Berlin, 29 August 2025 – LibreOffice 25.8.1, the first minor release of the free, volunteer-supported office suite for personal productivity in office environments, is now available at https://www.libreoffice.org/download for Windows, MacOS and Linux.

The release includes close to 100 bug and regression fixes over LibreOffice 25.8 [1] to improve the stability and robustness of the software. In particular, the release resolves the application crash issue related to the NoteBookBar UI option, and several bugs related to opening documents in Microsoft proprietary format.

LibreOffice is the only office suite with a feature set comparable to the market leader. It also offers a range of interface options to suit all user habits, from traditional to modern, and makes the most of different screen form factors by optimising the space available on the desktop to put the maximum number of features just a click or two away.

For users who don’t need the latest features and prefer a version that has undergone more testing and bug fixing, The Document Foundation maintains the LibreOffice 25.2 family, which includes several months of back-ported fixes. The current release is LibreOffice 25.2.5.

The Document Foundation does not provide technical support for users, although they can get it from volunteers on user mailing lists and the Ask LibreOffice website: https://ask.libreoffice.org

LibreOffice users, free software advocates and community members can support the Document Foundation by making a donation at https://www.libreoffice.org/donate.

[1] Fixes in RC1: https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Releases/25.8.1/RC1.

The LibreOffice Conference will start in a week from today with the Community Meeting, at the Faculty of Informatics of ELTE (Eötvös Loránd University) in Pázmány Péter stny. 1/C, 1117 Budapest. The building is just in front of the Danube on the historic Buda side, and can be easily reached either by walking or by public transportation from the city center in Pest, where you can find the majority of hotels and restaurants.

To reach the city from the airport, take Bus 100E which goes directly to downtown (Deák Ferenc tér). Buy and validate tickets directly on the bus using your bank card for the Budapest Pay&GO service. bkk.hu/en/travel-information/airport-express/

Inside the city use public transport (BKK): metro, tram, bus. Buy tickets from purple machines or use the BudapestGO mobile app (iOS, Android). bkk.hu/en/ The best deal is a 24h / 72h travel pass, which does not need validation at each trip. IMPORTANT: the travel pass is not valid for the airport bus!

Currency is Hungarian Forint (HUF). Cards are accepted almost everywhere, but also you may need some Forint cash from Correct Change, Exclusive Change, or Gold Change. Avoid Euronet ATMs, use instead ATMs at major Hungarian banks like OTP, K&H, Erste, UniCredit, Raiffeisen, or CIB.

Time zone is CEST (UTC+2). Electricity is 230V, with standard European plug.

The Survival Guide with more information will soon be available on the Conference website.

Juan Carlos Sanz, a long time contributor to OpenOffice and LibreOffice, and a TDF Member, passed away last Friday, August 22. He has been contributing to documentation and localization in Spanish, and has been active in the forums to help LibreOffice users as much as he could.

In July 2022, Juan Carlos was interviewed by Mike Saunders for the Community Member Monday. In 2022, he also attended the LibreOffice Conference in Milan (2022) and Bucharest (2023).

One week ago, we announced LibreOffice 25.8, our brand new major release. It’s packed with new features, and has many improvements to compatibility and performance too. So, what has happened in the week since then? Let’s check out some stats…

642,564 downloads

These are just stats for our official downloads page, of course – many Linux users will have acquired the new release via their distribution’s package repositories.

23,399 views, shares and likes on social media

Combining our Mastodon, Bluesky, X/Twitter and Facebook posts about the announcement, and all the likes, shares, views and comments, we get 23,999. Thanks to everyone who spread the word on social media!

1,225 upvotes on Reddit

On release day, we posted the announcement on the /r/linux subreddit. There was lots of discussion there about the new update, including things users like and things that could still be improved.

Huge thanks to our worldwide community of volunteers, and certified developers, for all their work on this release!

Today we’re talking to Olivier Dufailly, who’s working on PyPos3DLO, an app based on LibreOffice to create mechanical characters, edit and optimize Poser files, and manipulate WaveFront files:

Tell us a bit about yourself!

I live in Toulouse (France) and for around 30 years I’ve mainly worked in the space and aeronautical domain (from software to system engineering), although I was also a business manager for a few years, and the first CIO of a mid-size engineering company. But now, I’m back in my preferred domain: space systems engineering and development. It’s a so exciting environment.

