Libreoffice

LibreOffice 5.3 offers a number of exciting new features across all areas: a new cross-platform layout engine that uses HarfBuzz for consistent layout across platforms, with significant benefits across languages and alphabets; a revised help menu, featuring new quick links to user guides and community support forums for an improved user experience; and better import/export filters for new MS Office documents.

These general improvements are designed to make daily office work easier. The HarfBuzz-based layout engine helps documents display text more consistently across platforms. The revised help menu gives faster access to guidance and support resources. The improved import/export filters help when working with new MS Office documents.

Writer now supports table styles to apply formatting to a table that is retained when you make changes; a new Page Deck in the sidebar allows users to quickly customize page settings without going through a separate dialog box; and a new Go to Page Box enables users to jump to another page in the document with just a few keystrokes.

For users who prepare text documents, reports or long files, these Writer features can save time. Table styles help keep the same appearance after editing a table. The Page Deck makes page settings easier to reach. The Go to Page Box is useful when moving through multi-page documents.

Calc provides a new set of default cell styles, with greater variety and better names than in previous versions; in new installations, "Enable wildcards in formulas" is now the default option, rather than regular expressions, to enhance compatibility with other spreadsheet software; and a new text entry area allows users to narrow down the functions they are searching for, simplifying the search process.

In spreadsheets, the new default cell styles help format data more clearly. The default wildcard option in formulas supports compatibility with other spreadsheet software. The text entry area for functions makes it easier to find the function needed for a calculation.

Impress now opens with a template selector to provide users with a quick start; and a new Slide Properties Deck is now available in the sidebar during slideshow mode.

For presentations, the template selector helps start a new slideshow more quickly. The Slide Properties Deck in the sidebar gives access to slide settings during slideshow mode.

LibreOffice 5.3 has also been improved "under the hood," thanks to the work of hundreds of volunteers. This results in an easier-to-develop, maintain, and debug open source office suite. Although this work is not visible to users, it is extremely important for enterprise deployments.

[image1_left]LibreOffice 5.3 is set to be announced at the end of January 2017, featuring a wealth of new functionalities. To find, report, and sort bugs, the QA team is organizing a second bug hunt session on Friday, November 25, 2016. Tests will be conducted on the beta version of LibreOffice 5.3, which will be available on the pre-release server (http://dev-builds.libreoffice.org/pre-releases/) a few days before the event. Builds will be available for Linux (DEB and RPM), MacOS, and Windows, operating alongside the production version.

This LibreOffice 5.3 bug hunt is designed to help testers check the beta version before the final release. Participants can install the pre-release build next to their production version, try the available modules, reproduce issues, and submit useful bug reports for the quality assurance process.

Bug Hunt Details

Mentors will be available on November 25, 2016, from 8 AM UTC to 10 PM UTC. Of course, bug hunting will also be possible on other days, as builds of this beta version (LibreOffice 5.3.0 Beta1) will be available until mid-December.

The event is open to users who want to help improve LibreOffice 5.3 by testing real use cases. A complete bug report should make the issue easier to reproduce, describe what happened, and help the QA team sort the report correctly. This is especially useful when testing a beta version, because the same build is available for several operating systems.