To those who are significantly critical of Libreoffice and especially those who left MS Office and then went back, will anything but a perfect clone, in both interface and features, actually satisfy you? Should it replicate the feel, look, and keyboard of MS Office? I am sincerely interested in honest responses.

For those who say that only a clone will do, why did you try Libreoffice in the first place?

For those who are very critical who say that Libreoffice does not need to be a clone, what does Libreoffice lack? If your answer references something from Microsoft Office, you might need to rethink your clone answer.

For me, I am a daily Libreoffice user in my personal life and a MS Office user professionally. There are things that I like about both, but there are certain things that I miss about Libreoffice when I am using MS Office. Admittedly many of the reasons why Libreoffice often works better for me are very niche. So I think that Libreoffice should not be a clone of MS Office. If we want more people and businesses to use Libreoffice, the suite has to DO something better and easier than MS office for a large number of people such that the differences are worth the switch. The better philosophy and cost don't count. What could that killer feature be?

When running either ppt or odp files in impress, while presenting, the transitions are very slow. It's to the point that It is disruptive to the flow of the whole presentation. I have noticed this on several different computers that I have owned including ones running windows 10 and linux mint. 22.3. It seems to be worst when I'm using an external monitor to run the presentation.

I've tried pin down if it could be hardware related, using one video card or the other for display, I have 64gb of ram and an i9-9880H so I don't think it's hardware related. Is this just an issue with Libreoffice?

Edit: Version info
Version: 24.2.7.2 (X86_64) / LibreOffice Community

Build ID: 420(Build:2)

CPU threads: 16; OS: Linux 7.0; UI render: default; VCL: gtk3

Locale: en-US (en_US.UTF-8); UI: en-US

Ubuntu package version: 4:24.2.7-0ubuntu0.24.04.7

Calc: CL threaded

I just embarked on a large climatology study. Besides looking at daily data, I was also doing one year running means. I converted temperatures to Kelvin, (+273.15) so I could run all three one year means. Raw data was saved in new columns with blank cells (“”) for missing data. And there is enough missing data to take into account. There can be fewer than 10 a year or more than 30. Both Average() and Harmean work fine. However I have a persistent error with Geomean where it throws a #NUM.

There is a consistent pattern that triggers this. If I run Geomean(A100,A466), I get a 1 year mean, even with missing data in the range. A100 OR A466 can be blank but both A100 and A466 will trigger a #NUM!.

Is this solvable?

I know you cant.
Making such program without table function is like giving someone a free car but its missing one wheel and the only solution is to steal a small wheel from trolley cart and weld it to the frame where the wheel is missing.

edit: convert data in spreadsheet to table similar to ms excel (ctrl+T)

I know you can set the page height to something like 999" or something similar, but I was wondering whether there is a "proper" way.

Thanks in advance!

Version: 26.8.1.1 (X86_64)

Build ID: bf6ef2662401c7d6dce671ab4deb26ee0af3a7c1

CPU threads: 16; OS: Windows 11 X86_64 (build 26100); UI render: Skia/Raster; VCL: win

Locale: en-US (en_US); UI: en-US

Calc: CL threaded

Yes, I know, GEOMEAN. Been a long few days
I am running a weather dataset where missing data is saved in the sheet as a blank cell. If a blank cell is at the range and blank cell at the top of the range it returns a #NUM. I currently have 10 which is about one every 1000 lines. Requirements mean no interpolation for the missing data. Nature of the beast being studied is to have missing data.

Been banging my head for a couple of days trying to figure things out. Any ideas out there?

TL;DR: Title.

I am a amateur author, and I want the style i like to be set on every LibreOffice Document i make without having to manually set them all up. Ideally, this would mean every new document i make comes with the preferences i have set.

Currently, my documents seem to revert to default on an update of LibreOffice, and new documents always start in the default state. Is there a way to change this?

Hi all,

Most of my presentations include embedded videos. I’m on the latest LibreOffice release, and Impress has become good enough that it could fully replace PowerPoint for me. One missing feature keeps me from switching: playback controls on top of the video during a slideshow.

In PowerPoint, when you hover over a video in presentation mode, a small control bar appears at the bottom edge of the video, with play/pause, a seek bar, and volume. That lets you pause on a specific frame, go back a few seconds to show something again, or jump to the part you want to talk about. In Impress you basically get click to start/stop, and nothing else once the show is running.

This was requested years ago in tdf#61422 – “UI: Integrate basic playback controls for audio/video when doing a slide show”. It was filed back in the LibreOffice 3.6/4.0 days, marked as an enhancement, got a mockup and a lot of +1s, and was later tagged for accessibility too, yet it’s still sitting in NEW status more than a decade later.

So I’d like to ask: is anyone aware of plans to work on this, or of an extension/workaround that provides something similar? And if you also present with video, please consider adding your voice to the bug report so it gets some visibility again.

Thanks!

ps. Yes i tried ai to integrate and it works :D pls i dont want to depend ai to fix my problems. I believe in developers to fix and add things so when it broke we would know what broke it.

I'm currently using LibreOffice, but kinda frustrated with it.

