Comparison of word processors

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Contents 1 General information 2 Characteristics 3 Operating System Compatibility 4 Import or Open capabilities 5 Export or Save capabilities 6 See also 7 Notes 8 External links

[edit] General information

This table provides general information about selected word processors.

Word Processor	Example(s)	Creator	Latest Stable Version	First Release	Cost (USD)	Open source	License
AbiWord		SourceGear Corporation	2.6.6 (January 17, 2009)	May 19, 1999	Free	Yes	GPL
Angel Writer		Angelic Software	3.2 (May 26, 2009)	2003	Free	No	Proprietary
AppleWorks		Apple Inc.	6.2.9	1984	$79.00	No	Proprietary
Applix Word		Vistasource Inc.	6.0	1992	???	No	Proprietary
Atlantis Nova		Rising Sun Solutions, Inc	1.0.0.70	Earliest copyright date in the About Window is from 2000	Free	No	Proprietary
Atlantis Word Processor		Rising Sun Solutions, Inc	1.6.3.0	Earliest copyright date in the About Window is from 2000	$35.00	No	Proprietary
CopyDesk		Quark, Inc.	7 (2007)	1991	$249	No	Proprietary
EZ Word		The Andrew Consortium	7.5 (1996)	1985	Free	Yes	BSD license
FrameMaker		Adobe Systems Incorporated	9.0	1986	$799	No	Proprietary
Gobe Productive		Gobe Software	3	Aug 1998	$49.95	No	Proprietary
Han/Gul (HWP)		Haansoft	7.0.2.226(2007)	1989	~$219	No	Proprietary
Ichitaro		JustSystems	16 (?) / Ichitaro 2006	1983	$170 approx. (20,000 yen)	No	Proprietary
InCopy		Adobe Systems Incorporated	5.0 (2007)	1999	$249	No	Proprietary
Jarte		Carolina Road Software, LLC	3.3	July, 2001	Free	No	Proprietary
KWord		KDE	1.6.3 (June 2007)	1998	Free	Yes	LGPL
Lotus Symphony		IBM (International Business Machines)'s Lotus Software	1.1	2008	Free	No	Proprietary
Lotus Word Pro		IBM (International Business Machines)'s Lotus Software	9.8.5 (2007)	1989 (Originally Samna Ami Pro)	part of Lotus SmartSuite	No	Proprietary
LyX		The LyX Project	1.6.2	1999-02-01	Free	Yes	GPL
Mariner Write		Mariner software	3.7.2	1996	$49.95	No	Proprietary
Mellel		RedleX	2.6.1	2002	$49.00	No	Proprietary
Microsoft Word		Microsoft Corporation	12.0 / Office 2007 (Windows) or 2008 (Mac OS)	May 2, 1983	~$229	No	Proprietary
Microsoft Works		Microsoft Corporation	9.0	October, 1987 (MS Works for DOS)	$39.95	No	Proprietary
NeoOffice Writer		Planamesa Software	2.2.4	2005-06-02	Free	Yes	GPL
Nisus Writer		Nisus Software	7.0 (Express)	1989	$69.95	No	Proprietary
Nota Bene		Nota Bene, formerly Dragonfly Software	8.0	1982	$399.00	No	Proprietary
OpenOffice.org Writer		Sun Microsystems	3.1 (May 2009)	October 2000	Free	Yes	LGPL
Pages		Apple Inc.	4.0.2 / May 28, 2009	February 2005	part of the iWork '09 suite, $79	No	Proprietary
PolyEdit		PolySoft Solutions	5.2	1998	$27.95	No	Proprietary
StarOffice		Sun Microsystems	9	1994	$34.95	No	Proprietary - LGPL Version is released as Open Office
StarOffice Writer from Google Pack		Sun Microsystems	8	1994	Free	No	Proprietary - LGPL Version is released as Open Office
Ted		Mark de Does	2.20(June 1009)	1999	Free	Yes	GPL
TextEdit		Apple Inc.	1.4 (220)	Around 1993? as part of NeXT's OPENSTEP OS which later became part of Mac OS X	Free	Yes	Proprietary
TextMaker		SoftMaker Software GmbH	2008	Earliest copyright date in the About Window is from 1987	Free for TextMaker 2006; 2008 version $79.95	No	Proprietary
WordFile4ME		Byron Software	4.55.21	Earliest copyright date in the Readme File is 1999	$15.00	No	Proprietary
WordPad		Microsoft Corporation	6.0.6001.18000	1995	Free	No	Proprietary
WordPerfect		Corel Corporation	X4/April 2008	1980	$299.99	No	Proprietary
Word Processor	Example(s)	Creator	Latest Stable Version	First Release	Cost (USD)	Open source	License

[edit] Characteristics

This table gives characteristics of each word processor.

