[Tutorial] Considering a Switch from OpenOffice to LibreOffice? Some Useful Information
Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2022 3:23 pm
Apache OpenOffice and LibreOffice and ODF Specifications
I think it would be fair to say that Apache OpenOffice is cruising into obsolescence and dying a slow death. It hasn't had a major update or improvement in years and does not use the latest Open Document Format (ODF) specifications for its files. (Also see OpenDocument Format. The information there is a bit dated as it (currently) only mentions ODF v1.2 but you get the general idea.) At the time of writing this (October 2022) the latest ODF version is v1.3. This has been implemented in LibreOffice but not in OpenOffice. It is very unlikely that OpenOffice will ever implement it. For more details on this see: I thought ODF was a universal format document. On this basis alone you would be best advised to switch to LibreOffice instead of OpenOffice.
Edit: Thursday, 06 February 2025: as from LibreOffice version 25.2.0 LibreOffice can now read and write ODF v1.4.
Other Reasons to Switch
There are other reasons for switching over to LibreOffice: put succinctly, LibreOffice is actively developed and improved, the same cannot be said of OpenOffice. In day-to-day use using LibreOffice isn't much different to using OpenOffice, in most ways they are very similar, and LibreOffice should open all your 'old' OpenOffice documents without problems. It is also the case that of late at this forum reports have been made of multiple issues with OpenOffice on Windows 10 and Windows 11 systems. The issues stem from OpenOffice not launching at all to issues with not being able to open files due to 'permissions' problems or failure to reliably 'copy and paste' data into OpenOffice. Often times these kinds of issues are solved by just installing LibreOffice.
Downloading LibreOffice and the 'Versions' Available
As from February 2024 LibreOffice changed the way version numbering is done for the downloads available. This new numbering scheme plan is as follows:
The intention is to make available new major releases on around a six-monthly schedule according to the scheme that a new major release will be made in February and August of any given year and numbered as follows (for example):
2024.2.0 — this would be the major release for the month of February.
2024.8.0 — this would be the major release for the month of August.
As you can see for this the numbering scheme is Year.Month.Bug-Fix-Release. So reading the above the 2024.2.0 is the first release of a February major release. Likewise 2024.8.0 is the first release of an August major release. As you can see the tag of a major release is being applied to the month of release for any given year.
As each major release will have new bugs incremental bug-fix-releases will also be made for each major release version as time moves forward. So you can get releases like (for example):
2024.2.1
2024.2.2
2024.2.3
and so on as each bug-fix-version is applied to the major, February or August, release. These bug-fix-releases are known as micro releases.
Traditionally, in line with the old numbering scheme for LibreOffice, major releases are known as LibreOffice Fresh and micro releases, above a certain level, are known as LibreOffice Still. The Fresh releases are for people that want the latest features, though at the risk of new bugs having been formed in that new major release version. The micro 'Still' releases are for people that want to maximise stability as new bugs will have been addressed and fixed in the Still micro releases.
LibreOffice recommend that if a user favours stability over new features that users install micro releases at at least Year.Month.3 or Year.Month.4 or higher micro release levels: it is these micro levels and above that determine if a release is regarded as a Still release. Personally I prefer to go down the Still route as I favour stability over new features. This is not to say that LibreOffice is a bug-ridden mess – it isn't – but like any software of any complexity new bugs will always be an issue.
In line with this at the download webpage, for most of the year, two downloads will be offered, a Fresh download and a Still download. Choose according to your own preferences. However, at some points of time in the year it may be the case that there is only one download on offer — if that is the case then that single offer would be regarded as equivalent to LibreOffice Still. However, do note that you can switch between installing Fresh or Still so any decision you make is not set in stone. For further information and guidance on 'versions' see this webpage: LibreOffice Release Plan
For initial confusion caused when the new numbering scheme was introduced see this thread: [Solved] LibreOffice Version Numbers: now 24.2.0!
