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LibreOffice Podcast, Episode #6 – Language support

The Future of Open Standards and the Importance of ODF

Updated Conflict of Interest Policy for TDF’s Board of Directors

LibreOffice project and community recap: December 2025

The importance of ODF during the festive season

LibreOffice Viewer now available on Meta Quest VR headsets

LibreOffice 5.2 “fresh” released, for Windows, Mac OS and GNU/Linux

tdf-roadtolo52LibreOffice 5.1.5 “still” announced, for enterprise class deployments

Berlin, August 3, 2016 – The Document Foundation announces LibreOffice 5.2, a feature-rich major release of the best free office suite ever created – targeted to early adopters and power users – with several user interface improvements and enterprise grade features.

At the same time, LibreOffice 5.1.5 has been released, for enterprise class deployments and more conservative office suite users

classificationLibreOffice 5.2 provides document classification according to the TSCP standard, and a set of improved forecasting functions in Calc. In addition, multiple signature descriptions are now supported, along with import and export of signatures from OOXML files.

Interoperability features have also been improved, with better Writer import filters for DOCX and RTF files, and the added support for Word for DOS legacy documents. Additional type argument values for interoperability with other spreadsheets, along with wildcard support in formula expressions for compatibility with XLS/XLSX and ODF 1.2, have also been added.

In term of user experience, a single toolbar mode has been added to Writer and Calc to help users really focus on content, and some icons have been added to the default toolbars to make several frequently used functions – such as hide/show track changes, and freeze the first column or row of a spreadsheet – quicker to access. Also, most of the context menus can now be customized, for even greater control.

LibreOffice has been downloaded 140 million times since the launch in January 2011. The office suite is deployed by large organizations in every continent, with the latest addition being the Lithuanian Police with over 8,000 desktops.

Other New Features of LibreOffice 5.2

  • New drawing tools, including filled curves, polygons and freeform lines, have been added to all program modules.

Writer

  • When printing a document, Print to File is now available in the list of printers.
  • If you use Google Drive for storage, two-factor authentication support has been included.
  • The Save toolbar button includes a quick Save as Template option, so you don’t have to go through the menu.

Calc

  • New functions have been added, along with extensive tooltips that describe what a function does as you type it.
  • Multiple status bar functions can be active at the same time, to provide a quick overview of your data.
  • The currency toolbar icon now includes a drop-down menu to quickly choose the currency you want to use.
  • When removing the border from selected cells, you can also choose to remove the border from adjacent cells as well.

Impress

  • When working with custom animations, you can now quickly add an effect to an element via the sidebar, instead of using a separate dialog box.
  • The list of effects in the sidebar now includes a description of the effect, along with the element name.
  • In the properties sidebar, a new Slide Background panel lets you quickly change the format, orientation and background image of a slide.

A complete list of the better documented new features is available in a separate PDF document (http://tdf.io/lo52features), and on the website at http://www.libreoffice.org/discover/new-features/. Short videos presenting the most significant new features for Writer, Calc and Impress are available at: http://tdf.io/52vids.

LibreOffice 5.2 has also been improved “under the hood,” thanks to the work of hundreds of volunteers (https://people.gnome.org/~michael/blog/2016-08-03-under-the-hood-5-2.html). This translates into an open source office suite which is easier to develop, maintain and debug. Although this is not visible to users, it is extremely important for enterprise deployments.

coverityAccording to Coverity Scan, the number of open issues for 1,000 lines of LibreOffice 5.2 source code at the time of release is a record setting 0.00 (for 7,8 million lines of source code), against an industry average of 0.61 for open source software and 0.75 for proprietary software.

“LibreOffice 5.2 is a significant step forward for Free Software on the desktop, and will soon be available as a full featured cloud office suite,” says Michael Meeks, a Director at The Document Foundation (TDF) and a leading developer of LibreOffice Online. “The tight integration between desktop and cloud will provide enterprises a value added experience, with the best of both platforms always available to all users.”

