How readable is your document?

Did you know that Microsoft Word has a built-in readability feature, which uses the Flesch Reading Ease score. It rates text on a 100-point scale; the higher the score, the easier the document is to understand. For most documents, you should aim for a score of around 60 to 70.

To activate this feature (in 2010, 2013, 2016), do the following:

1. Click the File tab, and then click Options

2. Click Proofing

3. Under When correcting spelling and grammar in Word, make sure the Check grammar with spelling check box is selected

4. Select Show readability statistics

After you enable this feature, open a file that you want to check, click the Review tab then click Spelling & Grammar. When Microsoft Word finishes checking spelling and grammar, it displays the Readability Statistics. Voila!