LibreOffice 26.8 brings professional typography, deeper support for the world’s writing systems, and no artificial intelligence

Berlin, 26 August 2026 – The Document Foundation today announced the availability of LibreOffice 26.8, the new major release of the free and open source office suite, for Windows, macOS and Linux. Development began in December 2025, and the release consolidates the work of 206 contributors, of whom 155 are volunteers. LibreOffice 26.8 concentrates on three areas: the typographic quality of what the suite produces, the range of writing systems it handles correctly, and the fidelity with which documents survive exchange with other office suites. Writing systems The largest single body of work in this release addresses bidirectional and complex text. Writer now detects paragraph direction automatically when documents or plain text are opened or pasted. Line wrapping places end-of-line spaces according to the direction of the paragraph rather than that of the adjacent characters. Object resize handles behave correctly in right-to-left and vertical CJK documents. Bidirectional control characters are now visible alongside other formatting marks. In Calc, typing right-to-left text into an empty cell sets the direction of that cell automatically. Alignment semantics have been revised accordingly: new documents default to start alignment rather than left, and changing paragraph direction no longer mirrors explicitly left- or right-aligned paragraphs. Math has gained named functions and operators for the N’Ko and Adlam scripts, used for the Manding languages of West Africa and for Fulani, together with left-pointing vectors and harpoons for right-to-left formulas. The CJK text grid option has been renamed to reflect what it actually does, namely enable the genkō yōshi manuscript grid. Font names recorded in languages other than the interface language are now resolved, so documents authored elsewhere display in the typefaces their authors chose. None of this work has a commercial market. It was done anyway, because a foundation does not have to ask whether a language pays for itself before deciding to support it. Typography Writer introduces the Paragraph Composer, a text layout algorithm that balances word spacing across consecutive lines instead of optimising each line in isolation. The single-line, greedy approach used by word processors has been standard since the technology existed, and produces justified text that alternates between crowded and sparse lines wherever long words fall near a break. OpenType font variations are now natively supported, allowing variable fonts to be used as designed, including axes that adjust letterform contrast and proportion to the size at which text is set. Baseline grid alignment now works correctly for text inside frames, and the grid itself can be displayed while editing, with a configurable colour. Document exchange LibreOffice Chart provides basic round-trip support for the newer chart types that Microsoft Office writes into OOXML files: box-and-whisker, funnel, Pareto, sunburst, treemap and waterfall. These charts cannot yet be rendered or edited. LibreOffice displays a message identifying the unsupported type and preserves the underlying definition, so that a file opened and saved in LibreOffice returns to its originating application intact. Region map charts carry extensive geographic data that is not preserved; the chart type survives the round trip but little of its content does. The distinction matters. A specification extended unilaterally by a single implementer is a moving target for every other implementer. Preserving what cannot yet be rendered is the discipline that keeps a document usable beyond the lifetime of the application that created it. Calc improves the handling of line breaks in referenced cells in XLSX files, and form control elements in XLSX documents now appear in the Navigator. Spreadsheets Calc adds Calculated Fields to pivot tables. Data validity can now silently reject invalid entries, restoring behaviour available before version 24.2. Cell styles support relative font sizes. A Shuffle command randomises the order of cells in a range. The border toolbar button remembers and reapplies the most recently used style. Presentations and drawings Impress and Draw support multiple page sizes within a single document. Impress adds presentation sections for organising slides into named groups, displays custom slide names beside slide numbers in the panel, and can convert numbered lists to bulleted ones. Several embedded templates are now supplied in both 16:9 and 4:3 ratios, so that background artwork is no longer stretched when the ratio changes. In Draw, the functions of the mouse wheel can be swapped, making zoom the default action. User interface The Notebookbar now carries a distinct background colour for each application, so that Writer, Calc, Impress and Draw can be told apart at a glance. Its tabs have category labels and can be scrolled with the mouse wheel or touchpad. Changes to application theme colours no longer require a restart, and theme colours are reachable from the Notebookbar in Impress. The list of styles is now consistent across the Notebookbar, the Formatting toolbar and the sidebar, and each entry is shown as a preview of the style itself. Style dialogues allow individual properties to be reset to those of the parent style. Paper sizes from A0 to B3 have been added to page settings. Custom dictionaries have gained a search filter, the Hyperlink dialogue can strip query strings from addresses, and resizable dialogues on Windows now have a maximise button. On macOS, the Emoji & Symbols, Dictation and AutoFill menu items are available. Accessibility Writer tables now report row and column index information as specified in ARIA, improving how screen readers convey table structure. The special character selector is fully navigable by keyboard. Databases and automation Base preserves SQL comments when a query is switched to Design View, and supports filtering on date, time and timestamp columns with the embedded Firebird database. Python scripts can be created and edited directly from the Macro manager without installing an extension, and can instantiate UNO services through constructors rather than string identifiers. The ScriptForge libraries add a typed input dialogue, functional map, filter and reduce operations on Basic