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LibreOffice 6.4: Release Notes

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Writer

  • Added option to mark comments as resolved in Writer tdf#119228 (Scott Clarke, Codethink)
A resolved comment
The menu of a resolved comment
An example of a visible resolved comment
The same comment made invisible
  • Fix missing change tracking layout of numbers and bullets of lists tdf#42748 (László Németh, NISZ)
  • Original list
    Original list
  • Joined list item 1–2, split list item 2, removed list item 3 in Hide Changes mode
    Joined list item 1–2, split list item 2, removed list item 3 in Hide Changes mode
  • Original Show Changes mode: numbers did’t show tracked changes
    Original Show Changes mode: numbers did’t show tracked changes
  • Now: numbers are formatted by according to tracked changes
    Now: numbers are formatted by according to tracked changes
  • The btLr text direction is now available in Writer Text Frames as well blog post (Miklos Vajna, Collabora)
Bottom-to-top, left-to-right text in frames
The bottom-to-top, left-to-right text direction in frames can be adjusted from the properties menu.
  • It is now possible to comment on Writer images and charts blog post (Miklos Vajna, Collabora)
A comment added to an image in Writer.
A comment added to a chart in Writer.
The "Allow overlap" checkbox is located in the edit option of the Wrap function for shapes.
Uncheck "Allow overlap" to automatically disable the overlapping of shapes.
  • A banner (or "infobar") is now shown when a document can't be formatted properly because of missing hyphenation rules. tdf#128191 (Samuel Mehrbrodt, CIB)

Tables

Important improvements in table handling (László Németh, NISZ):

  • Fast table moving & deletion: Cut command cuts the selected table instead of removing its text content tdf#118311
  • Fast table row/column moving & deletion tdf#127759
    • Cut command cuts the selected table rows or columns, if they are selected by enhanced table selection (clicking in front of them)
    • After that, paste command inserts the removed table part before the actual row/column
  • New Paste Special menu options for pasting table data into tables (in table popup menu and Writer’s Edit menu)
    • Paste Special menu option "Paste as Nested Table" tdf#37156
Paste nested tables in Writer
Paste nested tables in Writer
  • Paste Special menu options "Paste as Rows Above" and "Paste as Columns Before" tdf#64902
  • Improved drag & drop mouse operations to move table data
    • move the selected table instead of duplicate it tdf#84806
    • move rows and columns (selected by enhanced table selection) and wholly selected tables by inserting new table rows above or columns before instead of overwriting cells of the target table. In the case of moving (not copying, i.e. without using the key Ctrl during drag & drop), the selected rows and columns are removed completely, instead of emptying their cells. tdf#35570

Calc

  • Improved selecting cells which contain hyperlinks tdf#126393 (Samuel Mehrbrodt, CIB)
  • On MM:SS or [MM]:SS or MM:SS.00 or [MM]:SS.00 pre-formatted cells a two digit groups input like 12:34 is now accepted as minutes:seconds value instead of the usual hours:minutes:00 value; to force the usual hours:minutes:seconds input on such cells enter three digit groups like 12:34:00. tdf#76441 (Eike Rathke (Red Hat, Inc.))
  • Improved scalability of formula-groups computation on CPUs with large number of cores by potentially threading multiple independent formula-groups together. 845e1c (Dennis Francis, Collabora)
  • Shading of columns/rows headers is removed; the headers are drawn flat now. tdf#127508 (Heiko Tietze)
  • Deleted a 15 symbols limit to password length for XLSX files tdf#97086 (Eike Rathke, Red Hat)

Performance improvements

  • speed up opening of XLSX file with lots of comments tdf#129228 (Noel Grandin, Collabora)
  • speed up loading Calc documents with lots of COUNTIF() tdf#128812 (Noel Grandin, Collabora)
  • speed up saving XLS with lots of styles tdf#126021 (Noel Grandin, Collabora)
  • speed up loading of change-tracking ODS files tdf#125688 (Noel Grandin, Collabora)
  • speed up copy operation with lots of comments in Calc tdf#76324 (Noel Grandin, Collabora)

Whole sheet export

Thanks to the new Whole Sheet Export setting of the PDF export options, it is now possible to export your files in Calc to PDF with all pages on a sheet as one page in the PDF. This allows the users to see the full content of a spreadsheet document in a pdf form, without the usual slicing of the sheets into printable pages. official blog postblog post with dev notes68dc00c11d96e2349645122e (Muhammet Kara, Collabora)

How to use it?

