18 Open Source Office Suite

Mr. Hardik Joshi

epgp books

 

Overview

 

A computer without an office suite can be said to be of no use. Office suite is a collection of software tools that can help to create documents, perform calculations using spreadsheets, create databases and make effective presentations. Office suite is an application software which is a collection of bundled productivity software. This suite of software is intended to be used by knowledge workers. The base components of an office suite include:

 

•       Word Processor

•       Spreadsheet package

•       Database software

•       Presentation Program

•       Graphics Unit

•       Email client, Communication software

•       Software to create diagrams

•       Project management software

•       Desktop publishing software

•       Formula editor

•       Personal information manager

•       Notetaking software

•       Groupware

•       Web log analysis software

History of Open Source Office Suite

 

The development of office suite utilities was initiated as StarOffice. Different versions of StarOffice were released from 1985 to 2009. The code of StarOffice was made available in 2000 which resulted in forking of StarOffice into OpenOffice. OpenOffice included Writer (word processor), Calc (spreadsheet package), Impress (presentation application), Draw (a drawing application), Math (formula editor) and Base (database management application). The default file format used by OpenOffice was ODF (Open Document Format).

 

OpenOffice got further forked into NeoOffice, Go-OpenOffice, IBM Symphony, Oracle OpenOffice and LibreOffice. OpenOffice was released under dual license, SISSL and GNU LGPL. As of now, OpenOffice has been discontinued. However, the team has continued to develop evolved version known as Apache OpenOffice which is released by Apache Software Foundation under Apache License 2.0.

 

Figure 1: Timeline of Open Source Office Suite(Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fb/StarOffice_major_derivatives.svg/900px-StarOffice_major_derivatives.svg.png)

 

Till date, we have two open source office suites that have a release cycle, they are:

  • Apache OpenOffice
  • LibreOffice

Since both the office suites have evolved from the same source, most of the functionalities are similar. Due to code licensing, the updates of Apache OpenOffice can be incorporated into LibreOffice but the reverse is not possible. Considering the minor differences and the popularity among community, we will discuss the features of LibreOffice in this module.

 

LibreOffice

 

LibreOffice is a project of “The Document Foundation” which got forked from OpenOffice in 2010. LibreOffice is open source office suite and free. It is available in 110 languages as of now. LibreOffice uses the ODF format (Open Document File) as its native format to save documents. The documents can be supported by Apache OpenOffice and Microsoft Office through various import / export utilities.

 

The binaries of LibreOffice are available for various platforms like MS Windows, macOS and Linux. Recently, a LibreOffice viewer for Android and an Online Office suite has been released. Most of the Linux distributions ship LibreOffice as its default Office suite. The initial release of LibreOffice was in 2011, It is in active development stage. LibreOffice is developed by “The Document Foundation”.

 

LibreOffice is made available under Mozilla Public License version 2. The following are components of

 

LibreOffice:

  • Writer – word processor
  • Calc – spreadsheet program
  • Impress – presentation program
  • Math – equation creation and editing
  • Base – database management program
  • Draw – vector graphics editor

 

Few notable features of LibreOffice are:

  • Supports cross-platform on Windows, macOS, Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD
  • Supports Versions of Windows 7, 8, 8.1, 10, Server 2008/2012/2016
  • It is free and open source licensed under MPLv2
  • Has portable version that runs on USB flash drive without any requirement of installation
  • Nearly 340 extensions are available
  • Supports 110 languages
  • Supports Right-to-left languages like Arabic language
  • Includes additional writing aids like spell-check, dictionaries, thesaurus, grammar check, etc,
  • Access to vector clip art
  • Can import svg vector graphics
  • Supports macro scripting language
  • SupPorts CMIS protocol for document management system
  • Supports ISO standard for open document format
  • Export to PDF is in-built
  • Supports insertion of various audio and video formats
  • Supports graphic images in various formats
  • Supports Digital Signatures

The following features are lacking in LibreOffice

  • It does not have a dedicated Email program
  • Partial PDF import is possible
  • GUI does not support touch systems
  • Limited editing features in online version
  • Keyboard driven menu system is not fully supported
  • Certain components are dependent on JRE

Now let us understand the features of each component of LibreOffice. The components of LibreOffice like Writer, Calc, Impress, Base are similar to Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Access in MS Office.

