One of the main raps against the Fire is that it’s really only good for consuming content. Tasks like reading an ebook, watching a TV show, or browsing email make sense on its paperback-sized screen. But are you really going to use its smallish keyboard and display to create anything? If you’re like most Fire fans, the answer is probably not. But if you’re one of those mobile-loving road warriors, the desire may be there.

To be sure, it’s not easy to compose long documents using the three tools—Documents to Go, Quickoffice, and OfficeSuite—profiled in this section. The biggest hindrance is hardware related: The onscreen keyboard doesn’t lend itself to tapping out a novel (and you can’t attach an external one). But if you’ve ever wished to leave your five-pound laptop behind for that day trip or overnight, the Fire’s first generation of file-editing apps is encouraging news. These three apps can be surprisingly powerful for viewing, editing, sharing, and even creating documents from scratch. Each app may be missing a feature or two, but keep reading, and you’re likely to find one that matches your needs.

All three apps handle most Office 101 skills. In the word processing utilities, you get undo/redo; zoomable views (good for increasing onscreen legibility without changing the text’s actual font size); bullet and numbered lists; a handful of font choices; and basic styling (italics, bold, paragraph alignment). With spreadsheets, you can create and navigate between multiple worksheets; format cell number style (currency, date, time); pick from a large catalog of ready-to-use functions (AVERAGE, COUNTIF, LOOKUP); and add rows and columns. The PowerPoint stand-ins are the most limited, at least in terms of features shared by all three apps. Every one in the trio lets you view presentations made on a computer, but don’t count on extremely sophisticated formatting, and builds and transitions don’t show up on the small screen.

Opening and emailing files work much the same way in all three apps, too. You can email files to yourself and then, in whichever app you use for that task, tap the message’s Open button and pick the Office-viewing app you want to use to open the attachment. If you transfer a file from your computer to your Fire (as described on USB Cable and WiFi Transfers), you need only to navigate in the Office-viewing app to whichever folder you stashed your file in. To move files in the other direction—that is, email them off your Fire—simply add an attachment in your email app of choice; a pop-up menu lets you pick the file.

On the other hand, the apps vary greatly in their willingness to interact with online storage services like Google Docs and Dropbox. So-called Cloud-based offerings like these can be supremely useful for big travelers and those who move between multiple computers, smartphones, and tablets. You never have to worry about where the latest version is—it’s always stored online.

One final similarity worth mentioning: All three apps come in cheap (sometimes free) and expensive versions. The cheap kind gets you the ability to view, but not create or edit, a file. For that, you need to pony up for the more expensive edition.