Writer Guide 26.2
Preface
This document is Copyright © 2026 by the LibreOffice Documentation Team. Contributors are listed below. This document may be distributed and/or modified under the terms of either the GNU General Public License (https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html), version 3 or later, or the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), version 4.0 or later. All trademarks within this guide belong to their legitimate owners.
Dione Maddern, Olivier Hallot.
Bruce Byfield, Gillian Polack, Jean Hollis Weber, Kees Kriek, Rafael Lima.
Please direct any comments or suggestions about this document to the Documentation Team’s forum at https://community.documentfoundation.org/c/documentation/loguides/ (registration is required) or send an email to: loguides@community.documentfoundation.org.
Note
Everything sent to a forum, including email addresses and any other personal information that is written in the message, is publicly archived and cannot be deleted. Emails sent to the forum are moderated.
Published March 2026. Based on LibreOffice 26.2.
Other versions of LibreOffice may differ in appearance and functionality.
LibreOffice is a feature-rich, free, and open source office suite. It includes several powerful applications for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases, and formula editing. Writer is the word-processing application. It is compatible with a wide range of document formats including Microsoft Word (.doc, .docx), and you can export your work in several formats including PDF.
Anyone who wants to get started quickly with Writer will find this book valuable. You may be new to word processing software, or you may be familiar with another office suite.
This book introduces the main features of Writer, the word processor component of LibreOffice, and provides instructions for their use.
LibreOffice 26.2 requires one of the following operating systems:
Microsoft Windows: Windows 10 or 11; Windows Server 2012 through 2022. Administrator rights are needed for the installation process.
GNU/Linux: Kernel version 4.18 or newer and glibc2 v2.27 or newer.
macOS 11 or newer.
For a detailed list of requirements and operating systems supported, see the LibreOffice website, https://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/system-requirements/.
Note regarding Java
Some LibreOffice features (wizards and the HSQLDB database engine) require that the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) or, for macOS, the Java Development Kit (JDK) is installed on your computer. If you do not want to use Java, you can still use nearly all of the LibreOffice features.
Java is available at no cost. More information and download links to the appropriate edition for your operating system can be found at: https://java.com/en/download/manual.jsp.
For macOS, you need to install Oracle’s Java Development Kit (JDK), not just the Java Runtime Environment (JRE). Download links can be found at: https://www.oracle.com/java/technologies/downloads/.
Versions of LibreOffice for Windows, Linux, and macOS are freely available and can be downloaded from https://www.libreoffice.org/download. Linux users will also find a free version of LibreOffice included in most Linux distributions. Windows and macOS users can also buy versions through the Microsoft Store or Apple’s Mac App Store. Portable and other versions of LibreOffice are listed on the download page. Linux, Enterprise, Online, and other versions may differ in appearance and functionality from the descriptions in this book.
Information on installing and setting up LibreOffice on the various supported operating systems is given here: https://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/install-howto/. When LibreOffice has been downloaded from an official app store, follow the installation instructions provided by the store.
After installation, to change the default settings (options) in LibreOffice to suit your working requirements and preferences, go to Tools > Options on the Menu bar (LibreOffice > Preferences on macOS). Settings are described in the Help and in the Getting Started Guide. Some settings of particular interest to users of Writer are covered in Chapter 20, Customizing Writer, in this book.
Tip
Many settings are intended for power users and programmers. If you do not understand what an option does, we recommend leaving it on the default setting unless instructions in this book recommend changing the setting.
You can customize menus, toolbars, and keyboard shortcuts in LibreOffice, add new menus and toolbars, and assign macros to events. See Chapter 20, Customizing Writer, for details.
You can add functionality to LibreOffice with extensions and add-ons. Several extensions are installed with the program and you can get others from the official extensions repository, https://extensions.libreoffice.org/ and from other sources. See Chapter 20, Customizing Writer, for more information on installing extensions and add-ons.
This book, the other LibreOffice user guides, the Help system, and user support systems assume that you are familiar with your computer and basic functions such as starting a program, opening and saving files.
LibreOffice comes with an extensive online Help system. This is your first line of support. Windows and Linux users can choose to download and install the offline Help for use when not connected to the Internet. Offline Help is installed with the program on macOS.
To display the Help system, press F1 or select Help > LibreOffice Help on the Menu bar. If the offline Help is not installed on your computer, and it is connected to the Internet, your default browser will open the online Help pages on the LibreOffice website.
