Ms word and Ms excel are both word processor applications that can be used to create and edit documents, letters, or spreadsheets. However, their features differ greatly and each has its strengths and weaknesses. The Microsoft Office range of office suites is sophisticated products with a large number of features.
What are the Features of Microsoft Excel?
The Microsoft Excel features are:
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Create a spreadsheet from scratch or use the template to automatically create unique spreadsheets with pre-installed formulas and formats. For example, you can easily create a sales report by inserting the pre-installed templates of ‘sales report’ or ‘monthly budget’
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Use basic formulas to quickly calculate values without writing complex code (such as =SUM(A1:C1)) – spreadsheets work this way
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Use charts to visualise your data in graphical format
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Customise the appearance of your spreadsheet using themes, colours, and styles
What are the Features of Microsoft Excel?
Some of the features that make up Microsoft Word are:
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Create a document from scratch or quickly re-use an existing text file or spreadsheet for editing into your new file
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The ribbon in the user interface provides quick access to different commands for creating various tasks such as inserting images and tables
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Automatic spelling and grammar checking as you type
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Check your document for errors and make adjustments to formatting styles using the Styles Gallery
Microsoft Word features several options for formatting your document which gives the user a large degree of control over how the document will appear. It is worth noting that users are not limited to the options that Microsoft Word provides; they can apply a custom font to any part of the document
MS Excel lacks these options. While it provides several styling formats such as ‘boldface’, these are simply applied as styles and do not change the actual font used (Arial vs Comic Sans)
Difference between MS Word and MS Excel:
Microsoft Word |
Microsoft Excel |
MS word is used to create letters and documents that contain formatting and can be saved for printing purposes.
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Microsoft Excel is used to create spreadsheets, which is a good application for creating accounts and budgets. |
MS Word can be installed directly on your desktop |
Ms excel needs to be installed on the computer using the Microsoft office package. |
MS Word has all the basic functions that can be found in MS Excel such as image insertion, hyperlink insertion, etc |
MS excel lacks some functionalities MS Word |
MS word is used to create letters and documents that contain formatting, |
MS excel is used to create spreadsheets which is a good application for creating accounts and budgets. |
Ms word is easy to use in comparison to Ms excel as it only has basic functions such as insertion of text, photos, and tables |
Ms excel has more options than Ms word. This makes Ms excel a better choice in presence of these options rather than simple Ms word. |
When it comes to formatting a document, MS Word does not provide the ability to change fonts or set the font colour, instead, users are provided with a list of fonts available and can be easily selected by changing the Font appearance. |
MS Excel lacks this function in comparison to MS Word |