You can now download LibreOffice 6.0, the latest major release of this hugely popular free office software.
Did you know: Over 25 million people use LibreOffice worldwide
The release of LibreOffice 6.0 marks the first major update to the productivity suite since the LibreOffice 5.4 release back in July 2017. It also coincides with the anniversary of the very first release of LibreOffice in January 2011.
So, as you’d expect for a celebratory release, there are heaps of improvements on offer.
LibreOffice 6.0 is compatible with more office file formats than ever before, adds a number of new features, and improves the overall user interface.
For more details read on.
LibreOffice 6.0 — Features
Better File Compatability
The headline improvement in LibreOffice doesn’t sound particularly sexy but it is nonetheless a vital part of any office suite: file compatibility.
LibeOffice 6.0 boasts better file compatibility with Microsoft Office documents, lets you open AbiWord and QuarkExpress files in LibreOffice (with zero fuss), and gains ability to export as EPUB ebook files.
Alongside improved file compatibility with Microsoft Office files those upgrading will benefit from a healthy batch of bug fixes, stability tweaks, and the general polish.
New Notebook bar Options
Much has been written about the LibreOffice Ribbon UI — a lot of it by us! In LibreOffice 6.0 the feature (which is actually called the Notebook Bar) gets some welcome improvements.
You’ll find two new Microsoft Ribbon-style Notebook bar options are available in LibreOffice 6.0.
The first is called Groupedbar Full. This, as the name might imply, groups a large number of options together, meaning more buttons are in sight:
There’s also the new Tabbed Compact, which is, in this release, only available in Writer. Tabbed Compact is a streamlined version of the standard Tabbed Notebook Bar and looks great:
The Ribbon UI is one of the best hidden features of LibreOffice, and while it’s still not ready for prime-time use (do keep that in mind) is helps make it easier for more some to switch from Microsoft Office to LibreOffice full time.
Remember: you have to turn on an experimental setting to use this feature, but we’ve written a post which walks you through how to enable the Ribbon UI in LibreOffice.
Elementary Icons Included by Default
The elementary icon set is now included in all versions of LibreOffice 6.0. It’s not (yet) the default icon set (Tango remains in place) but it is included.
So, if you (or something you know) uses LibreOffice on Windows or macOS, but want a little touch of Linux, just enable the elementary icon set via the Tools > Options > View > Icon Style setting. After applying you’ll see elementary’s gentle, soft coloured icons in toolbars, dialogs and menus throughout the suite.
Mmm!
EPUB Export
LibreOffice 6.0 is able to export Writer documents to EPUB. This popular and widely used ebook format is well supported across operating systems and mobile devices so it’s great to see LibreOffice add support for it.
The office suite is also now able to open and import AbiWord, PageMaker and QuarkXPress files too. I’m not sure most of us will need to, but it’s nice to know we can, right?
These file formats are a little more niche than the ubiquitous typical Microsoft Office document file format (OOMXL) but it’s great that see the software cater to them nonetheless.
Better yet, the libraries which support these new export and import formats are being made available as free, open source software in order to allow other applications to make use of them too.
Other changes
There’s a new splash screen shown when you launch the app:
The redesigned help system now uses your operating system’s default web browser (Firefox on Ubuntu, unless you’ve chosen otherwise) to display help pages. This is a great way to ensure you’re always reading the most up-to-date information.
That said, you don’t have to be online to use LibreOffice help. Most LibreOffice installs include local copies of documentation for offline reference.
A slate of new table styles and gradients are available to prettify documents
It’s now possible to rotate an image in LibreOffice Writer. You previously needed to use an external image editor or app to do this.
LibreOffice 6.0 also improves LibreOffice Online, a cloud-based feature that allows collaborative editing of documents using a web browser.
For a full rundown of every change do see the full release notes.
LibreOffice 6.0 features at a glance
- Better compatibility with Microsoft Office documents
- Support for AbiWord, QuarkExpress and PageMaker files
- Ability to save documents as ePub ebook files
- Improved ‘Ribbon’ UI
- Elementary icons included by default
- New online help
- OpenPGP document signing/encryption
- ‘Grammar by’ spellchecking
- Noto fonts included by default
- Easier to insert characters
LibreOffice 6.0 Download
You can download LibreOffice for free from the official project website. Here you’ll find installers for Windows, macOS and Linux (including Ubuntu).
You can also install LibreOffice form Flathub. Click the button below to download the ‘flatpakref’ file, and then double-click on it to open in the GNOME Software app.
You can also install LibreOffice 6.0 on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS (or later) by adding the official upstream PPA.