LibreOffice, a free office suite, has just released a new version with improved compatibility with Microsoft Office file types.
The creator of the open source software package outlined the reasons for why it has historically been so challenging to incorporate Office compatibility in a blog post(opens in new tab) announcing the upgrade.
According to the blog post, “Microsoft files still use the proprietary format that ISO deprecated in 2008, not the ISO recognized standard, therefore they mask a significant amount of artificial complexity.” This results in handling problems with LibreOffice, which by default utilizes the OpenDocument Format, a real open standard.
Given the widespread usage of Office and the enormous volume of documents, LibreOffice must offer complete compatibility if it is to lure people away from Microsoft. With this objective in mind, the team says consumers may anticipate receiving several updates in fast succession.
Multiple Alterations
For those who don’t know, LibreOffice is a collection of office programs intended to do all the same functions as Google Workspace and Microsoft 365. LibreOffice offers “a competitive suite of office software that’s equally as great, adaptable, and feature-rich for no cost to its customers,” in the words of our reviewer.
The open source suite may be a great choice for anybody trying to avoid paying a subscription fee given the rising cost of living, especially now that improved Office compatibility is available.
Users should often check for new LibreOffice versions, according to the blog post, since “each new version improves considerably over the preceding one” due to the rapid pace of compatibility updates.
This change in LibreOffice 7.4 is not the only one, but it is undoubtedly the greatest. In reality, the most recent edition of the productivity suite has a number of enhancements, such as Calc, the spreadsheet application, now enabling 16,374 columns, and the whole suite now receiving support for dark mode in both Windows 10 and 11.