Call for Papers for LibreOffice Conference 2023

Meet us in Bucharest, and tell us what you’re doing with LibreOffice! The event is now live: https://events.documentfoundation.org/libreoffice-conference-2023/

The Document Foundation invites all members and contributors to submit talks, lectures and workshops for this year’s LibreOffice Conference in Bucharest by filling the Call for Papers form with a short description/bio of yourself as well as your talk/workshop proposal at the following address: https://events.documentfoundation.org/libreoffice-conference-2023/cfp

The event will take place from Thursday, September 21, to Saturday, September 23, 2023. Whether you are a seasoned presenter or have never spoken in public before, if you have something interesting to share about LibreOffice or the Document Liberation Project, we want to hear from you!

Proposals should be filed by July 15, 2023 in order to guarantee that they will be considered for inclusion in the conference program.

The conference program will be based on the following community 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

We will also have a “LibreOffice in Business” track:

  • Enterprise Deployments and Migrations
  • Certifications and Best Practices
  • Building a successful business around LibreOffice
  • Round table with company representatives
  • Small local businesses, governments and non profits

Presentations, case studies and technical talks will discuss a subject in depth, and will last 30 minutes (including Q&A). Workshops, with discussion on a specific subject or hands-on sessions, will last from 60 to 120 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 need a VISA, please get in touch with the organization team by sending an email at conference@libreoffice.org as soon as possible, to get an invitation letter.

If you cannot travel to Romania and prefer to present remotely, please add a note to your talk proposal, in order to allow organizers to schedule your talk on Friday (and organize a test session in advance).

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’s YouTube channel, please do not submit talks containing copyrighted material (music or pictures, etc.).

If you want to give multiple talks, please send a separate proposal for each one.

Thanks a lot for your participation!

You can enter proposals until July 15

Czech translation of LibreOffice Base Guide – and more news

Base Guide cover

Zdeněk Crhonek (aka “raal”) from the Czech LibreOffice community writes:

The Czech team translated the LibreOffice Base Guide 7.3 – and it’s now available on the documentation page. Our team consists of three translators: Petr Kuběj, Radomír Strnad and Zdeněk Crhonek, along with localized screenshot maker Roman Toman, and Miloš Šrámek, who prepared machine translations.

A second bit of news related to guides and documentation is that Stanislav Horáček created a Czech Bookshelf page. The Bookshelf is a project of LibreOffice’s Documentation team, where the guides are converted to HTML web pages. Stanislav created an automated script, and made the first conversion of the “Getting Started Guide” Czech translation. After polishing the script, he plans to convert all Czech guides.

Many thanks to everyone in the Czech community for their work! Learn more about LibreOffice’s documentation project here.

Release of LibreOffice 7.4.6 Community

Berlin, March 9, 2023 – The Document Foundation announces the release of LibreOffice 7.4.6 Community, the sixth minor release of the LibreOffice 7.4 family. The new release is immediately available from https://www.libreoffice.org/download/ for Windows (Intel and Arm processors), macOS (Apple and Intel processors), and Linux.

LibreOffice offers the highest level of compatibility in the office suite market segment, with native support for the OpenDocument Format (ODF) – beating proprietary formats for security and robustness – to superior support for MS Office files, to filters for a large number of legacy document formats, to return ownership and control to users.

LibreOffice Technology Platform

Products based on the LibreOffice Technology platform – the transactional engine shared by all LibreOffice based products, which provides a rock solid solution with a high level of coherence and interoperability – are available for major desktop operating systems (Windows, macOS, Linux and Chrome OS), for mobile platforms (Android and iOS), and for the cloud.

For enterprise-class deployments, TDF strongly recommends the LibreOffice Enterprise family of applications from ecosystem partners – for desktop, mobile and cloud – with a large number of dedicated value-added features and other benefits such as SLA (Service Level Agreements): https://www.libreoffice.org/download/libreoffice-in-business/. All code developed by ecosystem companies for enterprise customers is shared with the community and improves the LibreOffice Technology platform.

