Apache OpenOffice Community Forum

I recently inherited a computer that has Libre rather than Open Office installed. I wondered if writer is similar enough in both programs to use it or if the two programs are significantly different and I should just go ahead and install open office. I have no experience with Libre and only think I read somewhere that the two programs went together for awhile?

LibreOffice was forked from OpenOffice 3.3 in 2011. Both versions 3.3 were identical. Since then the development of OpenOffice came to halt. OpenOffice is a hollow brand logo which unfortunately is better known than LibreOffice. LibreOffice comes with regular updates every month and with new featues every 6 months. Even if you prefer OpenOffice because it did not change in a decade, you have to be aware that the static program can't be compatible forever as operating systems change.

LibreOffice [LO] is a fork of Apache OpenOffice [AOO]; the major difference is that LO is more actively maintained and has a few more features than AOO. Probably the major difference you may notice is in the user interface - otherwise LO should work for you. Give it a try and see if you like it, if not you can always replace it with AOO.

Thanks for your responses! (very quick lol)

Before I read it, I already went ahead and installed Open Office because I was familiar with it, but when I opened my document, it said that I had already worked on the document in a newer version of Open Office and I should update it. Is that because I opened the document in Libre before I installed Open Office?

I prefer this forum to all the others. Whether I use Libre or Open Office, I want to find and replace double paragraph endings (2 line breaks) with one line break and a tab. I don't know these names in the attributes and I can no longer copy the line breaks with my mouse so I can simply insert it into the find and replace. I expect this question needs to be elsewhere.

Well, this warning is another indicator that OpenOffice is no longer developed. Save the document with OpenOffice and the version warning should go away.
Yes, the extra question deserves another topic.
Anyway: menu:Edit>Find&Replace....
[More Options]
[x] Regular expressions
Search: ^$
Replace: <nothing, nada, empty>
[Replace All]

Thanks! I'll put in another topic about the find and replace and quote your answer in there.