“LibreOffice is growing fast, thanks to distinctive advantages such as the standard document format, which is recognized by a growing number of governments as the best solution for interoperability,” says Thorsten Behrens, a Director at The Document Foundation (TDF) and a member of the OASIS ODF Technical Committee.

Availability and enterprise deployments

LibreOffice 5.2 represents the bleeding edge in term of features for open source office suites. For enterprise class deployments, TDF maintains the more mature 5.1.5 version.

LibreOffice 5.2 “fresh” and LibreOffice 5.1.5 “still” are immediately available from the following link: http://www.libreoffice.org/download/. LibreOffice users, free software advocates and all community members can support The Document Foundation with a donation at http://donate.libreoffice.org.

LibreOffice 5.2 for GNU/Linux is also available in new packaging formats, which make it easier for end users to install and update the application: Flatpak from Red Hat and Snap from Canonical.

In any case, TDF suggests deploying or migrating to LibreOffice with the backing of certified professionals providing Level 3 support, migration or training consultancy according to recognized best practices worldwide (http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/professional-support/).

Several companies sitting in TDF Advisory Board (http://www.documentfoundation.org/governance/advisory-board/) are providing either value added Long Term Supported versions of LibreOffice or consultancy services for migrations and trainings, based on best practices distilled by The Document Foundation.

LibreOffice 5.2 and LibreOffice 5.1.5 are built with document conversion libraries supporting proprietary document formats from the Document Liberation Project: http://www.documentliberation.org.

Additional technical details

LibreOffice 5.1.5 change logs: https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Releases/5.1.5/RC1 (fixed in RC1) and https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Releases/5.1.5/RC2 (fixed in RC2).

LibreOffice 5.2 change logs: https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Releases/5.2.0/RC1 (fixed in RC1), https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Releases/5.2.0/RC2 (fixed in RC2), https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Releases/5.2.0/RC3 (fixed in RC3), and http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Releases/5.2.0/RC4 (fixed in RC4).

LibreOffice Conference

In 2016, LibreOffice Conference will be hosted by the Faculty of Information Technology at Brno University of Technology, and organized by OpenAlt, from September 7 to 9. Registration for the LibreOffice Conference is open at: http://conference.libreoffice.org/2016/registration/.

Press Kit and Screenshots

The press kit, with press release, infographic, and backgrounds, can be downloaded from: http://tdf.io/lo52presskit. Linux based screenshots can be downloaded from: http://tdf.io/lo52screenshots

Tender to redesign and implement the download and donate pages on the LibreOffice website (#201607-01)

The Document Foundation (TDF), the charitable entity behind the world’s leading free office suite LibreOffice, seeks for companies or individuals to

redesign and implement the download and donate pages on the LibreOffice website

to start work as soon as possible.

The combination of the download and the donation pages is the largest source of income for The Document Foundation. It is implemented into the SilverStripe CMS with donation mechanism integration to PayPal, ConCardis, BitPay and Flattr. We seek to optimize user experience by a redesign and update of both pages including technical implementation.

TDF is looking for an individual or company to, as a turnkey project, design and implement the following:

  • redesign and optimization of both the download and the donate page based on the proposals in the appendix (click here to download)
  • design of new graphics and icons to improve visual appearance
  • integration of TDF-provided images and texts
  • adaption of the design to match the current website CI/theme
  • for the donate page
    • A/B testing with frameworks such as Sixpack (http://sixpack.seatgeek.com)
      • evaluation of odd numbers, e.g. have 9, 14, 21, 99 USD as options, with 14 as default
      • varying of donation amount options and preselection on a regular basis
      • tracking of how many users change the default
      • providing means of collecting and displaying results
    • adaption and update of design based on the result of the A/B testing
      -> all changes to the page should be done in an incremental fashion and evaluated against the existing page
    • implementation of recurring donations at least via PayPal, optionally for other mechanisms
    • recording of successful payments in a database (e.g. via callback URL) for analysis
    • integration of automated e-mail confirmations after successful donations
    • automatic detection of user’s currency based on GeoIP

The source code for both pages can be found at https://github.com/tdf/newdesign_wip

Required Skills

  • knowledge of the SilverStripe CMS
  • experience with integration of PayPal, ConCardis, BitPay and Flattr
  • expertise with development of PHP and CSS

We exclusively use free, libre and open source (FLOSS) software for development wherever possible, and the resulting work must be licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License.

