Learn how to open and edit Word document without Word. Convert to PDF, open in Google Docs and Dropbox, use browser to open, etc.

How to Open Word Documents if You Don't Have Word. Microsoft Word is the world's leading word processing application, and documents created in the program are saved in a proprietary format.

It is possible to open old Word documents such as Word 2003, Word 2007, Word 97, etc., documents in the latest version of Word in the Protected View.

Open Microsoft Word, click the "File" tab and select the file under Recent Documents to open a document you recently opened in Word.

Checking the word count on Google Docs helps track document length. Follow this quick guide to easily find and use the word count feature.