LibreOffice

Overview

LibreOffice is a free and open source office suite developed by The Document Foundation (TDF). It is a successor to OpenOffice.org and aims to provide powerful document processing tools to replace Microsoft Office and Google Docs. It includes six major components: word processing (Writer), spreadsheet (Calc), presentation (Impress), database management (Base), vector drawing (Draw) and mathematical formula editing (Math). It supports 120 languages and runs cross-platform on Windows, macOS, Linux (such as openSUSE, Fedora) and Android/iOS (viewer). As the flagship project of the FOSS community, LibreOffice adopts MPL 2.0 and LGPLv3 licenses, emphasizing openness and community collaboration. In 2025, the latest version 25.2 (2025-02-05) has been widely praised for its format compatibility, feature richness and enterprise-level applications.

History and Development

LibreOffice's development history reflects the collaboration and innovation of the open source community:

Origin:

• September 2010: Due to the split of the OpenOffice.org community caused by Oracle's acquisition of Sun Microsystems, TDF was established and started the LibreOffice project based on the OpenOffice.org 3.3 code, promising to maintain open source and independence.
• January 25, 2011: Released LibreOffice 3.3, the first stable version, fixing bugs, optimizing performance and enhancing OpenDocument (ODF) support.

Key Milestones:

• February 2013 (4.0): Introduced RTF math expressions, Microsoft Publisher file import, and significantly improved XLSX file loading speed.
• January 2014 (4.2): Integrate IBM Lotus Symphony code, add a sidebar, and support Apple Keynote file import.
• August 2015 (5.0): Refactored UI, support for Android viewer (beta), improved OOXML compatibility.
• January 2018 (6.0): Support for OpenPGP document encryption, optimized PDF handling, minimum requirement for Windows 7 SP1.
• August 2020 (7.0): Support for ODF 1.3, new semi-transparent text and fill numbers, enhanced VBA compatibility.
• August 2022 (7.4): Official support for WebP images and 16k columns (Calc), improved DOCX import and PDF export.
• Starting from 2024: Use calendar version numbers (such as 24.2, 24.8) to more clearly reflect release dates.
• February 5, 2025: LibreOffice 25.2 released, adding Navigator tooltips, Calc duplicate record dialog and custom comment background color.

Release strategy:

• Time-driven: major releases every six months (February and August), in line with the rhythm of FOSS projects such as GNOME and openSUSE.
• Release type: 1.Fresh: such as 25.2, contains the latest features, suitable for technology enthusiasts. 2.Still: such as 24.8.7 (2025-03-26), stable version, suitable for enterprises, extended support until June 2025.
• Life cycle: each version is supported for about 9 months, and the final maintenance version (such as X.Y.4) is more stable.
• Community-driven: Contributors such as TDF, Collabora, and Red Hat collaborate through Git (https://gerrit.libreoffice.org), submitting code, testing, and releasing on a weekly basis.

Main features

LibreOffice provides the following core functions to meet diverse office needs:

1. Rich components:
   • Writer: Word processing, similar to Microsoft Word, supports DOCX, ODT, and RTF, with style management, catalog generation, mail merge, and macro recording.
   • Calc: Spreadsheet, similar to Excel, supports XLSX and ODS, with a maximum of 16k columns (starting from 7.4), provides XLOOKUP (24.8), pivot tables, and charts.
   • Impress: Presentation, similar to PowerPoint, supports PPTX and ODP, including slide animation and physical animation (starting from 7.1).
   • Draw: Vector drawing, similar to Visio, supports flowcharts, PDF editing, and WebP import (starting from 7.4).
   • Base: Database management, similar to Access, integrated with Firebird/HSQLDB, supports SQL query and form design.
   • Math: Mathematical formula editing, similar to LaTeX, embedded in Writer or Impress, supports MathML.
2. Format compatibility:
   • Support OpenDocument Format (ODF) 1.3, Microsoft Office (DOCX, XLSX, PPTX), PDF, HTML, RTF, etc.
   • Better than OOXML compatibility of Apache OpenOffice, close to the import/export fidelity of Microsoft Office.
3. Cross-platform support:
   • Runs on Windows 10/11, macOS 10.15+, Linux (openSUSE, Fedora, Ubuntu).
   • Android/iOS provides document viewer (Collabora Office), some editing functions.
4. Multi-language and localization:
   • Supports 120 languages, including Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese, and provides spell checking, translation tools and localized interfaces.
5. Extensibility:
   • Supports plug-ins (such as Zotero integration, Grammarly replacement) and VBA-compatible macros.
   • The Extension Center (https://extensions.libreoffice.org) provides templates, dictionaries, etc.
6. Security:
   • Supports OpenPGP encryption (starting from 6.0), password protection.
   • The community responds quickly to CVE vulnerabilities and releases patches (such as security fixes in 24.8.7).
7. Accessibility:
   • Supports screen readers (such as NVDA), high contrast mode, and complies with WCAG 2.1 standards.
   • 25.2 optimizes keyboard navigation and tooltips.
8. Latest features (25.2):
   • Navigator tooltips: Quickly locate titles and objects in complex documents.
   • Calc duplicate record dialog: Simplify data cleaning.
   • Custom comment background color: Enhance collaboration experience.

Advantages and limitations

Advantages

• Free and open source: No subscription fee, MPL 2.0 license allows free modification and distribution, code transparency (https://gerrit.libreoffice.org).
• Strong compatibility: Supports ODF and Microsoft Office formats, DOCX/XLSX fidelity is higher than Apache OpenOffice, suitable for cross-platform collaboration.
• Cross-platform ecosystem:
• On openSUSE Leap 15.6 (KDE Plasma), the Qt interface integrates smoothly with Writer and Calc.
• On Fedora 40 (GNOME), Flatpak and RPM installations support OpenCL acceleration (Calc).
• Community support: TDF provides an active forum (https://ask.libreoffice.org), Wiki (https://wiki.documentfoundation.org) and localization support for 120 languages.
• Enterprise-level applications: Collabora Online (based on LibreOffice) provides cloud collaboration, challenges Google Docs, and is suitable for enterprise deployment.
• Frequent updates: Released once every six months, Fresh and Still versions meet different user needs.

Limitations

• Performance bottleneck: The loading speed is slightly slower than Microsoft Office when processing very large files (such as 100MB XLSX), although memory usage has been optimized since 7.6.
• Online collaboration: Collabora Online requires server configuration, and the deployment complexity is higher than the out-of-the-box Google Docs.
• Learning curve: Advanced features (such as SQL queries in Base and macros in Writer) need to be learned, and the official documentation (https://documentation.libreoffice.org) is relatively complex.
• System requirements: Starting from 25.2, Windows 7/8.1 is no longer supported. The minimum requirement is 2GB RAM (4GB is recommended), which may limit old devices.
• Interface modernization: Although there are sidebars (starting from 4.1) and HUD search (7.2), the UI design is slightly inferior to the smoothness of Microsoft 365.

Summary

LibreOffice is a full-featured open source office suite that includes six major components: Writer, Calc, Impress, Base, Draw and Math. It supports multiple formats and cross-platforms. It started with the OpenOffice.org fork in 2010. Through the collaboration of TDF and the community, LibreOffice releases a new version every six months. The latest 25.2 (2025-02-05) brings features such as Navigator tooltips. With its freeness, compatibility and community support, LibreOffice is an ideal choice for personal, corporate and educational users, especially in the openSUSE and Fedora ecosystems.