In many respects, OpenOffice.org Writer looks like any other word processor. But behind its unassuming interface hides a slew of powerful features, which can help you to create and manage even the most complex documents with consummate ease and efficiency. One such feature is Styles

Writer is, without a doubt, the most frequently used application in the OpenOffice.org suite. It offers many advanced features that can help you to create anything from a simple letter to a book with a complex layout. But, as with any powerful application, you often have to dig deep in order to get the most out of Writer.

Contrary to the conventional wisdom that a word processor can’t help you to become a better writer, you can use OpenOffice.org Writer with the Writer's Tools extension to improve your writing skills and make the writing process more efficient.

Many professional translators use computer-assisted translation (CAT) tools such as SDLX, TRADOS, Déjà Vu and WordFast. But since integrate tightly with Microsoft Word, you can’t use them with OpenOffice.org Writer. The Anaphraseus extension provides solution to the problem: using it, you can turn Writer into a powerful CAT tool.

Writer’s Tools is a set of utilities designed to help OpenOffice.org users perform a wide range of tasks. Using Writer’s Tools, you can back up documents, look up and translate words and phrases, manage text snippets, and keep tabs on document statistics.

OpenOffice.org Writer is as much a desktop publishing program as a word processor.

Do you fancy Web-based word processors but aren't ready to leave OpenOffice.org? You can work with your Zoho Writer and Google Docs files from the convenience of OpenOffice.org Writer, courtesy of the OoGdocsIntegrator extension.

Wikis are a great way to collaborate on text documents, but different wikis sometimes use incompatible wiki markup languages, and few wikis provide simple WYSIWYG editors to shorten the learning curve. Even for those fluent in wiki markup, using a word processor to create wiki content is often more convenient -- especially for publishing existing documents and for creating complex tables.

Despite the fact that open source has specialty label-and-business-card programs, most users are going to continue to create their documents in the word processor they feel most comfortable with like OpenOffice.org Writer.