Operation Manual

Minimum requirements
LibreOffice 4.0 requires one of the following operating systems:
• Microsoft Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7, or Windows 8
• GNU/Linux Kernel version 2.6.18, glibc2 v2.5 or higher, and gtk v2.10.4 or higher
• Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) or higher
Administrator rights are needed for the installation process.
Some LibreOffice features (wizards and the HSQLDB database engine) require that the Java
Runtime Environment (JRE) is installed on your computer. Although LibreOffice will work without
Java support, some features will not be available.
For a more detailed listing of requirements, see the LibreOffice website,
http://www.libreoffice.org/download/system-requirements/.
How to get the software
The software can be downloaded from http://www.libreoffice.org/. You can also download the
software by using a Peer-to-Peer client, such as BitTorrent, at the same address.
Linux users will find LibreOffice included in many of the latest Linux distributions; Ubuntu is just
one example.
How to install the software
Information on installing and setting up LibreOffice on the various supported operating systems is
given here: http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/installation/.
Extensions and add-ons
Extensions and add ons are available to enhance LibreOffice. Several extensions are installed with
the program and others are available from the official extensions repository,
http://extensions.libreoffice.org/. See Chapter 14 Customizing LibreOffice for more information on
installing extensions and add ons.
Starting LibreOffice
The most common way to launch any component of LibreOffice is by using the system menu, the
standard menu from which most applications are started. On Windows, it is called the Start menu.
On GNOME, it is called the Applications menu. On KDE it is identified by the KDE logo. On Mac
OS X, it is the Applications menu.
When LibreOffice was installed on your computer, a menu entry for LibreOffice and each
LibreOffice component was added to your system menu if your computer uses a Windows or Linux
operating system. On computers operating Mac OS X, only a menu entry for LibreOffice is added
to the Applications menu.
Clicking on the LibreOffice menu entry opens the LibreOffice Start Center (Figure 2) from where
you can select the individual components of LibreOffice. You can also select to open an existing file
or use a template.
20 | Getting Started with LibreOffice 4.0