AbiWord is a free software word processor licensed under the GNU General Public License. The name "AbiWord" is derived from the root of the Spanish word abierto, meaning "open". It is supported on Linux, Mac OS X (PowerPC), Microsoft Windows, ReactOS, BeOS, AmigaOS 4.0 (through its Cygnix X11 engine), and other operating systems.

AbiWord was originally started by SourceGear Corporation as the first component of AbiSuite, as part of a plan to create a full Office Suite that would be free software. However, SourceGear gradually moved on to other business interests, and now the AbiWord project is run by a team of volunteer developers. AbiWord is part of GNOME Office, a collection of office applications with some degree of integration.

Features

AbiWord has a comprehensive language database with multiple languages. It also has support for tables and footnotes, as well as a spell checker and an advanced grammar checking system.

Interface

AbiWord has a similar user interface to classic versions of Microsoft Word, which is intended to ease migration for new users. Although there are differences, the AbiWord developers aim to embrace and extend this de facto standard in business. The interface is intended to follow user interface guidelines for each respective platform.

File formats

AbiWord is packaged with several import/export filters, including Rich Text Format, HTML, OpenDocument, and Microsoft Word. 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, so as to mitigate vendor lock-in concerns with respect to interoperability and also digital archiving.