On a personal side, I like and practice sports (swimming, biking, running) and 3D modeling. I remember, when I bought my first Casio graphic tracer in 1985, I immediately ported some Apple BASIC 3D curves programs to Casio BASIC!

And now, I always like to produce some airplanes models for 3D rendering (unfortunately, the former free site ShareCG.com has disappeared so I need to find a way to publish my work elsewhere). Additionally, I think that we – all of us – are responsible of our children’s planet, and open source software is sustainable and so is vital to help us in the future.

What are you working on right now?

I’ve produced a LibreOffice-based application to help 3D mechanical characters development. I’d would be proud to present it in more detail later, but for now: PoJamas aims to provide a Python library and tools for loading, processing, and producing .cr2, pz3 (crz, pzz) files compatible with the SmithMicro (e-Frontier) Poser character animation application. It includes PyPos3DLO, an app based on LibreOffice to create mechanical characters, and edit and optimize Poser files.

Why did you choose to become a member of The Document Foundation?

LibreOffice is a great project and I’d like to try to contribute to its development. It’s just the beginning, but I feel welcome in the project already.

Anything else you plan to do in the future? What does LibreOffice really need?

I have a strategic approach concerning LibreOffice and general engineering usage.

In my professional and personal domains, engineers, PhD, techs guys produce studies and data for testing and running large and complex systems. To do this, they usually use Microsoft Office with a huge amount of BASIC macros. Moreover, they also use MATLAB and try to integrate or automatize things.

They usually have a lot of “integration” problems and the result is frequently a mess: hard to use, and more or less impossible to maintain or transfer. It’s a lack of experts’ time, when they spend too much time o “silly” development instead of doing their own business.

Our main problems are testing, maintainability and costs.

Finally, I’m convinced that we should promote a new maintainable approach for engineering studies with a better integration of Python (or other, if any languages) in LibreOffice. (Financial studies may be also greatly enhanced with an easy integration between Python libraries and …

LibreOffice 25.8: a Strategic Asset for Governments and Enterprises Focused on Digital Sovereignty and Privacy

Overview

In a time when geopolitical tensions, data localization laws, and compliance risks are reshaping the IT landscape, LibreOffice 25.8 (released last week) stands out as a strategic choice. It’s a fully open source, locally run productivity suite designed for organizations that require full control over their software, data, and infrastructure.

This version builds directly on priorities voiced by public administrations and large enterprises worldwide: protecting user data, reducing dependency on foreign vendors, and strengthening digital autonomy.

Why Digital Sovereignty Matters

For governments and enterprises, digital sovereignty is about more than philosophy. It’s about:

• National security: Reducing exposure to extraterritorial surveillance and software backdoors.
• Regulatory compliance: Meeting legal requirements like GDPR, national procurement laws, and IT localization mandates.
• Vendor independence: Avoiding forced migrations, aggressive licensing models, or unpredictable pricing from proprietary vendors.
• Strategic resilience: Keeping mission-critical systems operational without reliance on the cloud.

LibreOffice 25.8 is purpose-built for these goals.

Key Benefits in LibreOffice 25.8 for Institutions

Privacy-First Architecture

• Zero telemetry: No background data collection. LibreOffice is entirely transparent and silent by design.
• Full offline capability: Every feature works without internet access, ideal for secure, air-gapped, or mission-critical environments.
• OpenPGP encryption: Documents can be encrypted with user-managed keys, ensuring compliance with internal security policies.

Open Standards & Interoperability

• Native support for the Open Document Format (ODF), an ISO standard that guarantees long-term access and eliminates proprietary lock-in.
• Improved compatibility with Microsoft Office/365 formats (.docx, .xlsx, .pptx), enabling smooth transitions and document exchange.

Flexible Deployment & Integration

• Available for Windows, Linux, and macOS: supports heterogeneous IT environments.
• Seamless integration with Nextcloud, ownCloud, and self-hosted collaboration platforms.
• Scalable from a single secure workstation to full enterprise deployments with centralized configuration and policy enforcement.

Strategic Advantages for Public and Enterprise IT

• Cost Control: No license fees. LibreOffice can cut IT spending while aligning with public procurement regulations that mandate open standards and fair competition.
• Auditability: Fully open source. Every line of code is visible and verifiable, supporting audit requirements and reducing supply chain risks.
• Local Empowerment: Encourages national and regional IT ecosystems by enabling local support contracts, customization, and professional services, stimulating the domestic tech sector.

