How to Install LibreOffice on Arch Linux

Do you need to create pdfs, documents, slideshows or work on other office related tasks on Arch Linux? LibreOffice is definitely the best choice when it comes to choosing an office suite software for Linux.

LibreOffice contains multiple applications that you can use, such as :LibreOffice Writer, LibreOffice calc, LibreOffice Impress, LibreOffice draw , LibreOffice math and LibreOffice base.

In this tutorial, you will learn how to install LibreOffice on Arch Linux.

Step 1 - Update Arch Linux

Let's update Arch Linux before we install LibreOffice. The command below will update your Arch Linux OS

sudo pacman -Syu

Once you run the update command, you will be asked to authenticate, enter your sudo password and then confirm if needed by pressing the Y.

You will need to confirm only if packages need update, if everything is up to date, then you won't need to do anything.

Step 2 - Install LibreOffice

LibreOffice can be installed easily via pacman. However, before we proceed to install LibreOffice, we need to know which version of LibreOffice we want to install.

LibreOffice, provides two types of LibreOffice that are available for download

libreoffice-still - It is a version of LibreOffice with less updated features, but it has been tested a lot and it is more stable than the fresh version

libreoffice-fresh - Contains the latest improvements and features, but it's not that stable like libreoffice-still

Both versions should work fine, but the version you choose depends on what you'll be using LibreOffice for. If you want a stable installation with less features, then you should go with libreoffice-still, if you want the latest features and updates then you should go with libreoffice-fresh.

We want stability over new features, so we'll be installing libreoffice-still

sudo pacman -S libreoffice-still

Confirm the installation by typing Y key, then press enter to install LibreOffice

Once LibreOffice has been installed on your system, you will see a similar output as above.

Step 3 - Test LibreOffice

Now that LibreOffice got installed, let's do a quick test to see if the installation was successful.

LibreOffice contains a lot of apps. However, we only need to know if LibreOffice was installed correctly.

Launch terminal, and run

loffice

As you can see, LibreOffice was installed correctly and it seems to run fine.

Step 4 - Use LibreOffice

Now that LibreOffice ran without any issues, you should be good to go and use LibreOffice.

You can Launch LibreOffice via applications menu, under the "Office" category

Alternatively, you can launch LibreOffice via terminal

libreoffice

The command above, will run LibreOffice Start Center

Conclusion

In this tutorial, you learned how to install LibreOffice on Arch linux. LibreOffice is not the only software suite that you can use on Arch Linux, but it's one of the best office software for sure.