Updates from the Nepalese LibreOffice community: Recent protests and stress in Nepal have disrupted regular activities. Almost everything was affected, including in-person events being canceled rapidly. For open source software users, Software Freedom Day 2025 was a big celebration. But many felt disillusioned about the event. Despite all this, our community members in Nepal tuned in to an online call and turned Software Freedom Day 2025 into a success. Birendra Open Source Club – one of the student clubs and LibreOffice project contributors in Nepal, with support from Liaison Suraj Bhattarai and other key open source clubs, hopped onto Discord on 20 September. They carried out a series of talks among new and old enthusiasts and learners. The talks ranged from the importance of community and good first contributions, all the way up to open source in cybersecurity and open source pieces of hardware. Suraj shared a short talk about Open Formats and added a little fun with the Easter hunt available on the LibreOffice Asia site. Participants learned that a sense of freedom for software is only true when all the components, including formats or what we generally call “extensions,” share the same freedom as speech. It matters most
The Open Source Conference 2025 will take place the 1st of October 2025 in Belval, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg, following a very successful first edition in 2024 in combination with the LibreOffice Conference. Open Source software, together with data sovereignty, form the basis to achieve Digital Sovereignty as an inclusive effort where all the participants cooperate to create the tools we need to protect our data, while sharing the technologies that improve everyone’s digital lives. This year’s main tracks provide the opportunity to share the experiences of those that have chosen to produce and implement Open Source tools and platforms that improve security, resilience and data protection. During the day, there will be several talks focused on LibreOffice or by LibreOffice community members: Open Innovation and Open Source in Schleswig-Holstein, by Sven Thomsen, CIO of the State of Schleswig-Holstein Free your mayor! Digital transformation and free software in Échirolles, by Nicolas Vivant, IT Manager of the City of Échirolles The foundation behind LibreOffice, by Florian Effenberger, Executive Director of The Document Foundation This is how it works: Open Source as competitive factor in the private (and public?) sector, by Lothar Becker, Managing Director of .riess-applications Registration is still open: conference.opensource.lu/registration/
Berlin, 8 September 2025 – The Document Foundation announces the release of LibreOffice 25.2.6, the sixth maintenance release of the LibreOffice 25.2 family, available for download at www.libreoffice.org/download [1]. LibreOffice 25.2.6 is based on the LibreOffice Technology, which enables the development of desktop, mobile and cloud versions – either from TDF or from the ecosystem – that fully support the two ISO standards for document formats: the open ODF or Open Document Format (ODT, ODS and ODP) and the closed and proprietary Microsoft OOXML (DOCX, XLSX and PPTX). Products based on the LibreOffice Technology are available for all major desktop operating systems (Windows, macOS, Linux and ChromeOS), mobile platforms (Android and iOS) and the cloud. For enterprise-class deployments, TDF recommends a LibreOffice Enterprise optimized version from one of the ecosystem companies, with dedicated value-added features and other benefits such as SLAs and security patch backports for three to five years (www.libreoffice.org/download/libreoffice-in-business/). English manuals for the LibreOffice 25.2 family are available for download at https://books.libreoffice.org/en/. End users can get first-level technical support from volunteers on the user mailing lists and the Ask LibreOffice website: ask.libreoffice.org. Downloading LibreOffice All available versions of LibreOffice for the desktop can be downloaded from the same
LibreOffice 25.8: a Strategic Asset for Governments and Enterprises Focused on Digital Sovereignty and Privacy Overview In a time when geopolitical tensions, data localization laws, and compliance risks are reshaping the IT landscape, LibreOffice 25.8 (released last week) stands out as a strategic choice. It’s a fully open source, locally run productivity suite designed for organizations that require full control over their software, data, and infrastructure. This version builds directly on priorities voiced by public administrations and large enterprises worldwide: protecting user data, reducing dependency on foreign vendors, and strengthening digital autonomy. Why Digital Sovereignty Matters For governments and enterprises, digital sovereignty is about more than philosophy. It’s about: National security: Reducing exposure to extraterritorial surveillance and software backdoors. Regulatory compliance: Meeting legal requirements like GDPR, national procurement laws, and IT localization mandates. Vendor independence: Avoiding forced migrations, aggressive licensing models, or unpredictable pricing from proprietary vendors. Strategic resilience: Keeping mission-critical systems operational without reliance on the cloud. LibreOffice 25.8 is purpose-built for these goals. Key Benefits in LibreOffice 25.8 for Institutions Privacy-First Architecture Zero telemetry: No background data collection. LibreOffice is entirely transparent and silent by design. Full offline capability: Every feature works without internet access, ideal for secure,
In the digital world, document formats are essential. Proprietary formats such as Microsoft Word’s DOCX or Excel’s XLSX dominate the workplace, but at the same time they lock users into a specific vendor and its business strategies, which tend to exploit users to the maximum in every way. The Open Document Format (ODF) offers an open, standard alternative that protects users and their privacy, promotes interoperability, long-term access and data ownership. Migrating documents from proprietary formats to ODF is the solution, and although vendors who rely on proprietary formats – not only Microsoft, but also its freeware clones such as OnlyOffice or WPS Office – do everything they can to prevent it, it is very easy and represents a fundamental step forward for users in terms of privacy and digital sovereignty (i.e., ownership of their own content). This guide breaks down the migration process to make the transition smooth, efficient and sustainable, both at the individual level (where problems are virtually non-existent) and at the enterprise level, where problems exist due to the lock-in strategies of proprietary formats. Step 1: Understand ODF and its advantages No dependence on a single vendor: freedom to use any compatible software Better long-term accessibility,
Adhering to these guidelines can enhance productivity and guarantee that documents remain consistent, robust and accessible over time, irrespective of the platform. Firstly, use an editor such as LibreOffice that natively supports the format without conversion. This preserves the nuances of the ODF XML structure, supports all its features and reduces the risk of formatting issues or data loss. It also ensures that documents are fully compatible with the ISO standard. Secondly, use an up-to-date version of LibreOffice to benefit from continuous improvements in ODF feature management, avoid bugs that could cause file corruption (a rare event thanks to the robustness of the ODF format, but still possible) and enjoy the highest level of security in file management. Thirdly, use LibreOffice document templates and styles for all elements, such as headings, fonts, paragraphs, and tables, to ensure consistent formatting throughout the document. This allows you to make global changes quickly by changing the style rather than each individual element, and improves accessibility, as screen readers and other assistive technologies rely on a consistent structure. This also results in smaller, more robust ODF files. Creating and reusing LibreOffice templates is an excellent practice for companies that produce many similar documents (such
