Sure, there are shortcuts in Word, too, but those have to be learned as well.īecause all commands are part of a LaTeX document, you can edit your text on any device with any editor you like, while Word documents require an installed editor (well, Word) that does not show the formatting and control information.

If you know the commands, creating a LaTeX document will be quicker than writing a Word document. You never have to break your concentration to access a special command. Word and LaTeX each have particular advantages: ‍ This is an excerpt from Better Books with LaTeX, the Agile Way. To write a LaTeX document, you never have to touch your mouse, as you can enter everything by keystrokes alone. Formatting is done through commands you enter as text into the document. In LaTeX (pronounced LAH-tekh or LAY-tekh), you instead create a text document which is then translated into an actual formatted document (your book). While initially complicated, LaTeX allows better management of larger projects like theses or books by splitting the document into sections: style, references, and text. ‍ LaTeXis a typesetting system that works more like a compiler than a word processor. While most of the functionality is available through icons, you still need to know where to look when something is not a standard command like those used in formatting, making lists, or choosing fonts. But if I asked how, using Word, to refer to another document’s text block and add that as a citation in a footnote, most people would have to look on the Internet to find out how that could be done.

However, “knowing” Word mostly refers to the ease of use, as it is a “what you see is what you get” (WYSIWYG) text editor. This approach is more intuitive, but it makes editing large projects very complicated. Generally, it is used as an umbrella term for all word processors that directly show you what you will get as an end result (as opposed to first having to process the file). ‍ ‍ Wordusually refers to Microsoft Word.

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