Category: Community

Two weeks ago, we started a new Month of LibreOffice, saying thanks to contributors from our worldwide community. Everyone who helps out with our projects this month can claim a cool sticker pack at the end – and also has a chance to win a hoodie, T-shirt or mug!

So far 259 sticker packs have been awarded – click the link to see if your name/username is in the list. If not, read on and find out what you can do, to take part!

How to get your stickers

There are many ways you can help out – and you don’t need to be a developer. For instance, you can be a…

• Handy Helper, answering questions from users on Ask LibreOffice. We’re keeping an eye on that site so if you give someone useful advice, you can claim your shiny stickers.

• First Responder, helping to confirm new bug reports: go to our Bugzilla page and look for new bugs. If you can recreate one, add a comment like “CONFIRMED on Windows 10 and LibreOffice 6.4.3”.

• Drum Beater, spreading the word: tell everyone about LibreOffice on Twitter or Mastodon! Just say why you love it or what you’re using it for, add the #libreoffice hashtag, and at the end of the month you can claim your stickers.

• Globetrotter, translating the user interface: LibreOffice is available in a wide range of languages, but its interface translations need to be kept up-to-date. Or maybe you want to translate the suite to a whole new language? Get involved here.

• Code Cruncher, contributing source code: The codebase is big, but there are lots of places to get involved with small jobs. See our Developers page on the website and this page on the wiki to get started.

• Docs Doctor, writing documentation: Whether you want to update the online help or add chapters to the handbooks, here’s where to start.

We’ll be posting regular updates on this blog and our Mastodon and Twitter accounts over the next two weeks – stay tuned!

Thanks to our worldwide community of developers and supporters, every release of LibreOffice includes new features, bugfixes, compatibility boosts, translations, and other improvements. This month, we want to show our appreciation to everyone who helps out – and encourage more people to join our projects! So how are we going to do this?

Well, everyone who contributes can claim an awesome sticker pack at the end of the month:

And then, we’ll also choose 20 contributors at random to receive a piece of bonus merchandise – a LibreOffice mug, T-shirt or 10/20 anniversary hoodie (proudly modelled in the photo above).

How to get your stickers

So, let’s get started! There are many ways you can help out – and you don’t need to be a developer. For instance, you can be a…

• Handy Helper, answering questions from users on Ask LibreOffice. We’re keeping an eye on that site so if you give someone useful advice, you can claim your shiny stickers.

• First Responder, helping to confirm new bug reports: go to our Bugzilla page and look for new bugs. If you can recreate one, add a comment like “CONFIRMED on Windows 10 and LibreOffice 6.4.3”.

• Drum Beater, spreading the word: tell everyone about LibreOffice on Twitter or Mastodon! Just say why you love it or what you’re using it for, add the #libreoffice hashtag, and at the end of the month you can claim your stickers.

• Globetrotter, translating the user interface: LibreOffice is available in a wide range of languages, but its interface translations need to be kept up-to-date. Or maybe you want to translate the suite to a whole new language? Get involved here.

• Code Cruncher, contributing source code: The codebase is big, but there are lots of places to get involved with small jobs. See our Developers page on the website and this page on the wiki to get started.

• Docs Doctor, writing documentation: Whether you want to update the online help or add chapters to the handbooks, here’s where to start.

So there’s plenty to do! As the contributions come in, we’ll be updating this page every day with usernames across our various services. So dive in, get involved and help make LibreOffice better for millions of people around the world – and enjoy your sticker pack at the end as thanks from us. And who knows, maybe you’ll be lucky enough to win a bonus hoodie, T-shirt or mug as well…

Let’s go! We’ll be posting regular updates on this blog and our Mastodon and Twitter accounts over the next four weeks – stay tuned!

Here’s our summary of updates, events and activities in the LibreOffice project in the last four weeks – click the links to learn more…

• Communities around the world organise local events to meet in person, but many of these events have moved online, given the ongoing pandemic. The Indonesian community organised an online translation marathon to improve LibreOffice’s localisation in their language. They’re getting close to having 100% of the user interface translated – a big thanks for all their work!

• More event news: early in April, we posted an update about the join openSUSE + LibreOffice Conference 2020, which is due to take place in October. We’re keeping an eye on the situation regarding international travel and large meetings, and will post an update on this blog soon.

• Leif-Jöran Olsson recently became a member of The Document Foundation, the non-profit entity behind LibreOffice. We chatted to him about his activities in the project, and why he chose to become a member.

• Meanwhile, LibreOffice’s documentation community has been working on a new help editor, making it easier to contribute. The editor simplifies the process for editing XHP, which is the dialect of XML used in the help system.

• We had some updates from two new teams in the LibreOffice project. First, the macro team posted a progress report, detailing documentation and code improvements. Then the PowerPoint team also provided an update, listing various improvements made to PPT(X) presentation compatibility.

• On a more light-hearted note, TDF Board member Franklin Weng created an Easter Egg hunting game, based on the Document Freedom Day. Try to find the important words or phrases!

• In the middle of the month, we provided an update on the status of LibreOffice for Android and iOS. Our main focus is on the desktop app right now, but mobile apps based on LibreOffice are available from our certified developers and partners.

• We recently started issuing Open Badges to LibreOffice community members, and in April we sent out a new batch, this time for top wiki contributors. We’ll be creating more badges in the coming weeks and months, and we’ll let you know if you win one!

• On April 16, TDF announced LibreOffice 6.4.3, the third minor release of the 6.4 family. It includes over 50 bugfixes and compatibility improvements.

• Running LibreOffice on Windows 10? Need help with file management? Harald Berger, from our documentation and German-language communities, created a newcomer-friendly video explaining the basics of file management, and how to organise your documents for efficient usage in LibreOffice.

• Finally, we had another chat with a community member: this time with Stanislaus J. Pinasthika from Indonesia, who helps out with QA (quality assurance) and marketing.

Keep in touch – follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Mastodon. Like what we do? Support our community with a donation – or join us and help to make LibreOffice even better for everyone!