WordToys

Microsoft Word has become one the most commonly used software programs in the world, but there's always room for improvement. This suite of add-ons makes many of Word's features easier to use, and makes a few helpful tweaks to the interface. It adds a sidebar that offers simple access to many widely used components, such as non-English letters and special characters, bullets, and numbering. It introduces a tab-based navigation system that makes switching among documents more convenient. Several open documents can be saved together as a Workspace, and opened simultaneously with a single click. Individual document operations are equally helpful: the software offers the ability to clean all personal information, such as author, versions, and comments, from a document. It enables users to run up to 20 operations such as saving, printing, and e-mailing, without having to set up complicated macros. We did find one annoying bug: when working with a single document, its tab is displayed over the main program menu. However, in many Word users' minds this will likely be an acceptable price to pay for the genuine convenience offered by this suite of tools.