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This page (may) contain content that is old and/or out of date. If you have experience in this area, please review this page for accuracy.

What are the differences between OpenOffice.org and LibreOffice?

The LibreOffice dynamic development teams improve the software each version. Among the new features a lot are not included in OpenOffice.org and Apache OpenOffice.

The list below shows the first differences emerged between the products. Refer to the release notes of LibreOffice for more information: version 3.5, version 3.6, version 4.0

• The file icons are colored.
• Some extensions are installed by default:
  • Pdfimport: import in Draw of a PDF file
  • Presentation Minimizer: compress an Impress presentations
  • Report Builder: ease the creation of reports for Base
  • Solver: add methods of resolution for the Calc solver
  • Wiki Publisher: Export filter to the wiki format for Writer.
• In Writer, the Navigator displays the heading levels independently.
• In Calc:
  • Next to the sheet tabs, the "+" icon allows you to easily add sheets,
  • Dotted cell borders can be defined
  • By default, the "Delete" key and "Backspace" are reversed.
• In all modules, an icon (!) In the status bar indicates that the file is not saved. A double click on it starts the backup.
• Ability to save a document, even if it has not been changed.
• Under Linux, the installation of Java Media Framework (JMF) is no longer needed to play sounds and video

You may find this detailed comparison document from Nou&Off between LibreOffice 4.4 and Apache OpenOffice 4.1 from 2015 useful. Since then Apache OpenOffice hasn't changed in feature set, but LibreOffice improved greatly as you might see in our ReleaseNotes.