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I want to download and install LibreOffice 4. How can I do this?

muru
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Seth
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    If you want to try a new LO version out before installing it, here's a nice tutorial. You might want to make a backup of your LO configuration files first, though (~/.config/libreoffice). – Glutanimate Feb 09 '13 at 08:27
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    From the answers below, it seems there are 4 options: 1) uninstall your existing LO and then download and manually install the latest LO; 2) use the "rather unstable" pre-releases ppa; 3) use the new "not-so-stable" libreoffice-4-0 ppa; and 4) wait for a more stable ubuntu package to be ready in the main libreoffice ppa. Therefore, it might be useful to hear from the experiences in categories 1, 2 and 3. – Sadi Mar 08 '13 at 08:46
  • @Sadi I used my method to install it and it worked just fine. I've had no issues what so ever, though I must admit I don't tinker with it, just use the default setup for the most part. – Seth Mar 08 '13 at 23:43

6 Answers6

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You can use the Libreoffice 4.4 ppa from the libreoffice packaging team, which offers stable backports for Precise (12.04), Trusty (14.04), Utopic (14.10) and Vivid (15.04).

Note: if you rely on libreoffice for work or school you may not want to risk updating, even though the backports provided are largely stable.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:libreoffice/libreoffice-4-4
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Obviously, if you don't already have libreoffice installed, you will also need to run 

sudo apt-get install libreoffice

It should be noted that this ppa will only produce updates for the 4.4 series, while the main libreoffice ppa will provide updates beyond the 4.4 series, although that ppa is largely for testing and development builds.

(The original 4.0 series ppa is here at launchpad, if anyone has any special reason to use that series.)

For more information, see this very recent useful article on libreoffice 4, and the getting started guide at the official documentation site.

Gladen
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    Using this new PPA, upgrade from 3.6 to 4.0 went very well (Ubuntu 12.10 64-bit) and the applications seems very stable with noticeable performance improvements. I only had to re-install several extensions, rename several macros added to the Format menu and rename a custom menu back to Macros. Upvoted! – Sadi Mar 08 '13 at 09:53
  • @Sadi Yes, the upgrade went smoothly for me as well; this ppa from the libreoffice team does provide stable backports with several Ubuntu tweaks included. –  Mar 08 '13 at 17:47
  • Adding deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/libreoffice/libreoffice-4-0/ubuntu precise main and deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/libreoffice/libreoffice-4-0/ubuntu precise main to my software sources brought up the "Not all updates can be installed" message. Just in case that's of interest to anyone... – nutty about natty Mar 24 '13 at 19:30
  • @Mik Sorry, I submitted the comment with only the link accidentally first; hope it makes more sense now; that's just the usual way I add ppa's, rather than by the command-line; was wondering, if the command-line way you described would also throw that message, or if I should go by this method, instead... – nutty about natty Mar 24 '13 at 19:36
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    @nuttyaboutnatty I see now. I usually do it all using the command-line, but you can sometimes get errors. Usually ppa-purge is a good way to correct them. I answered a question the other day relating to Libreoffice 4 installation issues. –  Mar 24 '13 at 19:41
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    It is worth mentioning that if you don't have the previous version of LibreOffice installed on your system, additionally to the commands mentioned by Mik, you also need to run the following one: sudo apt-get install libreoffice – Marco Lackovic Apr 17 '13 at 10:30
  • @Krige Yes, that's true, but I thought it was obvious; however, I will add the point to the answer. –  Apr 17 '13 at 12:59
  • Would this upgrade my distro version? For example, I'm running 12.04.2 right now, will following these instructions attempt upgrade from this version? I'm only concerned about the sudo apt-get dist-upgrade line. – oaskamay Jun 18 '13 at 16:37
  • @oaskamay No, you won't be upgraded to any later Ubuntu versions; you have to use dist-upgrade when updating the kernel using the command-line as well. You can always use the -s switch with apt-get if you wish, so you can see what the command would do: ie. use apt-get -s dist-upgrade after adding the ppa and running sudo apt-get update. Then you can see there will be no problems. –  Jun 19 '13 at 21:17
  • Is this PPA updated for LibreOffice 4.1? – Seth Dec 09 '13 at 17:40
  • @Seth I have updated the answer, and will keep it updated when 4.2, etc, comes out. I meant to update it a while ago. –  Dec 10 '13 at 10:26
  • The libreoffice 4.4 PPA appears to no longer support precise (12.04). After I did the "apt-get update" I got some "Failed to fetch..." errors. So instead I used the 4.3 PPA with the command sudo add-apt-repository ppa:libreoffice/libreoffice-4-3 – jdhildeb May 27 '15 at 16:59
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This method is not recommended!

