ODF 1.3 is an OASIS Standard

The Document Foundation is pleased to announce that LibreOffice’s native document format – the OpenDocument Format for Office Applications (ODF) 1.3 – has been approved as OASIS Standard with 14 affirmative consents and no objections. ODF is a free, open XML-based document file format for office applications, to be used for documents containing text, spreadsheets, charts and graphical elements. ODF 1.3 is an update to the international standard Version 1.2, which was approved by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) as ISO/IEC 26300 (2015).

The OpenDocument Format specifies the characteristics of an open XML-based application-independent and platform-independent digital document file format, as well as the characteristics of software applications which read, write and process such documents. It is applicable to document authoring, editing, viewing, exchange and archiving, including text documents, spreadsheets, presentation graphics, drawings, charts and similar documents commonly used by personal productivity software applications.

The most important new features of ODF 1.3 are digital signatures for documents and OpenPGP-based encryption of XML documents, with improvements in areas such as change tracking and document security, additional details in the description of elements in first pages, text, numbers and charts, and other timely improvements. The development of ODF 1.3 features has been funded by donations to The Document Foundation.

ODF Technical Committee has received 3 Statements of Use from The Document Foundation, CIBlabs GmbH, and Collabora Productivity.

ODF 1.3 Specification can be downloaded from OASIS website.

Part 1: Introduction
https://docs.oasis-open.org/office/OpenDocument/v1.3/os/part1-introduction/OpenDocument-v1.3-os-part1-introduction.odt (Authoritative)
https://docs.oasis-open.org/office/OpenDocument/v1.3/os/part1-introduction/OpenDocument-v1.3-os-part1-introduction.html
https://docs.oasis-open.org/office/OpenDocument/v1.3/os/part1-introduction/OpenDocument-v1.3-os-part1-introduction.pdf

Part 2: Packages
https://docs.oasis-open.org/office/OpenDocument/v1.3/os/part2-packages/OpenDocument-v1.3-os-part2-packages.odt (Authoritative)
https://docs.oasis-open.org/office/OpenDocument/v1.3/os/part2-packages/OpenDocument-v1.3-os-part2-packages.html
https://docs.oasis-open.org/office/OpenDocument/v1.3/os/part2-packages/OpenDocument-v1.3-os-part2-packages.pdf

Part 3: OpenDocument Schema
https://docs.oasis-open.org/office/OpenDocument/v1.3/os/part3-schema/OpenDocument-v1.3-os-part3-schema.odt (Authoritative)
https://docs.oasis-open.org/office/OpenDocument/v1.3/os/part3-schema/OpenDocument-v1.3-os-part3-schema.html
https://docs.oasis-open.org/office/OpenDocument/v1.3/os/part3-schema/OpenDocument-v1.3-os-part3-schema.pdf

Part 4: Recalculated Formula (OpenFormula) Format
https://docs.oasis-open.org/office/OpenDocument/v1.3/os/part4-formula/OpenDocument-v1.3-os-part4-formula.odt (Authoritative)
https://docs.oasis-open.org/office/OpenDocument/v1.3/os/part4-formula/OpenDocument-v1.3-os-part4-formula.html
https://docs.oasis-open.org/office/OpenDocument/v1.3/os/part4-formula/OpenDocument-v1.3-os-part4-formula.pdf

XML/RNG schemas and OWL ontologies: https://docs.oasis-open.org/office/OpenDocument/v1.3/os/schemas/

OASIS provides a complete package of the specification and any related files in a single ZIP: https://docs.oasis-open.org/office/OpenDocument/v1.3/os/OpenDocument-v1.3-os.zip

ODF is the only document format which protects the rights of users as digital citizens, and allows transparent sharing of content without disruption, today and in the future.

Hossein Nourikhah joins the TDF team as Developer Community Architect

Next week, Hossein Nourikhah will join the team at The Document Foundation, the non-profit behind LibreOffice, as Developer Community Architect. Hossein is a developer, university lecturer and FOSS advocate. He writes programs, teaches programming to students, and is an advocate for the use of free software applications, because they have a huge positive impact on the quality of our life by providing the essential freedoms that we all deserve.

Hossein has a B.Sc. in Computer Engineering (Software) from Isfahan University of Technology, and a M.Sc. and a Ph.D. in Information Technology from Amirkabir University of Technology, also called the Tehran Polytechnic. Since 2016 he has been an instructor at the Amirkabir University of Technology, teaching various courses including C/C++ programming, operating systems, software design, and many others.

Hossein started programming in BASIC and Pascal when he was 12, and after two and a half decades he is still involved in programming for fun and profit. He has worked with several programming languages, including C/C++, Java, Pascal, PHP and many more.

Industry experience

In addition to the university activities, including teaching and research, Hossein has several years of experience in the industry, working at various software/hardware companies as a C/C++/Java programmer – and lately as a software team manager and lead developer.

