What's new in the latest release of the free LibreOffice suite
Give me 5
The Document Foundation released LibreOffice 5.0.0 at the beginning of August, and the first update 5.0.1 appeared just three weeks later. In addition to several fixes and new features under the hood, Version 5 provides some very visible improvements.
A lot has happened since the founding of the LibreOffice Project [1] in 2010. The fifth version, published in August, is the tenth major release of the free office suite, and it also introduces the third development cycle [2].
After the fork from the OpenOffice suite, the LibreOffice 3 process was mainly fraught with legacy issues, and the makers focused on cleaning up the code base. The 4.X series introduced significant performance benefits and improved the exchange with external formats. The latest member of the family focuses on usability.
LibreOffice 5 comes with smarter menus, a new preview for styles and formatting, and more polished sidebars and toolbars. The developers also revised the import and export functions, meaning the office suite can now cope better with Microsoft formats. You'll find a brand new filter for Apple productivity app pages and numbers. 64-bit Windows users are no longer sidelined – LibreOffice 5 is available for them now too.
New Coat of Paint
Our test team took a look at the new LibreOffice 5.0.1 in Ubuntu 15.04 (64-bit). We fed the office suite with Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents, as well as pages and number files created using iWork in OS X 10.10.4, to put the new filter functions for external formats to the test. The results were mixed: The MS formats didn't cause any issues; the Apple formats did.
The redesigned menu is the first thing you'll notice after launching. Users can now remove entries from the preview in the recent documents view by moving the mouse over the thumbnail and clicking the small cross in the top-right corner (Figure 1). As always, File | Recent Documents | Clear list deletes the whole list.
The layouts in Writer, Calc, and the other tools seem tidier; the developers analyzed statistics for frequently used commands and adjusted the Standard, Formatting, and Drawing toolbars. The programmers have also tidied up the context menus that appear when you right-click images, shapes, or Writer tables. Functions that were barely used in past versions are gone and replaced with more popular options.
The sidebar on the right now contains additional features in some LibreOffice modules, which means more space for working on documents. The developers changed the order of the sidebar tabs in Impress and also redesigned the Slide Show tab. The developers removed the Alignment section from the Properties tab of Calc tables and rearranged the remaining elements.
The most striking changes are in word processing. The sidebar now displays a preview for the selected template on the Styles and Formatting tab (Figure 2).
Figuratively Speaking
Writer, Calc, Impress, and Draw now let you crop images using the mouse – this new cropping feature means you don't have to use an external graphics program. Users can enable editing mode via the Format | Image | Crop Image menu. Red drag points now appear around the object (Figure 3). The middle points cut horizontally or vertically up to the mouse pointer. To cut both horizontally and vertically up to the pointer at the same time, touch one of the corners. Holding the Shift key will keep the proportions as they are.
Exchangeable?
The spreadsheet has a number of new functions, and the developers have bug-fixed the existing ones. Almost all the changes in Calc are aimed at improving the exchange with Microsoft Excel. You'll also find some improvements with conditional formatting and number representation.
The developers have added import and export filters from other LibreOffice modules. An annoying bug that misappropriated highlighting and shadows when saving in MS Word format has now been fixed. Users can decide how LibreOffice should export the backgrounds by clicking a checkbox in the program settings (Tools | Options | Load/Save | Microsoft Office).
The import functions for iWork files are brand new. LibreOffice 5 can now open pages and numbers files (Version 09 and older) thanks to the libetonyek
library. Although reading simple texts and tables worked without any issues, transferring documents with colored tables and charts wasn't so successful. Only the numbers from a file with a simple bar chart and a three-column table remained in the test – developers still have a lot of work to do with the document transfer features. Anyone who wants to pass on iWork documents to users of the free office suite should continue to choose the detour of exporting to Microsoft format.
The extension of the PDF export feature, on the other hand, has turned out well. Users can now set the address for a time stamp authority in the program settings in the Security tab. When saved, the certificate and time stamp authority are prepared on the new Digital Signatures tab.
In the release notes, the LibreOffice developers warned that the fifth edition might still contain bugs. Anyone who would prefer to use a stable edition should probably stick with version 4.4.5 for the time being. Having said that, our test team did not experience any crashes when working with the individual program modules – LibreOffice 5 even proved stable when faced with intensive importing and exporting of external formats.
For now, you'll need to bear in mind the fact that the announced exchange with Apple's pages and numbers is not working yet. Future releases will certainly deal with this problem. The improved user interface, the new look, the redesigned menus, and the bars are impressive in every respect.
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Canonical Releases Ubuntu 24.04
After a brief pause because of the XZ vulnerability, Ubuntu 24.04 is now available for install.
-
Linux Servers Targeted by Akira Ransomware
A group of bad actors who have already extorted $42 million have their sights set on the Linux platform.
-
TUXEDO Computers Unveils Linux Laptop Featuring AMD Ryzen CPU
This latest release is the first laptop to include the new CPU from Ryzen and Linux preinstalled.
-
XZ Gets the All-Clear
The back door xz vulnerability has been officially reverted for Fedora 40 and versions 38 and 39 were never affected.
-
Canonical Collaborates with Qualcomm on New Venture
This new joint effort is geared toward bringing Ubuntu and Ubuntu Core to Qualcomm-powered devices.
-
Kodi 21.0 Open-Source Entertainment Hub Released
After a year of development, the award-winning Kodi cross-platform, media center software is now available with many new additions and improvements.
-
Linux Usage Increases in Two Key Areas
If market share is your thing, you'll be happy to know that Linux is on the rise in two areas that, if they keep climbing, could have serious meaning for Linux's future.
-
Vulnerability Discovered in xz Libraries
An urgent alert for Fedora 40 has been posted and users should pay attention.
-
Canonical Bumps LTS Support to 12 years
If you're worried that your Ubuntu LTS release won't be supported long enough to last, Canonical has a surprise for you in the form of 12 years of security coverage.
-
Fedora 40 Beta Released Soon
With the official release of Fedora 40 coming in April, it's almost time to download the beta and see what's new.