Ubuntu’s default LibreOffice office suite got a big updates! See what’s new and how to install guide.

LibreOffice finally added WebP image format support by releasing the 7.4 release. As well, this release features new remote grammar checker: LanguageTool API; Calc now supports sparklines and uses 16,384 columns in spreadsheets; Show Changes mode does no longer count deleted list items, instead it now shows changes in numbering correctly.

Other changes in LibreOffice 7.4 include:

• New optional hyphenation settings to adjust paragraph-level text flow.
• EMZ/WMZ files support.
• Impress now has the start of document theme support
• Writer now supports clearing breaks from Word.
• Experimental dark mode support for Windows 10/11
• Help pages for the ScriptForge scripting library
• See release note for more.

How to Install LibreOffice 7.4 in Ubuntu:

There are a few ways to get the most recent LibreOffice package for Ubuntu Linux, including:

• Flatpak package – universal Linux package runs in sandbox.
• Snap package – available in Ubuntu Software and run in sandbox.
• Native DEB packages – but not well integrated with Ubuntu desktop.
• AppImage – no installation required, just click to run.

Except the non-install AppImage package, all others will install another copy along side the system pre-installed version. Meaning you’ll have duplicated shortcut icons.

So, the LibreOffice PPA is highly recommended. Which will update the stock packages to the latest and keep it up-to-date.

1. First, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run the command below to add PPA for all current Ubuntu releases:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:libreoffice/ppa

2. Next, either open “Update Manager” to install updates, or run the command below in terminal:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade

NOTE: This PPA at the moment is not updated with LibreOffice 7.4.0 package. Maintainers need time to build and test the new packages, especially for major releases.

How to Restore:

To remove the PPA as well as downgrading the office packages to stock version, run command in terminal to install ppa-purge tool and purge the PPA:

sudo apt install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:libreoffice/ppa

Ubuntu’s default office suite LibreOffice released new major version 7.3.0 today. Here’s what’s new and how to install it in all current Ubuntu editions.

LibreOffice 7.3 provided a large number of improvements to Microsoft Office file formats support. It now loads large DOCX and XLSX/XLSM files and some complex documents faster! Also, there are many improvements to DOC, DOCX, XLSX, PPTX import/export filter, including:

• greatly improved list/numbering import
• Hyperlinks attached to shapes now imported/exported
• Fix editing permissions.
• Make slide footers get exported to PPTX
• better XLSX support.

The release also extended theScriptForge libraries with various features, including:

• New Chart service to define chart documents stored in Calc sheets.
• New PopupMenu service to describe the menu to be displayed after a mouse event (typically a right-click).
• Management of printers: list of fonts and printers, printer options, printing documents.
• export documents to PDF with full management of PDF options

Other changes in LibreOffice 7.3 include:

• Writer now has the start of linked character and paragraph styles, as well as list level support.
• Add visualization and Manage Changes support for tracked deletion and insertion of tables and table rows.
• Performance improvements for exporting PDF and loading large RTL documents
• Calc now lists HTML tables in the ‘Link to External Data’ dialog.
• Implement neumaier summation algorithm for using modern SIMD CPU instructions like AVX2
• Implement bash like autocompletion for Calc autoinput.
• Standard filter supports filtering by colors
• Add PowerPoint-compatible screen sizes
• Ability to generate one-dimensional barcodes in addition to QR codes.
• New WebDAV/HTTP UCP based on libcurl.
• Border line widths have been unified throughout LibreOffice.

See What’s New in LibreOffice 7.3 via short video:

How to Install LibreOffice 7.3 in Ubuntu:

It’s HIGHLY recommended to install LibreOffice in Ubuntu using its official PPA, since it updates the pre-installed package.

Though, LibreOffice is also available as Flatpak and Snap packages. The latter can be directly installed from Ubuntu Software. However, they co-exist with the pre-installed .deb package, which mean you’ll have duplicated LibreOffice shortcut icons.

The PPA provides the packages for Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 21.10, and also the next Ubuntu 22.04.