Hossein’s work experience ranges from web development with PHP to industrial application development with C++/Qt. He considers Qt a great platform for C++ software development, and he likes it very much as a clean and lovely tool.

Hossein has worked with many programmers as mentor, helping them to improve and reach their potential in software development by better understanding programming languages, libraries and tools. He feels great when he can empower other people, also because this helps him to expand his knowledge and understand things much better than before.

As Developer Community Architect, Hossein will be responsible for attracting new contributors to the LibreOffice project by identifying and onboarding new potential developers, building relationships between them and the community, and introducing them to TDF’s communication channels – where they will meet fellow co-hackers. He will encourage everyone’s contribution, and show community members ways to grow by bringing the more skilled contributors in contact with existing experts in the various fields for even deeper learning.

We’re happy to have him on board, and look forward to working with him!

LibreOffice 7.1.4 Community available for download

Berlin, June 10, 2021 – LibreOffice 7.1.4 Community, the fourth minor release of the LibreOffice 7.1 family, targeted at technology enthusiasts and power users, is available for download from https://www.libreoffice.org/download/. LibreOffice 7.1.4 includes around 80 bug fixes, with 20% focused on Microsoft Office file compatibility (DOCX, XLSX and PPTX, and legacy DOCs).

For enterprise-class deployments, TDF strongly recommends the LibreOffice Enterprise family of applications from ecosystem partners, with long-term support options, professional assistance, custom features and Service Level Agreements: https://www.libreoffice.org/download/libreoffice-in-business/.

LibreOffice Community and the LibreOffice Enterprise family of products are based on the LibreOffice Technology platform, the result of years of development efforts with the objective of providing a state of the art office suite not only for the desktop but also for mobile and the cloud.

Products based on LibreOffice Technology are available for major desktop operating systems (Windows, macOS, Linux and Chrome OS), mobile platforms (Android and iOS) and the cloud. They may have a different name, according to each company brand, but they share the same LibreOffice unique advantages, robustness and flexibility.

Migrations to LibreOffice

The Document Foundation has developed a Migration Protocol to support enterprises moving from proprietary office suites to LibreOffice, which is based on the deployment of a LTS version from the LibreOffice Enterprise family, plus migration consultancy and training sourced from certified professionals who offer CIOs and IT managers value-added solutions in line with proprietary offerings. Reference: https://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/professional-support/.

Availability of LibreOffice 7.1.4 Community

LibreOffice 7.1.4 Community represents the bleeding edge in term of features for open source office suites. For users whose main objective is personal productivity and therefore prefer a release that has undergone more testing and bug fixing over the new features, The Document Foundation provides LibreOffice 7.0.6.

LibreOffice 7.1.4 change log pages are available on TDF’s wiki: https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Releases/7.1.4/RC1 (changed in RC1) and https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Releases/7.1.4/RC2 (changed in RC2).

LibreOffice Technology based products for Android and iOS are listed here: https://www.libreoffice.org/download/android-and-ios/, while for App Stores and ChromeOS are listed here: https://www.libreoffice.org/download/libreoffice-from-microsoft-and-mac-app-stores/.

LibreOffice individual users are assisted by a global community of volunteers: https://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/community-support/. On the website and the wiki there are guides, manuals, tutorials and HowTos. Donations help us to make all of these resources available.

LibreOffice users are invited to join the community at https://ask.libreoffice.org, where they can get and provide user-to-user support. People willing to contribute their time and professional skills to the project can visit the dedicated website at https://whatcanidoforlibreoffice.org.

LibreOffice users, free software advocates and community members can provide financial support to The Document Foundation with a donation via PayPal, credit card or other tools at https://www.libreoffice.org/donate.

LibreOffice 7.1.4 is built with document conversion libraries from the Document Liberation Project: https://www.documentliberation.org.

REMINDER LibreOffice Conference Call for Papers

LibreOffice Conference Call for Papers is open until June 30, 2021. Thanks to the efforts of TDF infra team led by Guilhem Moulin, you can now submit your proposal using TDF brand new event management platform at https://events.documentfoundation.org/libocon2021/cfp. We know that you were all eager to use that platform for your proposals, and now you don’t have any excuse for a further delay of your submission!

LibreOffice Conference 2021 will take place online from September 23 to 25, Thursday to Saturday. The Document Foundation invites all members and contributors to submit talks, lectures and workshops. Whether you are a seasoned presenter or have never spoken in public before, if you have something interesting to share about LibreOffice, ODF, the Document Liberation Project or the ODF Toolkit, we want to hear from you!

Proposals should be filed by June 30, 2021, in order to guarantee that they will be considered for inclusion in the conference program.

