LibreOffice is preinstalled on standard Ubuntu systems, but on minimal setups, you’ll have to install it manually. There are multiple ways to do this.
Some of the methods, such as locally installing using a .deb
file are not recommended as this restricts you from automatic updates. Instead, the developers recommend installing it directly from the Ubuntu repositories.
Install LibreOffice with snap
snap is the recommended method for installing the LibreOffice suite. This’ll provide you with the latest LibreOffice version, and you won’t have to worry about future updates either as snaps are regularly auto-updated.
sudo snap install libreoffice
Install LibreOffice with apt
If you don’t like the longer boot time of snap, you can use apt to install LibreOffice from the Ubuntu universe repo. Keep in mind that this package will be slightly older compared to the snap version, and you’ll need to manually update it as well.
sudo apt install libreoffice
Install/Update Latest LibreOffice Version
If you want the latest LibreOffice version using apt, you can add the LibreOffice PPA.
sudo apt-add-repository ppa:libreoffice/ppa
Refresh your package index so that you can install or update to the latest version now.
sudo apt update
Once again, to install the latest version, use
sudo apt install libreoffice
Unlike snaps, packages installed using apt need to be manually updated. You will receive a notification when an update is available. But you can also check for the update with
sudo apt update && sudo apt install --only-upgrade libreoffice
Install Individual Packages
If you want to install some of the components only instead of the full suite, you can perform a selective install. For instance, to install LibreOffice Writer only, you could use
sudo apt install libreoffice-writer
You can replace libreoffice-writer
with the following keywords to install the respective packages.
libreoffice-calc
: Spreadsheetlibreoffice-impress
: Presentationlibreoffice-draw
: Drawinglibreoffice-base
: Databaselibreoffice-math
: Equation editor
Install LibreOffice Graphically
It’s also possible to install LibreOffice from the Ubuntu Software Center app if you prefer a GUI approach.
- Launch the Ubuntu Software Center and search LibreOffice.
- Open the libreoffice page if you want to install the suite. If you only want to install a specific program like libreoffice-writer, open the appropriate page.
- Select the source and press Install. The stable snap release will be selected by default.
- You can launch LibreOffice or the installed subcomponent afterward from the Applications menu.