While using this method will still work fine, and you will end up with the latest version of LibreOffice, LibreOffice 4.2 is now available in the Trusty repositories and the recommended method of installation is using the software center or apt.

If you want to live on the wild side, or you want the absolute latest and greatest version of LibreOffice use this answer.

If you find something out of date, please leave a comment below or go ahead and fix it yourself :)

Start by downloading it:

I recommend the torrent for faster download speed and for slow connections.

To install LibreOffice 4 you will need to remove all previous versions. Run: 

sudo apt-get remove --purge libreoffice-core libreoffice-common
sudo apt-get autoremove --purge

Note: I'm not 100% sure this will remove all of LibreOffice. If you experience any errors later, please let me know.

Extract the files:

  1. cd to the Downloads directory: 

    cd Downloads

  2. Extract the tar.gz:

    For 64 bit: 

    tar -xvzf LibreOffice_4.3.4_Linux_x86-64_deb.tar.gz

    For 32 bit: 

    tar -xvzf LibreOffice_4.3.4_Linux_x86_deb.tar.gz

Install the program:

  1. cd to the programs folder:

    For 64 bit: 

    cd LibreOffice_4.3.4_Linux_x86-64_deb/DEBS

    For 32 bit: 

    cd LibreOffice_4.3.4_Linux_x86_deb/DEBS

  2. Install part one (for both 32 and 64 bit): 

    sudo dpkg -i *.deb

You're done! You can now remove both the directory and the tarball: 

rm -r ~/Downloads/LibreOffice_4.3.4_Linux_x86-64_deb 
rm ~/Downloads/LibreOffice_4.3.4_Linux_x86-64_deb.tar.gz

Go add the re-add the applications to your launcher!

Some Kubuntu users will need to run this command to fix how LibreOffice 4 looks in KDE:

sudo mv /opt/libreoffice/ure/lib/libstdc++.so.6 /opt/libreoffice/ure/lib/libstdc++.so.6.old
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Seth
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  • How can I migrate my settings, in particular my custom templates, from libreoffice 3 to libreoffice 4? Spontaneously, I can think of some "manual" ways of doing it; what are the options, what's the best/safest/most convenient way to do so? – nutty about natty Jun 20 '13 at 07:48
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    @nuttyaboutnatty That should be a new question ;) – Seth Jun 20 '13 at 15:16
  • How about just rewriting the whole answer instead? – Braiam Feb 10 '14 at 01:44
  • @Braiam I guess I could add the other answer onto this one, but this one is still as valid as any of the others. – Seth Feb 10 '14 at 01:45
  • A very good answer but makes no mention of installing the language and help packs for the users locality. – Steve Barnes Jan 31 '15 at 08:04
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If you are running a newer version of Ubuntu you can get various versions of LibreOffice 4 right from the repos:

  • 14.10 has LibreOffice 4.3.3

  • 14.04 has LibreOffice 4.2

  • 13.10 has LibreOffice 4.1

  • 13.04 has LibreOffice 4.0.2

Install it with: 

sudo apt-get install libreoffice

Or use the software center.

If you want the absolute latest version of LibreOffice follow this answer.

Community
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Seth
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You can install the beta packaged for Ubuntu from the LibreOffice pre-releases ppa:

https://launchpad.net/~libreoffice/+archive/libreoffice-prereleases

asp
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Via terminal:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:libreoffice/ppa -y
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install libreoffice -y

By using the official ppa you'll always have the latest LibreOffice stable release, regardless your Ubuntu version (at least until it become obsolete, so 14.04, 12.04 and the upcoming 15.04 are fully supported).

Simone Alecci
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Instructions are on this Web Upd8 article: LibreOffice 4.0 Available For Download.

Differs from Seth's answer only in copying the desktop integration .deb from one location to another before the dpkg command.

Community
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windfix
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