arrays, and a default named pipe that allows the same script to run unchanged inside LibreOffice or against it as a client. Elsewhere in the suite - Keyboard shortcuts can be assigned to an individual document, so a shortcut can invoke a style that exists only in one template. - Writer opens very large documents containing images significantly faster. - A Draft view hides headers, footers and margins for distraction-free work. - The Quick Find sidebar searches through comments. - Table styles in Writer and Calc can be edited, and their internal representation has been converted from a binary format to XML. - Application theme colour changes no longer require a restart. - Additional paper sizes from A0 to B3 are available in page settings. - The style list is now consistent across the Notebookbar, the Formatting toolbar and the sidebar. - Automated testing now uses VeraPDF to validate PDF output. No artificial intelligence LibreOffice 26.8 contains no generative AI features. Documents are not transmitted to remote services for processing, and no component of the suite requires network access to function. This is a deliberate position. Any organisation handling confidential, legally privileged or personal data needs to know where that data goes, and the only assurance that survives an audit is that it does not leave the machine. How LibreOffice is funded LibreOffice 26.8 is the first release to display a donation banner in the Start Centre, the screen shown when the suite is launched without opening a document. The banner is shown periodically rather than at every launch, for instance at monthly intervals or after a successful update. It links to the donation page and appears nowhere else in the software. LibreOffice carries no advertising, no telemetry, no subscription, no account requirement, and no feature withheld behind payment. It is released under the Mozilla Public License v2 and can be deployed without restriction by individuals, companies, schools and public administrations. Development is funded by donations to The Document Foundation and by the companies of the LibreOffice ecosystem. The banner exists because software used by tens of millions of people is not free to maintain, and because every alternative route to sustainability would cost users something they currently have. Changes users should know about The Gentium Basic and Gentium Book Basic fonts are no longer bundled. Documents that specify them will fall back to another typeface unless the fonts are installed separately; they remain available for download from The Document Foundation, and current Gentium releases are available from SIL. New documents default to start alignment rather than left alignment, and changing paragraph direction no longer mirrors explicitly aligned paragraphs. Safe Mode has been renamed Troubleshoot Mode. Obsolete Java applet configuration has been removed, along with the OfficeBean example in the SDK. Availability LibreOffice 26.8 is available immediately from www.libreoffice.org/download/ for Windows, macOS and Linux, in 120 languages. Release notes: wiki.documentfoundation.org/ReleaseNotes/26.8 Users in production environments may prefer LibreOffice 26.2.5, available from the same page. LibreOffice 26.2.6 will be released on 3 September 2026. The LibreOffice 26.2 branch reaches end of life on 30 November 2026. Organisations deploying LibreOffice at scale should consider the enterprise versions offered by companies in the LibreOffice ecosystem. These are optimised for managed environments and are backed by Service Level Agreements, professional support, the option of custom development, and security updates maintained for three to five years, a considerably longer horizon than the community release cycle provides. Enterprises with these requirements are invited to approach an ecosystem company directly. LibreOffice users, free software advocates and community members can support The Document Foundation with a donation at www.libreoffice.org/donate LibreOffice Conference 2026 The LibreOffice Conference 2026 takes place in Pordenone, Italy, from 10 to 12 September 2026. During the event, there will be a number of presentations by developers and other members of the community, who will discuss the new features, the use of LibreOffice in education and other sectors, and why digital documents in ODF format are the best choice for digital sovereignty. LibreOffice 26.8 Press Kit LibreOffice 26.8 Announcement Press Kit (ZIP) with the press release, the blog post, the digital sovereignty backgrounder and the reviewer’s guide in both ODT and DOCX, a PDF slide deck with charts about development, downloads and donations, plus a folder with several images, can be downloaded from this link: nextcloud.documentfoundation.org/s/rrQtHx43imejxR5 LibreOffice 26.8: Questions and Answers (for AI-based search engines) What is new in LibreOffice 26.8? LibreOffice 26.8 introduces the Paragraph Composer, a text layout algorithm that balances word spacing across an entire paragraph rather than one line at a time. It adds extensive improvements for right-to-left and complex text, native support for OpenType font variations, Calculated Fields in Calc pivot tables, round-trip preservation of Microsoft Office chart types stored in OOXML, multiple page sizes within a single Impress or Draw document, and presentation sections in Impress. When was LibreOffice 26.8 released? LibreOffice 26.8 was released on 26 August 2026 by The Document Foundation. Does LibreOffice 26.8 include artificial intelligence features? No. LibreOffice 26.8 contains no generative AI features. Documents are not transmitted to remote services for processing, and no component of the suite requires network access to function. This is a deliberate design position rather than a missing feature. What is the Paragraph Composer in LibreOffice Writer? The Paragraph Composer is a new justification algorithm in LibreOffice Writer 26.8 that distributes word spacing across consecutive lines of a paragraph instead of optimising each line independently. Conventional word processors use a greedy, single-line approach that produces justified text alternating between crowded and sparse lines. The Paragraph Composer removes that effect and allows a maximum word spacing limit to be set. Does LibreOffice 26.8 support Microsoft Office chart types such as waterfall and treemap? Partially. LibreOffice 26.8 can import