Blogger for Word - - Managing Blog Posts With Microsoft Word

Anyone who has ever published to a blog probably wishes blogging software was more like a word processor. Blog posts are published for all the world to see, and poor spelling and grammar can detract from your message. Blogging services offer very little in the way of grammar and spelling tools.

Many bloggers compensate by first typing their posts in Microsoft Word or another word processor. Sure, it helps you check your grammar, but it also slows things down a bit.

Well, Google has come up with a solution for users of its Blogger service. Blogger for Word is a free plug-in for Microsoft Word. It allows you to create, edit, and publish blog entries directly from Word.


Features
Blogger for Word installs quickly and is easy to set up. Just enter your username and password, and you’re ready to begin. The plug-in will save your information, although you should forgo this if you use a shared computer.

You can open and edit your past fifteen entries. It also gives you the option of saving blog entries as drafts on the Blogger service. Visitors won’t see the posts, but you can work on them later from any computer.


Blogger for Word: The Verdict
As a whole, the plug-in works nicely. It is unobtrusive and helps bridge the gap between Word and your blog. Those who blog frequently will appreciate the ease of use and time savings. You can also publish to several blogs.

Blogger for Word has a few quirks, but that is to be expected. Uninitiated bloggers will need to remember that formatting applied in Word won’t necessarily appear in the blog. Experienced bloggers shouldn’t have problems remembering to add html tags to their text.


Limitations
The software is also very limiting. Users must have a free Blogger account, of course. But Blogger for Word is not supported on many computers. It only works on Windows 2000 or XP with Word 2000 or later.

Unfortunately, Mac users are left in the cold, as are people with earlier versions of Word. Hopefully Google will expand support for the plug-in. Likewise, I hope to see other blogging services offer similar tools.


Where to Get it
To download the free Blogger for Word plug-in, visit this site:
http://buzz.blogger.com/bloggerforword.html

If you don’t have a Blogger account, sign up for one here:
http://www.blogger.com/start