LibreOffice Writer

LibreOffice Writer
LibreOffice Writer 7.2.4 (released in December 2021, running on Linux and KDE Plasma 5 with the Breeze icon set)
Developer	The Document Foundation
Stable release(s)
Fresh: 25.8.4 / 18 December 2025 [1]   Still: 25.2.7 / 30 October 2025 [2]
Repository	github.com/LibreOffice/core.git
Operating system	Cross platform
Predecessor	OpenOffice.org Writer
Type	Word processor
License	MPLv2.0 (secondary license GPL, LGPLv3+ or Apache License 2.0) [3]
Website	libreoffice.org/discover/writer

LibreOffice Writer is the free and open-source word processor and desktop publishing component of the LibreOffice suite and is a fork of OpenOffice.org Writer. Writer is a word processor similar to Microsoft Word and Corel's WordPerfect with many similar features, and file format compatibility. ^{[4] [5]}

LibreOffice Writer is released under the Mozilla Public License v2.0. ^[3]

As with the entire LibreOffice suite, Writer can be used across a variety of platforms, including Linux, FreeBSD, macOS and Microsoft Windows. There are community builds for many other platforms. Ecosystem partner Collabora uses LibreOffice upstream code and provides apps for Android, iOS, iPadOS and ChromeOS. ^{[6] [7]} LibreOffice Online is an online office suite which includes the applications Writer, Calc and Impress and provides an upstream for projects such as commercial Collabora Online.

Some features

• Writer is capable of opening and saving to a number of formats, including OpenDocument (ODT is its default format), Microsoft Word's DOC, DOCX, RTF and XHTML. ^[8]
• A spelling and grammar checker (Hunspell) ^{[9] [10]}
• Built-in drawing tools
• Built-in form building tools
• Built-in calculation functions
• Built-in equation editor ^[11]
• Export in PDF format, generate hybrid PDF (a standard PDF with attached source ODF file) and create fillable PDF form
• The ability to import and edit PDF files. ^[12]
• Ability to edit HTML, XHTML files visually without using code with WYSIWYG support
• Export in HTML, XHTML, XML formats
• Export in EPUB ebook format
• Contents, index, bibliography
• Document signing, password and public-key (GPG) encryption
• Change tracking during revisions, document comparison (view changes between two files)
• Database integration, including a bibliography database
• MailMerge ^[13]
• Scriptable and Remote Controllable via the UNO API
• OpenType stylistic sets and character variants of fonts are not selectable from the menus, but can be specified manually in the font window. For example, fontname:ss06&cv03 will set the font to stylistic set 6 and chose character variant 3. This is based on the same syntax for Graphite font feature.

Supported file formats

File format	Extension	Read/Write	Notes
AbiWord	ABW, ZABW	From 4.2
AppleWorks (word processing)	CWK	From 4.1	Formerly called ClarisWorks
Apple Pages	PAGES	From 5.0
AportisDoc (Palm)	PDB	Yes	Requires Java
BroadBand eBook	LRF	Yes
DocBook	XML	Yes
FictionBook	FB2	From 4.2
Hangul WP 97	HWP	Yes	Newer "5.x" documents are not supported[ citation needed ]
HTML	HTM, HTML	Yes
Ichitaro 8/9/10/11	JTD, JTT	Yes
Lotus Word Pro	LWP	Yes
MacWrite Pro 1.5	MW, MCW	From 4.1
Microsoft Pocket Word	PSW	Yes	Requires Java
Microsoft RTF	RTF	Yes
Microsoft Word 2003 XML (WordprocessingML)	XML	Yes
Microsoft Word 4/5/6.0/95	DOC, DOT	Yes, writing up to 3.6
Microsoft Word 97–2003	DOC, DOT	Yes
Microsoft Word 2007-now	DOCX, DOTX, DOCM, DOTM	Yes
Microsoft Works (word processing)	WPS, WPT	Yes	Microsoft Works for Mac formats since 4.1
Microsoft Write	WRI	From 5.1
OpenDocument (word processing)	ODT, FODT, OTT,	Yes
OpenOffice.org XML (word processing)	SXW, STW	Yes
Plain text	TXT	Yes	Various encodings supported
Software602 (T602)	602, TXT	Yes
StarOffice StarWriter 3/4/5	SDW, SGL, VOR	Dropped in 4.0 then added back in 5.3, up to 3.6[ clarification needed ]
Unified Office Format (word processing)	UOT	Yes
WordPerfect	WPD	Yes
WordPerfect Suite 2000/Office 1.0	WPS	Yes
WriteNow 4.0	WN, NX^D	From 4.1

See also

• Free and open-source software portal

• LibreOffice Calc
• Comparison of office suites
• Comparison of word processors
• List of word processors
• Comparison of desktop publishing software
• List of desktop publishing software

References

1. Italo Vignoli (18 December 2025). "Announcement of LibreOffice 25.8.4" . Retrieved 18 December 2025.
2. Italo Vignoli (30 October 2025). "[tdf-announce] The Document Foundation announces LibreOffice 25.2.7" . Retrieved 30 October 2025.
3. "Licenses". The Document Foundation . Retrieved 16 December 2015.
4. Elena Opris (January 8, 2014). "LibreOffice Writer Review". Softpedia. Retrieved July 7, 2015.
5. Jon L. Jacobi (June 27, 2013). "Review: LibreOffice 4 liberates you from Microsoft Office". IDG Consumer & SMB. Retrieved July 7, 2015.
6. "Collabora Office – Apps on Google Play".
7. "Collabora Office". 25 October 2023.
8. The Document Foundation (n.d.). "Writer, a Word Processor for Every Kind of Document". Archived from the original on 22 June 2011. Retrieved 15 June 2011.
9. The Document Foundation (2012). "Chapter 1 – Introducing Writer" (PDF). Retrieved 1 February 2013.
10. The Document Foundation (2011). "Checking Spelling and Grammar" . Retrieved 15 June 2011.
11. The Document Foundation (2012). "LibreOffice Version 3.5. Math Guide. Using The Equation Editor" (PDF). Retrieved 1 February 2013.
12. Linton, Susan (June 2011). "The New Features in LibreOffice 3.3". Linux Journal. Retrieved 15 June 2011.
13. The Document Foundation (2013). "Chapter 11. Using Mail Merge. Form letters, mailing labels and envelopes" (PDF). Retrieved 1 February 2013.

External links

• Features page at LibreOffice.org