LibreOffice Basics

Wycliffe USA 

LibreOffice Basics

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Purpose and Scope

The purpose of this document is to explain the basic differences between LibreOffice and Microsoft Office in order to help transition staff that want to use LibreOffice.

This document will not train you how to use LibreOffice. Links will be provided for further training outside of the scope of this document. LibreOffice, and other resources, have extensive training on the use of their products already available.

Preface

Wycliffe USA is no longer installing Microsoft Office on new computers due to the discontinuation of Microsoft’s charity licensing program for non profit organizations. Because of this, Wycliffe USA will be only purchasing Microsoft Office licenses for those who have a specific business need or process using Microsoft Office products.

For those without a specific business need for Microsoft Office, Wycliffe USA will be transitioning to the use of Google’s office products or LibreOffice.

LibreOffice, while different from Microsoft Office, is similar enough in look and feel that most users will feel right at home using it. Most Microsoft Office files, such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint, are all highly compatible with LibreOffice, which will natively open all of your Microsoft Office files.

LibreOffice vs Microsoft Office: Visual Differences

The Icons

You will notice a new set of icons on your start menu that you will need to familiarize yourself with.

The Toolbars

You will also notice that the toolbars in each application look familiar.  Please take the time to familiarize yourself with these new changes in order to more efficiently use these new programs.

Below is a quick comparison of Microsoft Office vs LibreOffice. As you can see, they look and feel very similar. The learning curve should be minimal when figuring out where the options you most often use are located.

How to Change the Menus

If the basic look and feel doesn’t already look like Microsoft Office’s ribbon menus, you may change this at any time.

NOTE: This has already been done for you on most new Wycliffe USA issued computers.

Within any of LibreOffice’s apps, click View→ User Interface

When the Preferred User Interface window opens, select Tabbed.

Then click on Apply to All, then click on Close.

The Tabbed UI variant is the closest option to the look and feel of current Microsoft Office products.

All of your LibreOffice menus should now look and feel more like Microsoft Office menus.

You are free to try the other UI variants as well. You may find you like some better than others. It’s an experience you may personalize to your own liking.

Ways to further make your LibreOffice experience more like Microsoft Office

After changing the way the menus look, there’s still a few changes you can do to further make it look more like Microsoft Office, as well as save in Microsoft Office formats by default.

NOTE: This has already been done for you on most new Wycliffe USA issued computers.

Open Libre Writer, then navigate to the following menus and change these options.

• View→User Interface→ Tabbed  (Apply to All)

• Tools→Options→LibreOffice Writer→Basic Fonts→Set all  to Arial

• Tools→Options→Load/Save→Microsoft Office→Check All

• Tools→Options→Load/Save→General→Check Save AutoRecovery Information every 10 minutes

• Tools→Options→Load/Save→General→Default File Formats

  • Document Type / Always Save As:

    • Text Document / Word 2007-365 (*.docx)

    • Spreadsheet / Excel 2007-365 (*.xlsx)

    • Presentation / PowerPoint 2007-365 (*.pptx)

Support Links

For those looking for how-to guides, documentation,  training or figuring out how to do something specific, there are many resources available to help with all of your LibreOffice needs.

Quick Reference Card, Documentation for each product as well as a robust and easy to search online help system can be found here: 

https://documentation.libreoffice.org/en/english-documentation/

LibreOffice Community Assistance - for those complicated questions not addressed by the help files.

https://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/community-support/