Release highlights — Windows 7 and 8/8.1 support dropped. — Can set the default zoom level in Writer. — A new duplicate entry handling feature in Calc.
It turns out we have something of an open source office suite wave going on. Closely following the recent ONLYOFFICE Docs 8.3 release, we now have the LibreOffice 25.2 release that promises many useful refinements.
Being one of the best open source alternatives to Microsoft Office on Linux, offerings like LibreOffice strengthen my belief that building commercial-grade, mainstream software based on open source principles really works.
Anyhow, let's check out what's included with this new release. 😃
🆕 LibreOffice 25.2: What's New?
Starting off with the changes to Writer, LibreOffice 25.2 now allows users to set a default zoom level when opening documents, substituting the zoom level data stored in a document.
In the Navigator, it is now possible to track comments when they are focused, remove all content of the same type, and resizing the nearby area of comments will now show a visual guide.
LibreOffice 25.2 Writer.
Additionally, there are tweaks to the Track Changes feature, with it now allowing the user to manage a large number of changes in lengthy documents without a fuss.
In the case of Impress, the presentation component of LibreOffice, objects can now be easily centered on a slide, automatic repeating of slides can be enabled in windowed mode, and interaction dialogs are more efficient due to now being asynchronous.
LibreOffice 25.2 Impress.
Other highlights include the ability to set text glow and soft edge effects, as well as updated templates that come with improved images.
Finally, we have Calc, the spreadsheets utility, which now features a new “Handle Duplicate Records” dialog for easy duplicate data removal. I tested it out with some random data that had some duplicate entries, and it worked well.
LibreOffice 25.2 Calc.
The Function Wizard and Functions Sidebar deck also sees some changes in the form of upgrades to search, and new sheet protection options have been added for pivot tables, pivot charts and AutoFilters.
🛠️ Other Changes and Improvements
Moving on, there are a few other changes that you should know about:
Support for Windows 7 and 8/8.1 has been sunset.
This release can read/write documents in ODF 1.4.
Significant upgrades to the application theming system.
An accessibility fix for an issue where the position of UI elements was not correctly reported on Linux.
If you are going for a fresh install, then the official website and Flathub are the most reliable places to get LibreOffice packages for Linux, Windows, and macOS.
If you are looking for installation instructions, then you can refer to my earlier coverage of an older LibreOffice release.
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