Availability of LibreOffice 7.4.6 Community

LibreOffice 7.4.6 Community is available from: https://www.libreoffice.org/download/. Minimum requirements for proprietary operating systems are Microsoft Windows 7 SP1 and Apple macOS 10.12. LibreOffice Technology-based products for Android and iOS are listed here: https://www.libreoffice.org/download/android-and-ios/

The Document Foundation does not provide technical support for users, although they can get it from volunteers on user mailing lists and the Ask LibreOffice website: https://ask.libreoffice.org

LibreOffice users, free software advocates and community members can support The Document Foundation with a donation at https://www.libreoffice.org/donate

Change log pages: https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Releases/7.4.6/RC1 and https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Releases/7.4.6/RC2

LibreOffice Technology being piloted at the European Data Protection Supervisor

LibreOffice Technology diagram

Data protection and privacy is very important to us – and our users – in the LibreOffice project, so we’re happy to see that the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) is piloting the use of LibreOffice Technology.

The EDPS is the European Union’s (EU) independent data protection authority, which monitors and ensures the protection of personal data and privacy when EU institutions and bodies process the information of individuals. From their announcement:

In February 2023, the EDPS has started piloting the use of the Open Source Software Nextcloud and Collabora Online (based on LibreOffice technology). Together, they offer the possibility to share files, send messages, make video calls, and allows collaborative drafting, in a secured cloud environment.

This pilot project is part of a wider initiative, looking at alternatives to large-scale service providers to ensure better compliance with EU regulation 2018/1725 (covering the processing of personal data). We look forward to seeing the progress and results.

Click here for the full announcement

Outreachy and LibreOffice installer improvements: Rachael Odetayo

Rachael Odetayo

Last week, we talked to Ximena Alcaman who’s working on LibreOffice installer improvements as part of the Outreachy programme. Outreachy provides internships to people subject to systemic bias and impacted by underrepresentation in the technical industry where they are living.

Rachael Odetayo is also working on the the LibreOffice installer, and is being mentored by Marina Latini and Jussi Pakkanen, with support from sponsors SUSE and The Document Foundation. Let’s learn more about Rachael…

Tell us a bit about yourself!

My name is Rachael Odetayo and I’m from Nigeria. I studied Mass Communication at the National Open University of Nigeria. Currently, I am proud to be participating in the Outreachy internship programme. In my free time, I enjoy reading, coding, cooking, and sharing my knowledge of the Bible with others.

How did you get involved in Outreachy?

I learned about Outreachy while searching for an opportunity to hone my skills and hopefully secure a tech job. Then an alum shared the application link in a group channel. He shared his experience with Outreachy, and how the programme helped him develop his skills and eventually landed him a job in tech. I was immediately drawn to the idea behind the Outreachy internship and the support it offered to those who might have trouble breaking into the tech industry.

I applied to Outreachy, and after a rigorous selection process, I was accepted as an intern with LibreOffice.

What are you working on right now?

I am currently working on improving the LibreOffice installer for Windows. My work focuses on streamlining the installation process, making it easier and more user-friendly for Windows users. This includes improving the user interface, fixing bugs, and enhancing the overall performance of the installer.

I am excited about this project as it will have a significant impact on the experience of LibreOffice users on Windows. My goal is to simplify and improve the installation process for Windows users, but I can’t do it alone. It would be great if others could get involved and help out with this project.

Mockup installer screenshot

How can others help out?

They can assist in various ways. Windows users, for instance, can assist by testing the new installer and offering feedback on any problems or improvement they would like to see.
Software developers can assist by contributing code to fix bugs, enhance performance, or provide new functionality.

Additionally, those who are unable to contribute code or time can still aid the project by making a donation. Their assistance will go a long way in helping us achieve our goal of improving the LibreOffice installer for Windows.

After this experience, what is your opinion of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion? Did the Outreachy program give you a new perspective or is there anything you would like to highlight?

In my opinion, equity, diversity, and inclusion are extremely important in the tech industry and in society as a whole. When an environment is diverse and inclusive, problems are better solved and decisions are made faster, and as well, the needs and experiences of different people are better understood.

Did your opinion of open source change after this experience? How?

My experience with Outreachy strengthened my understanding of the value of open source in the tech industry. As an Outreachy intern, I had the opportunity to contribute to LibreOffice, which deepened my understanding of the potential of open source. I personally witnessed how people from various backgrounds and locations can come together to create something more impressive than any one of them could have done individually.

