User Reviews

AbiWord

AbiWord is a free word processing program similar to Microsoft Word. It is suitable for typing papers, letters, reports, memos and any other document. The program has an attractive, professional inte ...

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Average of 8 user ratings:

Mar 12, 2007
For version:
2.4.4

Abiword is a life saver!

Interface: 5
Features: 5
Ease of use: 5
Value: 5
Overall:

AbiWord is very easy to use and looks great. The size of it is very small considering what exactly it is, which works perfectly for me since I have some what of a small hard drive. The only down side of the program is that it doesn't include anything similar to excel, but as long as you don't use excel then that's not a problem. AbiWord gets a definite 5 star rating!

Review by: Galskygge (3)
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Feb 25, 2007
For version:
2.4.4

Good word processor

Interface: 3
Features: 2
Ease of use: 5
Value: 5
Overall:

I was searching a simple and serious alternative to MS Word, and my search ended with Abiword, it has all the features i need, and is relatively light. First of all it's stable (i had several instability problems with Open Office), and does the job very well without all the bell and whistle ala MSWord. Go for it!

Review by: johnick (2)
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Jan 29, 2007
For version:
2.4.4

Nice little word processor . . .

Interface: 4
Features: 4
Ease of use: 4
Value: 4
Overall:

We aren't talking MS Word here, nor are we talking OpenOffice.org. However, this little fellow does a good job considering its size. It has a nice appearance and is easy to learn because it is just about the same as Word and OOo. The only thing I have ever seen wrong with it is it occasionally nests fonts and has done so for as many versions back as I can recall. That aside, it is a slick program that can handle small writing needs in a big way and it is free. Not all that long ago a little program like this would cost over four hundred dollars. It reminds me of Word Perfect 5.2 for Windows and works just as well. I have it on a small laptop, that is, the laptop has a small hard drive and this program fits nicely. It has managed to push word processing programs like CryptEdit and Jarte out of the laptop computer because it works so well. My rating is a very good for this program. JMM

Review by: JMMannion (15)
Read all 15 reviews by JMMannion

May 29, 2006
For version:
2.4.4

I want it

Interface: 5
Features: 5
Ease of use: 5
Value: 5
Overall:

The only reason I don't use AbiWord instead of MS Word is because it wouldn't be fair to my family, who all use this machine (and MS Word) and I don't want to install excess programs to take up space. When I did download this just to test it, I found it wonderful! I'm actually envious of those who get to use it because it's so much smaller, loads so fast, and has all the tools needed to write and format good documents. MS Word is so supersaturated with tools that people never use that it's just ridiculous. AbiWord, on the other hand, is just right. She's small, beautiful, and young. I want her.

Review by: iceytina (7)
Read all 7 reviews by iceytina

May 25, 2006
For version:
2.4.4

Fantastic!

Interface: 5
Features: 5
Ease of use: 5
Value: 5
Overall:

I have uninstalled MS Word (154MB) and installed Abiword (only 22Mb). It starts quicker, is easier to use (and easier on the eye) and I highly recommend it!

Review by: alanhayward (8)
Read all 8 reviews by alanhayward

Mar 06, 2006
For version:
2.06

Great surface, bad internals

Interface: 4
Features: 4
Ease of use: 1
Value: 1
Overall:

Each new "stable" edition, time after time after time, brings new, non-obscure bugs. If you want an open source editor, go with Open Office.

Review by: Murrell
First post

Nov 08, 2004
For version:
2.06

A real contender, but with stability issues

Interface: 5
Features: 4
Ease of use: 5
Value: 5
Overall:

Abiword is a very well designed app: clear and logical interface, features adequate for just about any normal text task, and good speed. But on my WinXP Pro SP2 system, at least, attempts to paste and reformat text from web pages invariably cause fatal-error crashes. Doing a select-all and applying a style from the formatting menu seems to reduce the incidence of crashes, but that's a second-best solution. Perhaps this crashing problem is confined to some system configurations. Apart from that, I would cheerfully use Abiword for lots of text editing that doesn't justify firing up bloatware like Word. I hope the developers keep refining this very user-friendly product.

Review by: AxelKassel (2)
Read all 2 reviews by AxelKassel

Jun 27, 2004
For version:
2.06

No japanese?

Interface: 5
Features: 3
Ease of use: 4
Value: 5
Overall:

Looks fantastic, but it doesn't appear to be able to handle Japanese input or fonts. Crashes at every attempt. Wish it worked because it's very lovely software!

Review by: PlasticGiraffe
First post