Getting your writing right matters — whether you’re sending a business proposal, a complaint letter or a report to your manager. Microsoft Word already has built-in tools that catch basic errors, but AI has made proofreading considerably more powerful. You can now check grammar, improve clarity, adjust tone and cut unnecessary words in a few minutes without hiring an editor. This guide covers four tools that work well together: Word’s built-in Editor, Microsoft Copilot, Grammarly and ChatGPT.
Tool 1: Word’s Built-In Editor
Word’s Editor tool is the right place to start. It’s included with all Microsoft 365 subscriptions and catches spelling mistakes, grammar errors, punctuation issues and some style problems automatically as you type. Running a full Editor check before you do anything else gives you a clean foundation to work from.
How to Run the Editor Check
- Open your document in Word.
- Click the Review tab in the ribbon.
- Click Editor on the left side of the ribbon. The Editor pane opens on the right.
- You’ll see an overall score and a breakdown of corrections by category: Corrections (spelling, grammar) and Refinements (clarity, conciseness, formality).
- Click into each category to work through the suggestions one at a time.
Understanding the Suggestions
Editor works best when you understand what each category means. Corrections (shown in red and blue) are definite errors — accept these unless you have a specific reason not to. Refinements (shown in gold) are suggestions, not rules. They might recommend removing a passive voice, shortening a sentence or changing a word. Use your judgement — not every refinement improves the text.
Adjusting the Formality Setting
Editor can adjust its suggestions based on whether your document is formal or casual. To change this, go to File > Options > Proofing > Writing Style and choose between Grammar, Grammar and Refinements, or a custom set. For business documents, turning on the formality checker helps spot informal language that doesn’t belong in a professional context.
Tool 2: Microsoft Copilot in Word
Copilot goes beyond catching errors — it can rewrite sentences, improve entire paragraphs and adjust the tone of your writing. This requires a Microsoft 365 Copilot licence, which is separate from the standard Microsoft 365 subscription.
How to Use Copilot for Proofreading
- Open the Copilot pane from the Home tab in the ribbon.
- To improve a specific section, select that text in the document first.
- Type your instruction into the Copilot chat box. For example:
- “Improve the clarity of this paragraph”
- “Make this more concise”
- “Rewrite this in a more professional tone”
- “Simplify this for a non-technical audience”
Copilot will suggest a rewrite in the pane. You can accept it, ask for a revised version or ignore it and keep your original. Unlike Editor, Copilot rewrites rather than just flags — so it’s more useful for structural and tone improvements rather than basic grammar.
Tool 3: Grammarly
Grammarly is a third-party tool that works independently of Microsoft and has earned a strong reputation for grammar and style checking. The free tier is genuinely useful for everyday proofreading and the paid tier adds tone detection, full sentence rewrites and a plagiarism checker.
How to Use Grammarly with Word
There are two ways to use Grammarly with a Word document:
- Grammarly for Word (add-in): Install the Grammarly desktop app and it adds a sidebar directly into Word. Go to grammarly.com and download the app — it installs an add-in automatically. The sidebar shows suggestions as you write, similar to Word Editor but often more detailed.
- Grammarly website: Go to app.grammarly.com, create a free account and paste your text into the editor. This works well if you don’t want to install anything.
What Grammarly Catches That Word Often Misses
Grammarly is particularly good at spotting misused words that are spelled correctly (such as “their” vs “there”), comma splices, sentence fragments and overly complex sentence structures. The free version covers these reliably. If you’re writing for clients or submitting work professionally, it’s worth running your document through Grammarly even after using Word Editor.
Tool 4: ChatGPT for Proofreading
ChatGPT is the most flexible of the four tools. You can give it very specific instructions and it will return a revised version of your text that you can copy back into Word. This is the best option for improving tone, cutting waffle and making complex writing more readable — tasks that Word Editor and Grammarly don’t handle as well.
The ChatGPT Proofreading Workflow
- Open chat.openai.com and start a new chat (you can use the free version).
- Copy the text you want to improve from your Word document.
- In ChatGPT, type your instruction and then paste the text below it.
The Best Prompts to Use
These prompts consistently produce useful results:
- “Proofread this for grammar and clarity. List any errors you find and suggest corrections.” — gives you a clear list of changes rather than a full rewrite, so you stay in control.
- “Make this more concise. Remove any unnecessary words or phrases.” — particularly useful for business writing that has become bloated.
- “Rewrite this in a more professional tone.” — useful when you’ve drafted something quickly and the language is too casual for the context.
- “Simplify this for a non-technical audience. Replace jargon with plain English.” — ideal for technical teams writing for customers or non-specialists.
- “Check this for inconsistent formatting, such as mixed capitalisation or inconsistent use of numbers.” — catches detail issues that other tools miss.
Once ChatGPT returns the improved text, paste it back into Word and compare it with your original using Review > Compare Documents if you want to see exactly what changed.
Combining Tools for the Best Result
Each tool has different strengths, and using them in sequence gives you better results than relying on any one of them. A practical workflow for a business document looks like this:
Step 1: Word Editor First
Run the built-in Editor check to clear out spelling mistakes, grammar errors and basic style issues. This gives you a clean document before any AI tool sees it.
Step 2: ChatGPT or Copilot for Tone and Clarity
Paste the cleaned-up text into ChatGPT (or use Copilot in Word) and ask it to improve clarity, conciseness or tone. Focus on the sections you’re least confident about rather than the whole document at once.
Step 3: Grammarly for a Final Pass
Run the revised document through Grammarly to catch anything the previous steps missed. Grammarly’s suggestions at this stage are usually minor, which is a good sign the document is in good shape.
Step 4: A Final Human Read
Read the document out loud before you send it. This catches rhythm problems and awkward phrasing that no AI tool reliably identifies. If a sentence is hard to say out loud, it will be hard for the reader to follow too.
Quick Reference: Which Tool for Which Task
- Spelling and basic grammar: Word Editor or Grammarly (free tier)
- Improving clarity and cutting waffle: ChatGPT or Copilot
- Adjusting tone (formal/informal): ChatGPT or Copilot
- Simplifying technical language: ChatGPT
- Detailed style and readability: Grammarly (paid tier)
- Rewriting a specific paragraph: Copilot (in Word, with text selected)