How do you type a paper if you don't have Microsoft Word?

Answer 1

There is Notepad and Wordpad that come on your computer. Microsoft Word has clip art and special things, but you can type a regualr document on wordpad. Wordpad is more like Word than Notepad.

Like it's name, Notepad is really just for taking notes. People who make websites can use notepad to write their websites.

Answer 2

The simple answer is no. The *.doc file format is a Microsoft proprietary format that only Word can natively create.

However, there are multiple applications that can open, read and edit this file format. Some can even create their own version of the *.doc format that is compatible with Word.

A few examples are...

1. Notepad: This is a simple text editor that can only create *txt files. However, many *.doc files may be opened and edited in Notepad provided that they are simple documents without any special formatting. Three things may happen if you try to open a *.doc file that Notepad does not understand. a: It will not open. b: The file will open but it will display garbage symbols. c: Improper formatting. (Line breaks, paragraph breaks and page breaks may be off.)
2. WordPad: This is a Rich Text Format (*.rtf) editor. It can open and read almost all *.doc files, but it can only create files in rich text, text, MS-DOS text and Unicode text file formats.
3. Open Office: This is a full-fledged open source, and therefore free, office suite. It can open, read, edit and create documents in virtually any file format that Microsoft Office can create. However, there is a caveat. Open Office uses it's own version of the *.doc format. (The same is true for the entire array of Microsoft proprietary file formats that Open Office supports.) If you create a *.doc file in one suite it will almost never display correctly in the other suit.