Also because open source is collaborative in nature, and allows people to freely access and modify source code, that makes it an effective avenue for driving progress and innovation in the tech industry.

Outreachy logo

Is there any contribution, experience, anecdote you would like to share from your time in the Outreachy program? Would you recommend the programme?

Yes. At the beginning of the internship, I found myself struggling to understand the technical terms my mentors use during our daily standup meetings. I was trying my best to keep up and understand what was going on, but it was like they were speaking a completely different language. One day after a particularly confusing meeting, I finally had the courage to mention it to one of my mentors (Marina). I asked if she could write a summary of our conversation in the group channel so I could review and make sense of it all. To my delight, she not only agreed but was also understanding and supportive.

From that day on, I was able to follow along. And I learned the importance of communication and asking for help. I’m grateful to have Jussi and Marina as mentors and I sincerely appreciate their hard work and effort to ensure we have a clear understanding of our tasks.

I would recommend the Outreachy program to individuals who are underrepresented in tech, including but not limited to women, people of color, people with disabilities etc. who are interested in pursuing a career in tech, and are eligible to participate in the programme.

Follow Rachael on her blog and Twitter. And stay tuned for updates on their work!

LibreOffice 7.5.1 Community available for download

Berlin, March 2, 2023 – LibreOffice 7.5.1 Community, the first minor release of the LibreOffice 7.5 line, the volunteer-supported free office suite for desktop productivity, is available from our download page for Windows (Intel/AMD and ARM processors), macOS (Apple Silicon and Intel processors), and Linux [1].

Most Significant New Features of LibreOffice 7.5

GENERAL

• Major improvements to dark mode support
• New application and MIME-type icons, more colorful and vibrant
• The Start Centre can filter documents by type
• An improved version of the Single Toolbar UI has been implemented
• PDF Export improved with several fixes, and new options and features
• Support for font embedding on macOS
• Improvements to the Font Features dialog with several new options
• Addition of a zoom slider at the bottom right of the macro editor

WRITER

• Bookmarks have been significantly improved, and are also much more visible
• Objects can be marked as decorative, for better accessibility
• New types added to content controls, which also improve the quality of PDF forms
• A new automatic accessibility checker option has been added to the Tools menu
• Initial machine translation is available, based on DeepL translate APIs
• Several spell checking improvements

CALC

• Data tables are now supported in charts
• The Function Wizard now lets you search by descriptions
• “Spell out” number formats have been added
• Conditional formatting conditions are now case insensitive
• Correct behavior when entering numbers with a single prefix quote (‘)

IMPRESS & DRAW

• New set of default table styles, and creation of table styles
• Table styles can be customized, saved as master elements and exported
• Objects can be drag-and-dropped in the navigator
• It is now possible to crop inserted videos in the slide and still play them
• The presenter console can also run as a normal window instead of fullscreen

A description of all new features is available in the Release Notes.

Based on the distinctive features of the LibreOffice Technology platform for personal productivity on desktop, mobile and cloud, LibreOffice 7.5 provides a large number of improvements and new features targeted at users sharing documents with MS Office or migrating from MS Office. These users should check new releases of LibreOffice on a regular basis, as the progress is so fast, that each new version improves dramatically over the previous one.

Products based on LibreOffice Technology are available for major desktop operating systems (Windows, macOS, Linux and Chrome OS), for mobile platforms (Android and iOS), and for the cloud.

For enterprise-class deployments, TDF strongly recommends the LibreOffice Enterprise family of applications from ecosystem partners – for desktop, mobile and cloud – with a large number of dedicated value-added features and other benefits such as SLA (Service Level Agreements).

Availability of LibreOffice 7.5.1 Community

LibreOffice 7.5.1 Community is available from our download page. Minimum requirements for proprietary operating systems are Microsoft Windows 7 SP1 and Apple macOS 10.14. LibreOffice Technology-based products for Android and iOS are listed here.

The Document Foundation does not provide technical support for users, although they can get it from volunteers on user mailing lists and the Ask LibreOffice website.

LibreOffice users, free software advocates and community members can support The Document Foundation with a donation.

[1] Change Log Pages: RC1 and RC2.