Real-World Adoption

Governments and large institutions across Europe, Latin America, and Asia have adopted LibreOffice as part of digital sovereignty initiatives. Government bodies in Germany, Denmark and France, and national ministries in Italy and Brazil, have turned to LibreOffice to reclaim control over their digital infrastructure.

LibreOffice is backed by The Document Foundation, a neutral, non-profit steward with a global contributor base, not a private corporation with conflicting interests.

Conclusion

LibreOffice 25.8 is more than a productivity tool. It’s a vehicle for strategic IT independence. With no data collection, no vendor lock-in, and complete local control, it’s ideally suited for:

• Ministries and government agencies
• Defense and infrastructure sectors
• Enterprises in regulated industries (finance, healthcare, legal)
• Educational institutions managing sensitive student data

It’s time …

Get a quick overview of some of the new features in LibreOffice 25.8, released on Wednesday. (This video is also available on PeerTube).

The best open source office suite continues to evolve, while maintaining its focus on privacy and digital sovereignty

Berlin, 20 August 2025 – The Document Foundation announces the release of LibreOffice 25.8. This latest version of the market-leading free open source office suite maintains its focus on digital sovereignty and privacy protection. It offers individuals, organisations, and governments total control over their data and the most comprehensive productivity tools.

In a global context of growing concern about data privacy, cloud lock-in, and surveillance capitalism, LibreOffice 25.8 provides concrete solutions.

Open Source: The source code is available for inspection and is completely free from proprietary technology constraints.

Privacy and Control: LibreOffice does not collect personal data, usage metrics or diagnostic information, and complies with the data protection regulations required by public administration implementations (GDPR).

Local Execution: all features are executed locally on the user’s computer, without the need for an internet or cloud connection.

Self-Hosted Collaboration: Integration with on-premises cloud solutions, such as Nextcloud, enables teams to collaborate without sharing information with Big Tech.

LibreOffice 25.8: new performance and features

User Interface: the Welcome/What’s New dialog now offers access to the user interface picker and appearance options, allowing new users to leverage LibreOffice’s flexible UI and personalise the look and feel according to their preferences.

Performance: everything is faster, from startup to scrolling through large documents – with significant speed improvements on less powerful machines.

• In benchmark tests, Writer and Calc open files up to 30% faster.
• Optimised memory management allows for smoother operation on virtual desktops and thin clients.

Better Interoperability with Microsoft Office files, with more accurate handling of DOCX, XLSX and PPTX files and fewer formatting issues, thanks to changes such as:

• a complete overhaul of word hyphenation and spacing
• font management in Impress that is compatible with PowerPoint files
• the addition of new functions in Calc: CHOOSECOLS, CHOOSEROWS, DROP, EXPAND, HSTACK, TAKE, TEXTAFTER, TEXTBEFORE, TEXTSPLIT, TOCOL, TOROW, VSTACK, WRAPCOLS and WRAPROWS.

There are, of course, other important new features, such as the ability to export to the PDF 2.0 format, and several new ScriptForge library services. The complete list is available here: wiki.documentfoundation.org/ReleaseNotes/25.8.

In terms of operating system support changes, LibreOffice 25.8 will no longer run on Windows 7 or 8/8.1 versions. It is also the last version to run on macOS 10.15. Support for x86 (32-bit) Windows versions is deprecated.

LibreOffice 25.8 for Businesses

The Document Foundation collaborates with a global network of certified partners who offer enterprise-grade support and maintenance, customised features and integrations, and assistance with user migration and training. A full list of partners can be found here: www.libreoffice.org/get-help/professional-support/.

Positioning of LibreOffice 25.8

LibreOffice 25.8 is completely free and offers a viable alternative to proprietary office suites for individual users, schools, businesses, and public institutions. It contains no advertising, data tracking, or subscriptions.

It is ideal for students and teachers who …

LibreOffice does not include artificial intelligence (AI) out-of-the-box. But many users want AI features in the suite – so we encourage developers to make them available as optional extensions. And that’s what Igor Támara did, creating the “Stable Diffusion for LibreOffice” extension for AI-generated images powered by AI Horde (a volunteer crowd-sourced distributed cluster of image generation workers).

