Textverarbeitungsprogramm

Textverarbeitung, in English word processing, denotes the creation, editing, formatting, and organization of written documents using software tools. It enables writers to input text, apply typographic styles, insert and format images and tables, check spelling and grammar, and prepare documents for print or electronic distribution. Documents are stored in formats such as DOCX, ODT, RTF, or plain text, and may be exported as PDF or HTML for sharing.

Historically, text processing evolved from typewriters and line editors to dedicated word-processing systems in the 1970s and 1980s, followed by graphical desktop applications in the 1990s. Cloud-based and collaborative editors emerged in the 2000s and 2010s, allowing multiple users to work on a single document in real time.

Core features typically include a user interface for editing and navigation, formatting tools for fonts, sizes, colors, and paragraph layout, and features for long documents such as styles, templates, tables of contents, footnotes, and indexing. Modern software often adds spell checking, grammar, thesaurus support, track changes, comments, and version history, as well as mail merge for mass correspondence.

Interoperability is aided by support for common file formats and export options, with DOCX and ODT being open-standard alternatives, and PDF serving for distribution. Cloud and desktop versions differ in collaboration capabilities, offline access, and storage. Text processing remains fundamental in offices, education, publishing, and personal productivity, evolving toward greater accessibility, automation, and cross-device synchronization.