Simplicity and flexibility: choose the right LibreOffice interface for you

With free and open source software, you get back control – over your software, your data, and your computer as a whole. And in the LibreOffice community, we strive to create the best user experience, but we also recognise that different users have different requirements.

To this end, LibreOffice includes three main user interface designs, accessible via View > Toolbar Layout in the menu. Let’s go through them…

The first layout, Default, is what you see when you first install LibreOffice:

It’s a familiar layout with two toolbars containing various buttons. (Note that you can customise and add buttons to the toolbars if desired.)

Then there is the single mode, which opts for simplicity and minimalism, giving you more screen space to really focus on your content:

And finally, the third option is the sidebar, which uses horizontal space to provide buttons and options for your work:

So LibreOffice gives you the freedom and flexibility to choose the right interface for you. But we’re not finished yet! Our design community is working on the Notebookbar, another (optional) user interface:

It’s still experimental, but you can try it out and help us to improve it, so that we can polish it up and include it in future releases! Join our design community to provide feedback – and thank you!

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