Updated Rewrite Suggestions in Microsoft Word – sentence-level writing suggestions

[Zhang Li]

When you know what you want to say but can’t seem to find the “right” way to say it, Rewrite Suggestions in Word can offer ideas to help you rephrase sentences for more impact or clarity while staying true to your original meaning.

At the 2019 Microsoft Build conference we announced the feature Rewrite suggestions, which focuses on phrasal suggestions. We are now introducing an update to this feature, which provides sentence-level writing suggestions.

This feature is powered by cutting-edge, neural-network, machine learning models, which are trained on millions of sentences.

How it works

Select a sentence, or right-click in a sentence, and you will find Rewrite Suggestions in the context menu.

A rewrite suggestion card shows up near your sentence. It offers different of types of suggestions:

Improves fluency: These suggestions aim to improve the flow of the wording, including mechanics like grammar and spelling.

Concise phrasing: The goal of these suggestions is to express an idea clearly, without extra words.
Paraphrased sentence: These suggestions offer synonyms for alternative wording.

Improves readability: The goal of these suggestions is to make the writing easier to read for people with different reading abilities. In general, suggestions will include shorter, simpler wording.

In each of the suggestions, the range of text containing all the changes is highlighted in purple.
You may not see all categories of suggestions for a sentence, and sometimes there may be no suggestion as your sentence is good enough.

Your feedback on the suggestions helps us improve the feature. Click Give feedback below the suggestions, and then choose the suggestion you want to tell us about.

Availability

The feature is available for users of Word on the web, and it requires a Microsoft 365 (or Office 365) subscription.

This feature only supports English for now.

[HotCakeX]

These features are exactly why Microsoft Word is unique and the best in class. 

[JPJPJP]

This is amazing! Will it be coming to desktop and mobile as well?

[Zhang Li]

Hi @JPJPJP , we are evaluating the timeline to get this feature to desktop and mobile, stay tuned!

[Bob_1500]

I believe this may replace Grammarly that I currently use...

[shobha1630]

Nice to know but I do not see the option on ofc365 not sure if I am missing something.

[oct4v3]

Which version of Subscribed 365 will have this feature please? Personal or so? Kindly share the exact Subscription type and when we can see this Option on Right-Click. Thanks

[Mike_Honey]

Looks great. Unfortunately I can't use it as it doesnt appear in my right-click menu.  Office 365 E3, so I assume I meet the criteria?

[dauevairina]

Good afternoon!

Does this AI option work with the Russian language?

Thanks.

Irina.

[CC Hogan]

@Zhang Li 

I haven't tried this yet as I am on desktop Word, but will this be adjustable for writing style?

I write novels and the phrase suggestions currently tend to be very corporate in style.

Being able to switch between styles (or genre?) would be very powerful.  That might apply to other parts of the AI or course.

Another thing I would love to see is customizable word lists for the possible confusion of words tools. For instance, I have a habit of typying dessert for my Desert Dragons. Very sweet, but not what I want. It is not the kind of thing the Editor will pick up.

So, I would love to be able to add those two words manually so it highlights it as a possible word confusion.

[Zhang Li]

@CC Hogan , thank you for your great suggestions! For Rewrite Suggestion in Word On the Web, currently we do provide different categories of writing suggestions and you have the full control. We are not able to adjust the suggestion list based on our style preference yet. I will send over your feedback on the "confused words" to my team as input for future prioritization conversations.

[Zhang Li]

@dauevairina , this feature only supports English for now.

[Zhang Li]

@Mike_Honey , E3 should have access to the feature. I will send an offline message to you to diagnose. Thanks!

[CC Hogan]

@Zhang Li  - Thanks!

That sort of customisation can make it super powerful. Obviously, for me as a thick author, it just gets me out of trouble, but for companies, being able to set styles and nags for corporate terminology and so on would be more than useful.  Companies often have fixed ways of writing as part of their corporate philosophy.

Personally, I think that is idiotic and unimaginative, but a lot of companies do it, big and small. They would like that kind of control.

[Zhang Li]

@CC Hogan , that makes a lot of sense. We do hear similar feedback from some enterprise users. Thanks again for the valuable input!

[oct4v3]

@Zhang Li If possible, kindly reply to my query above, Cheers

[Zhang Li]

@oct4v3 , sorry for getting back to you late. We offer this feature in various type of license. Office 365 Home/ Office 365 Personal/Office 365 Business/Office 365 Business Premium/Office 365 ProPlus/Office 365 Enterprise E3/Office 365 Enterprise E5/ Office 365 ProPlus Devices

[unconstituted]

@Zhang Li 

Hi Zhang, I've been recommended this feature for a family member and wanted to try it out for them.

I've subscribed to 365 Family, and this feature doesn't seem to be there. I'm currently on the free trial. What do I need to do to try this?

[Zhang Li]

Hello @unconstituted , thank you for the interest in this feature! Currently this feature is not available in a free trial license. You will need to upgrade a paid license type to get access to this feature.

[notesguru99]

Is this part of the Editor feature already? or something else? 

[Zhang Li]

@notesguru99 , yes this is part of Editor feature.