LibreOffice adds improved interoperability features with Microsoft Office

Recently we’ve been reporting a lot on new features and updates coming to Google Workspace apps and Microsoft’s Office suite of productivity apps. With more users working from home these days, there is a lot on the table for these two giants to battle it out for. There are other options, however, and today we’re bringing you news of an update to one of the best free productivity suites available, LibreOffice.

Libre Office Download Now

The Document Foundation, which is behind LibreOffice has recently released details of a new version of the free productivity suite. The update contains a variety of tweaks with the most interesting upgrade relating to interoperability with Microsoft Office files.

Building in interoperability with Microsoft Office files has long been a target of The Document Foundation, but it has always presented a set of difficult challenges, which the organization explained in the blog post announcing the update:

“Microsoft files are still based on the proprietary format deprecated by ISO in 2008, and not on the ISO approved standard, so they hide a large amount of artificial complexity. This causes handling issues with LibreOffice, which defaults to a true open standard format (the OpenDocument Format).”

To solve these issues, an army of volunteers has been working long and hard to develop the compatibility updates needed to make Office files completely interoperable with LibreOffice. The result is a series of updates, which will start rolling out regularly soon. Each update will significantly improve the compatibility between the two distinct programs and their respective file types.

This means that if you are a LibreOffice user you should be regularly checking for updates as The Document Foundation says they will be coming out quite quickly.

This news follows a recent Google Workspace announcement that its team is also working hard to bring compatibility with Office files to the likes of Google Docs and Google Sheets.