Formatting isn't just looks. Formatting can cover properly numbered paragraphs, with a hierarchy so that you always know which subsection you are referring to.

Formatting isn't just looks. Formatting can cover properly numbered paragraphs, with a hierarchy so that you always know which subsection you are referring to. So that when you have to insert new paragraphs in the middle of 50, 500, 1000 paragraphs, the numbering flows naturally. It can include styling, making sure consistent headers are used, so that the navigation pane is actually useful. Consistent application of styles between team members also means copy-paste between documents works exactly as intended, with the pasted content automatically and correctly adopting the header, numbering, and font styles of the document. Correct cross referencing can make it such that word automatically updates references to paragraph numbers when they change. Hyperlinking can be a godsend when you are working in a long document with multiple defined terms and interlinked sections. All of these "mere" formatting features are a godsend when a team of 5 is working on one giant document.