LibreOffice 6.1 Open Office Suite released

[vissha]

A new version of the popular open source and cross-platform application LibreOffice has been released today. LibreOffice 6.1 brings along with it improvements to the user interface, performance, and new features and other changes.

 

Existing users can use the built-in update functionality to update the local version of the Office suite to version 6.1. Just select Help > Check for Updates in any of the LibreOffice applications to do so. Web and Torrent downloads are already available on the official website as well.

 

Note: LibreOffice 6.x requires at least Microsoft Windows 7 Service Pack 1. The last version to support Windows XP and Vista was LibreOffice 5.x.

 

Tip: Use LibreOffice as a PDF Editor.

LibreOffice 6.1

 

You can check out of the official announcement on the LibreOffice for an overview of important changes in LibreOffice 6.1 or the release notes for the new version which highlight the bulk of changes.

 

LibreOffice 6.1 supports a new icon theme for Windows that is based on Microsoft's icon design guideline. The theme is called Colibre and the default theme on Windows from LibreOffice 6.1 on.

 

Other theme changes include a switch to Elementary on Gnome based desktops, a new default high contrast theme called Sifr, and the removal of Industrial and Oxygen themes because "of missing maintenance and SVG support".  The icon theme Karasa Jaga was added which is heavily inspired from Oxygen.

 

 

LibreOffice users can change the style of icons in the following way:

1. Select Tools > Options from the menu bar.
2. Go to LibreOffice > View.
3. Select a new theme under Icon style on the page.

LibreOffice's Base app uses a new database format. Firebird Embedded is the new default choice for databases in the new version of Base. It is still possible to select Embedded HSQLDB in the dialog.

 

Long term, existing data needs to be migrated to the new database format or an external HSQLDB server must be used.

 

LibreOffice 6.1 debuts a migration assistant to migrate the database to the new format. The migration assistant will remain available in future releases even in those that won't support HSQLDB anymore.

 

Base displays the migration assistant automatically when you open a database that uses the old format.

 

 

Select yes to do so. You can bring up the prompt again by selecting Tables under Database in the interface. It is highly suggested that you create a backup of the database file before you attempt to convert it.

 

LibreOffice 6.1 features lots of other improvements:

• Image handling improvements in Calc
  • sorting of images anchored to Calc cells
  • reworked anchor types
  • aspect ratio is considered when resizing images in cells.
  • inserted images are anchored to cell by default.
  • option to fit images into their cell.
• Options to customize the highlight color under LibreOffice > Application Color.
• Lots of online improvements (security, graphical user interface).
• New Page menu in Draw and reorganization of menus.
• Easier toolbar and menu customization options.
• JRE Required message on Windows highlights whether 32-bit or 64-bit version is missing.
• Cal, Draw, and Impress prompt user about EXIF rotation when adding images.
• New set of default gradients.
• New RYB standard pallete.
• Rewored background images in gallery and area fill dialog.
• Improved Excel 2003 XML import filter.
• New help content (pivot charts, Export to EPUB)
• Support for external CSV data.
• Improved LDAP configuration backend.
• Support for signing ODF documents with ECDSA keys on Linux and macOS.

Closing Words

LibreOffice 6.1 improves the Office suite in many different areas. If you are a user you may want to consider upgrading right away to take advantage of the new functionality.

 

Note that the Document Foundation recommends that Enterprise customers stay at version 6.06. for the time being.

 

Now You: Do you use an Office suite? If so which?

 

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