Apparently there’s supposed to be very useful, and easier to use than just marking up the text. But in my experience they’ve been worse than useless.
I have to disable styles and autoformat to edit text.
If I don’t disable styles, then LibreOffice changes how things are formatted. I know styles are supposed to make it easier to apply consistent formatting, but in my experience, they make it harder, because LibreOffice, etc. can:
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Decide something is a header when it isn’t, or vice versa.
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Decide something is a list, when it isn’t, or vice-versa.
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Decide that one list is actually two lists, or partly a list and partly regular paragraphs, with different formatting for each section.
If I don’t disable autoformat, then LibreOffice changes what I’m typing. For example, it collects half-typed and mistyped words, and completes other words. I’m too clumsy [with proprioceptive issues, arm injuries, etc.] to avoid ever mistyping words. For another example, it sometimes tries to apply “smart” quotes. Having seen too many “smart” quotes turn into silly gibberish, especially when written with one app and opened with another, I want to avoid “smart” quotes.