Overview

OpenOffice Writer is the full-featured word processor bundled with the OpenOffice office suite. It provides tools for composing, formatting and printing text documents and is positioned as a free alternative to commercial products. Writer is comparable in purpose to Microsoft Word and legacy packages such as WordPerfect, and is distributed as part of the broader OpenOffice project. For information about the application itself, see the project's documentation and download pages: Writer resources.

Key features

Writer includes a range of capabilities expected from a modern word processor. These include:

  • Styles and templates: paragraph and character styles, document templates for consistent formatting.
  • Page composition: headers, footers, columns, tables of contents and page numbering.
  • Graphics and layout: embedding images, drawing objects and frame-based layout for mixed text and graphics.
  • Productivity tools: mail merge, track changes, advanced find-and-replace and automatic indexing.
  • Export and interoperability: native support for the OpenDocument Format (ODF), export to PDF and import/export of several other document formats.
  • Extensibility: extensions and a macro language (OpenOffice Basic) for custom automation.

Platform support and file formats

Writer runs on a variety of operating systems, making it suitable for mixed environments. Commonly supported platforms include Windows, Linux and macOS, and builds have also been available for systems such as FreeBSD and Solaris. The application’s native document standard is ODF, which promotes long-term accessibility. In practice, Writer can open and save many legacy and proprietary formats so users can exchange documents with other office suites and export files for print or distribution.

History and development

Originating from the OpenOffice.org era, Writer continued development under the stewardship of the Apache project and is released under the Apache License. As free and open-source software, Writer is available to anyone at no cost and can be redistributed or modified in accordance with the license. This model has led to community-driven enhancements, third-party extensions and forks in the wider open-source office software ecosystem.

Uses, comparisons and notable facts

Writer is widely used for producing letters, academic papers, reports, newsletters and other text documents where ODF compliance or a no-cost solution is preferred. It is often compared to commercial alternatives on compatibility and features; while it handles most everyday tasks and many complex layouts, users exchanging highly styled documents with advanced proprietary features may notice differences. Because it is free software and extensible, Writer remains a practical choice for individuals, schools and organisations seeking an open toolset.