AbiWord () is a
free and open-source software word processor. It is written in
C++ and since version 3 it is based on
GTK+ 3. The name "AbiWord" is derived from the root of the Spanish word "''
abierto''", meaning "open".
[Project Masco]
Abi the Ant
Page explains "Abi" is pronounced just like "Abby".
AbiWord was originally started by SourceGear Corporation as the first part of a proposed AbiSuite but was adopted by open source developers after SourceGear changed its business focus and ceased development. It now runs on
Linux
Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, whi ...
,
ReactOS, Solaris,
AmigaOS 4.0 (through its
Cygwin X11 engine),
MeeGo (on the
Nokia N9 smartphone),
Maemo (on the
Nokia N810),
QNX and other
operating systems. Development of a version for
Microsoft Windows has ended due to lack of maintainers (the latest released versions are 2.8.6 and 2.9.4 beta ).
The
macOS port has remained on version 2.4 since 2005, although the current version does run non-natively on macOS through
XQuartz
XQuartz is an open-source version of the X.Org X server, a component of the X Window System (X11, or shortened to simply X, and sometimes informally X-Windows) that runs on macOS. It formally replaced Apple's internal X11 app. The name "XQuart ...
.
AbiWord is part of the AbiSource project which develops a number of
office-related technologies.
Abiword is one of the rare text processing software which allows local users to edit simultaneously a same shared document in a local network, without the requirement of an Internet connection, since 2009.
Features
AbiWord supports both basic word processing features such as lists, indents and character formats, and more sophisticated features including tables, styles, page headers and footers,
footnotes, templates, multiple views, page columns,
spell checking, and
grammar checking.
Starting with version 2.8.0, AbiWord includes a
collaboration plugin that allows integration with AbiCollab.net, a Web-based service that permits multiple users to work on the same document
in real time, in full synchronization. The Presentation view of AbiWord, which permits easy display of presentations created in AbiWord on "screen-sized" pages, is another feature not often found in word processors.
Interface
AbiWord generally works similarly to classic versions (pre-Office 2007) of
Microsoft Word, as direct ease of migration was a high priority early goal. While many interface similarities remain, cloning the Word interface is no longer a top priority. The interface is intended to follow user interface guidelines for each respective platform.
File formats
AbiWord comes with several import and export filters providing a partial support for such formats as
HTML,
Microsoft Word (.doc),
Office Open XML (.docx),
OpenDocument Text (.odt),
Rich Text Format (.rtf), and
text document
A text file (sometimes spelled textfile; an old alternative name is flatfile) is a kind of computer file that is structured as a sequence of lines of electronic text. A text file exists stored as data within a computer file system. In operatin ...
s (.txt).
LaTeX is supported for export only. Plug-in filters are available to deal with many other formats, notably
WordPerfect documents. The native
file format, .abw, uses
XML
Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a markup language and file format for storing, transmitting, and reconstructing arbitrary data. It defines a set of rules for encoding documents in a format that is both human-readable and machine-readable. T ...
, so as to mitigate
vendor lock-in concerns with respect to interoperability and
digital archiving
A document management system (DMS) is usually a computerized system used to store, share, track and manage files or documents. Some systems include history tracking where a log of the various versions created and modified by different users is r ...
.
Grammar checking
The AbiWord project includes a US English-only grammar checking plugin using
Link Grammar. AbiWord had grammar checking before any other open source word processor, although a grammar checker was later added to
OpenOffice.org.
Link Grammar is both a theory of syntax and an open source parser which is now developed by the AbiWord project.
See also
*
List of free and open-source software packages
*
List of word processors
The following is a list of notable word processors.
Free and open-source software
* AbiWord
* Apache OpenOffice Writer
*Calligra Words
* Collabora Online Writer – enterprise-ready edition of LibreOffice, included with Online, Mobile and Desktop ...
*
Comparison of word processors
This is a comparison of word processing software.
General information
This table provides general information about selected word processors.
Characteristics
This table gives characteristics of each word processor.
Operating system compati ...
*
Office Open XML software
*
OpenDocument software
References
External links
*
*
Andrew Leonard: Abiword Up.''Salon.com'', November 15, 2002. History of the project and comparison with closed source development.
Interview with Development team after 2.6 releaseAbiWord: A Small, Swift Word Processor
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abiword
Office software that uses GTK
Free software programmed in C++
Free word processors
Linux word processors
MacOS word processors
Windows word processors
Cross-platform free software
Portable software
1998 software
Software using the GPL license