The Similarity checker goes live in the Word Editor feature

Jun 28, 2020 07:45 GMT  ·  By

Microsoft has recently announced a so-called Similarity checker, a new tool that’s bundled with the Editor tool in Microsoft Word and supposed to help determine if the text in a document is original or requires attribution.

Currently available for Microsoft 365 EDU A3 and A5 customers who run preview builds of the Office productivity suite, the Similarity checker is due to go live for everybody in July this year.

Once launched, the new feature can help determine how much of a document is similar to online sources, at some level also helping prevent plagiarism. It provides a bunch of other recommendations, including tools to let you know where you need to insert in-text citations.

Using the Bing platform to search for similar sources

The whole thing is powered by Bing, so it performs a search online to look for other sources that are similar to your document.

“The Similarity checker can identify and help writers with originality in their writing and learn more about appropriate attribution through tools that facilitate the easy insertion of relevant citations. This can aid writers in focusing less on the mechanics of writing, and more on the content,” Microsoft says.

Microsoft’s overhauled Editor feature is an effort aimed against the likes of Grammarly and others, all of which have gained traction lately, especially thanks to the increased adoption of Microsoft Office in the first place. But Microsoft wants to keep users on its platforms, so the Editor is supposed to provide everyone with the necessary tools to improve their writing without the need for turning to third-party products.

Right now, the Editor can also provide a series of useful stats for each document, including readability, the number of unique words, and how much time is needed to read and speak the document.

The Similarity checker is part of this push, and there’s a chance Microsoft is also planning other improvements that would be released as Microsoft 365 gets refined.