(I'm also using Windows 11, and really frustrated with it, but my current computer isn't Linux-certified.)

Some of the problems are Microsoft's fault, but regardless, I'm wondering if other software might better fit my needs.

P.S.

Version: 26.8.1.1 (X86_64) Build ID: bf6ef2662401c7d6dce671ab4deb26ee0af3a7c1 CPU threads: 12; OS: Windows 11 X86_64 (build 26300); UI render: Skia/Raster; VCL: win Locale: en-US (en_US); UI: en-US Calc: threaded

This affects just about all my documents. I can't link or upload an example to Reddit, and honestly, I feel embarrased about my disorganized working documents.

Writing Requirements

• I need to be able to personal notes, historical notes, and game rules.

• I need support for footnotes, and I need to be able to quickly compare the footnotes with the body text. +1/2 for LibreOffice.

• I need support for tables. I also need to avoid accidentally resizing columns due to my coordination problems. Net +0 for LibreOffice.

• I need support for section headings, a navigator, an easy way to rearrange sections, and a table of contents. I can do most of that in LibreOffice, but I often struggle to rearrange sections. I will start to select a section, select more, and then suddenly it speeds up, I can't see, and I'm 12 pages past what I was trying to select. https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=135207

• I need to avoid autocorruption, due to all the personal and place names. I also need to avoid collecting half-typed and mis-typed words due to my coordination problems. +1/2 for LibreOffice since I can turn these off.

File Types

• I want an open-source file format, such as .odt, so updates to my system or software won't break access to my old files. +1 for LibreOffice.

• I want Windows 11 to be able to index my fies; that makes it easier to open ongoing work, and to track down older work. Unfortunately Windows has a bad indexer for opendocument formats. LibreOffice has a good indexer, but Windows keeps replacingi it with the bad one, so I have to uninstall and reinstall LibreOffice every few weeks. https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=130320 It's probably a Windows issue; I've submitted feedback to Microsoft but they don't have a public bugzilla.

Accessibility

• I have visual processing issues, and need to avoid flashing and smooth animation. -1 for certain other writing software I've tried. Among other things, I need to avoid blinking cursors, and flickering selection areas, I need to avoid sections sliding past, over, or under each other, without appropriate separation, I really need to avoid @#$% fucking floaters, and I really really really need to avoid zooming.

• I also have coordination issues. I often mis-click, or mis-type. I often end up in the footnotes when trying to edit text, because I clicked the wrong spot.

• I have visual issues, too. I need clear fonts, semibold text, and dark text on light backgrounds, due to the halo around light text on dark backgrounds. I have some system-level tweaks. I'd prefer to pick a few very readable fonts in my writing software and use them everywhere.

Style Preferences

• I have an easier time reading on paper than on conventional glowing screens, so I prefer to use 9 pt as my default font size, and zoom in, instead of using 12 pt as the default.

• I need to use clear fonts, and I'd prefer to pick a couple clear fonts, with alternates for unsupported characters, and use them throughout. But LibreOffice themes tend to default to conventional fonts, and apply different fonts for headings, body text, block-quote text, etc.

• I need clear styles for the title, and 2 or 3 levels of headings. I have trouble with the combination of very large and very small text, e.g. on most websites, so I would like to avoid anything above, say, 18 pts. But LibreOffice themes seem to use a combination of size, boldness, slant, etc. to distinguish levels, which makes things ambiguous. I want bold text in a few clearly-distinct sizes.

• When I try to change fonts and sizes in the LibreOffice settings, or to the default text for a file or theme, it's hard to predict which styles will change. I often end up with subheadings bigger than their parent headings. I still haven't figured out how to create a consistent readable theme,let alone how to apply it to existying documents.

Alternatives?

• I could keep muddling through with LibreOffice. Supposedly there are registry hacks to protect the working indexers. Supposedly there are other file extensions, such as .sxw, for some of the opendocument formats, which have working indexers, which Windows won't overwrite. I'm not an expert on Windows. If I had fixes for themes and navigation, that would help.

• I could find another *office, if it solves the above problems.

• An online friend of mine suggested markdown software, but their suggestions didn't meet my accessibility requirements.

• I know some people suggest Scrivener, but I don't think it has an open file format, and I use Calibre to keep track of my sources, I don't want Scrivener copying hundreds of these sources into a project folder.

• I think a lot of writing software, whether it's word processing, markdown, minimalist, or other, are optimized for writing novels, and I'm trying to model historical events; I don't have a linear narrative, I'm trying not to make things up, I'm trying to follow the data, each part of the model affects other parts, and I'm often missing key data, so if I have to make provisional guesstimates, I have to be willing to revise them.

P.S.

• I'm not sure what Joplin is, or what it's supposed to do.

• For me, Writemonkey 3, and Zettlr, are inaccessible.

• For me, the websites for Softmaker Office, Obsidian, and Logseq, are inaccessible.

I woke up to find my Microsoft Office 2021 applications for Mac received an ultimatum notice affixed under the ribbon. Looks like Office 2021 is no longer supported and consumers are being forced to either subscribe to 365, or purchase a perpetual (ha ha) license for one—yes one—PC or Mac desktop for $179.