The Help menu includes links to other LibreOffice information and support resources. Notice that options marked with a ‡ sign are only accessible if the computer is connected to the Internet.
What's This? For quick tips when a toolbar is visible, hold the mouse pointer over any of the icons to see a small box (“tooltip”) with a brief explanation of the icon’s function. For a more detailed explanation, select Help > What's This? and hold the pointer over the icon. You can also activate Extended Tips using Tools > Options > LibreOffice > General (macOS: LibreOffice > Preferences > LibreOffice > General) on the Menu bar. Extended Tips provide brief descriptions about tools and commands.
User Guides ‡ Opens your default browser at the Documentation page of the LibreOffice website https://books.libreoffice.org/en. There you will find user guides (to read online, download as free PDFs, or buy as printed copies) and other information.
Show Tip of the Day Opens a small window with a random tip on how to use LibreOffice.
Search Commands Opens a window where you can type a few letters or the name of a Menu bar command, to quickly find where the command is located. Clicking on a command in the resulting list may open a relevant dialog or have other effects.
Get Help Online ‡ Opens your default browser at the Ask LibreOffice forum of questions and answers from the LibreOffice community https://ask.libreoffice.org/c/english/5.
Send Feedback ‡ Opens your default browser at the Feedback page of the LibreOffice website https://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/feedback/. From there you can report bugs, suggest new features and communicate with others in the LibreOffice community.
Restart in Safe Mode Opens a dialog where you can restart LibreOffice and reset the software to its default settings.
Get Involved ‡ Opens your default browser at the Get Involved page of the LibreOffice website, https://www.libreoffice.org/community/get-involved/. There you can choose a topic of interest to help improve the program.
Donate to LibreOffice ‡ Opens your default browser at the Donation page of the LibreOffice website https://www.libreoffice.org/donate.
License Information Outlines the licenses under which LibreOffice is made available.
Check for Updates ‡ Opens a dialog and checks the LibreOffice website for updates to your version of the software.
About LibreOffice Opens a dialog and displays information about the version of LibreOffice and the operating system you are using. This information will often be requested if you ask the community for help or assistance with the software. (On macOS, this option is found under LibreOffice on the Menu bar.)
The LibreOffice community not only develops software, but provides free, volunteer-based support. See Table 1 and this web page: https://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/.
For comprehensive online support from the community, look at mailing lists and the Ask LibreOffice website, https://ask.libreoffice.org/c/english/5. Other websites run by users also offer free tips and tutorials.
Table 1: Free support for LibreOffice users
|
Free LibreOffice support |
|
|
FAQs |
Answers to frequently asked questions |
|
Mailing lists |
Free community support provided by a network of experienced users |
|
Questions & Answers and |
Free community assistance is provided in a question and answer format. Search similar topics or ask a new question in The service is available in several other languages. |
|
Native language support |
The LibreOffice website in various languages Forum: https://community.documentfoundation.org/ Mailing lists for native languages Information about social networking |
|
Accessibility options |
Information about available accessibility options. https://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/accessibility/ |
You can also pay for support through service contracts from a vendor or consulting firm specializing in LibreOffice. For information about certified professional support, see The Document Foundation’s website: https://www.documentfoundation.org/professional-support/.
For schools, educational and research institutions, and large organizations, see https://www.libreoffice.org/download/libreoffice-in-business/.
LibreOffice runs on Windows, Linux, and macOS operating systems, each of which has several versions and can be customized by users (fonts, colors, themes, window managers). The illustrations in this guide were taken from a variety of computers and operating systems. Therefore, some illustrations will not look exactly like what you see on a computer display.
Also, some of the dialogs may be different because of the settings selected in LibreOffice. You can use dialogs from your computer’s operating system or those provided by LibreOffice. The differences affect mainly Open, Save, and Print dialogs. To change which dialogs are used, go to Tools > Options > LibreOffice > General (macOS: LibreOffice > Preferences > LibreOffice > General) and select or deselect the option Use LibreOffice dialogs.
The user interface can also vary depending on the user interface preference applied on a specific computer, including user interface variants and tab styles. See Chapter 21 - User Interface Variants for more information.
The LibreOffice community has created icons for several icon sets: Breeze, Colibre, Elementary, Karasa Jaga, Sifr, and Sukapura; some are also available in a dark version. As a user, you can can select your preferred set. The icons in this guide have been taken from a variety of LibreOffice installations that use different sets of icons. The icons for some of the many tools available in LibreOffice may differ from the ones used in this guide.
