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The Role of ODF in the Era of Digital Identity and Authentication

Announcement of LibreOffice 25.8.4

Czech translation of LibreOffice Draw Guide 25.8

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Bug bounties: finding and fixing security holes with European Commission funds

Free and open source software (FOSS) is about much more than driving costs down, in some cases even down to zero – it’s about giving control back to users, developers and even nations. With FOSS, everyone gains the freedom to study, improve and share the software – and to use it whenever and wherever they want, without being restricted by vendor lock-in strategies.

FOSS has been widely used amongst government bodies and public services, so thanks to the coordination of their recently formed Open Source Programme Office (OSPO), the European Commission has started a series of hackathon and “bug bounty” programmes to help selected projects find (and potentially fix) security issues.

The Commission’s OSPO has set aside €200,000 to reward developers and researchers who find critical security vulnerabilities in free software projects (such as LibreOffice and Mastodon).

Rewards go from €250 up to €5000 for security bug disclosures, with 20% added on top if the researchers provide also a fix for the bug.

This will surely help to further improve the security and reliability of FOSS tools, benefiting everyone from individual users to larger governmental and public bodies, and to make FOSS known to those that haven’t yet discovered how much it has to offer.

Paolo Vecchi, from The Document Foundation’s Board of Directors, which liaised with the European Commission’s OSPO, adds:

It is a real pleasure to see that the European Commission is following up their open source software strategy 2020-2023 with concrete actions. The creation of the OSPO, which is led by very knowledgeable and passionate people, was the first step required to then progress into other programmes, like this bug bounty, which will provide the needed support for an open source ecosystem that has become the foundation of all the platforms and software we use.

The Document Foundation and our community are grateful for the opportunity that has been provided with to make LibreOffice even more secure and ready to potentially become the preferred open source office suite also within European institutions.

We encourage all developers to head to the bug bounty page and help us to make open source even more secure for all.

To learn more about security in LibreOffice, see here. We’ll post more updates about this programme on this blog and our social media – stay tuned!

Using a Matrix Bridge with LibreOffice IRC Channels

Hossein Nourikhah writes:

Ever wondered about using modern chat tools to discuss LibreOffice? Here we will discuss using a Matrix bridge to connect to the LibreOffice IRC rooms, to participate more efficiently in LibreOffice-related discussions.

Traditionally, IRC has been the preferred way of communication for the FOSS communities including the LibreOffice community. There are multiple IRC rooms that you can join, and the one related to the LibreOffice development is #libreoffice-dev at Libera Chat network. A more complete list is in the TDF Wiki:

IRC is an open protocol, and there are many clients for it. With the modern IRC clients, some of the shortcoming of the earlier IRC clients are now resolved. For example, you can use encryption in your connection.

https://libera.chat/guides/connect#accessing-liberachat-via-tls

On the other hand, IRC still has its drawbacks. You have to be online to get the messages, and you will lose the messages that was sent when you were offline. There are solutions like “IRC bouncers” that can help resolve this specific issue, but when compared to the modern chat clients and protocols, IRC still falls behind. So, many people prefer the new tools for chat.

But, is there a way to connect these two worlds, old and new? Fortunately there is a solution: using a Matrix bridge.

Using the Matrix Bridge for the LibreOffice IRC Channels

To use the matrix bridge for the LibreOffice IRC channels, first you need a Matrix account. Then, by clicking on the link below you can connect to the “LibreOffice space“, and see the LibreOffice channels in Matrix:

https://matrix.to/#/#libreoffice-space:matrix.org

"<yoastmark

You don’t have an account? No problem! You can register one at matrix.org. It is as easy as a simple sign up, by entering username, password and your e-mail. You have to verify your e-mail address by opening a link sent to your inbox.

You, or your organization can have your own Matrix home server. If not, you can stick to matrix.org account. In any way, having a Matrix account lets you to join the LibreOffice space.

Join LibreOffice space
Join LibreOffice space

Subsequently, after joining the LibreOffice space you can join separate rooms and enjoy the Matrix bridge!

Join rooms in the LibreOffice space which uses Matrix bridge to IRC
Join rooms in the LibreOffice space which uses Matrix bridge to IRC

Then, if you look at the users list in the IRC rooms, you see several people with [m] after their names. They are usually people that are using Matrix bridge. If you are also using Matrix bridges, you can use the Matrix for private messages and use all the features available in Matrix protocol and client.

Finally, we hope that you enjoy the LibreOffice space on Matrix, and have fun!

OpenOffice users: Getting messages about documents being made in a newer version?

Many OpenOffice users are seeing warnings when trying to access files in the OpenDocument Format (eg .odt, .ods). The full text is:

This document was created by a newer version of OpenOffice. It may contain features not supported by your current version.

