downloaded on new computer but cannot find my old files

need to know how to find my old files I was looking for Libreoffice on my new lap top and could not find it. Installed the new 6 version but how do I get my documents back?

You should know where you stored your files then

  • Start LibreOffice
  • Use menu File -> Open
  • Select the file you want to open from the file picker and click open

(Assuming that you are used to just double click into the thumbnails of the recent document list, presented when starting LibreOffice. This list contains only references to the real file location and not any file - just like a hyperlink does not contain the data but a reference to data).

In what way did you move the files you still need from your old file system to the new one?
Or: In what way did you provide access to your old files from the new computer?
How and where were they stored previously?
(I personally always moved from old dektop to new desktop, and inserted the old harddisk for a while into the new machine. Then copied a lot to the new, much bigger harddisk… From desktop to laptop you may better use an USB device as an intermediary storage. Depnds on the total amount of your data.)

Did you actually copy your files from the old computer to the new one? Your documents are not magically stored inside of LibreOffice, they are stored on your computer’s long term storage, typically known as a [hard drive (Hard disk drive - Wikipedia). If you have not already copied your files over then fire up your File Manager and copy your files. You can make use of a USB flash drive for the file transfer.

You get your files back by copying them from your old computer to your new computer, if you have not already done so then do that first.

If you have already copied the files from the old computer to the new computer and do not find them, you need to learn file management. Typically users organize their files using a File Manager.