Wiki Pick: LibreOffice Manager

LibreOffice manager or lomanager is a user-friendly tool to:

• install the latest LibreOffice in one of the 107 LibreOffice localizations,


• add additional LibreOffice localizations to an existing LibreOffice installation,


• upgrade LibreOffice from any older version,


• properly remove LibreOffice installation.

It is needed because licensing and disk space restrictions mean that we cannot carry the full set of RPMs in the main repository.

Quick instructions

1. Fully update your system. See update process.


2. Install the latest lomanager. See Installing Software.


3. From the main menu, go to Software Center->LibreOffice Manager and enter the root password when prompted.


4. Select the desired action from the first window (add or remove LibreOffice).

Read and answer the questions in the subsequent pop-up windows.

LibreOffice Manager will download LibreOffice and related files (Help, language packs) from LibreOffice.

When a new LibreOffice version is available, you will have to run LibreOffice Manager again to update to the latest version.

Important notes

Install on multiple machines

When running LibreOffice Manager, you will have the option to keep the downloaded rpm-packages in /tmp/LO-rpms. You can then copy these LibreOffice-packages to a new empty folder, maybe best on a USB-drive. Next, plug the USB-drive in the different machine. On the USB-drive, open the folder with the LibreOffice-rpms. Open a konsole, cd to this folder, and then use the command:

/bin/su -c 'apt-get install *.rpm'

Alternative offline installation

The LibreOffice offline installer provides the latest LibreOffice version in en_US language and can be downloaded from here.

Then follow these instructions on the new PC where you want to install LibreOffice:

1. If an older LibreOffice version is installed, run lomanager and choose: Completely remove LibreOffice.


2. Check in Synaptic that you have java-sun installed, if not, install it. Then close Synaptic.


3. Copy the downloaded archive LO.tar.gz into the user's Home directory (remove any previous LO-rpms directory).


4. Extract the archive via a GUI-application or using the following command in a terminal, e.g.: tar xf LO.tar.gz

You should now have a new directory LO-rpms in the user's Home directory, e.g., /home/Jim/LO-rpms. Open a terminal in the user's Home directory and enter (copy/paste) the following command: /bin/su -c 'LO-rpms/LO_OfflineInstall.sh'

Linux/MS-Windows dual-boot:

If you have a LibreOffice-document shared between the two operating systems:

• Always save the LibreOffice-document and exit LibreOffice before you shutdown the operating system.


• Never suspend one operating system and then work on the document in the other operating system.


• Avoid working on the document in MS-Office and LibreOffice, use only LibreOffice in both operating systems.


• Use a common font of the two operating systems for maximum compatibility. Either automatically done by LibreOffice Manager or manually: open Synaptic, search for and install webcore-fonts, then open LibreOffice and you will have the new default font Times New Roman and other common fonts available.

LibreOffice does not start anymore:

• MSEC: if you use this program, ensure to apply the default settings. Setting MSEC on "secure" will prohibit installing and running LibreOffice!


• only for a given user: delete the hidden folder .config/libreoffice in the user's home directory, either graphically or open a konsole in your home-folder and enter in the konsole: /bin/rm -fr ~/.config/libreoffice

Then start LibreOffice again. Please be aware that deleting the folder .config/libreoffice will remove all LibreOffice-customizations of this user!

• not for root nor for any user: your LibreOffice setup/configuration is borked. Start LibreOffice Manager, select your locale, and a popup window will tell you that this LibreOffice-locale is already installed. In this window, press Cancel to reinstall LibreOffice. Please be aware that reinstalling LibreOffice will remove all LibreOffice-locales and all LibreOffice-customizations of all users!

Other problems:

Open a konsole window, and enter: lomanager

Post the konsole/terminal output in the forum together with additional information like your window manager (KDE, LXDE, etc.), the PCLinuxOS version you use, is your system fully updated, do you get the same error when running lomanager as root, etc. Remember: detailed and concise information is a prerequisite to fix your problem and will help improve LibreOffice Manager.

Using a proxy server:

Open a konsole and enter: export http_proxy="http://proxy.example.com:8080"

Or with authentication: export http_proxy="http://password:username@proxy.example.com:8080"

Then in the same konsole enter: lomanager

Command line options:

To learn about additional command line options, enter in a terminal:

lomanager --help

--debug: verbose output for debugging

--no-updatetest: skip the test to check if your system is fully updated

--vinfo: display information on installed and latest available version

Note: you must have root privileges to execute the script. Either open a root terminal from the respective menu entry, or when becoming root from a user terminal, you must use the command: su -

Additional Information:

Working with LibreOffice applications: LibreOffice Documentation

Optional LibreOffice Extensions

Optional LibreOffice Templates