Text Prediction Is Coming To Microsoft Word

Most modern email systems these days have a “predictive typing” feature. As you’re composing an email, the software behind the system predicts (fairly accurately) what you’re about to type and suggests the next word, or even the next few words for you. If you hit the activation key (which is generally the Tab key, but varies a bit depending on the system you’re using), the suggested words will get plugged into your email automatically.

Once you get accustomed to using it, it’s a nice feature that helps increasing your typing speed. Microsoft Word for Windows doesn’t yet have that feature, but it’s about to. In fact, it’s being rolled out next week, and by the time you read these words, it may already be available.

Assuming it is available around the same time you read these words, you owe it to yourself to try it out. It does take a bit of getting used to, but given its accuracy in Outlook, there’s no reason to think it won’t be every bit as accurate in Word; the company can port the same basic technology over, after all.

It’s a good feature, and a very good addition to Word. If you find that you don’t like the suggestions the software is giving you, just ignore the unobtrusive words as they pop up and keep typing whatever you intended to, but if you find the AI to be pretty good at guessing what you were about to write, you’ll find that it does help you write more quickly.

You won’t see a huge improvement in speed, but even at the margins, it’s helpful. If you spend a lot of time writing reports, the time saved will add up rather quickly.

Kudos to Microsoft for making the change. It’s a welcome addition indeed.