  • Open your spreadsheet document in LibreOffice Calc
  • From the menu, select File ▸ Export as PDF...
  • On the General tab of the PDF Options dialog, check the option named Full-Sheet Previews (since version 6.4.1 renamed to Whole sheet export)
  • Click the Export button, and choose a location for your preview pdf
  • Enjoy your pdf file of full sheet previews
Full-Sheet Previews option
Sample spreadsheet
Usual PDF output of the sample sheet
Full-sheet preview pdf of the sample sheet

Available in the Online API

The new full-sheet preview feature has also been added to the Online REST API. The command below can be used to get a full-sheet preview output of a spreadsheet document in the PDF format:

curl --insecure -F "data=@YourSpreadSheetDocument.ods" -F "FullSheetPreview=true" https://localhost:9980/lool/convert-to/pdf > out.pdf

Please note that using the --insecure option is only needed while testing the feature on a local setup, and we recommended against using it for non-testing cases.

XML Source

  • XML structure containing nested repeat elements can now be imported. (Kohei Yoshida)
  • It is no longer an experimental feature, and is enabled by default without having to enable experimental features. (Kohei Yoshida)
  • Improved stability and fixed some rare-occurring crashes. (Stephan Bergmann, Kohei Yoshida)

New spreadsheet functions

Changed spreadsheet functions

Impress & Draw

  • Added 'Remove Hyperlink' to context menu in Impress tdf#111707 (Samuel Mehrbrodt, CIB)
  • Added 'Consolidate Text' which combines multiple selected textboxes into one (primarily to simplify editing fragmented content from imported PDFs). tdf#118370 (Justin Luth, SIL)
Combine text boxes from e.g. imported PDF files in Draw
Combine text boxes from e.g. imported PDF files in Draw
  • Interaction now only executed in presentation mode (when clicking on an object). For edit mode, a context menu "Execute interaction" was added. tdf#125748 (Samuel Mehrbrodt, CIB)
  • Image Maps now respect the setting to require Ctrl + Click to follow the hyperlink (Samuel Mehrbrodt, CIB)
  • Hyperlink in Image Maps now work in Slideshow too tdf#74045 (Samuel Mehrbrodt, CIB)

Performance improvements

  • Speed up opening of some PPT files tdf#121740 (Noel Grandin, Collabora)
  • Speed up: Long operation during typing in list with animations tdf#129708 (Serge Krot, CIB)

Base

Access2Base callable from Python: The Access2Base API for Base users can from the 6.4 release on be invoked either from Basic (as usual) or from Python. In the latter case, the Python process may be running from inside or outside (via sockets) the LibreOffice process. Basic and Python may be mixed in the same application.

Example: run from a Python console (or from a Python script) 

 from access2base import * db = Application.OpenDatabase('C:\...\... .odb') rs = db.OpenRecordset('SELECT * FROM [EXPENSES]') data = rs.GetRows(1000) # data contains a tuple of (max 1000) Expenses records

More to read on the documentation page (Jean-Pierre Ledure).

Firebird embedded database creation put back experimental considering the number of bugs.

Chart

Math

BASIC

  • Macros: When converting Hex strings of negative value, treat the high-order bit always as sign bit, e.g., &H8000 = -2^15, &HFFFF = -1, and &H7FFFFFFF = 2^31-1. Behaviour is identical in either modes, i.e., LibO Basic, with Option Compatible, and Option VBA Support 0/1. tdf#62326 (Andreas Heinisch)
  • Fix handling for function that does not has closing parenthesis. tdf#80731 (Pierre Lepage; Mike Kaganski, Collabora)

Core / General

  • Internal Paths are now displayed in the UI tdf#126088 (Samuel Mehrbrodt, CIB)
  • Add checkbox to enable/disable sending crash reports to TDF tdf#107471 (Gabor Kelemen)
  • Hyperlink context menus were unified. Every hyperlink now has the following context menu entries: (Samuel Mehrbrodt, CIB)
    • Open Hyperlink
    • Edit Hyperlink
    • Copy Hyperlink location
    • Remove Hyperlink
  • Generate QR Code feature is added in LO (Shubham Goyal, GSoC; mentors: Thorsten Behrens, Samuel Mehrbrodt)
    • To generate a QR code in LO apps (Impress, Draw, Writer or Calc), go to Insert ▸ Object ▸ QR Code
    • The QR code generator takes 3 inputs:
    • URL/Text: For which QR code is to be made.
    • Correction: Select the complexity of QR code. More complex QR can recover better if destroyed. "Low" is preferable for long URLs.
    • Border: A border around the generated QR code.
QR Code Generator
Generated QR with above parameters

LibreOffice Help

  • Help pages for Calc's FOURIER function and Fourier analysis. commit (Olivier Hallot)
  • Help (online version) has now a local search engine xapian-omega with faster and more precise search results. (Olivier Hallot)
xapian-omega search results page in online Help
xapian-omega search results page in online Help
  • Many Help pages have now localized screenshots for a better user experience. For example, here, here and here. (Olivier Hallot)
Screenshots of dialogs in Help pages
Screenshots of dialogs in Help pages

Filters

Improvements of Excel 2003 XML import filter:

NOTE: The core functionality of importing Excel 2003 XML files is provided by the orcus library.

