Tag: LibreOffice

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The power of LibreOffice

I have many documents created with Microsoft Office for assignments written for graduate school courses years ago. How can I easily convert those dozens of documents to a different format without using an online application? This is an excellent example of the power of open source.

Five years ago I took a course at a local university where all of the documents were provided in ‘docx’ format. Is there a way to convert those documents to an ‘odt’ format? There is and it is quite simple. 

$libreoffice --headless --convert-to odt *.docx

What if I decided I wanted to convert those ‘docx’ items to ‘html’ so they could easily be shared on my classroom website. What if I had wanted to convert all those documents to html? 

$libreoffice --headless --convert-to html *.docx

I can use the same tool to turn those ‘docx’ files into ‘pdf’ files with an iteration of the same command.

$libreoffice –headless –convert-to pdf *.docx

Using LibreOffice from the command line inside the directory where the files you want to convert is easy and the conversion is accomplished in a matter of seconds depending on your processor and memory. You can find many more uses of LibreOffice from the command line by entering the following command on your own command line if you have LibreOffice installed as most Linux distributions do. 

$libreoffice --help

This is a great example of the power of open source software.

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Celebrating 20 Years of Open Document Format: A Milestone for Digital Freedom

LibreOffice is a free and open-source office productivity suite developed by The Document Foundation (TDF). It originated as a fork of OpenOffice.org in 2010. I have been using LibreOffice Writer, Impress, and Calc almost since its inception. It was an easy move from OpenOffice.org. I readily recommend LibreOffice to all those who ask for my technical assistance.

Few innovations in open standards and free software have had the lasting impact of the Open Document Format (ODF). This year marks a significant milestone—the 20th anniversary of its ratification as an OASIS standard. Since its approval in 2005, ODF has established itself as the go-to open standard for office documents and championed digital independence, interoperability, and content transparency.

Developed initially as an XML-based format to ensure universal access to documents across various platforms and software from different vendors, the Open Document Format (ODF) has become a cornerstone of technology policy for governments, educational institutions, and organizations that prefer open, vendor-independent formats to maintain their digital sovereignty.

Eliane Domingos, Chairwoman of The Document Foundation, emphasizes that ODF is more than a technical specification—it represents digital freedom, interoperability, and user empowerment. She highlights its role in protecting individuals and organizations from restrictive Big Tech practices, ensuring they maintain full control over their content. At a time when proprietary systems risk undermining independence, ODF stands as a reliable safeguard for open access and user autonomy.

ODF serves as the default file format for LibreOffice, the most widely recognized and utilized open-source office suite, with seamless compatibility across various applications. Two decades since its creation, its lasting impact reflects the foresight of its developers and the open-source community’s steadfast commitment to transparency, accessibility, and innovation.

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Fixing LibreOffice after an upgrade to OSX El Capitan

I read an article this morning which stated that more developers use Macs than Linux and while I can’t disagree with that I am perplexed by my recent upgrade to El Capitan. My four year old MacBook Pro continues to perform well despite its age. I’m happy with that, but after upgrading to El Capitan from Yosemite yesterday, LibreOffice 5 no longer worked. I kept getting an error message about the need to install Java JRE. I’ve downloaded the Java packages from Oracle after reading some “how-tos” after doing some “googling.” I use my Linux laptop more for everyday so it’s not a huge inconvenience, but I’d really like to know how to solve this current problem.

There is a fix I’m happy to report and it involved downloading the appropriate JRE environment from Oracle for OSX 10.11.3. Then I deleted LibreOffice from my system and then downloaded and installed the most recent version of the software. After doing all that I had to open LibreOffice for the first time and then go to LibreOffice  -> Preferences  -> Advanced then select the version of the Java Environment which in my case was version 1.8.0_73. Highlight that selection, press “Add” and then “Okay” and you’re done.