Microsoft Word vs Google Docs: Keyboard Shortcuts Compared
Word and Google Docs converge on the basics almost entirely — decades of shared word-processing convention mean Ctrl+B, Ctrl+I, and Ctrl+S behave identically in both — but they diverge meaningfully around styles application and real-time collaboration features, reflecting their genuinely different origins: Word as a desktop application built for deep offline document control, Google Docs as a browser-native tool built around simultaneous multi-user editing from day one.
| Action | Microsoft Word | Google Docs | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bold selected text | Ctrl+B | Ctrl+B | Identical. |
| Apply Heading 1 | Ctrl+Alt+1 | Ctrl+Alt+1 | Identical binding, though Docs' heading menu structure differs slightly. |
| Insert comment | Ctrl+Alt+M | Ctrl+Alt+M | Identical in modern versions of both. |
| Word count | Ctrl+Shift+C (varies by version) | Ctrl+Shift+C | Similar, though exact default varies by Word version/region. |
| Clear formatting | Ctrl+Spacebar | Ctrl+\\ | Genuinely different keys for the same action — a common point of confusion switching between the two. |
Basic formatting shortcuts are essentially universal
Bold, italic, underline, save, undo, redo, and copy/paste all use identical key combinations in both applications, reflecting decades of accumulated word-processing convention that neither Microsoft nor Google had any reason to deviate from for such foundational actions.
Applying heading styles differs meaningfully
Word uses Ctrl+Alt+1 through Ctrl+Alt+3 for Heading 1 through 3 by default. Google Docs instead uses Ctrl+Alt+1 through Ctrl+Alt+6 for a wider range of heading levels, and also supports typing a Markdown-style '# ' shorthand in some contexts. The core concept (named, reusable heading styles) is shared, but the exact key range and typed shorthand support differ.
Comments and collaboration reflect each tool's origin
Google Docs, built from inception around real-time multi-user editing, offers Ctrl+Alt+M to insert a comment anchored to selected text with essentially no friction, reflecting how central commenting and suggestion-based editing are to its core workflow. Word's Track Changes and comment system (Ctrl+Alt+M as well, in recent versions) work well but were historically designed around asynchronous document review rather than truly simultaneous live editing, even though modern Word with OneDrive/SharePoint has added real-time co-authoring capability.
Verdict
For document creation and everyday editing, the two are close enough that fluency in one transfers almost completely to the other, apart from the clear-formatting key mismatch worth deliberately noting. Teams choosing between them tend to base that decision on collaboration model and ecosystem (Microsoft 365 integration versus Google Workspace) far more than on any meaningful shortcut-level friction, since the shortcut differences that do exist are narrow and specific rather than pervasive.
FAQ
Why does Clear Formatting use such different keys between the two?
There's no deep technical reason — Microsoft and Google's product teams each independently settled on a convenient unused key combination for this action without coordinating, the same kind of unforced, independent divergence that shows up in several other cross-application shortcut comparisons rather than reflecting any meaningful difference in what the feature actually does.
Does real-time co-authoring in Word now match Google Docs' collaborative editing?
Modern Word, when a document is stored on OneDrive or SharePoint, supports real-time simultaneous multi-user editing reasonably close to Google Docs' experience, including seeing other users' cursors live. Google Docs still has an edge in how deeply collaboration-first its entire interaction model was designed from the ground up, but the practical gap for everyday collaborative editing has narrowed considerably in recent years.
See full references: Microsoft Word shortcuts · Google Docs shortcuts