  • Fixed issues with importing files encoded with UTF-16. tdf#123553 (Kohei Yoshida)
  • Fixed issues with importing files containing named color values. tdf#126515tdf#123880 (Kohei Yoshida)
  • Fixed several XML parsing issues that affected importing of certain files. (Kohei Yoshida)

Improvements of DOC and DOCX import/export filter:

  • Subscript/Superscript (escapement): many improvements preventing position creep on every save, allowing escapement in character styles, more accurate placement of "automatic" escapement, and support for greater than 100% escapement. tdf#99602tdf#120412 (NISZ and SIL)
  • The DOCX VML import now supports tbRl text direction for Writer Text Frames (used for e.g. Japanese text) blog post (Miklos Vajna, Collabora)
  • Word-style continuous endnotes (not on separate page) are now supported and used for DOC files blog post4814e8ca, (Miklos Vajna, Collabora)
  • Improved import/export of DOCX abstract numbering tdf#95848 (Michael Stahl, CIB)
  • Improved import/export of DOCX list label formatting tdf#64222 (Michael Stahl, CIB)
  • Improved handling of Word text fields, including working Undo/Redo and a configuration option Office::Common::Filter::Microsoft::Import::ForceImportWWFieldsAsGenericFields to round-trip even nested fields in RTF and DOCX (Michael Stahl, CIB)
  • Improved import of DOCX continuous section breaks with different headers tdf#112202 (Michael Stahl, CIB)
  • Export of indexes to RTF is now possible tdf#129574 (Michael Stahl, CIB)

Improvements of PPT and PPTX import/export filter:

  • Make gradient as slide background in Powerpoint PPTX roundtrip correctly tdf#127379 (Tamás Zolnai, Collabora)
  • Math objects from PPTX are now handled better, ignoring their replacement image blog post (Miklos Vajna, Collabora)

Document Signatures

  • Keep ODF macro signatures when modifying a document or creating a document from a signed template without changing macro code (tdf#42316, Jan-Marek Glogowski, CIB)

GUI

General Improvements

  • Document thumbnails at the start center have now an icon overlaid to indicate the module tdf#125756 (Heiko Tietze, TDF)

Sidebar

New Table panel on Writer's Sidebar
  • New in 6.4.1
    The Navigator now grays out the content categories that are not applicable to the currently opened document, reducing visual busyness. tdf#129625 (Jim Raykowski)
Navigator with grayed out categories

Icon Theme

  • Breeze & Sifr icon themes got SVG variant of dark version. tdf#128849 (Luca Carlon & Rizal Muttaqin)
  • Sifr icon theme got extra large 32px*32px support. tdf#129846 (Rizal Muttaqin)

Online and Mobile

  • Table properties in Writer - one of the many new features in LibreOffice online 6.4.0. multiple commits, e.g.. (Szymon Kłos, Ashod Nakashian, Pedro Pinto Silva, .. Collabora)
Side bar with Table properties in Writer online
Side bar with Table properties in Writer online
  • Add Table Resize Handles for iOS/Mobile tdf#126959 (Tomaž Vajngerl, Collabora)
Table handles in Writer online
Table handles in Writer online
  • In Writer online you have now full control over the Table of Contents multiple commits, e.g.. (Andras Timar, .. Collabora)
Full Table of Content dialog in Writer
Full Table of Content dialog in Writer
Full conditional formatting in Calc online
Full conditional formatting in Calc online
  • Make it possible to move graphic elements to front or backwards on iOS/Mobile tdf#125566 (Tomaž Vajngerl, Collabora)
  • The sidebar now provides a wide range of features for selected charts. multiple commits, e.g.. (Ashod Nakashian, Henry Castro, Pranav Kant, .. Collabora)
Side bar with chart function in Calc online
Side bar with chart function in Calc online
  • Color picker for text and background in presentations, lines in spreadsheets and presentations, text and background for floating frames in text documents. multiple commits, e.g.. (Szymon Kłos, Pranav Kant, Marco Cecchetti, .. Collabora)
Color picker in Writer online
Color picker in Writer online
  • You can now use the full Function wizard in Calc online. multiple commits, e.g.. (Pedro Pinto Silva, Michael Meeks, Muhammet Kara, .. Collabora)
Full Function wizard in Calc online
Full Function wizard in Calc online
  • In Calc online you can now choose your favourite zoom percentage between 33% and 200%. commit (Michael Meeks, Collabora)
  • More improvements... (Michael Meeks, Tor Lillqvist, Tomaž Vajngerl, Dennis Francis, Andras Timar, Muhammet Kara, Miklos Vajna, Ashod, Jan Holesovsky, Ashod Nakashian, Mike Kaganski, Collabora)

