YOU’LL NEED THIS

A RECENT INSTALL OF LIBREOFFICE 24.2

Java Runtime Environment (For certain Base features)

LIBREOFFICE BEGAN its life in 2010 as a fork of OpenOffice.org, which was itself an open-source fork of StarOffice. This productivity suite is developed and maintained by TDF (The Document Foundation), which remains loyal to its open-source roots. This means that unlike Microsoft Office, LibreOffice is cross platform as ports exist for Windows, macOS, and Linux.

The suite consists of a word processor (Writer), spreadsheet software (Calc), presentation program (Impress), a vector graphics editor (Draw), an application for editing mathematical formulae (Math), and a database management program (Base). LibreOffice defaults to the OpenDocument Format when saving files, but can also open, edit, and save Microsoft formats like Microsoft Word (.docx).

The most recent release of LibreOffice (24.2.3) was made available in early May, and comes with some promising new features. While TDF doesn’t seek to emulate Microsoft Office exactly, LibreOffice does have very similar functionality, with the exception of offering a free online version in the vein of Office 365. Self-hosted solutions are available for ‘LibreOffice online’ for those with the time and patience to set up the suite on their own server.

In this tutorial, we’ll discuss the basics of setting up and customizing your LibreOffice install, as well as becoming familiar with the user interface of the principal apps.

–NATE DRAKE

1 CUSTOMIZE YOUR INSTALL

Setting up LibreOffice is a case of pointing your browser to https://libreoffice.org and clicking ‘Download’. The installer is available for both 32-bit and 64-bit Windows systems.

» Sharp-eyed readers will see that there are in fact two versions for download. LibreOffice 24.2.x is the focus of this tutorial, and contains all the latest features. However, you can also download LibreOffice 7.6.7. This version is older, but has the benefit of being more stable due to the longer testing period.

» The default download is for the US English version of Office. If you want another language or regional variation, such as British English, click ‘Need Another Language?’ to download the relevant installer. [Image A]

» If you need LibreOffice to support multiple languages, during the install process change the setup type from ‘Typical’ to ‘Custom’. Now, you can install features like language packs.

» The custom install is divided into two main sections: ‘Optional Components’ and ‘User Interface Languages’. If you’re happy with the default interface language and just want to install extra language dictionaries, expand ‘Optional Components’ > ‘Dictionaries’. By default, LibreOffice installs dictionaries for English, French, and Spanish.