Other Skills

English (Conversationally fluent in order to coordinate and plan with members of TDF)

TDF welcomes applications from all suitably qualified persons regardless of their race, sex, disability, religion/belief, sexual orientation or age.

As always, TDF will give some preference to individuals who have previously shown a commitment to TDF, including but not limited to members of TDF. Not being a member, or never having contributed before, does not exclude any applicants from consideration.

The task offered is a project-based one-off, with no immediate plans to a mid- or long-term contractual relationship. It is offered on a freelance, project basis. Individuals and companies applying can be located anywhere in the world.

TDF is looking forward to receiving your applications, your financial expectations (name the final price for the turnkey project), and the earliest date of your availability, via e-mail to Florian Effenberger at floeff@documentfoundation.org no later than September 1, 2016. You can encrypt your message via PGP/GnuPG.

Applicants who have not received feedback by October 1, 2016 should consider that their application, after careful review, was not accepted.

Click here to download the appendix

The Document Foundation welcomes Canonical to the project Advisory Board

canonical-logo3Berlin, July 26, 2016 – The Document Foundation (TDF) today announced Canonical, the company behind the Ubuntu GNU/Linux operating system, has joined the project Advisory Board.

Canonical is the company behind Ubuntu, the leading operating system for cloud and the Internet of Things. Most public cloud workloads, new smart gateways, self-driving cars and advanced humanoid robots are running on Ubuntu. Additionally, Canonical leads the development of the snap universal Linux packaging system for secure, transactional device updates and app stores.

Since its first release in early 2011, LibreOffice has been the default office suite of the Ubuntu operating system. With the announcement of LibreOffice 5.2 in August 2016, it will be one of the first applications to be available as a snap package which will make LibreOffice easier and simpler for The Document Foundation to maintain.

“Canonical has been an active member of the LibreOffice community since the early days, and one of the most frequent sponsors of the LibreOffice Conference. By becoming a member of the project Advisory Board, Canonical will provide the experience and the insights necessary to improve the presence of free software – and LibreOffice – inside enterprises and public administrations worldwide”, says Marina Latini, Chairwoman of The Document Foundation.

“We are extremely pleased to become a member of the LibreOffice Project Advisory Board and having the opportunity to provide our guidance and insights to help improve LibreOffice for users around the world,” said Will Cooke, Desktop Engineering Manager for Canonical. “At Canonical, we believe in the power of open source software. We are committed to developing it, and will support projects and initiatives that help to promote its benefits to a wider audience.”

The Advisory Board’s (AB) primary function is to represent The Document Foundation’s Sponsors, and to provide the Board of Directors (BoD) with advice, guidance and proposals. In addition, the AB is at the kernel of the LibreOffice ecosystem, and as such is key for the further development of the project.

Elections of the next Membership Committee

Dear Community,

we hereby officially announce the upcoming elections for the next Membership Committee of The Document Foundation.

As per § 12 II of our statutes, [1] the Membership Committee’s term lasts two years. The current Membership Committee started its duty on September 19, 2014. Therefore, the old Membership Committee remains in charge until the end of September 18, 2016, so the new MC will be in charge the day after that, which is September 19, 2016.

As per § 6 III, only members of the Board of Trustees of The Document Foundation, as well as current members of any of its bodies, are eligible to be elected into the Membership Committee, and the election is overseen by the Board of Directors (§ 12 II).

