I am currently a happy user of LibreOffice 3.5. But now that a new version (3.6) has appeared, I am VERY frustrated with HOW we are supposed to update 3.5 to 3.6.
With most other software, I would expect a button somewhere to click, and the older version will be updated automatically to the newer version.
But here it seems that I have to download all of LO 3.6 and install this new version manually. Is there not an easier way to upgrade from 3.5 to 3.6 ??
Hi, I’ll try my best to answer your question.
LO 3.5 is considered as the stable version while LO 3.6 is more bleeding edge.
When you are informed about an update this is in the version family. Also you still have to download the whole file for installation, as you will have to do for LO 3.6.
The difference is that from inside LO 3.5 you are offered to download the latest version in the family 3.5.
To get LO 3.6 you need to visit the download page LO 3.6.
The answer to your question is, “No, there is not an easier way to upgrade.”
During the time I have been using LibreOffice (and OpenOffice before that) I have upgraded to newer versions several times, and always I have had to download and install the complete new version just as if I were a brand new user. I just consider it part of the price I have to pay for using wonderful FREE software! Along with the virtual absence of meaningful documentation. Still a bargain, in my book.
This is another topic, but it depends what is “meaningful” documentation. Free books are all over, just check: https://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/documentation/
As someone who has been doing this for a long time it does get a little tedious.
I have just updated 3.6.2 to 3.6.3 and it is a 214mb download.
It would be an excellent new feature that I am sure Openoffice does not have And help save the planet!
Ditto! At least it didn’t need an un-install, and all macros and templates survived intact. Phew.
What’s the problem with downloading all and run the new installation? How much time does it take??? Peanuts in my opinion but may have too much time to spend???
“Still a bargain, in my book.” I consider it the same way.
Don’t assume that all of the users on the world have super fast internet connection and that all of the users have super fast computer - so it can be very time consuming task to reinstall old fashion way. And don’t assume that installing is a funny job to do - if you accept all of the previous install settings and just select Help | Update (assuming a Windows) it would be nice of having background download and automatic upgrade/install after reopen of program (something like e.g. Firefox does).
I agree that it’s not a big deal to go to the website and download & install the package. Only I want to be notified of the release of a new version! Is there a mailing list or something like that?
A few hours ago, I was devastated that an document I created on my Linux box was totally corrupted on my Mac. I use LibreOffice on both platforms. After a while, it occurred to me that the LibreOffice on my Mac may be old. Sure enough, it turned out to be more than one year old! When I installed the latest version of LibreOffice on my Mac, the document displayed correctly.
This happened because I’ve gotten so much used to the auto-update feature of my Linux box (“Debian testing” distribution of Linux). It updates all components of the system, even the kernel, and very frequently.
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