Join us at the #LibreOffice Conference 2026, which will take place in Pordenone, northern Italy, from 10 – 12 September! The Call for Papers is now open: https://blog.documentfoundation.org/blog/2026/03/11/libocon-2026-call-for-papers/ #foss #openSource #freesoftware
Discussion
Loading...
Post
@libreoffice As a local Linux User Group @pnlug we are very honored and happy to actively collaborate in the event!
@libreoffice I'd really like it if you could rework the documentation or create a version of the documentation for Microsoft Word users. I've got 30 years of experience using Microsoft Word and recently switched to Libre Office. There are things I should be able to do in Libre Writer that I could easily do in word but I can't figure out how to do them in Writer. Your documentation and the forum that supports it falls far short of where it needs to be to support former Word users.
@mlanger Thanks for the feedback. Our documentation - like many things in the LibreOffice project - is made by volunteers, who have very limited resources. Please consider giving them a hand: https://documentation.libreoffice.org/en/join-the-documentation-team/ - Thank you!
@libreoffice I have attempted to give them a hand. I bought a copy of the printed manual; it's awful. I've tried participating in the forums and ran up against people who apparently have nothing better to do with their time than criticize the input of newcomers. I'm not willing to help people fix documentation that they apparently believe is perfect. (It's not.)
So I'll deal with it, glad that I no longer write for a living and have to spend more time with Writer than I do.
@mlanger Can you link to a specific forum post? The documentation team knows that the content is not perfect and there are many improvements that need to be made.
@libreoffice I'm sorry, I can't. This was over a year ago. I've given up.
Understand that I wrote computer how-to books for a living for more than 20 years. I would typically get beta software without any documentation, figure it out, and write about it in a way that beginner to intermediate users understood. When I can't figure something out, there's probably something wrong.
And when the software doesn't act the way the documentation says it should, there's definitely something wrong.
@mlanger Yes, the documentation needs improving. As mentioned, it's made by volunteers (like so many things in the LibreOffice project) and without knowing who told you it is "perfect" it's hard to fix the situation. But thank you anyway for trying. Please don't go on one forum response – the volunteers know there is huge room for improvement, and would really appreciate help in the future!
Bonfire Dinteg Labs
This is a bonfire demo instance for testing purposes. This is not a production site. There are no backups for now. Data, including profiles may be wiped without notice. No service or other guarantees expressed or implied.
Automatic federation enabled