The active electoral right is reserved to those who have been members of the Board of Trustees before this announcement (§ 12 II).

There is one more notable limitation: Per § 8 IV of the statutes, a maximum of 1/3 members of the Membership Committee is allowed to work on an employment basis for the same company, organization, entities, affiliates or subdivisions.

Nomination of candidates fulfilling the above requirements, as well as self nomination is welcome. In total, at least five members of the Membership Committee members are required, and given there are enough candidates, up to four deputies can be elected based on the board decision from June 6.

Re-election of current members of the Membership Committee is explicitly permitted (§ 12 II).

Please send nominations and self-nominations via e-mail to elections@documentfoundation.org (which reaches the Board of Directors in private) and also (!) to board-discuss@documentfoundation.org (which is a public mailing list). We kindly ask nominees who would like to stand for elections to provide a statement of up to 75 words on their candidacy as continuous text (so no bullet lists or multiple paragraphs). In addition, please also provide your full name, e-mail address and your corporate affiliation, if any, and please announce that you will provide information on all future changes as soon as possible.

Discussions with the candidates and questions to them as well as questions about the elections should take place on the public board-discuss@documentfoundation.org mailing list. For details on how to use the mailing list, see http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/.

Eligible voters will receive further details via e-mail prior to the start of elections, including a summary of the candidates, details on how to access the voting system, and instructions on how to independently verify the vote count. Please ensure we have your recent and correct e-mail address on file. For questions, you can reach the Board of Directors in private at elections@documentfoundation.org.

Following the time line set forth in § 12 II, requiring a 45 day advance notice, we hereby announce the following time line for the elections:

  1. 2016-07-25: announcement of the elections (this e-mail); and start of the nomination phase
  2. 2016-08-31, 24:00 CET/UTC+2: end of the nomination phase (one week before the election starts, as per § 12 II)
  3. 2016-09-08, 00:00 CET/UTC+2: official start of the elections (at least 45 days after #1, as per § 12 II)
  4. 2016-09-14, 24:00 CET/UTC+2: end of the elections
  5. 2016-09-15: announcement of the preliminary results; and start of the challenging phase
  6. 2016-09-17, 24:00 CET/UTC+2: end of the challenging phase
  7. 2016-09-18: official announcement of the final results
  8. 2016-09-19: new Membership Committee officially in charge

Be advised that the newly elected Membership Committee will only be in charge beginning from September 19, 2016.

Challenges to this election announcement with respect to the deadlines outlined have to happen no later than seven (7) days after this announcement, via e-mail to elections@documentfoundation.org (which reaches the Board of Directors in private).

Challenges to the preliminary results of the election have to happen until the deadline set forth above, via e-mail to elections@documentfoundation.org (which reaches the Board of Directors in private).

On behalf of the Board of Directors,
Marina Latini, Chairwoman of The Document Foundation

[1] http://www.documentfoundation.org/satzung.pdf (binding version) and http://www.documentfoundation.org/statutes.pdf (non-binding translation)

LibreOffice developer interview: Winfried Donkers

Winfried Donkers LibreOffice developer

In this week’s developer interview, we talk to Winfried Donkers, a Dutch coder who has been using LibreOffice (and its predecessors) for almost two decades, and today works on Calc.

Where are you based, and do you work for a LibreOffice-related company or just code in your spare time?

I live in the Netherlands, in a small village in Zeeland, near the North Sea. My work is within cycling distance – I don’t drive cars any more. I contribute mostly in my spare time, but if people or companies want me to fix a bug in my ‘area of expertise’ I will spend some company time. The company I work for uses LibreOffice.

How did you get involved with LibreOffice?

I first used StarOffice in the 1990s, but that was just a short fling. I used OpenOffice.org since version 1.1, and the company I worked for at that time switched to OpenOffice.org somewhere between 2000 and 2002. The company I work for now used an old version of Microsoft Office and I managed to get the company to choose LibreOffice in October 2011 (I think). Around that time I personally chose to contribute to LibreOffice.

