LibreOffice 5.1 is now a well-known contender. Is the New LibreOffice a better Microsoft Office alternative? Is the new LibreOffice a better Microsoft Office alternative? LibreOffice, a longtime Microsoft Office contender, just got a makeover and major updates. After being suppressed by bug bugs over the years, has LibreOffice finally found the winning formula? Read More LibreOffice has seen steady growth in its user base, and in recent years we have seen a large number of organizations and government departments make the permanent switch to the free alternative to Microsoft Office.
It makes sense. LibreOffice has gone from strength to strength and now offers so many premium features throughout the suite that the comparisons, relative strengths, and benefits of the free suite have more people than ever considering their Office subscription.
Microsoft released the latest version of its office suite, Office 2016 13+ Reasons Why You Should Upgrade to Microsoft Office 2016 13+ Reasons Why You Should Upgrade to Microsoft Office 2016 Microsoft Office 2016 is here and it's time for you to make a decision . The productivity question is:should I upgrade? We brought you the new features and the new reasons to help you... Read More However, a central theme in many reviews was an update to the office suite which was good but it's not surprising, and many wonder if the updates Microsoft has delivered will force enough users to upgrade. Not to mention, you can use Word, Excel, and PowerPoint online for free. Don't pay for Word! 5 reasons why you should use Office Online Don't pay for Word! 5 reasons why you should use Office Online Office Online is the free, cloud-connected version of Microsoft Office. The limitations are offset by features, useful even for desktop Office users. Best of all is its Read more .
So does this give LibreOffice a chance to surprise potential new users? Which Office suite is the best for you? Which office suite is best for you? You will be pressured to find an occupation that does not require word or number processing of any kind. And you may be wondering, is Microsoft Office really the best solution? Here are your options. Read more ? Let's take a quick look and find out.
Despite coming only six months after the previous 5.0 update, LibreOffice 5.1 has included a fairly comprehensive table of new features:
As with any major update, there are also numerous minor feature tweaks throughout the suite, as well as the standard bug fixes you'd expect.
In one of the most visual changes to the LibreOffice environment, users now have access to a single menu containing application-specific options. The three main applications, Writer, Calc, and Impress, are given their own direct menu intended to reduce the time spent searching to find the main functions of the application.
Italo Vignoli, spokesperson for the developers, The Document Foundation and one of its founding members, said:
The writer then receives the Styles menu, Calc receives the Sheet menu, and Impress receives the Slide menu.
The sidebars have also received a few minor tweaks here and there, further simplifying operations, which is exactly what you need in your office suite.
LibreOffice 5.1 introduces integrated cloud storage solutions. Users can now connect to various remote servers, including Microsoft SharePoint, Google Drive, OneDrive, Alfresco, WebDAV, and custom FTP servers. You will now be able to open and save files directly to these services without any additional software or workaround.
To connect to a remote server go to File> Save to a remote server . On the new Remote Server panel, go to Add service and select your provider. Then you will have to enter your credentials. Once you've saved your information, your remote server should appear in the same panel. Repeat the process for each remote server you want to access.
Once configured, it only takes a couple of mouse clicks to access your remote drives in the future.
The LibreOffice 5.1 update has also brought changes to the spreadsheet application, Calc. In addition to seemingly basic (but useful!) additions like new commands for adding rows below and columns to the right, and PNG export, the engine of Calc formulas has been adjusted to remove the restrictions of table structure references in cells. While not a mind-blowing addition, this change will certainly allow for greater interoperability with other spreadsheet applications, including Microsoft Excel.
As The Document Foundation strives to make an office suite as compatible as possible with other applications, continued development in this area is vital, especially as Microsoft, the leaders in office suite software packages, largely dictate the evolution of file format standards.
Also new to Calc is a statistics dialog that gives users the opportunity to calculate statistics. Learn stats for free with these 6 resources. Learn stats for free with these 6 resources. Statistics has a reputation for a subject that is difficult to understand. But learning from the right resource will help you understand your poll results, election reports, and your statistics class assignments in no time. Read more regression as power, logarithmic and linear..
Keep up the general update theme of increased productivity 5 Microsoft Office Add-ins and Applications to Increase Your Productivity 5 Microsoft Office Add-ins and Applications to Increase Your Productivity Microsoft Office supports add-ins that can make your life better. We've compiled a selection of useful productivity apps, primarily for Microsoft Word. They are easy to install in Office 2010 and above. Read More , aimed at reducing editing time between similar shapes.
The toolbar also has a new addition in Edit Modes Dropdown menu. This new menu allows navigation between master / non-master modes, allowing for much easier and much faster switching between the content and the container.
Finally, all Impress OpenGL transitions have been ported to OpenGL 2.1+. This removes support for some older GPUs, but makes much better use of modern ones. Four new transitions have been added to Impress..
In addition to those big changes, The Document Foundation still found time to pack in a lot more.
And finally, users can now insert Unicode Characters using Alt+”X” shortcut combinations The list goes on!
LibreOffice 5.1 is the undisputed king of free office suites. Having seriously optimized the underlying code of LibreOffice, The Document Foundation can now push the free office suite further, with work on the LibreOffice Viewer for Android app and LibreOffice web (coming to us relatively soon) underway.
Are you competing with Microsoft Office 2016? In some rooms, yes. LibreOffice ships with many major Linux distributions and is no doubt extremely popular with open source software users.
Yet, as we hear again and again, Microsoft Office is the de facto tool for a staggering number of businesses, academics, and governments. Due to decades of leaning towards Microsoft, many organizations just can't imagine using an alternative office suite The 7 Best Free Microsoft Office Alternatives The 7 Best Free Microsoft Office Alternatives Microsoft Office is the king of office suites, but that doesn't mean it's the right one for you. Here are other office suites that you might like better! Read More
The numbers that separate Microsoft Office and LibreOffice are disparate, and actually represent a poor way of evaluating the undoubted achievements of thousands of people who have contributed to the ongoing project. If you want a great free office suite, this is how you can get Microsoft Word for free This is how you can get Microsoft Word for free Don't want to pay for the full Microsoft Word experience? Don't worry, here are some ways to use Microsoft Word for free. Read More
How did you find LibreOffice 5.1? Is it enough to make you switch from Microsoft Office? Let us know below!