 

LibreOffice Writer

 

Write has features required for desktop publishing software and word processor. It can create quick letters, memo and is also powerful to create and manage large documents like books, thesis, reports, etc. It has support of diagrams, indexing and many other features. Some of the features of Writer are:

  • Writer supports templates and styles
  • It has inbuilt spelling and grammar checker
  • Utilities like Word and character count
  • Supports Page-layout methods, including frames, columns, and tables
  • Embedding or linking of graphics, spreadsheets, and other objects is feasible
  • Has built-in drawing tools
  • Supports Color and line styles for the columns and footnote separator lines.
  • Uses a notion of Master documents—to group a collection of documents into a single document
  • It supports Mchange tracking during revisions
  • It partially supports the ability to import and edit PDF files
  • Supports database integration, including a bibliography database
  • Provides facility like Mail Merge
  • Has a built-in Equation editor
  • It has Indening & Bibliographic capabilities
  • AutoCorrect & AutoComplete facilities are provided

Figure 2:Screenshot of LibreOffice Writer

LibreOffice Calc

 

LibreOffice Calc is the spreadsheet component of the LibreOffice suite. Calc can be used to perform financial, statistical or similar calculations. It can also be used to generate summaries of financial reports and provides utilities to generate graphs and charts. Few important features of LibreOffice Calc are:

  • Can read/write excel (XLS/XLSX) documents
  • Support for comma separated values(CSV) file formats
  • Has large number of built-in functions
  • Supports 1 million rows in a single spreadsheet and 1024 columns
  • Has 3 different wizards for statistics
  • Includes DataPilot feature to generate pivot tables

Figure 3: Screenshot of LibreOffice Calc

 

LibreOffice Impress

 

Impress is a presentation program that is similar to MS PowerPoint program. The presentations of LibreOffice can be exported to SWF files that are supported by Adobe Flash Player. Features of LirbreOffice Impress are as follows:

  • Supports Hyphenation
  • Exporting to HTML and XHTML is provided
  • Supports export to vector graphics format like SVG, EPS
  • Supports export to SWF files
  • Presentation remote control for smartphones or tablets is supported
  • Partial support to 3D slide transitions
  • Partial support to editing embedded videos
  • Partial support of animated effects

Figure 4: Screenshot of LibreOffice Impress for Presentations

 

LibreOffice Base

 

Base is a database management program similar to MS Access. It allows creation and management of databases, generation of forms and reports. It supports creation of small embedded databases that can be stored within document files. It can also be used as a front-end to various database programs like Access database, MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL.

 

Figure 5: Screenshot of LibreOffice Base

LibreOffice Draw

 

LibreOffice Draw is a vector graphics editor and is also used as a diagramming tool to create flowcharts and software engineering drawings that are similar to MS Visio. It also includes features that are similar to software like Scribus and Microsoft Publisher. It can partially support as PDF file editor.

 

LibreOffice Math

 

Math is software used for creating and editing mathematical formula. Math uses a variant of XML to create formulas. The formulas created in Math can be incorporated into other documents of LibreOffice like Write or Calc. Embedding of formula into the document is also feasible.

 

As we have discussed in this module, there are two office suites that are open source and widely used by professionals. LibreOffice is an open source software that has many features quite similar to MS Office. The software is small in size and can be easily downloaded. LibreOffice is compatible with most of the MS Office documents.

 

Let us summarize the key concepts covered in this module

  • A brief history of Open Source Office Suites
  • Features of LibreOffice
  • Features of Writer, Calc and Impress components of LibreOffice
  • Overview of Base, Draw and Math components of LibreOffice
you can view video on Open Source Office Suite

References

  1. Jean Weber and Friends of Open Document. 2012. Self-publishing using LibreOffice Writer : how to use free software to write, design, and create PDFs for print-on-demand books, Friends of Open Document Inc. Australia.
  2. Bruce Byfield. Designing with LibreOffice,
  3. Anon. Getting started with LibreOffice 5.0.,
  4. LIBREOFFICE. DOCUMENTATION TEAM. 2016. GETTING STARTED WITH LIBREOFFICE 5.1., FRIENDS OF OPENDOCUMENT.
  5. LibreOffice Documentation Team. 2015. LibreOffice Writer 4.2, Samurai Media Limited.
  6. LibreOffice Documentation Team. LibreOffice Calc 4.1,
  7. John A. Smith. LibreOffice 4.0 : math guide : using the equation editor,
  8. Martin. Fox and Friends of OpenDocument. 2012. LibreOffice 3.4 Draw guide : drawing vector graphics in LibreOffice 3.4, Friends of OpenDocument.
  9. Martin. Fox and Friends of OpenDocument. 2012. LibreOffice 3.4 Draw guide : drawing vector graphics in LibreOffice 3.4, Friends of OpenDocument.
  10. Jochen Schiffers et al. LibreOffice 4.0 : base handbook : managing your data,
  11. Friends of OpenDocument. 2011. LibreOffice 3 Calc guide : using spreadsheets in LibreOffice 3., Friends of OpenDocument.
  12. LibreOffice. Documentation Team. LibreOffice 4. 2 writer guide : word processing with style.,
  13. Anon. Getting started with LibreOffice 5.0.,
  14. LIBREOFFICE. DOCUMENTATION TEAM. 2016. GETTING STARTED WITH LIBREOFFICE 5.1., FRIENDS OF OPENDOCUMENT.