LibreOffice 24.8.4, optimised for the privacy-conscious user, is available for download

Berlin, 19 December 2024 – LibreOffice 24.8.4, the fourth minor release of the LibreOffice 24.8 family of the free open source, volunteer-supported office suite for Windows (Intel, AMD and ARM), MacOS (Apple and Intel) and Linux, is available at www.libreoffice.org/download.

The release includes over 55 bug and regression fixes over LibreOffice 24.8.3 [1] to improve the stability and robustness of the software, as well as interoperability with legacy and proprietary document formats.

LibreOffice is the only office suite that respects the privacy of the user, ensuring that the user is able to decide if and with whom to share the content they create. It even allows deleting user related info from documents. As such, LibreOffice is the best option for the privacy-conscious office suite user, while offering a feature set comparable to the leading product on the market.

Also, LibreOffice offers a range of interface options to suit different user habits, from traditional to modern, and makes the most of different screen sizes by using all the space available on the desktop to put the maximum number of features just a click or two away.

The biggest advantage over competing products is the LibreOffice Technology engine, the single software platform on which desktop, mobile and cloud versions of LibreOffice – including those from ecosystem companies – are based.

This allows LibreOffice to produce identical and fully interoperable documents based on two ISO standards: the open and neutral Open Document Format (ODT, ODS, ODP) and the closed and fully proprietary Microsoft OOXML (DOCX, XLSX, PPTX), which hides a large amount of artificial complexity, and can cause problems for users who are confident that they are using a true open standard.

End users looking for support can download the LibreOffice 24.8 Getting Started, Writer, Impress, Draw and Math guides from the following link: books.libreoffice.org/. In addition, they can get first-level technical support from volunteers on mailing lists and the Ask LibreOffice website: ask.libreoffice.org.

LibreOffice for Enterprise

For enterprise-class deployments, TDF strongly recommends the LibreOffice Enterprise family of applications from ecosystem partners, with three or five year backporting of security patches, other dedicated value-added features and Service Level Agreements: www.libreoffice.org/download/libreoffice-in-business/.

Every line of code developed by ecosystem companies for enterprise customers is shared with the community on the master code repository and improves the LibreOffice Technology platform. Products based on LibreOffice Technology are available for all major desktop operating systems (Windows, macOS, Linux and ChromeOS), mobile platforms (Android and iOS) and the cloud.

The Document Foundation’s migration protocol helps companies move from proprietary office suites to LibreOffice, by installing the LTS (long-term support) enterprise-optimised version of LibreOffice, plus consulting and training provided by certified professionals: www.libreoffice.org/get-help/professional-support/.

In fact, LibreOffice’s mature code base, rich feature set, strong support for open standards, excellent compatibility and LTS options make it the ideal solution for organisations looking to regain control of their data and break free from vendor lock-in.

LibreOffice 24.8.4 availability

LibreOffice 24.8.4 is available from www.libreoffice.org/download/. Minimum requirements for proprietary operating systems are Microsoft Windows 7 SP1 (no longer supported by Microsoft) and Apple MacOS 10.15. Products for Android and iOS are at www.libreoffice.org/download/android-and-ios/.

Users of the LibreOffice 24.2 branch (the last update being 24.2.7), which has recently reached end-of-life, should consider upgrading to LibreOffice 24.8.4, as this is already the most tested version of the program. Early February will see the announcement of LibreOffice 25.2.

LibreOffice users, free software advocates and community members can support The Document Foundation by donating at www.libreoffice.org/donate.

Enterprise deploying LibreOffice can also donate, although the best solution for their needs would be to look for the enterprise optimized versions of the software (with Long Term Support for security and Service Level Agreements to protect their investment) at www.libreoffice.org/download/libreoffice-in-business/.

[1] Fixes in RC1: wiki.documentfoundation.org/Releases/24.8.4/RC1. Fixes in RC2: wiki.documentfoundation.org/Releases/24.8.4/RC2.

24 more videos from the LibreOffice Conference 2024!

We’ve finished editing and uploading another batch of videos from our recent conference in Luxembourg. Now the playlist has a total of 51 videos and is almost entirely complete! (There are a couple more that we’re chasing up.)