LibreOffice and Update Notifications
There is a setting in LibreOffice at (menu) Tools > Options... > LibreOffice > Online Update > Online Update Options > Check for updates automatically If that box is ticked then LibreOffice will give a notification when an update is available. However, (as things currently stand) it only checks to see if an update is available for LibreOffice Fresh. If you have LibreOffice Still installed then this option is not of much use to you as you are, effectively, being given the option to replace your Still version with a Fresh version. So be aware of this if you install Still, you might want to untick that box. This has been raised with LibreOffice developers to change this situation but whether or not it gets implemented only time will tell. You can see the issue report here and perhaps add your voice to the requests to amend this component of LibreOffice: Add option to disable Update Notifications for Technological Enthusiast ("fresh") Releases
Important Note for Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 Users
As at LibreOffice version 25.8 support for these operating systems will have been completely removed. For some detail on this see: Platform Compatibility If you require an older version they can be downloaded from here: Download Archive If you are not certain how to proceed in that archive then just ask for guidance here at this Forum.
LibreOffice and Java JRE
If you do decide to switch to LibreOffice and you install LibreOffice 64-bit you may want to install a 64-bit implementation of Java JRE. This is required for some components of LibreOffice, but not all. You can get a download of Oracle JRE here: Java Downloads for All Operating Systems. For Windows systems the installer file to download is Windows Offline (64-bit). (If you switch from OpenOffice to LibreOffice 64-bit and you have no further need for JRE 32-bit on your system then it would be safe to uninstall JRE 32-bit if you so wish. If you install LibreOffice 32-bit then you should retain, and/or update, your JRE 32-bit installation and direct LibreOffice 32-bit to use that.)
LibreOffice User Documentation
For extensive user documentation see: LibreOffice Documentation. Note that documentation of LibreOffice Fresh will be limited as Fresh is always a work in progress and there is little point in trying to create documentation for a program version in which some components of the program are being actively developed and hence changing. (This is one of the reasons why I prefer to use LibreOffice Still — the most complete documentation is available for it.)
An Important Note on File Associations and 'Extensions'
The following information might be important for setting file associations to be managed by OpenOffice/LibreOffice. Microsoft make this deliberately difficult on Windows 10 and 11 systems as Microsoft try to push Microsoft Office (365) on users of Windows. To work around that you might find that you are forced to have to set some file-types associations to be opened by a Default App that you manually set yourself.
Microsoft Windows identifies file-types by using what are referred to as file-name extensions. Windows sees file-name extensions as being the file-name characters which include the last 'period'/'dot' of a file-name and any characters that follow that final dot. It is important to note that the extension name includes that period/dot character. So, for example, the extension for an OpenOffice/LibreOffice Writer text file would be .odt (the period/dot and the text following being the last element in the file name). On Windows systems file extensions are usually (including the dot) only four characters long but this is not written in stone. (For example, you might have a file-name and extension as MyMusic.flac — which would be an audio file. Or, TheMovie.torrent, which would be a peer-to-peer torrent file. And so on).
For a list of the most commonly used extensions for OpenOffice/LibreOffice see this webpage: OpenOffice/LibreOffice File-Type Extensions On that same page you will also see extensions for the most commonly used OpenOffice/LibreOffice 'Template' types.
If in Windows File Explorer you cannot see the extensions for file names then follow this guide to enable viewing of them: How to show File Extensions in Windows 11/10
File Associations and Installing LibreOffice Alongside OpenOffice
It is perfectly possible to have both OpenOffice and LibreOffice installed at the same time, so you can do that if you just want to try LibreOffice to see if it is suitable for you. In what follows I will assume that you already have the latest version of OpenOffice installed and you want, in addition, to install LibreOffice. (The reasons for specifying 'the latest version' is that OpenOffice's installer used to follow different routines and offer different install options in earlier versions.)