We talked to Igor about the extension – here’s what he had to say:

What does the extension do?

You write some text describing an image, and get an AI image generated from the given text. You can tweak parameters, choose a model and use the best result on written documents, presentations or the place you prefer. The images are generated on volunteer GPUs through AI Horde.

When did you start working on it?

Two weeks ago, starting from a Gimp plugin as a base. I’m brand new to the LibreOffice project, and started it as a macro to get this functionality in the software. One week later I put it on GitHub.

Later on I got help from friendly people on the forum to turn it into an extension. I also joined the the chat and filled some requests in the bug tracker.

What are the current limitations, and what’s coming next?

Be aware that the text you provide is sent to AI Horde and seen by the machines that create the image, so do not send sensitive data. Also, you can get better results if you send the description of the desired image in English. You are encouraged to try different languages to see the results.

You need internet connection to use it. If you wanted to create images locally on your machine, it would take time to configure your environment with local AI models, with gigabytes of memory dedicated to this purpose, and maybe processing for hours to get something useful.

Sometimes the text can be marked as NSFW (“not safe for work”) – in which case you end up with black and white text saying so.

For now, the extension works in Writer and Impress; when invoked from other LibreOffice components, it opens a new text document and inserts the image along with the provided text.

The roadmap includes:

• Translating the plugin to other languages
• An option to pre-translate the text to English
• Better integration with LibreOffice Calc and Draw
• Earn kudos, rating the images to have more priority when requesting an image

How can others help to improve it?

Report any problems you find, and help to translate into your language. Please do so by filling an issue with your intention saying which language.

If you have a GPU (and good graphics hardware in general), you can volunteer as a worker joining the horde, to add to the computing power – and you can earn kudos to have higher priority when you need it.

If you work with a friendly company that wants to make use of the existing hardware, you can join the horde too …

In the digital world, document formats are essential. Proprietary formats such as Microsoft Word’s DOCX or Excel’s XLSX dominate the workplace, but at the same time they lock users into a specific vendor and its business strategies, which tend to exploit users to the maximum in every way. The Open Document Format (ODF) offers an open, standard alternative that protects users and their privacy, promotes interoperability, long-term access and data ownership.

Migrating documents from proprietary formats to ODF is the solution, and although vendors who rely on proprietary formats – not only Microsoft, but also its freeware clones such as OnlyOffice or WPS Office – do everything they can to prevent it, it is very easy and represents a fundamental step forward for users in terms of privacy and digital sovereignty (i.e., ownership of their own content).

This guide breaks down the migration process to make the transition smooth, efficient and sustainable, both at the individual level (where problems are virtually non-existent) and at the enterprise level, where problems exist due to the lock-in strategies of proprietary formats.

Step 1: Understand ODF and its advantages

• No dependence on a single vendor: freedom to use any compatible software
• Better long-term accessibility, robustness and stability of storage
• Transparency and security, thanks to full compliance with open specifications
• Better interoperability between platforms and tools

Step 2: Document inventory to define conversion priorities and estimate the effort required for migration

• Identification of file types (DOCX, XLSX, PPTX) and their number
• Analysis of documents to distinguish between active (used periodically) documents, those that can be archived and obsolete documents
• Analysis of documents with complex formatting or embedded multimedia content

Step 3: plan the migration workflow

• Convert documents in bulk or gradually as needed?
• Pilot phase with a small group of users to identify any issues with the documents before the mass conversion
• User training on the migration and creation of a support service for conversions and backup management

Step 4: Converting documents to ODF format

• Use the LibreOffice export function (‘Save As’)
• Use batch conversion tools for large volumes (LibreOffice command line scripts)
• Validate converted files to ensure formatting and data integrity
• Back up original files until migration is successfully completed

Step 5: Monitoring the migration

• Updating internal policies to make ODF the default format for document creation and sharing, and to prevent a return to proprietary formats
• Monitoring user feedback and trends in document creation, and resolving issues in a timely manner
• Integrating ODF support into enterprise software platforms, and using automatic conversions where possible

Conclusion

Migrating from proprietary formats to ODF is a strategic move, both individually and for businesses, towards openness, content control and document protection for the future. In a business environment, it requires careful planning and user involvement, but the benefits in terms of flexibility, interoperability and cost savings are well worth the effort.