"Support to do" or "Support doing"

Question

I am writing features for our product, such as:

• Support to repair corrupt Outlook PST file.
• Support to recover message body and subject.

...

Here Support is used as a verb instead of noun. It is an abbreviation of "Our tool supports to repair corrupt Outlook PST file".

A similar sample can be found in https://www.winzip.com/en/product/winzip/#features, where there is a feature "Organize your photos in the cloud". Here Organize is a verb.

However, the Grammarly extension in Chrome will always suggest me to change "Support to do" to "Support doing".

I try to search online, and it seems both are OK. And I see many software use "Support to do" as their feature lists as well.

So, just wonder which one is correct?

Answer 1

'Support' can be used as a verb or a noun:

• We support you (verb)
• We give you support (noun)

Your bullet-pointed list of features uses it as a noun, and as a native British English speaker with 25 years of experience in IT support I would say the most idiomatic way to state this would be:

• Support for repairing corrupt Outlook PST files.
• Support for recovering message body and subject.

This is because the support is a permanent feature and presumably can be used more than once, as required. Saying "support to repair a file" could sound like you assume they already have a corrupt file and they can only use the feature once.

Answer 2

To answer your specific question:

However, the Grammarly extension in Chrome will always suggest me to change "Support to do" to "Support doing"...So, just wonder which one is correct?

In your specific case, you should use "supports doing" as shorthand for "this product supports doing".

However, I think you are overcomplicating your writing.

The following is writing advice.

Looking at the Winzip site you provided as an example, we can see the following list of features:

• More efficient file compression with duplicate file detection
• Organize your photos in the cloud
• Automatically save cloud files
• Experience better Zipx Compression
• Seamless integration with Microsoft Teams
• Access and edit files shared with you by others

Notice that none of them begin with the word "Support". This is because that word isn't needed and would be redundant. It would be visual clutter on the webpage as well:

• Supports more efficient file compression with duplicate file detection
• Supports organizing your photos in the cloud
• Supports automatically saving cloud files
• Supports experiencing better Zipx Compression
• Supports seamless integration with Microsoft Teams
• Supports accessing and editing files shared with you by others

Used in this way, "support" could be considered a filler word. The goal should be for each feature to be fully described in the most concise and clear way possible. Filler words should be avoided.

Answer 3

The word "support" is not the right word to use if you're describing a product. When you're describing something that a product does, "support" is too weak or too vague. You can use it, however, when you describe something that a product tolerates or accommodates, rather than actively does.

For example, while you can say:

Our product supports repairing corrupt Outlook PST files.

You would typically say (at least in American English):

Our product repairs corrupt Outlook PST files. or

Our product helps you repair corrupt Outlook PST files.

But you might say:

Our product supports both single- and double-byte languages.

You might also hear support used more often when talking about services rather than products.

Answer 4

Product support:

Our product repairs corrupt Outlook PST file.
It recovers the body of messages and message subjects.