In this case, the document was probably made in LibreOffice, which supports newer versions of the OpenDocument Format. LibreOffice is a successor project to OpenOffice that’s much more actively developed, with new major releases every six months, hugely improved Microsoft Office compatibility, and many other benefits:

LibreOffice supports OpenDocument Format 1.3, the latest release. COSM, the Community of ODF Specification Maintainers, is an independent project started by The Document Foundation, and oversees the work of preparing the new standards for ratification. COSM is starting to crowdfund work on the OpenDocument 1.4 standard – so organisations that would like to contribute should get in touch!

Another benefit of OpenDocument is its backwards compatibility. Even when a file is built around a newer format, older versions of the software should still be able to read and process it. So you’re not forced onto an upgrade treadmill (although as LibreOffice is free and open source software, it’s always good to keep up-to-date!)

Learn more about LibreOffice and OpenDocument here.

Community Member Monday: Baltasar García Perez-Schofield

Today we have a quick chat with Baltasar García Perez-Schofield, who recently became a Member of The Document Foundation, the non-profit entity behind LibreOffice…

Tell us a bit about yourself!

I’m from Spain, in that north-west corner called Galicia. Professionally I’m a teacher of computer science, and dedicate my spare time to my family, swimming, hiking, and retro computing.

I defended my PhD Thesis in 2002, wrote it entirely in what was then OpenOffice, and later forked to LibreOffice, and more importantly spawned The Document Foundation. I then decided that I should somehow return the favor by collaborating (as far as I could), with the product.

What are you working on in the LibreOffice project right now?

I’ve lately dedicated my time to the Basic interpreter, solving simple bugs such as type-persistence through compilation and execution, or the behaviour of certain functions that do not adhere to the specification.

Why did you decide to become a member of TDF?

I think that the open standards for document formats are vital for any computer user, and therefore defend the TDF’s existence. In that sense, becoming a member was an honor for me, and I also perceived it as a recognition for the work I did.

Anything else you plan to do in the future? What does LibreOffice really need?

I plan to continue collaborating with LibreOffice, at least in my free time gaps. Regarding the needs of LibreOffice, I think it probably needs marketing and compatibility (right now it is a must) with MS Office. The objective would be to let computer users realize that they have the possibility to use a free product as capable (or even more so!) as the private one.

Thanks to Baltasar for all his contributions! All LibreOffice users can join him in helping to improve the software, and find out what they can do for LibreOffice. 👍

“LibreOffice Expert” magazines available for schools and communities

Recently, Linux New Media released a special edition magazine, full of tutorials, tips and tricks about LibreOffice. And some articles were contributed by members of the LibreOffice community! Well, we have 50 issues to give away – and we’d like to get them in the hands of students, communities and other projects around the world:

The magazines come with DVDs that include LibreOffice for Linux, Windows and macOS, alongside extra templates, extensions and guidebooks. So ideally, we’d like to get these magazines out to locations and communities where internet connections aren’t always available – so that the users can really benefit from the discs.

So, if you can help us to distribute these magazines to students, local communities and other places, drop us a line! Let us know what you plan to do with them, and how many you need. Send us an email and let’s spread the word!

Oyez! Oyez! Oyez! The LibreOffice Draw Guide 7.2 has arrived!

Peter Schofield and the LibreOffice Documentation Team announcs the immediate availability of the Draw Guide 7.2, the update of the Draw Guide for LibreOffice version 7.2.

Draw Guide 7.2

Anyone who wants to quickly acquire knowledge about LibreOffice Draw and is new to drawing software, or may be familiar with another office suite, will find this user guide very useful. It introduces the main features of LibreOffice Draw. Although Draw is a vector graphics drawing tool, it can also perform some operations on raster graphics (pixels) such as photographs.

Using Draw, a wide variety of graphical images can be created quickly. Some of the drawing functions are: layer management, snap functions and grid-point system, dimensions and measurement display, connectors for making organization charts, 3D functions that enable small 3D drawings to be created (with texture and lighting effects), drawing and page-style integration, and Bézier curves.

A printed version is available at Lulu Inc, thanks to Jean H. Weber. The Draw Guide completes the LibreOffice 7.2 book collection, and opens the LibreOffice 7.3 shelf for more work and activities.

Peter Schofield
Peter Schofield

The Draw Guide 7.2 – as well as many other LibreOffice Guides – can be downloaded from the LibreOffice Documentation website and the LibreOffice Bookshelf website.

A big thank you to Peter and the LibreOffice Draw documentation team!

Join the Documentation Team

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 Role of ODF in the Era of Digital Identity and Authentication

Digital identity has become an integral part of everyday life. We use it to access work tools and sign documents…