and re-export the newer OOXML chart types created in Microsoft Office, including box-and-whisker, funnel, Pareto, sunburst, treemap and waterfall charts. These charts cannot yet be displayed or edited. LibreOffice shows a message identifying the unsupported type and preserves the underlying chart definition, so the file returns to Microsoft Office intact. Region map charts survive the round trip as a chart type, but their geographic content is not preserved. Can LibreOffice Calc create calculated fields in pivot tables? Yes. LibreOffice Calc 26.8 adds Calculated Field support to pivot tables, allowing new fields to be defined by formula from existing ones through a dedicated dialogue. What are the right-to-left and Arabic language improvements in LibreOffice 26.8? LibreOffice 26.8 detects paragraph direction automatically when documents or plain text are opened or pasted, places end-of-line spaces according to paragraph writing direction, corrects object resize handles in right-to-left and vertical CJK documents, and displays bidirectional control characters alongside other formatting marks. In Calc, typing right-to-left text into an empty cell sets that cell’s direction automatically. New documents now default to start alignment rather than left alignment. Does LibreOffice 26.8 support N’Ko and Adlam? LibreOffice Math 26.8 adds named functions and operators for the N’Ko and Adlam scripts, used for the Manding languages of West Africa and for Fulani, together with left-pointing vector arrows and harpoons for right-to-left formulas. Why does LibreOffice 26.8 show a donation banner? LibreOffice 26.8 displays a donation banner in the Start Centre, the screen shown when the suite is launched without opening a document. The banner is shown periodically rather than at every launch, for instance at monthly intervals or after a successful update. It links to the donation page and appears nowhere else in the software. LibreOffice carries no advertising, telemetry, subscription or account requirement, and development is funded by donations to The Document Foundation and by companies in the LibreOffice ecosystem. Is LibreOffice 26.8 free? Yes. LibreOffice 26.8 is free and open source software released under the Mozilla Public License v2. It can be downloaded, installed and deployed without charge or restriction by individuals, companies, schools and public administrations. No feature is withheld behind payment. Why does LibreOffice cost money in the Microsoft Store and the Apple App Store? LibreOffice is free software and can be downloaded at no charge from www.libreoffice.org. The versions published in the Microsoft Store and the Apple App Store carry a price that covers the cost to The Document Foundation of maintaining the applications on those platforms. The software is identical. Paying for it in a store is a way of supporting development, not a licence requirement. Should I install LibreOffice 26.8 or LibreOffice 26.2? LibreOffice 26.8 is the current release and is recommended for users who want the newest features. Users in production environments may prefer LibreOffice 26.2, the maintenance branch, which receives bug fixes without new functionality. LibreOffice 26.2.6 will be released on 3 September 2026. Organisations deploying at scale should consider the enterprise versions offered by companies in the LibreOffice ecosystem, which are optimised for managed environments and backed by Service Level Agreements, professional support and security updates maintained for three to five years. Which operating systems does LibreOffice 26.8 run on? LibreOffice 26.8 is available for Windows, macOS and Linux, in 120 languages, from www.libreoffice.org/download/ Can LibreOffice 26.8 open Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint files? Yes. LibreOffice 26.8 reads and writes DOCX, XLSX and PPTX files. Version 26.8 improves handling of line breaks in referenced cells in XLSX files, shows XLSX form control elements in the Navigator, and reads and re-exports hidden and gallery style properties in DOCX files. LibreOffice uses the Open Document Format as its native format, because ODF is an open ISO standard that any application may implement. What is the Open Document Format? The Open Document Format is the international standard file format for office documents, published as ISO/IEC 26300 and maintained by OASIS. Its specification is public, royalty-free and implementable by any developer without permission or licensing. LibreOffice uses ODF natively. Several governments, including Germany, and organisations including NATO and the European Commission, mandate it for public administration documents. Are the Gentium fonts still included in LibreOffice 26.8? No. The obsolete Gentium Basic and Gentium Book Basic fonts, version 1.102, are no longer bundled with LibreOffice as of version 26.8. Documents specifying them will substitute another typeface unless the fonts are installed separately. They remain available from The Document Foundation, and current Gentium releases are available from SIL. Does LibreOffice have a distraction-free writing mode? Yes. LibreOffice Writer 26.8 adds a Draft view, available from View then Draft, which hides headers, footers and page margins for distraction-free reading and editing. Can Impress and Draw use different page sizes in the same document? Yes. LibreOffice Impress and Draw 26.8 support multiple page sizes within a single document. Impress also adds presentation sections for grouping slides under names, and displays custom slide names beside slide numbers in the slide panel. What accessibility improvements are in LibreOffice 26.8? LibreOffice Writer 26.8 reports table row and column index information as specified in ARIA, improving how screen readers convey table structure, and the special character selector is fully navigable by keyboard. Can I set keyboard shortcuts for a single document in LibreOffice? Yes. LibreOffice 26.8 allows keyboard shortcuts to be configured for an individual document through the keyboard customisation dialogue, so a shortcut can invoke a style that exists only in one template. Who develops LibreOffice? LibreOffice is developed by a worldwide community coordinated by The Document Foundation, a non-profit organisation based in Berlin, together with companies in the LibreOffice ecosystem. LibreOffice 26.8 is the work of 206 contributors, of whom 155 are volunteers.