Menu

An option to hide the ruler has been added (Samuel Mehrbrodt, CIB)

Status bar

A dropdown has been added to the statusbar to allow quick document language switching (Samuel Mehrbrodt, CIB)

Customization

The following PostMessage method has been added to allow UI customization: (Samuel Mehrbodt, CIB)

  • Remove_Statusbar_Element to remove an element from the statusbar

Localization

  • Slovenian thesaurus updated (now contains more than 20.000 words) & icon and description added to sl dictionary extension. commit, commit (Martin Srebotnjak)
  • AutoText in Writer: Complete all translated user interfaces with Formula Numbering (FN + F3) and Lorem Ipsum dummy text (LOREM + F3) tdf#81436 (Laurent BP)

Scripting

Python

The bundled CPython has been upgraded to release 3.7.6 b10be5d48433076f0b7238d818020f708553e114 (Michael Stahl, CIB)

Feature removal / deprecation

Java

Support for Java 6 and 7 has been removed. Java 8 is now the oldest supported version.

GUI

GTK+2 VCL plugin

The GTK+2 VCL backend has been removed. 1ae450504cf57457f9702684b1517fda1dd3c481

Platform Compatibility

Mac

Windows

  • Allow setting a process memory limit for soffice.bin. (Jan-Marek Glogowski, CIB)
This can be activated by editing the bootstrap.ini file. For more information read the comments at https://gerrit.libreoffice.org/#/c/78819/
[Win32] LimitMaximumMemoryInMB=0 ExcludeChildProcessesFromLimit=true
  • Don't rely on Windows own recent-folder handling in the native file picker (tdf#43021, Jan-Marek Glogowski, CIB)
LibreOffice already saves and restores its recent folder, and Windows handling interferes with file pickers used from scripting languages.

Linux

Kf5 + Qt5 (KDE 5 libraries)

Kf5/Qt5 VCL plugin continues to close the functionality gap w.r.t. other VCL backends. Independent from fixed bugs, the most user visible improvements and changes are:

  • Renaming the VCL plugin from kde5 to kf5 tdf#125922
  • Fixed touchpad scrolling tdf#125201
  • Fixed primary selection and other clipboard related problems by implementing a lazy clipboard tdf#122239
  • Better support for modifier handling during drag-and-drop operations tdf#126560
  • Correct grouping of LibreOffice module windows and dialogs in task bars tdf#125921tdf#129071
  • Qt theming of tabbed widgets tdf#105884

(Jan-Marek Glogowski (CIB), Michael Weghorn (LHM), Katarina Behrens (CIB))

The full list of bugs fixed in 6.4 and its maintanance releases can be found here. Further bugs and missing features are tracked via the KDE meta bug tdf#102495.

API changes

UNO API changes

General

  • The following new properties have been added to MediaDescriptor. They allow locking down certain aspects per document (Samuel Mehrbrodt, Serge Krot - CIB):
    • LockContentExtraction: Forbids copying/dragging any text from the respective document to another document or application
    • LockExport: Prevents exporting document content to any file
    • LockPrint: Disables all print functions
    • LockSave: Disables the save function
    • LockEditDoc: Disables switching to edit mode from read-only mode

Infobar

Infobar now has a UNO API (XInfobarProvider). You can add, update and remove Infobars via the API. tdf#97926 (Samuel Mehrbrodt, CIB)

  • Example for Basic Macro in the commit message: 9e3ba7c3

Writer

  • The behaviour of the XText::insertTextContent() implementation in Writer with regard to what text formatting is applied to the inserted content has changed in order to restore the behaviour that was in effect before an accidental change in LO 6.1/6.0.4 635bd7fbcb1d131627ba98fd9085dd2b11e0d33c (Michael Stahl, CIB)

Configuration changes

  • Improved the DisableMacrosExecution setting. When setting that option to true, any macro execution is forbidden (even in Basic/Javascript/Beanshell Editor). Also the corresponding menu entries are disabled now. (Samuel Mehrbrodt, CIB)
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