What areas of the code do you normally work on? Anything else you want to tackle?

I concentrate on Calc functions, both fixing bugs and adding new (missing) functions. I am happy with that; LibreOffice is quite complex and I would rather know one area well than many areas superficially. I am still learning a lot about Calc and its functions and I’m far from being an expert.

What is your vision for the future, or what would you most like to see improved in LibreOffice?

I would like LibreOffice to be one of the available, undisputed and fully-fledged office applications and not just a ‘cheap’ alternative to Microsoft Office. LibreOffice is much more than that. A better (more stable) Base would be welcome. I hardly use it because of hitches. But having said that, I cannot contribute to Base and the people working on Base are doing a great job, especially considering their limited time.

What do you do when you’re not working on LibreOffice?

In my spare time when I am not working on LibreOffice I like to sail. My wife and I have a sailing boat and I sail with my wife as well as alone a lot. Also I like to work on our boat, ‘restoring’ as it is a classic boat.

Thanks Winfried! And to any other interested developers reading this: join our community and help to make LibreOffice even better.

LibreOffice developer interview: Krishna Keshav

Krishna Keshav LibreOffice developer

In our next developer interview, we talk to Krishna Keshav, a new contributor to the LibreOffice project who is currently working on Easy Hacks and plans to expand into more complex bug-fixes in the future…

Where are you based, and do you work for a LibreOffice-related company or just code in your spare time?

I am currently pursuing my Bachelor’s in Computer Science and have just entered my final (fourth) year of study at PES College of Engineering. PESCE is located in the small town of Mandya in the state of Karnataka, India. I use LibreOffice for individual purposes. I mostly use Writer as my requirements are limited to it, but I also use Impress for creating presentations whenever needed. The best thing I like is its availability for every system, and it loads faster than its counterpart.

How did you get involved with LibreOffice?

Earlier I was just aware of open source software and used to see it in articles on the internet. So I decided to start with open source during the month of March 2016. Eventually, I found out that people here in India are not familiar with open source involvement and programs like the Google Summer of Code (GSoC). Anyway, getting back to how I started: I found LibreOffice as the most familiar organization while looking for open source organizations in the GSoC 2016 list.

Since the day I started with LibreOffice, the steps I took towards contributing to the software made me explore other open source software like Gerrit, Jenkins, GDB and much more. The LibreOffice community is very well organized and has appropriate documentation and a wiki page for every step, which helped me a lot while getting started. Additionally, I would like to say that LibreOffice has some very nice people on the IRC channels.

What areas of the code do you normally work on? Anything else you want to tackle?

So far I have worked on small bugs and tasks which LibreOffice refers to as Easy Hacks. You can visit my patches via this link. I am currently trying to tackle more complex bugs, and learning the user interface design of LibreOffice. In future, I would like to be involved as a more active and significant contributor to LibreOffice.

What is your vision for the future, or what would you most like to see improved in LibreOffice?

Libreoffice already seems to be a very stable product, with enough features for any end users. However, since things can always be better, I will definitely talk to the community if I find something to improve. Moreover, I would like to see LibreOffice replace its proprietary counterpart.

What do you do when you’re not working on LibreOffice?

Apart from looking for something to code, I like to read tech articles whenever I find time. I love bike rides, playing table tennis and sometimes exploring music. I can be found on Facebook, LinkedIn and GitHub.

Thanks Krishna! And to any other interested developers reading this: join our community and help to make LibreOffice even better.

Press Releases

Announcement of LibreOffice 25.8.4

Berlin, 18 December 2025 – LibreOffice 25.8.4, the fourth minor update to the free office suite developed by volunteers for…

Open Document Format

The Future of Open Standards and the Importance of ODF

Open standards don't make headlines. Instead, they work quietly behind the scenes to define how information is created, shared and…