The conference program will be based on the following tracks:

  • a) Development, APIs, Extensions, Future Technology
  • b) Quality Assurance
  • c) Localization, Documentation and Native Language Projects
  • d) Appealing Libreoffice: Ease of Use, Design and Accessibility
  • e) Open Document Format, Document Liberation and Interoperability
  • f) Advocating, Promoting, Marketing LibreOffice
  • g) Diversity and Inclusion, New Generation Project for Students’ Inclusion

Presentations, case studies and technical talks will discuss a subject in depth and will last 30 minutes (including Q&A), while Workshops will last 90 minutes (including Q&A). Lightning talks will cover a specific topic and will last 5 minutes (including Q&A). Sessions will be streamed live and recorded for download.

If you do not agree to provide the data for the talk under the “Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 License”, please explicitly state your terms. In order to make your presentation available on TDF YouTube and PeerTube channels, please do not submit talks containing copyrighted material (music, pictures, etc.).

If you want to give multiple talks, please submit a separate proposal for each one, using the submission form at the following address (is always the same): https://events.documentfoundation.org/libocon2021/cfp.

Thanks a lot for your participation!

LibreOffice IRC channels moving to Libera.Chat

Many projects in the LibreOffice community use IRC (Internet Relay Chat) to communicate. This is a real-time text-based communication protocol that’s popular amongst many free and open source software projects.

We are moving our IRC channels to a new host, Libera.Chat, which is run by a Swedish non-profit organisation. Here’s an alphabetical list of the current channels – for more information, see our wiki:

  • #libreoffice
  • #libreoffice-de
  • #libreoffice-design
  • #libreoffice-dev
  • #libreoffice-doc
  • #libreoffice-fi
  • #libreoffice-fr
  • #libreoffice-gsoc
  • #libreoffice-hackfest
  • #libreoffice-NLP
  • #libreoffice-qa
  • #libreoffice-telegram
  • #tdf-infra

Thanks to everyone who participates in our IRC channel discussions, and keeps LibreOffice moving forward!

Contest for LibreOffice Ecosystem and LibreOffice Technology logo

The Strategic Marketing Plan discussed in 2020 has introduced a couple of concepts – LibreOffice Ecosystem and LibreOffice Technology – which will be the cornerstone of LibreOffice marketing activities for the foreseeable future, and will be deployed on web properties, marketing materials, documents, presentations and merchandise for events. Now, we need high-impact visuals to stress the importance of these concepts for LibreOffice.

Based on the success of the community contest for the 2020 Anniversary Logo, which has provided a consistent visual image for presentations at virtual events in 2020 (and will be used in 2021 as well), The Document Foundation is challenging community members with the task of developing two different logos:

(1) LibreOffice Ecosystem logo, to underline the unique characteristics of the LibreOffice project: global reach, continuous research for improvement and high quality, inclusiveness, loyalty to copyleft licenses, smooth combination of paid and volunteer contributors, and eventually lots of fun especially at events. The LibreOffice Sustainability slide deck provides an extensive description of the concept: https://nextcloud.documentfoundation.org/s/4qLzRad8wNd8pFk.

(2) LibreOffice Technology logo, to underline the uniqueness of the LibreOffice platform, which provides a single common engine for all platforms, from desktop to mobile to cloud, and therefore a more consistent way of handling files both in ODF and OOXML document formats, which improves interoperability. The LibreOffice Technology slide deck provides an extensive description of the concept: https://nextcloud.documentfoundation.org/s/Xw4A7mY6W6yJTqo.

LibreOffice Ecosystem logo is the most important one, so community members should focus their best energies on it. LibreOffice Technology logo would be nice to have, but not as important as the Ecosystem one, as this will be a logo that all community members should use.

As a reference, TDF design and style guides (Corporate Image) are published on the wiki: https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Marketing/Branding.

Both logos will be used for presentations, event signage, merchandise and gadgets (like stickers). They should be easy to recognize and read even at small sizes.

Both logos logo must be developed with free and open source software, and released in vector-based (SVG) as well as bitmap-based (PNG, JPG) formats. The logo must be available in a square or nearly square version, plus other formats as appropriate. An example of a possible implementation should also be provided with the proposal.

Intellectual property must be released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/), while a copyright transfer to TDF is not required. The authors must declare in writing that they are the sole owner of all rights related to the artwork they have developed.

It should be clear that this is not a request for a mascot, and any kind of proposal which could be interpreted as a mascot will not be considered. Also, the logo must have a global reach, and as such any reference to a regional styling approach will not be considered.

Logo proposals must be sent to: italo@libreoffice.org by Augus 31, 2021, at 11:59PM UTC. TDF Team will select the winning proposals, which will be announced – and used – during the LibreOffice Virtual Conference, from September 23 to September 25, 2021.

We look forward to meeting the authors of the winning proposals at FOSDEM 2022 in Brussels or at the LibreOffice Conference 2022 (location still to be decided), to celebrate their work.