’t paying any attention. When I go to recent it shos it.Location IPad. How do I retrieve it?
You rename a file the same way you do on the PC or Mac — save as (“Duplicate”), and give it a different title. And then you can delete the original file if you don’t want the original name to stick around.
-Jeff
Just tap on the file and you can review a file saved to the iPad. I usually save all of my files to the iPad. if you want to put it on cloud storage, just open the file, use the save as (“Duplicate”) function, then save it on OneDrive, or Dropbox, or wherever you want it.
-Jeff
The only place I can find the file is in recents. When I click on it, it looks like it tries to,open, then it Says file has been moved or deleted. Is this a problem with the iPad?
Ugh. I don’t know what to suggest.
-Jeff
How do I delete an unwanted file?
In the file list, to the right of the file name, there is a button with a box and an arrow coming out of it. Tap that button. The fourth button down is Delete.
-Jeff
When I sent my Word file as an attachment from the iPad I found the formatting messed up and page numbers gone. How do I keep my layout when sending my file by gmail?
Al
Help, I am having problems getting a new word document each time I want to do something new. When Word opens, I attempt to cancel the old document from opening so I can get a new blank document, but it does not always cancel out. So, how do I make it work each time?
I am not sure that I completely understand the problem that you are describing, but you might try this. When you are finished working with a document, instead of just exiting the app and leaving the document open, tap the Back button (first button at top left — arrow in circle) to go back to the main screen of the app. That closes out the file that you were working with. That way when you go to create a new document, there should be no prior document that you will have to cancel from opening. I hope that helps!
-Jeff
Where does it tell me how many words I’ve typed
The word count is located under the Review tab — the second icon on the Ribbon.
-Jeff
I use outlook for iOS. When I am in Word and try to email the document as a pdf that option is greyed out. If I create and email address for the native iOS Mail app the are not eyed out anymore. Do you know a work around. Odd why Outlook would not be recognized.
I edited a document in Word for iPad using tracking changes. When I send it to the author, she does not receive the marked up copy – she receives the final. Can you help? Thank you!
I tried to send the document thru e-mail using the icon which indicates “as word” then allows me to fill in the email address to my addressee. I click “send” and get the swish noise I am use to but so far no mail box has received the document. I have tried several mail boxes and a couple of people.
I’m not sure what to suggest, Donna. It may have something to do with the service you are using with the Mail app on your iPhone/ipad as opposed to the Word app? I’m really not sure. We use Microsoft Exchange at my law firm, and it works fine for me.
-Jeff
Hi! So glad I found this article! I need some help with my Word app on iPad 2. It used to be possible for me to send my files as an email attachment. However, this function has been blocked for a few weeks, now. Do I need to buy the premium version in order to send my files as attachment? Is it possible that I have been disconnected from my M.O. account without my knowledge?
Thanks!
-Gen
I believe that you need to be logged in to a Microsoft account to send files. I believe that either a free or paid account would work, although the license requires that you use the paid account for certain types of work such as commercial activity. Is it possible that you are no longer logged in to your Microsoft account?
-Jeff
Hi Donna…have you figured out how to fix this issue..I have the same problem and it’s driving me crazy!
I had the same question as Dave about renaming a file. I don’t know about a Mac but on a PC with Windows you can rename a file in place without ever having to create a copy, thereby keeping the same file name. This is what I’d like to do with Word for Iphone.
That’s the same problem I’m having now! Did you ever figure out how to get your file back?
What size should the writing be, because viewing the text from a pc or when printed you see that the size is larger than it appears or looks in iPad
Hi. Does anyone know if it’s possible to have multiple excel or word apps open at once, so you can flick between documents?
Thanks.
I don’t believe that this is possible on the iPad or iPhone.
-Jeff
Hello, having trouble attaching a word document to email. Every time I bring up the menu to share it, it won’t let me select any of the three options. Any suggestions?
Are you using the free version of Word without Office 365? This might be a feature that requires you to at least have an Office 365 subscription, if not a paid one.
-Jeff
Is save file size duplicated by saving to Onedrive? That is iis it synced back to the iPhone or is it just saved as a one-off ib the cloud?
I have just recently created a logo and stationary for a friends small business, I created all the documents with office on my PC but he now tells me he does all his letters, invoices etc on him iPhone, but when he’s using the PC version the footer and email signature etc, is going sack, is it version control that is the problem, or do i have to actually physically set it all up on his phone???
I have the premium version of Microsoft Word. How are you able to see the comments on the side of the page I cannot see any of the comments
Tap the Review tab, tap Show Markup, tap Comments (so there is a check mark next to it).
-Jeff
Hello Jeff,
I hope you can help me with this. I have Outlook and Office apps installed in both my iPhone and iPad. Outlook is set up with my work email (exchange). I can open PDF attachments received but when I try to open a Word attachment it acts as though it will open the document but crashes a split second later. Word appears among my open apps when I double click my home screen but the document is not open. This has occurred on both devices. Is this something that needs to be corrected on my devices or a Microsoft correction?
I don’t use the Outlook app on my iPad/iPhone so I haven’t seen the bug that you describe and I don’t know what to suggest. Sorry that I cannot offer more help!
-Jeff
How can I delete the folders in Word? I created some and want to delete it but cannot find the button delete
I don’t think that you can create or delete folders in MS Word on the iPad. For documents on the iPad itself, you cannot create folders, so there are none to delete. For documents stores on OneDrive or Dropbox, use the OneDrive or Dropbox apps to create and delete folders.
-Jeff
I have downloaded word app free and typed a long letter then tried to print it on my airprinter which is connected to iPad and it won’t print. What am I doing wrong
Iam a paralegal student and need to draft court pleadingsive downloaded the templates I need wich are all word FILLABLE and when opening in the word application , it will not allow me to edit or fill in where needed ? Please help
I have a formatted document (my CV). If I upload this document as docx to external website or as an email attachment I loose the formatting. Do you know any way around this? Thanks!