Word Viewer
Read Word documents in your browser with their formatting intact, no Microsoft account or Office licence needed.
- Real page layout
- Author & word count
- Print to PDF
- No upload
Drop a Word .docx file here to view it, or try the sample document.
A Word viewer that runs in your browser
Microsoft retired its free desktop Word Viewer years ago, and Word on the web needs an account and uploads your file to OneDrive. This viewer opens Word .docx files directly in your browser instead. It draws each page with the document’s styles, tables, images, headers and footers, shows comments, and gives you the document’s properties and word count. Nothing is uploaded, so it is suitable for confidential files.
How to view a Word document online
- Choose Open File and pick a .docx (or drag it onto the page).
- Read the pages; zoom in or out, or fit them to your screen.
- Check the Document panel for author, dates, word count and warnings.
- Copy the text or HTML, or use Print / PDF to save a PDF.
Good to know
- Fonts not installed on your device are replaced with similar ones, so line breaks can differ slightly from Word.
- The page count shown is what Word last saved; the viewer’s page breaks follow your browser’s layout.
- Comments and tracked changes are flagged; use the Accept All Changes tool to clean them up.
- Links open in a new tab and potentially unsafe links are removed.
Why use this Word viewer
- Real page layoutPages are drawn with the document’s own fonts, styles, tables, images, headers, footers, footnotes and comments, with zoom and fit-to-width.
- Document detailsAuthor, last editor, created and modified dates, word and character counts, reading time, and warnings for comments, tracked changes and macros.
- HTML, text and PDFCopy clean HTML or plain text, or print or save the pages as PDF from your browser.
- Your document stays privateThe .docx is opened and rendered in your browser. Contracts, CVs and reports are never uploaded to a server or to Microsoft.
Common uses
- No Office installed. Read Word files on a Chromebook, Linux, a library PC or a locked-down work laptop.
- Email attachments. Preview a .docx before opening it in Word.
- Before sending. Check the hidden author, comments and tracked changes in a document.
- Quick conversion. Copy the text into another app or save the document as PDF.
More Word tools: remove metadata from Word, accept all tracked changes, remove comments, Markdown to Word and word counter.
Example: the sample proposal
The sample is a one-page proposal with a title, headings, a numbered list, a costs table and a link. The Document panel shows its author, 85 words and a reading time of 1 minute.
What to expect from the result
Complex layouts such as text boxes, SmartArt, charts and some equations may display differently from Word. Password-protected documents cannot be opened. Old .doc files are not supported.
Word Viewer questions
Is there a free Word viewer?
Yes, this one. It opens .docx files in any modern browser, free and without an account.
Do I need a Microsoft account?
No. The document is opened locally in your browser; there is no sign-in and no upload.
Can I convert the document to PDF?
Yes. Click Print / PDF and choose Save as PDF in your browser’s print dialog.
Can I open .doc files?
No. Old .doc files (Word 97–2003) use a different binary format. Open them in Word, LibreOffice or Google Docs and save as .docx first.
Is my document uploaded?
No. The file is read and rendered by your browser on your own device. Nothing is sent to a server, so it is safe for confidential documents.