To change the icon set used, go to Tools > Options > LibreOffice > Appearance. In the Icon Theme section, choose from the drop-down list.
Note
Some Linux distributions include LibreOffice as part of the installation and may not include all the icon sets mentioned above. You should be able to download other icon sets from the software repository for your Linux distribution.
The Galaxy, Oxygen, and Tango icon sets are no longer included as part of the standard installation package for Windows, macOS, or Linux. You can download and install them as extensions from https://extensions.libreoffice.org/.
Note
Some of the previously included gallery sets are now available only as extensions. For example, the People Gallery is available from https://extensions.libreoffice.org/en/extensions/show/people-gallery
Some keystrokes and menu items are different on macOS from those used in Windows and Linux. The table below gives some common substitutions for the instructions in this chapter. For a more detailed list, see the application Help.
|
Windows or Linux |
macOS equivalent |
Effect |
|
Tools > Options |
LibreOffice > Preferences |
Access setup options |
|
Right-click |
Control+click and/or right-click depending on computer setup |
Opens a context menu |
|
Ctrl (Control) |
⌘ (Command) |
Used with other keys |
|
Alt |
⌥ (Option) or Alt, depending on keyboard |
Used with other keys |
|
F11 |
⌘+t |
Open Styles deck in Sidebar |
How is LibreOffice licensed?
May I distribute LibreOffice to anyone? May I sell it? May I use it in my business?
How many computers may I install it on?
Do I need Java to run LibreOffice?
How can I contribute to LibreOffice?
May I distribute the PDF of this book, or print and sell copies?
This book has been updated from LibreOffice 25.2 Writer Guide. It covers some of the changes that are visible in the LibreOffice Writer user interface. LibreOffice 26.2 also includes many other changes, including improvements in interoperability with Microsoft’s proprietary file formats.
For details, see the Release Notes: https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/ReleaseNotes/26.2.
This book has been updated from Writer Guide 25.2. It covers changes that are visible in the Writer user interface.
Chapter 2 – Working with Text: Basics
Updated to show improvements to the Hyphenation options in the Paragraph Style dialog.
Chapter 3 – Working with Text: Advanced
Documents improvements to Writer’s tracking of interdependent changes.
Documents the new Reject but track.
Chapter 5 – Page Style Basics
Updated instructions for toggling the visibility of Boundaries and Formatting Aids.
Page break examples moved from Chapter 8, Introduction to Styles.
Chapter 6 – Formatting pages: Advanced
Content on Using Document Themes moved to Chapter 9, Working with Styles.
Chapter 7 – Printing and Publishing
Updated information on standards for Reference XObjects.
Chapter 8 – Introduction to Styles
Fixed out-of-order sections and figures, and reordered some sections to improve flow and clarity.
Improved sections on the Styles sidebar deck and Creating paragraph styles.
Page styles examples moved to Chapter 5, Page Styles Basics
Removed obsolete passage about anchoring settings being unavailable for Frame styles.
Chapter 9 – Working with Styles
Added sections to document the Asian Typography, Asian Layout, and Text Grid features
Added a section to document the Inline Heading preset frame style.
Removed obsolete section about character formatting.
Chapter 10 – Working with Templates
Improved introduction.
Improved sections on Updating a document by loading styles from a template, Other ways to manage templates, Creating a document from a template, and Creating a template from a document.
Chapter 11 – Images and Graphics
Improved grammar and style in multiple sections.
Added a section to document the Text within a shape feature.
Chapter 13 – Tables
Added contents on table calculations
Chapter 15 – Table of contents, Indexes and Bibliography
Updated nomeclature
Updated instructions for adding entries using the Bibliograpy Database window.
Added a section on DOI References.
Chapter 16 – Master documents
Chapter was entirely rewritten to improve clarity, completeness, and flow.
Chapter 17 – Fields
Improved and clarified instructions on how to set and use variables fields.
Chapter 18 – Forms
Added instructions for exporting to PDF forms.
Chapter 19 – Spreadsheets, Charts, Other objects
Added instructions on how to create a chart from a writer table
Updated charts with data table addition.
Chapter 20 Customizing Writer
Added sections on the Allow text to be dragged and dropped and DeepL Server options.
Improved the section on the Load printer settings with the document option.
Chapter 21 – User Interface Variants
Added a section documenting the Form tab in the Additional tabs section.
Appendix A - Keyboard Shortcuts
This new Appendix was added with most important shortcut for text editing and word processing operation, organized by actions.