When you install LibreOffice it will grab all the ODF file associations .odf, .odg, .odm, .odp, .ods, .odt etc. and so double-clicking a file will cause LibreOffice to open that file by default. If you want the file associations to revert back to being opened by OpenOffice by default then the easiest way to achieve that is to reinstall OpenOffice and the file associations will be passed back to OpenOffice. In this scenario the OpenOffice installer will ask where to unpack the installation files to — by default it will offer to place them in a folder on your Desktop; just agree to that and once the install routine is over you can safely delete that entire folder. Next you will be offered the option to 'Modify' or 'Repair' your OpenOffice, just chose 'Repair' and at the end of the Repair routine your documents will be back to opening with OpenOffice by default. You can follow a similar routine with LibreOffice if you so wish. In essence: the last program to be installed/Repaired, OpenOffice or LibreOffice, will have the file associations assigned to it by default. It is also worth noting that installing/repairing will not affect the files in your OpenOffice Profile folder or your LibreOffice Profile folder — your previous settings will be retained.
If you do try installing LibreOffice alongside OpenOffice and decide you don't want LibreOffice then just uninstall LibreOffice and the uninstall routine should automatically revert your file associations back to OpenOffice. (If that doesn't happen you now know what to do.)
If you would prefer to set file associations manually then please see this guide for how to proceed: [Tutorial] Setting the default program to open files
Cleaning-up After Testing LibreOffice
If you installed LibreOffice and decide that you want to keep it and also that you want to completely uninstall OpenOffice then you might want to do the following. Firstly, uninstall OpenOffice. Once that is done, and assuming you won't be using OpenOffice again, then you might want to delete the OpenOffice User Profile from your system if you deem you will have no further use for it. To do that copy this text (in red, including the percent symbols) %AppData% Once you have copied it paste it into the the Address Bar of Windows File Explorer and then click Explorer's 'go' button/arrow or just press the Enter key on your keyboard. Doing this will open, for the current logged-in user of the system, the folder where OpenOffice's User Profile is stored. So look in there for the folder titled 'OpenOffice' and delete that entire OpenOffice folder and your OpenOffice User Profile will be gone. (If you tried LibreOffice and decide that you don't want it then just repeat this procedure, uninstall LibreOffice, but manually delete the LibreOffice folder instead of the OpenOffice folder.)
I hope the above helps when considering a switch from OpenOffice to LibreOffice. To be honest I think the switch is the best way to go.
I think it would be fair to say that Apache OpenOffice is cruising into obsolescence and dying a slow death. It hasn't had a major update or improvement in years and does not use the latest Open Document Format (ODF) specifications for its files. (Also see OpenDocument Format. The information there is a bit dated as it (currently) only mentions ODF v1.2 but you get the general idea.) At the time of writing this (October 2022) the latest ODF version is v1.3. This has been implemented in LibreOffice but not in OpenOffice. It is very unlikely that OpenOffice will ever implement it. For more details on this see: I thought ODF was a universal format document. On this basis alone you would be best advised to switch to LibreOffice instead of OpenOffice.
Edit: Thursday, 06 February 2025: as from LibreOffice version 25.2.0 LibreOffice can now read and write ODF v1.4.
Other Reasons to Switch
There are other reasons for switching over to LibreOffice: put succinctly, LibreOffice is actively developed and improved, the same cannot be said of OpenOffice. In day-to-day use using LibreOffice isn't much different to using OpenOffice, in most ways they are very similar, and LibreOffice should open all your 'old' OpenOffice documents without problems. It is also the case that of late at this forum reports have been made of multiple issues with OpenOffice on Windows 10 and Windows 11 systems. The issues stem from OpenOffice not launching at all to issues with not being able to open files due to 'permissions' problems or failure to reliably 'copy and paste' data into OpenOffice. Often times these kinds of issues are solved by just installing LibreOffice.
Downloading LibreOffice and the 'Versions' Available
As from February 2024 LibreOffice changed the way version numbering is done for the downloads available. This new numbering scheme plan is as follows:
The intention is to make available new major releases on around a six-monthly schedule according to the scheme that a new major release will be made in February and August of any given year and numbered as follows (for example):
2024.2.0 — this would be the major release for the month of February.
2024.8.0 — this would be the major release for the month of August.
