OpenOffice is hanging in there, but you get the sense that it’s struggling to keep its head above the water. A major bug in the macOS version that causes crashes when making diagrams in Calc is yet to be fixed, while Apache seems to be constantly scrambling to iron out security issues. The rarity of updates with OpenOffice also means they’re not quite as on the ball in terms of security, and the team often take a long time to address the latest security vulnerabilities and bugs. A factor in this could also be that there’s a license in place, and that means the LibreOffice lot can help themselves to the code from OpenOffice but not the other way round. LibreOffice gets updated much more than OpenOffice, thanks to a bigger team and more resources. Tip: Use these OpenOffice tips and tricks to improve your productivity. In short, they look very similar, but LibreOffice has more quality-of-life features resulting from more consistent development of the software. Base – Database management software (Microsoft Access equivalent).Draw – A vector program ( decent alternative to Microsoft Visio).Impress – Presentation software (Microsoft Powerpoint).Calc – Spreadsheet software (Microsoft Excel equivalent).(Both let you save in the OpenDocument format and most of Microsoft’s proprietary formats.)īoth LibreOffice and OpenOffice use open-source document formats and have exactly the same programs with exactly the same names contained therein. On a related note, LibreOffice allows you to save in the. You can enable this sidebar in LibreOffice as well, but I think it’s a little superfluous.įont embedding is a nice addition in LibreOffice, too, which ensures that whatever fonts you use in your document get displayed correctly in other word processing software that opens the document. OpenOffice launches with a sidebar for various font and paragraph options, which is theoretically useful, except that many of the options are just repeats of what’s already in the toolbar across the top of the window.

(In OpenOffice you need to click “Tools -> Word Count.”) Handily, LibreOffice keeps track of your word and character account dynamically as you write, which is great for those working with word limits. Look a little closer, though, and you’ll see the differences. Featuresīoth OpenOffice and LibreOffice look much the same from the outset, with vintage-style interfaces that reject Microsoft’s tab-based look. So OpenOffice may win in pure quantity of compatible formats, but LibreOffice arguably outdoes it by letting you save in the biggest formats out there. When it comes to what file formats you can save in, LibreOffice is decidedly more modern, most notably being capable saving files in Microsoft’s latest range of proprietary formats (.docx. Just because these suites can open a certain file format doesn’t mean they can save in that file format. One of the first things you probably want to know about LibreOffice and OpenOffice is which one will most readily handly your existing files, which may be in all kinds of formats ranging from Microsoft’s proprietary formats to more obscure ones like WordPerfect’s “.wp” extensions.īoth OpenOffice and LibreOffice are capable of opening a huge range of file formats, though OpenOffice is in fact capable of opening documents in a wider range of formats than LibreOffice (103 to LibreOffice’s 73).īut there is a catch. So perhaps there’s no surprises here, but with LibreOffice you’re much more likely to find the help you need. Beyond that, many of the other support sources – like 8daysaweek and the unofficial OpenOffice forum have closed down due to inactivity. The OpenOffice subreddit is pretty barren, but you’re likely to find answers to your questions on the official OpenOffice forum, which remains active. There’s a whole Wiki site dedicated to the latest updates and changes to the software, and comprehensive guides for every single major update released for LibreOffice.ĭespite being largely discontinued, you can still find support for OpenOffice if you look in the right places. LibreOffice has an active subreddit page, as well as a constantly monitored Ask page. Open-source software like LibreOffice is defined by its community. In this article we compare the two Office suites to figure out which one wins. For a while it looked like OpenOffice was doomed, with Apache announcing that their development team was dwindling and unable to keep up with updates addressing everything from UI improvements to security vulnerabilities.īut after record-low download numbers in 2017, OpenOffice seems to have bounced back a bit, with a big update triggering people to take an interest again.

Openoffice versus libreoffice