Updated by Tina Sieber on February 28, 2017.
LibreOffice, the longtime challenger to Microsoft Office, regularly receives major updates. This article discusses the makeover that LibreOffice received in a previous iteration.
In the meantime, we have covered version 5.1 of LibreOffice. Is LibreOffice worthy of the Office crown? Is LibreOffice worthy of the office crown? LibreOffice is the king of free office suites. It's unlikely to replace Microsoft Office in a business environment, but it's a great alternative for casual users. This is what's new in LibreOffice 5.1. More information explains how to install version 5.3 on Ubuntu. How to install LibreOffice 5.3 on Ubuntu in seconds. How to install LibreOffice 5.3 on Ubuntu in seconds. LibreOffice has just released version 5.3, an exciting update with all kinds of new features and improvements. Here is how to install it on Ubuntu now with one command. Read More We'll help you get (more) familiar and productive with this versatile office suite. Read more.
LibreOffice is a fork of OpenOffice Is OpenOffice shutting down? 4 Great Free Office Suite Alternatives Is OpenOffice Shutting Down? 4 Great Free Office Suite Alternatives OpenOffice is no longer a free Microsoft Office alternative you can count on. We've compiled the top four picks for Windows, Linux, and Mac Read More Detection errors and a somewhat clunky user interface (UI) have long been complaints, as have import and export formatting issues.
Has LibreOffice finally found the winning formula? And will it be enough to convert this Office user for life to save on Microsoft Office? Get Cheap or Free Office Products Save on Microsoft Office! Get Cheap or Free Office Products Reluctant to spend a few hundred dollars on a glorified word processor? You can get Microsoft Office for cheap and free alternatives. You have many options and we offer you a summary. Read more ?
Let's start with a quick overview of the new features in LibreOffice 4.4:
On first impressions, LibreOffice has really made ground on Microsoft Office. The user interface is nice. It loads noticeably faster than the previous version, 4.3, which I was playing around with last week for an upcoming alternative Excel article. Developers, The Document Foundation , I think LibreOffice 4.4 is “the most beautiful of them all” having received “a lot of UX and design love.”
The properties, styles, and sidebar tabs have also received a minor makeover. I've always liked having this selection of formatting tools to the right of my work, and LibreOffice offers this in its native setup, via Writer, Calc, Impress and Base . +1 for LibreOffice. Maybe another +.5 for color on my screen.
I am not convinced that it is the most beautiful application. always , but it looks good.
Track Your Editorial Changes How to Collaborate with Track Changes in Microsoft Word How to Contribute with Track Changes in Microsoft Word Read More and Comment Now properly , like every time you accept or reject the editorial note, it moves directly to the next one in the queue. Seeing small bugs like this finally erased from LibreOffice illustrates the desire to get parity with Office. I can see this little update gaining LibreOffice users. It has been a genuine frustration to receive documents from colleagues who use .ODF files, just for Office, or any other software package to break everything.
Importing in and out of LibreOffice has become relatively seamless. Office compatibility is a must, and the developers have recognized it. Documents saved with comments, editing, and formatting in LibreOffice export to Office and import just as well.
Inclusion of LibreOffice open source fonts Carlito and Caladea It certainly helps the process, by making the Microsoft Office Open XML (OOXML) import a bit faster, with more, if not all, of your format-escaping modification. Most of the .docx import niggling issues have also been dispelled with this 4.4 update.
The Start Center offers more dropdown options and functionality than previous iterations. Having all recently associated documents centered in the Start Center is a nice touch. However, the lack of useful and free native templates Open Office Templates To Make You More Productive Open Office Free And Useful Templates To Make You More Productive Read More Office, this could be a twist. off.
I know there are a lot of templates available for download, but Office really is great. Use Microsoft Office templates to captivate your audience and deliver information efficiently. Use Microsoft Office templates to captivate your audience and deliver information efficiently. A template is like a virtual billboard. , visually reinforcing text or data. Here we provide a basic overview of Microsoft Office templates and their options. Read More Perhaps later versions will see this feature further implemented.
Accelerated 3D renderings are coming to Windows, having already appeared on OSX and Linux for some time. Let's be honest. Slide transitions stopped being an incredibly fun tool when most of us were teenagers, but the move to include a feature that has been common on OSX and Linux will no doubt please those PowerPoint users. and LibreOffice Impress users.
As we can see in the image, the Coverity Scan Analysis metrics returned about 12,354 defects in the current code. Upon exploration, nearly 12,000 of these defects have been fixed, giving you a more compact, secure, and reliable Office suite. If the code doesn't work, your app won't work. It is logical. LibreOffice is making great progress in ironing out small problems, before they become big problems.
There are countless Office alternative articles 9 of the Best Free and Low-Cost Alternatives for Microsoft Office 9 of the Best Free and Low-Cost Alternatives for Microsoft Office Microsoft Office has dominated the market for word documents, spreadsheets, and slideshows for years, and for good reason, it's one of the best. However, there is a downside and that is the price... Read more about the virtues of LibreOffice over Microsoft Office, but this article is not one of them.
Yes, The Document Foundation has upped its game with LibreOffice 4.4, and yes, it is quite beautiful all year. Even better, it's completely free, and if that's something you need from your software, I highly recommend downloading and using it.
However, it still can't compete with Microsoft Office across the board. I can be partial. I could. But Word does almost everything right for me. The top menu, and the properties on the right and the formatting tab is a plus, but I can rearrange Word for this purpose. Excel Still Packs a Powerful Punch Excel Vs. Access:Can a Spreadsheet Replace a Database? Excel Vs. Access:Can a Spreadsheet Replace a Database? Which tool should I use to manage the data? Access and Excel both have data filtering, compiling, and querying. We will show you which one is the most suitable for your needs. Read More
Is better. It's not the winner.
Has the beautiful new LibreOffice inspired you to jump ships? What would make you leave Microsoft Office for an alternative? Let us know in the comments below!
