LibreOffice 4.4 is the latest iteration of the famous office suite developed by The Document Foundation and released just a few days ago. This is a short tutorial that helps Ubuntu users install the latest version.
LibreOffice is an open source productivity suite that provides all the necessary office components for small-business, educational and non-profit organizations. It is a fork of the well-known OpenOffice.org application.
What's new in LibreOffice 4.4.0:
- The user interface has been improved in a significant way
- Interoperability with OOXML file formats has been extended
- Improved source code quality based on Coverity Scan analysis
- Support of OpenGL transitions in Windows, and improved implementation based on the new OpenGL framework;
- Digital signing of PDF files during the export process;
- Installation of free fonts Carlito and Caladea to replace proprietary Microsoft C-Fonts Calibri and Cambria, to get rid of font related issues while opening OOXML files;
- Addition of several new default templates, designed by volunteers;
- Visual editing of Impress master pages, to remove unwanted elements, adding or hiding a level to the outline numbering, and toggling bullets on or off;
- Better Track Changes – with new buttons in the Track Changes toolbar – and AutoCorrect features in Writer;
- Improved import filters for Microsoft Visio, Microsoft Publisher and AbiWord files, and Microsoft Works spreadsheets;
- New import filters for Adobe Pagemaker, MacDraw, MacDraw II and RagTime for Mac;
- Greatly expanded support for media capabilities on each platform.
LibreOffice's main components
LibreOffice Writer is the main component, and probably the most used one. It is also the most important one from the entire office suite, as many people install LibreOffice to create high quality word documents. It provides users with plenty of options for formatting text, inserting tables, drawings and images.
LibreOffice Calc is there for those of you who work with spreadsheet documents, and LibreOffice Math can be used to easily insert equations and formulas in word, spreadsheet, drawing, and presentation documents.
If you work a lot with presentations and slideshows, we strongly recommend to use the Impress component of LibreOffice. Moreover, LibreOffice Draw allows you to generate drawings that include charts, formulas or tables.
The last component, and the most advanced one, is LibreOffice Base, which can be used to design and maintain databases for storing all sorts of data, from survey information to financial reports.
How to Install LibreOffice 4.4 on Ubuntu/Linux Mint via ppa :
LibreOffice 4.4 available on PPA launchpad, to install on Ubuntu 15.04 vivid Vervet, ubuntu 14.10 Utopic Unicorn, Ubuntu 14.04 Trusty Tahr (LTS), Ubuntu 13.10/13.04/12.04, Linux Mint 17.1 Rebecca, Linux Mint 17 Qiana, Linux Mint 13 Maya, Pinguy OS 14.04, Elementary OS 0.3 Freya, Elementary OS 0.2 Luna, Peppermint Five, Deepin 2014, LXLE 14.04, Linux Lite 2.0, Linux Lite 2.2 and other Ubuntu derivative systems via PPA, open a new Terminal window and bash (get it?) in the following commands:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:libreoffice/libreoffice-4-4
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
sudo apt-get install libreoffice
The source (deb) is available now. Binary packages are in the process of being built, and will appear soon at their respective download locations.
