Google Drive or Microsoft Word?

[dollynightmare]

This was a recent thing I saw trending on Twitter so I thought I bring it here to Tapas. As writers, what do you prefer to write on? Google Drive, Microsoft Word, Pages, etc.

I personally use Google Drive the most for writing as its accessible and easy to use, and I can share with my editor/proofreader more easily and work together on the same document as well as sharing portfolios easily.

But professionally speaking, I always use Microsoft Word with my official editor and people I work with. I have no choice but to use it when publishing on Amazon as I have to convert my files from Microsoft Word to Vellum in order to make it into a file such as ePub/Mobi as that is the only file Kindle accepts.

[childofbooks]

Drive, because it saves automatically and I can also edit the writing along with other people at the same time and seeing the writing history is also really helpful. I don't have microsoft word license, never really needed it.

[Crusoe]

Google docs! Cus I can just open it up everywhere and work on it which is great.

[Anihime]

I use Microsoft Word, mainly because I've used it for so long that I can't imagine using any other writing program. Plus, since I'm currently attending university, Microsoft Word files are what my teachers accept at the moment.

[ApplesOverIndia]

Microsoft Word. I'm a hardcore Microsoft loyalist (read: I use Bing) and, on the few occasions I've had to use Docs for something, I'm not a fan.

For what it's worth, because I expect some flack on the Bing comment, Bing gives you points for searching things which you can exchange for gift cards - I've probably gotten around $100 on Amazon over the years for just using the internet.

[cyborgmermaid]

Docs because of autosave, ability to go back to older versions of your file, it's $Free.99, and easier to share with others

[IndigoShirtProd]

Bing gives you points for searching things which you can exchange for gift cards

The fact that they need to bribe people with gift cards is actually kind of funny. It's not a big deal to use Bing, whatever suits your fancy, you know.

I use docs for for all of my comic and literature writing because of the save feature and backing my files is easy to do. For school and any other type of work, I use Word.

[jkb4753]

Me too. I'm lazy and trash and I don't want to learn something new.

[mlocik97]

I use LibreOffice with few plugins (versioning, diffing, translating, real-time colaborating, book formating)... in system I have also ibus-typing-booster (when You train it, it will literally write whole sentences for you). All is automatically in sync with Google Drive)

[MShadowlawn]

I actually mostly use LibreOffice because I'm a broke hipster like that. Google Docs I resort to when I need to send samples to beta readers. Docs is also helpful just to have cloud storage for your work.

[KUUPID]

I use Microsoft Word... It's what I'm used to as I've always used word for school. I've tried google docs before, but it just wasn't my cup of tea! I probably needed time to get adjusted to the format but I'm very impatient xD

[sevenstarsofeightIam]

I use Open Office and Papyrus Author. Both are free and dependable. Having used and gotten used to Open Office first, the off-center writing pane in Papyrus Author took a little getting used to, but most days, I find myself in Papyrus Author knocking out one of my two in-progress novels.

[mlocik97]

Don't use OpenOffice... it is not developed anymore, and contain critical bugs and security issues

[joevilla]

Google Docs, it's very convenient to have all documents available at all times. Plus it's also backed up

[Iris-Grimoire]

LibreOffice, it was getting bothersome to do all the free license stuff for Word, or even other unsavory means. Also, .odt is so much lighter, so it's easy to update all my backups.

[thecrystalrook]

None, Libreoffice. Break away from the big boys, go open source

[Beppobear]

Personally, I use Microsoft Word 360. It's online so you don't need to download anything. You just need to sign in with you Microsoft account and then you're free to do whatever. The only thing is that eventually, you will run out of space on the cloud and you would have to upgrade, but I haven't even used 1/20th of my free space and I'm also a writer.

I use it because I really like the 'read aloud' function for when I'm proof reading my chapters. I recommend it and you don't have to use all of it's tools. But once you get used to the program and you try out the tools, it makes writing fun and easier. I am not opposed to google drive either but I definitely like Microsoft Word 360. (Microsoft word also saves automatically.)

[thedude3445]

I use Google Drive for things I need to share privately or collaborate on, as well as smaller projects like short stories.

I use Open Office when I need to open a .docx file, though the inability to save a .docx file is infuriating sometimes.

Otherwise, I use Scrivener for most projects. It has a learning curve, and it has some annoyances with multiple device use (you can only sync safely with Dropbox and you can't open the project on two computers at once), but it's by far the best program for organizing info and writing a book. It's basically the Clip Studio Paint of noveling.

[Ordinaryaverageguy]

Since I only write on my laptop, I use MS Word and upload documents to Google Drive if I want to share something that isn't ready for Tapas or doesn't fit in the Tapas platform (e.g., VA scripts).
I use an old version of Word that I actually own & can install anywhere I wish. Since it's not being used for business & multi-writer collabs, it does more than I want or need. And it doesn't cost anything anymore.

[AnimeKitty]

I use LibreOffice to write on. It's just what works best for me. I only use Google Docs when I want to share my draft with friends to read over and critique.