File: groff.info,  Node: Common Features,  Prev: Basics,  Up: Tutorial for Macro Users

3.2 Common Features
===================

GNU 'troff' provides low-level operations for formatting a document.
Many routine operations are undertaken in nearly all documents that
require a series of such primitive operations to be performed.  These
common tasks are grouped into macros, which are then collected into a
macro package.

   Macro packages come in two varieties: "major" or "full-service" ones
that manage page layout, and "minor" or "auxiliary" ones that do not,
instead fulfilling narrow, specific tasks.  Find a list in the
'groff_tmac(5)' man page.  Type 'man groff_tmac' at the command line to
view it.

   We survey several capabilities of full-service macro package below.
Each package employs its own macros to exercise them.  For details,
consult its man page or, for 'ms', see *note ms::.

* Menu:

* Paragraphs::
* Sections and Chapters::
* Headers and Footers::
* Page Layout Adjustment::
* Displays and Keeps::
* Footnotes and Endnotes::
* Table of Contents::
* Indexing::
* Document Formats::
* Columnation::
* Font and Size Changes::
* Predefined Text::
* Preprocessor Support::
* Configuration and Customization::