So, enjoy watching and learning about the technology and community behind the suite. Use the icon in the top-right to choose videos from the playlist:

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Season’s Greetings! Three new LibreOffice Guides released

Our team member Peter Schofield just updated the Impress, Draw and Math guides to the latest LibreOffice 24.8 release.

Three Guides released

 

The Impress, Draw and Math guides are the authoritative guides for the end user. They cover presentation, drawings and equation documents. These guides are part of the LibreOffice community offering for the public in general that needs to close the knowledge gap in using LibreOffice.

Peter Schofield

The guides can be downloaded from the LibreOffice Bookshelf as well as from the Documentation website.

A big thank you to dear Peter!

 

LibreOffice project and community recap: November 2024

LibreOffice project and community recap banner

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

  • The main theme of November was the Month of LibreOffice, saying thanks for community contributions all across the LibreOffice project – coding, documentation, QA, design and more. At the end of the month we announced the results with 301 contributors eligible to receive sticker packs! Thanks to everyone who took part 😊

Month of LibreOffice banner

  • Meanwhile, we started editing and uploading videos from the recent LibreOffice Conference 2024 in Luxembourg. So far there are 35 videos to watch, covering various aspects of the suite and development – with some more still to come! Here’s the playlist:

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LibreOffice Writer Guide 24.8 cover

  • New features are coming to LibreOffice thanks to participants in the Google Summer of Code 2024, including comments in the sidebar, native support for histogram charts and cross-platform .NET bindings for the UNO API.

GSoC logo

  • In the middle of November, we announced LibreOffice 24.8.3, the third bugfix update to the latest stable branch. All users are recommended to get it.

LibreOffice 24.8 banner

  • We have a new podcast! In episode 1, Italo Vignoli and Mike Saunders (both at The Document Foundation) discuss marketing LibreOffice and free software – the challenges and opportunities. (It’s also available on PeerTube.)

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  • Then we talked to Moritz Duge who is working on the WebAssembly port of LibreOffice, among other things.

Moritz Duge

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

Winners in the Month of LibreOffice, November 2024 – Get your free sticker pack!

Month of LibreOffice stickers

At the beginning of November, we began a new Month of LibreOffice campaign, celebrating community contributions all across the project. We do these every six months – so how many people got sticker packs this time? Check it out…

Fantastic work, everyone! Hundreds of people, all across the globe, have helped out in our projects and communities. And those are just community contributions, not including the hundreds more from our ecosystem and certified developers!

We’re hugely thankful for the work – and, of course, everyone who’s listed on the wiki page can get a sticker pack, with the stickers shown above.

How to claim

If you see your name (or username) on this page, get in touch! Email mike.saunders@documentfoundation.org with:

  • your name (or username) from the wiki page
  • along with your postal address

…and we’ll send you a bunch of stickers for your PC, laptop and other kit. (Note: your address will only be used to post the stickers, and will be deleted immediately afterwards.) If you contributed to the project in November but you’re not on the wiki page, please let us know what you did, so that we can add you!

There is one more thing…

And we have an extra bonus: ten contributors have also been selected at random to get an extra piece of merchandise – a LibreOffice hoodie, T-shirt, rucksack or snazzy glass mug. Here are the winners (names or usernames) – we’ll get in touch personally with the details:

  • Richard England
  • Ashleigh Sinclair
  • @OhWeh@climatejustice.social
  • UnklDonald
  • Henner Drewes
  • mkt
  • Ekaterine Papava
  • @pdunn@twit.social
  • Chika
  • Bryan Zanoli

Congratulations to all the winners, and a big thanks once again to everyone who took part – your contributions keep the LibreOffice project strong. We plan to have another Month of LibreOffice in May 2025, but everyone is welcome to see what they can do for LibreOffice at any time!

Video: Government moving 30,000 PCs from Microsoft to LibreOffice

Here’s a video from our recent LibreOffice Conference 2024. It details the ongoing migration of 30,000 PCs from Microsoft Office/365 to LibreOffice in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein. (The video is also available on PeerTube.)

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