Features

Included applications Module Notes Writer A word processor with similar functionality and file support to Microsoft Word or WordPerfect. It has extensive WYSIWYG word processing capabilities, but can also be used as a basic text editor. Calc A spreadsheet program, similar to Microsoft Excel or Lotus 1-2-3. It has a number of unique features, including a system which automatically defines series of graphs, based on information available to the user. Impress A presentation program resembling Microsoft PowerPoint. Presentations can be exported as SWF files, allowing them to be viewed on any computer with Adobe Flash installed. Draw A vector graphics editor and diagramming tool similar to Microsoft Visio and comparable in features to early versions of CorelDRAW. It provides connectors between shapes, which are available in a range of line styles and facilitate building drawings such as flowcharts. It also includes features similar to desktop publishing software such as Scribus and Microsoft Publisher. Math Math: An application designed for creating and editing mathematical formulae. The application uses a variant of XML for creating formulas, as defined in the OpenDocument specification. These formulas can be incorporated into other documents in the LibreOffice suite, such as those created by Writer or Calc, by embedding the formulas into the document. Base A database management program, similar to Microsoft Access. LibreOffice Base allows the creation and management of databases, preparation of forms and reports that provide end users easy access to data. Like Access, it can be used to create small embedded databases that are stored with the document files (using Java-based HSQLDB as its storage engine), and for more demanding tasks it can also be used as a front-end for various database systems, including Access databases (JET), ODBC/JDBC data sources, and MySQL,MariaDB or PostgreSQL. Supported file formats Format Extension Read Write Notes OpenOffice.org XML SXW, STW, SXC, STC, SXI, STI, SXD, STD, SXM Yes Yes Microsoft Word for Windows 2 DOC, DOT Yes Yes Microsoft Word for Mac 4.1 Word 1 - 5.1 Microsoft Word 6.0/95 DOC, DOT Yes Yes Microsoft Word 4/5/95 DOC, DOT Yes dropped in 4.0 WriteNow 4.0 4.1 MacWrite Pro 1.5 4.1 AppleWorks 4.1 formerly called ClarisWorks Scalable vector graphics SVG Yes Yes Microsoft Word 2003 XML (WordprocessingML) XML Yes Yes Microsoft Excel 4/5/95 XLS, XLW, XLT Yes dropped in 4.0 Microsoft Visio VSD Yes Microsoft Works 3.3 since version 4.1 Mac file formats too Microsoft Excel 97–2003 XLS, XLW, XLT Yes Yes DocBook XML Yes Yes WordPerfect WPD Yes WordPerfect Suite 2000/Office 1.0 WPS Yes StarOffice StarWriter 3/4/5 SDW, SGL, VOR dropped in 4.0 dropped in 4.0 Ichitaro 8/9/10/11 JTD, JTT Yes ApportisDoc (Palm) PDB Yes Yes Requires Java Hangul WP 97 HWP Yes Microsoft Pocket Word PSW Yes Yes Requires Java Microsoft Pocket Excel PXL Yes Yes Requires Java Microsoft RTF RTF Yes Yes Plain text TXT Yes Yes various encodings supported Portable Document Format PDF Yes Yes including hybrid PDF Comma-separated values CSV, TXT Yes Yes Microsoft Excel 2003 XML XML Yes Yes Lotus 1-2-3 WK1, WKS, 123 Yes Lotus Word Pro 3.3 Data Interchange Format DIF Yes Yes StarOffice StarCalc 3/4/5 SDC, VOR dropped in 4.0 dropped in 4.0 dBase DBF Yes Yes SYLK SLK Yes Yes HTML HTML, HTM Yes Yes Quattro Pro 6.0 WB2 Yes Microsoft PowerPoint 97–2003 PPT, PPS, POT Yes Yes StarOffice StarDraw/StarImpress SDA, SDD, SDP, VOR dropped in 4.0 dropped in 4.0 Computer Graphics Metafile CGM Yes Binary-encoded only; not those using clear-text or character based encoding StarOffice StarMath SXM dropped in 4.0 dropped in 4.0 MathML MML Yes BMP file format BMP Yes Yes JPEG JPG, JPEG Yes Yes PCX PCX Yes PhotoShop PSD Yes SGV SGV Yes Windows Metafile WMF Yes Yes AutoCAD DXF DXF Yes MET MET Yes Yes Netpbm format PGM, PBM, PPM Yes Yes SunOS Raster RAS Yes Yes SVM SVM Yes Yes X BitMap XBM Yes Enhanced Metafile EMF Yes Yes HPGL plotting file PLT Yes SDA SDA Yes Truevision TGA (Targa) TGA Yes X PixMap XPM Yes Yes Encapsulated PostScript EPS Yes Yes PCD PCD Yes Portable Network Graphic PNG Yes Yes SDD SDD Yes Tagged Image File Format TIF, TIFF Yes Yes Graphics Interchange Format GIF Yes Yes PCT PCT Yes Yes SGF SGF Yes Adobe Flash SWF Yes Export from Impress Scalable Vector Graphics SVG Yes Export from Draw; embedding (non-editable) from 3.4 Software602 (T602) 602, TXT Yes Unified Office Format UOF, UOT, UOS, UOP Yes Yes Microsoft Office 2007 Office Open XML DOCX, XLSX, PPTX Yes Yes Miscellaneous features

LibreOffice can use the GStreamer multimedia framework in Linux to render multimedia content such as videos in Impress and other programs.

Visually, LibreOffice uses the large "Tango style" icons that are used for the application shortcuts, quick launch icons, icons for associated files and for the icons found on the toolbar of the LibreOffice programs. They are also used on the toolbars and menus by default.

LibreOffice also ships with a modified theme which looks native on GTK-based Linux distributions. It also renders fonts via Cairo on Linux distributions; this means that text in LibreOffice is rendered the same as the rest of the Linux desktop.

Licensing

The LibreOffice project uses a dual LGPLv3 (or later) / MPL license for new contributions to allow the license to be upgraded. Since the core of the OpenOffice.org codebase was donated to the Apache Software Foundation there is an ongoing effort to get all the code rebased to ease future license updates. At the same time there were complaints that IBM didn't really release the Lotus Symphony code as open source, even though they promised to. It was reported that some LibreOffice developers wanted to overtake some code parts and bug fixes which IBM already fixed in their OpenOffice fork.

Libreoffice Basic

Libreoffice Basic is a programming language similar to Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) but based on StarOffice Basic. LO Basic is available in Writer, Calc and Base. It is written in functions called subroutines or macros, with each macro performing a different task, such as counting the words in a paragraph.

Extensions

LO supports third-party extensions. As of June 2013, the LO Extension Repository lists more than 118 extensions. Another list is maintained by the Free Software Foundation.

Future developments Android

In 2011 it was announced that plans are under way to port LibreOffice to both Android and iOS.

Cloud support

LibreOffice Online will allow for the use of LibreOffice through a web browser by using the canvas element. Development was announced in October 2011 and is ongoing. It has not yet been released.

Flat icon set The new LibreOffice flat icons that will replace tango

To modernise the aesthetics of the office suite, the icon theme is going to be updated. A flat icon set is being prepared that will replace the current tango icons as the default. The goals of this new icon set are to be flat, monochrome, and scalable rather than bitmap icons.