1. Add LibreOffice PPA

First open terminal from your system start menu (click top-left corner ‘Activities’, search for and open terminal). When it opens, run command:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:libreoffice/ppa

So far, the PPA supports for Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 21.10, and Linux Mint 20.

2. Install / upgrade LibreOffice:

Next, you can upgrade the office suite using Software Updater (Update Manager) utility.

How to Restore:

Purge the Ubuntu PPA will restore the office suite to the pre-installed version. To do so, run the command below in terminal:

sudo apt install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:libreoffice/ppa

The LibreOffice office suite 7.2 was released with many new features and improvements. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 21.04, and Ubuntu 21.10.

LibreOffice is the default office suite available in Ubuntu as well as many other Linux Distributions out-of-the-box. It’s made up of a Writer, Calc, Impress, Draw, Math, and database management tools, and supports the file formats of MicroSoft Office.

What’s new in Libreoffice 7.2

LibreOffice 7.2 was released as the latest major release with new command popup HUD (“Heads-up display”). By going to “Help -> Search Commands” or pressing Shift+Esc on keyboard, it brings up the command box allows to search for and execute actions.

The release introduced a Dark color scheme, so the app window can be set to fully dark for working at night. Also, it added new scrollable style picker in Notebookbar, fontwork panel in sidebar. And the templates dialog got a list view, the global toolbar lock can now switched off via “View -> Toolbars”.

For Libreoffice Writer, Impress & Draw, all background fills can now be set to either cover the page inside the margins or the entire page.

Other changes in LibreOffice 7.2 include:

• Writer:
  • Show various indexes and the mouse-over tooltip for a hyperlink to a document index entry mark.
  • Page styles now have a gutter margin
  • Added label and business card paper: A-One, Hisago, Sanwa Supply, Daiso.
  • Improved font caching to speed up text rendering.
  • Reduced opening time for some DOCX file.
• Calc:
  • Added traditional Japanese month names, Japanese era name.
  • Implemented the Kahan summation algorithm.
  • Introduced ‘fat-cross’ cursor.
  • Redesigned Paste Special dialog.
• IMPRESS & Draw:
  • Added Candy, Freshes, Grey Elegant, Growing Liberty, Yellow Idea templates.
  • Removed Alizarin, Bright Blue, Classy Red, Impress, Lush Green.
  • PDF signature verification is now based on PDFium
  • Multiple columns layout in LibreOffice text boxes.
  • Performance improvements for loading large images, and faster drawing of semi-transparent images.

How to Install LibreOffice 7.2 in Ubuntu:

There are a few ways to get the packages installed in Ubuntu, though the official PPA is highly recommended (see method 3)!

Method 1: LibreOffice Appimage

Without installing the software package, the Appimage is an universal Linux package format that can be run directly to launch the office suite.

Just grab the “Fresh” version from the link button above. Then add executable permission, and right-click to run it:

Method 2: LibreOffice Snap:

Snap is the easiest way to install the office suite in Ubuntu. It’s official and updates automatically! Just search for ‘LibreOffice’ in Ubuntu Software and install the one from ‘snapcraft.io’:

NOTE: since the pre-installed one is native DEB package. You’ll have duplicated LibreOffice icons in ‘Activities’ overview search result after installed the Snap package.

Method 3: Install LibreOffice via Ubuntu PPA (RECOMMEND)

The official PPA is always preferred and recommended. It will upgrade the pre-installed LibreOffice packages to the latest and integrate well into Ubuntu desktop.

I put it as the last method because the PPA is not updated for the release at the moment. The maintainer has been building and testing the packages. And, now it’s ready for all current Ubuntu releases.

1. Add LibreOffice PPA

First open terminal from your system start menu (click top-left corner ‘Activities’, search for and open terminal). When it opens, run command:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:libreoffice/ppa

So far, the PPA supports for Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 21.04, Ubuntu 21.10, and Linux Mint 20.

Next, you can upgrade the office suite using Software Updater (Update Manager) utility.