I succumbed to the perpetual option thinking, like many versions previously owned since Office 1998, that this purchase grants usage of Office on the desktop and laptop I own; same user, separate device. Come to discover, I'm required to purchase an additional $179 perpetual license for my laptop if I want to use Office 2024 on both computers.

Now, picture this. You visit the DMV, spend time and money obtaining your driver's license for a Class D vehicle—only to discover that the license is restricted to one vehicle. Following Microsoft's logic, if you owned a second Class D vehicle, you'd be required to return to the DMV for a second license to drive your second vehicle; same user, separate device.

Frustrated by this, I am here. With you. In LibreOffice land. I have a few questions, though, if someone can help point me in the right direction.

1. There are many settings. Is there a way to merge old Word settings into LibreOffice? What settings are really critical?
2. Are there resources or videos online for learning?
3. How stable is LibreOffice and is there strong support for it remaining relevant for years to come?
4. What other tips and glaring changes should new users be aware of when starting?
5. Opening Word docs and Office docs within LibreOffice?

TL;DR: I abandoned MS Office for LibreOffice and need tips for a first-time user.

I have a fairly simple formula - for example =(A2+B2)/2 and I am trying to copy it down a column of cells. However, it gives me the same result each time even though the formula itself is adapting.

LibreOffice is already a solid, mature office suite. So why keep adding features instead of focusing more on the two things that, in my opinion, hold it back the most?

The UI: It still feels outdated and unnecessarily complicated compared to modern alternatives.

Mobile apps: There’s no polished, official mobile experience comparable to Microsoft Office or Google Docs.

I feel that improving these two areas would do much more to attract mainstream users than adding more features that most people will never use.

I know LibreOffice is an open-source project with limited funding, but my question is: why spend that money on adding more features instead of improving the product to attract more users? A larger user base could mean more visibility, more support, and potentially more revenue.
Many open-source projects, for example, offer their desktop version for free while charging for their mobile apps. Couldn’t that be an additional source of income for LibreOffice?

I've read some to get me started, but clearly not enough as I got stuck so early...

Edit1:

Version: 24.2.7.2 (X86_64) / LibreOffice Community

Build ID: 420(Build:2)

CPU threads: 8; OS: Linux 7.0; UI render: default; VCL: gtk3

Locale: en-US (en_US.UTF-8); UI: en-US

Ubuntu package version: 4:24.2.7-0ubuntu0.24.04.7

Calc: threaded

I have made jeopardy style games for friends and family for years in Powerpoint. I wanted to move to Libre as many said the options were very similar. The biggest thing I can't get to work is having a video play when the slide starts, then disappear when the video is done. I do alot of little 15-20 second clips and in Powerpoint there is just a checkbox to play in fullscreen and to hide when not playing. I thought I could recreate that by adding animations for start media and disappear after with a delay of the length of the video (which is already a pain if the video doesn't end exactly on the second mark because it's hard to find that exact number). The issue is when this slide plays the video never goes away. I have been really fighting with this program to learn how to make things work with it so if anyone can help I would really appreciate it.

Version: 26.8.1.1 (X86_64)

Build ID: bf6ef2662401c7d6dce671ab4deb26ee0af3a7c1

CPU threads: 16; OS: Windows 10 X86_64 (build 19045); UI render: Skia/Raster; VCL: win

Locale: en-US (en_US); UI: en-US

Calc: threaded

I just need the page black even the writing area and text white is there extension or something similar pls help?

I'm taking notes for an exam, But due to how small my notes are and how I'm only allowed one page: I split the page in two. I thought that using a page break wood forest text to be on the other side, but doing that forces another page should be created, which is the exact opposite of why I have a two column format to begin with.

How do I force text to appear on the other side of the page without spamming a bunch of enters?

I only have less than two hours to finish up these notes. I am on a time crunch. So I do not have time to reform the whole thing entirely from scratch. So just give me the saying that it's like pace break but it forces the text on the other side of the page as though the other side of the page was a new page instead of training a new page. I also don't have time to check grammar.

Version: 24.2.0.3 (X86_64) / LibreOffice Community

Build ID: da48488a73ddd66ea24cf16bbc4f7b9c08e9bea1

CPU threads: 20; OS: Windows 10.0 Build 26300; UI render: Skia/Vulkan; VCL: win

Locale: en-US (en_US); UI: en-US

Calc: CL threaded

EDIT: I coincidentally typed in the exact right words into Google to have the AI give me the exact thing of this future supposed to be called. It's apparently called "column break". But for some reason beyond my comprehension is not just in the right click menu or in "insert". It's instead not only hidden away under "layout", but it doesn't have his own option that appears when a page is split into column for some stupid reason. I instead have to go into "manual break", which opens up a whole other interface, and check column break instead of "page break".

I am sorry to complain: but it is legitimately driving me insane how basic features are hidden away in obscure, unintuitive places. And I only have an hour and a half left to finish my notes! Why would anyone design the program like this?