# Chapter 2. Introduction

# 2.1. Introduction

KOffice is an integrated office suite for the K Desktop Environment (KDE). KOffice currently consists of the following programs:

KWord (a frames-based wordprocessor)
KSpread (a spreadsheet application)
KPresenter (screen and slide presentations)
KIllustrator (a vector drawing application)
KImageShop (a bitmap image editor)
Katabase (a database application)
KFormula (an editor for mathematical formulae)
KChart (a charts/graphs drawing application)
KImage (an image viewer)

Because they are based on the KParts component model, KOffice programs are designed to work very well with each other. Any KOffice component can be embedded in another KOffice document. For instance, you can insert a table which you created in KSpread directly into a KWord document. In this way, complex, compound documents can be created using KOffice programs.

A plug-in mechanism makes it easy to extend the functionality of KOffice. Already, there are two applications, a macro recorder and a calculator, which show how this can be done.

This manual only covers the general features of KOffice, those that are common to most or all programs in the suite. For detailed information about the different programs, have a look at the other manuals. FIXME LINK!