As you can see for this the numbering scheme is Year.Month.Bug-Fix-Release. So reading the above the 2024.2.0 is the first release of a February major release. Likewise 2024.8.0 is the first release of an August major release. As you can see the tag of a major release is being applied to the month of release for any given year.
As each major release will have new bugs incremental bug-fix-releases will also be made for each major release version as time moves forward. So you can get releases like (for example):
2024.2.1
2024.2.2
2024.2.3
and so on as each bug-fix-version is applied to the major, February or August, release. These bug-fix-releases are known as micro releases.
Traditionally, in line with the old numbering scheme for LibreOffice, major releases are known as LibreOffice Fresh and micro releases, above a certain level, are known as LibreOffice Still. The Fresh releases are for people that want the latest features, though at the risk of new bugs having been formed in that new major release version. The micro 'Still' releases are for people that want to maximise stability as new bugs will have been addressed and fixed in the Still micro releases.
LibreOffice recommend that if a user favours stability over new features that users install micro releases at at least Year.Month.3 or Year.Month.4 or higher micro release levels: it is these micro levels and above that determine if a release is regarded as a Still release. Personally I prefer to go down the Still route as I favour stability over new features. This is not to say that LibreOffice is a bug-ridden mess – it isn't – but like any software of any complexity new bugs will always be an issue.
In line with this at the download webpage, for most of the year, two downloads will be offered, a Fresh download and a Still download. Choose according to your own preferences. However, at some points of time in the year it may be the case that there is only one download on offer — if that is the case then that single offer would be regarded as equivalent to LibreOffice Still. However, do note that you can switch between installing Fresh or Still so any decision you make is not set in stone. For further information and guidance on 'versions' see this webpage: LibreOffice Release Plan
For initial confusion caused when the new numbering scheme was introduced see this thread: [Solved] LibreOffice Version Numbers: now 24.2.0!
LibreOffice and Update Notifications
There is a setting in LibreOffice at (menu) Tools > Options... > LibreOffice > Online Update > Online Update Options > Check for updates automatically If that box is ticked then LibreOffice will give a notification when an update is available. However, (as things currently stand) it only checks to see if an update is available for LibreOffice Fresh. If you have LibreOffice Still installed then this option is not of much use to you as you are, effectively, being given the option to replace your Still version with a Fresh version. So be aware of this if you install Still, you might want to untick that box. This has been raised with LibreOffice developers to change this situation but whether or not it gets implemented only time will tell. You can see the issue report here and perhaps add your voice to the requests to amend this component of LibreOffice: Add option to disable Update Notifications for Technological Enthusiast ("fresh") Releases
Important Note for Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 Users
As at LibreOffice version 25.8 support for these operating systems will have been completely removed. For some detail on this see: Platform Compatibility If you require an older version they can be downloaded from here: Download Archive If you are not certain how to proceed in that archive then just ask for guidance here at this Forum.
LibreOffice and Java JRE
If you do decide to switch to LibreOffice and you install LibreOffice 64-bit you may want to install a 64-bit implementation of Java JRE. This is required for some components of LibreOffice, but not all. You can get a download of Oracle JRE here: Java Downloads for All Operating Systems. For Windows systems the installer file to download is Windows Offline (64-bit). (If you switch from OpenOffice to LibreOffice 64-bit and you have no further need for JRE 32-bit on your system then it would be safe to uninstall JRE 32-bit if you so wish. If you install LibreOffice 32-bit then you should retain, and/or update, your JRE 32-bit installation and direct LibreOffice 32-bit to use that.)
LibreOffice User Documentation
For extensive user documentation see: LibreOffice Documentation. Note that documentation of LibreOffice Fresh will be limited as Fresh is always a work in progress and there is little point in trying to create documentation for a program version in which some components of the program are being actively developed and hence changing. (This is one of the reasons why I prefer to use LibreOffice Still — the most complete documentation is available for it.)
An Important Note on File Associations and 'Extensions'
The following information might be important for setting file associations to be managed by OpenOffice/LibreOffice. Microsoft make this deliberately difficult on Windows 10 and 11 systems as Microsoft try to push Microsoft Office (365) on users of Windows. To work around that you might find that you are forced to have to set some file-types associations to be opened by a Default App that you manually set yourself.
