LibreOffice 25.8 Released with PDF 2.0 Export

The Document Foundation has unveiled LibreOffice 25.8, the newest release of its renowned open source office productivity suite available for Windows, macOS, and Linux. This update continues to refine performance, expand compatibility, and improve user experience, making LibreOffice a compelling free alternative to proprietary office suites.

"LibreOffice 25.8 reaffirms our dedication to safeguarding the freedom and privacy of end users in the digital age," said Eliane Domingos, chairwoman of The Document Foundation. She emphasized that LibreOffice empowers users by providing "full control over their documents, helping them to avoid reliance on third-party platforms that might compromise their data or privacy."

Performance Upgrades: Everything Is Faster

One of the defining themes of LibreOffice 25.8 is increased speed and responsiveness. The Document Foundation highlights faster application startup, improved scrolling through large documents, and significantly quicker file rendering.

Benchmarks reveal that both Writer and Calc open files up to 30% faster, particularly benefiting documents heavy with features like conditional formatting in spreadsheets. Additionally, optimizations in memory management promise smoother operation on virtual machines, remote desktops, and thin client environments, broadening accessibility on lower-end or remote hardware.

Major PDF Enhancements: Full PDF 2.0 Export

LibreOffice 25.8 introduces official support for PDF 2.0 (ISO 32000-2) export, marking a significant leap in document interoperability and security. Key features include:

• AES-256 encryption as mandated by PDF 2.0 standards
• PDF/A-4 archival support using PDF 2.0 as its foundation
• Unified PDF and PDF/A export options in a streamlined dropdown menu
• New structural elements for improved document semantics such as /Em (emphasis), /Strong (strong importance), and /Title
• Added support for embedded file relationships and improved metadata in hybrid PDF/ODF exports

Additionally, the PDF import capabilities now extend to encrypted hybrid PDFs, and digitally signed documents exported from LibreOffice are fully compatible with Adobe Reader — resolving longstanding compatibility issues.

Improved User Interface and Accessibility

The fresh Welcome/What's New dialog introduces new users to LibreOffice's flexible interface options and visual customization settings in an accessible manner, easing the learning curve.

Other notable UI enhancements across all components include:

• Quick Find bar now supports matching diacritics, catering better to non-English text searches
• Password dialogs offer a toggle to reveal typed passwords
• Toolbars can be activated directly from the UI picker (View → User Interface)
• Context menus enable hyperlink insertion when text is selected
• Currency dropdowns no longer require clicking OK to confirm

Additional updates enhance accessibility and document security while allowing more encrypted document formats to be opened.

Writer 25.8: Advanced Hyphenation and Spacing Controls

Writer boasts a complete overhaul of word hyphenation and spacing, giving users detailed control over text flow. Users can now:

• Prevent last-line word splits by moving the word to the next page
• Adjust paragraph, column, page, or spread end zones for refined layout
• Define minimum, desired, and maximum word spacing for justification

The version also introduces improved change tracking, allowing reinstatement of changes, supports image redaction via an Auto-Redact dialog, and lets users rotate objects through a simple select-and-click method.

Calc 25.8: New Functions and Usability Tweaks

Spreadsheet users benefit from several new formulas:

• CHOOSECOLS, CHOOSEROWS for dynamic table manipulation
• DROP and EXPAND for flexible data reshaping
• TEXTAFTER, TEXTBEFORE, TEXTSPLIT for advanced text parsing
• TOCOL, TOROW, VSTACK, HSTACK for stacking arrays vertically or horizontally
• WRAPCOLS, WRAPROWS, TAKE for wrapping and selecting data subsets

Additional features include a Clear AutoFilter option, enhanced conditional formatting controls in icon sets, and proportional resizing of OLE objects (charts, embedded content) in edit mode across Calc, Impress, Draw, and Writer.

Impress and Draw Updates

Impress now supports embedded fonts from PowerPoint (PPTX) files and allows copying Master Slides. The slide sorter view benefits from mouse wheel support to adjust the number of slides visible per row.

Draw displays page margin boundaries visually (configurable via Expert Configuration), aiding precise layout and design of vector graphics, technical diagrams, posters, and more.

Viewer-Only Mode Introduced

Addressing a 2013 user request, LibreOffice 25.8 introduces a suite-wide Viewer-only mode that opens documents in read-only state and disables editing features. This may be particularly valuable in environments where document integrity is paramount. It can be toggled via the Expert Configuration dialogue, although it's not enabled by default.

Download and System Requirements

LibreOffice 25.8 is available for direct download from the official LibreOffice website. Important notes:

• Windows 7, 8/8.1, and 32-bit Windows are no longer supported.
• macOS 10.15 Catalina receives its final compatible release with LibreOffice 25.8.
• Ubuntu users should use DEB packages provided or opt-in Snap or Flatpak for latest versions, as PPAs will take time updating.
• LibreOffice 25.8 will be included natively in Ubuntu 25.10 (October release), but not back-ported to Ubuntu 24.04 LTS.

For detailed release notes, developer blogs, and additional resources, visit the official documentation to explore the full scope of new features, improvements, and bug fixes.