Word Processor	Grammar checker	Graphic Editing	Mail Merging	Spell checker	Smartfont typography [1]
AbiWord	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
AppleWorks				Yes
Applix Word
Atlantis Word Processor				Yes
CopyDesk	No		No	Yes
EZ Word
FrameMaker	No	Yes		Yes	No
Gobe Productive
GNU TeXmacs	No	Yes (only own graphics)	No	Yes	No
Groff
Han/Gul	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Ichitaro	Yes (for Japanese)			Yes (for Japanese)	No
InCopy	No		No	Yes
Jarte	No	No	No	Yes	No
KWord	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Lotus Symphony	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Lotus Word Pro	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
LyX	Yes[2]			Yes	Yes
Mariner Write	No	No	Yes	Yes	No
Mathematica	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Mellel	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Microsoft Word	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Microsoft Works	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
NeoOffice Writer
Nisus Writer
Nota Bene
OpenOffice.org Writer	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Pages	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
PolyEdit				Yes
StarOffice Writer	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Ted	No	No	No	Yes
TextEdit	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
TextMaker		Yes	Yes	Yes
WordFile4ME
WordPerfect	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Word Processor	Grammar checker	Graphic Editing	Mail Merging	Spell checker	Smartfont typography [1]

[edit] Operating System Compatibility

This table gives a comparison of what operating systems are compatible with each word processor in their last version.

Word Processor	Windows	Mac OS X	Linux	BSD	BeOS/Zeta	AmigaOS/MorphOS	UNIX	other
AbiWord	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (AOS: through X11 engine)	Yes	SkyOS
AppleWorks	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No
Applix Word	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
Atlantis Word Processor	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
CopyDesk	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No
EZ Word	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No
FrameMaker	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No
Gobe Productive	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
GNU TeXmacs	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No
Groff	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No
Han/Gul	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
Ichitaro	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
InCopy	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No
Jarte	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
KWord	Yes (Alpha)	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No
Lotus Symphony	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
Lotus Word Pro	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
LyX	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No
Mariner Write	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No
Mathematica	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No
Mellel	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No
Microsoft Word	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No
Microsoft Works	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
NeoOffice Writer	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No
Nisus Writer	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No
Nota Bene	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
OpenOffice.org Writer	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	OpenVMS
Pages	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No
PolyEdit	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
StarOffice Writer	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
Ted	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No
TextEdit	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No
TextMaker	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No
WordFile4ME	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
WordPerfect	Yes	No	No (since 2000)	No	No	No (last : AOS up to WP4.1 in 1987)	No (since 1994)	OpenVMS1
Word Processor	Windows	Mac OS X	Linux	BSD	BeOS/Zeta	AmigaOS/MorphOS	UNIX	other

1. can run unsupported Version 5.1

[edit] Import or Open capabilities

This table gives a comparison of the file formats each word processor can import or open.

Word Processor	HTML	LaTeX	ODF .odt	RTF	Word .doc	WordPerfect	OOXML .docx	SXW	UOF
AbiWord	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Atlantis Word Processor	No	No	No	Yes[3]	Yes	No	Yes
CopyDesk	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
FrameMaker	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	No
GNU TeXmacs	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No
InCopy	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	No
Jarte	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes[4]
KWord	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No
IBM Lotus Symphony	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No
Lotus Word Pro	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
LyX	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	with external program	No	No	No
Mariner Write	No	No	No	Yes	No	No
Mathematica	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No
Microsoft Word	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
Microsoft Works	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
NeoOffice Writer	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
OpenOffice.org Writer	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Pages	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No
PolyEdit	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
RedOffice	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
StarOffice Writer	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Ted	No	No	No	Yes	No	No
TextEdit	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
TextMaker	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No
WordPerfect	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
Word Processor	HTML	LaTeX	ODF .odt	RTF	Word .doc	WordPerfect	OOXML .docx	SXW	UOF

[edit] Export or Save capabilities

This table gives a comparison of the file formats each word processor can export or save.

Word Processor	HTML	LaTeX	ODF .odt	PDF	RTF	Word .doc	WordPerfect	OOXML .docx	UOF
AbiWord	Yes	Yes	Yes	Partial (Linux ver.)[5]	Yes	Yes	Yes disabled [2]	No	No
Atlantis Word Processor	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
CopyDesk	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
FrameMaker	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No
GNU TeXmacs	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No
InCopy	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	No
Jarte	Yes	No	No	Yes[6]	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
KWord	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
IBM Lotus Symphony	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
Lotus Word Pro	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
LyX	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
Mariner Write	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	No
Mathematica	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	No
Microsoft Word	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Microsoft Works	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
NeoOffice Writer	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
OpenOffice.org Writer	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes
Pages	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
PolyEdit	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
RedOffice	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes
StarOffice Writer	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
Ted	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No	No
TextEdit	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
TextMaker	Yes	No	Yes	Yes (ver 2008)	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
WordPerfect	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
Word Processor	HTML	LaTeX	ODF .odt	PDF	RTF	Word .doc	WordPerfect	OOXML .docx	UOF

[edit] See also

• List of word processors
• Comparison of spreadsheets
• Comparison of text editors
• Comparison of office suites
• Office suite
• Online office suite

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• Chronology of Events in the History of Microcomputers
• Comparison of Word and LaTeX in scientific writing
• Top 5 Free Online Word Processors
• Online word processors: A hands-on comparison

v • d • e Word processors Open source AbiWord · Bean · GNU TeXmacs · KWord · LyX · NeoOffice · OpenOffice.org Writer Freeware Atlantis Nova  · Jarte (standard) · IBM Lotus Symphony Retail Cross-platform Adobe InCopy · Corel WordPerfect · Microsoft Word · StarOffice Writer Mac OS only Apple Pages · Nisus Writer · Mellel Windows only Atlantis Word Processor · IBM Lotus Word Pro · Jarte (enhanced) · Microsoft Works · PolyEdit · Scientific WorkPlace · WordPad Category  • Comparison  • List