Microsoft Windows identifies file-types by using what are referred to as file-name extensions. Windows sees file-name extensions as being the file-name characters which include the last 'period'/'dot' of a file-name and any characters that follow that final dot. It is important to note that the extension name includes that period/dot character. So, for example, the extension for an OpenOffice/LibreOffice Writer text file would be .odt (the period/dot and the text following being the last element in the file name). On Windows systems file extensions are usually (including the dot) only four characters long but this is not written in stone. (For example, you might have a file-name and extension as MyMusic.flac — which would be an audio file. Or, TheMovie.torrent, which would be a peer-to-peer torrent file. And so on).
For a list of the most commonly used extensions for OpenOffice/LibreOffice see this webpage: OpenOffice/LibreOffice File-Type Extensions On that same page you will also see extensions for the most commonly used OpenOffice/LibreOffice 'Template' types.
If in Windows File Explorer you cannot see the extensions for file names then follow this guide to enable viewing of them: How to show File Extensions in Windows 11/10
File Associations and Installing LibreOffice Alongside OpenOffice
It is perfectly possible to have both OpenOffice and LibreOffice installed at the same time, so you can do that if you just want to try LibreOffice to see if it is suitable for you. In what follows I will assume that you already have the latest version of OpenOffice installed and you want, in addition, to install LibreOffice. (The reasons for specifying 'the latest version' is that OpenOffice's installer used to follow different routines and offer different install options in earlier versions.)
When you install LibreOffice it will grab all the ODF file associations .odf, .odg, .odm, .odp, .ods, .odt etc. and so double-clicking a file will cause LibreOffice to open that file by default. If you want the file associations to revert back to being opened by OpenOffice by default then the easiest way to achieve that is to reinstall OpenOffice and the file associations will be passed back to OpenOffice. In this scenario the OpenOffice installer will ask where to unpack the installation files to — by default it will offer to place them in a folder on your Desktop; just agree to that and once the install routine is over you can safely delete that entire folder. Next you will be offered the option to 'Modify' or 'Repair' your OpenOffice, just chose 'Repair' and at the end of the Repair routine your documents will be back to opening with OpenOffice by default. You can follow a similar routine with LibreOffice if you so wish. In essence: the last program to be installed/Repaired, OpenOffice or LibreOffice, will have the file associations assigned to it by default. It is also worth noting that installing/repairing will not affect the files in your OpenOffice Profile folder or your LibreOffice Profile folder — your previous settings will be retained.
If you do try installing LibreOffice alongside OpenOffice and decide you don't want LibreOffice then just uninstall LibreOffice and the uninstall routine should automatically revert your file associations back to OpenOffice. (If that doesn't happen you now know what to do.)
If you would prefer to set file associations manually then please see this guide for how to proceed: [Tutorial] Setting the default program to open files
Cleaning-up After Testing LibreOffice
If you installed LibreOffice and decide that you want to keep it and also that you want to completely uninstall OpenOffice then you might want to do the following. Firstly, uninstall OpenOffice. Once that is done, and assuming you won't be using OpenOffice again, then you might want to delete the OpenOffice User Profile from your system if you deem you will have no further use for it. To do that copy this text (in red, including the percent symbols) %AppData% Once you have copied it paste it into the the Address Bar of Windows File Explorer and then click Explorer's 'go' button/arrow or just press the Enter key on your keyboard. Doing this will open, for the current logged-in user of the system, the folder where OpenOffice's User Profile is stored. So look in there for the folder titled 'OpenOffice' and delete that entire OpenOffice folder and your OpenOffice User Profile will be gone. (If you tried LibreOffice and decide that you don't want it then just repeat this procedure, uninstall LibreOffice, but manually delete the LibreOffice folder instead of the OpenOffice folder.)
I hope the above helps when considering a switch from OpenOffice to LibreOffice. To be honest I think the switch is the best way to go.
than 24.2.