Simple question but not seeing much consensus on it. Before upgrading to a newer version of L.O., must I uninstall the current version? I’ve seen both answers. Firefox “saves” my large, new-version L.O. file but doesn’t run it as an update automatically.
Perhaps the geniuses at L.O. could resolve this by simply stating whether uninstallation is necessary next to their upgrade-now postings.
For safety, on Windows I always uninstall the previous version, even if it’s just a minor upgrade.
What Windows installation process does when an older instance is already installed on system:
- It creates a list of installed components.
- If in UI mode, it shows a UI with those components pre-selected, allowing user to modify the selection.
- It calls previous version’s uninstaller.
- It installs the selected components.
In no scenario (un)installer touches user profiles, which contain user-defined application settings.
So, the difference over a “manual uninstall then install new” process is #1, which allows to migrate to newer version, having the same set of components as was installed already. For “typical installs” - where users chose to not customize their install set - this doesn’t matter much. It only matters for customized setups, where some non-default set of components was selected initially, and direct upgrade over already installed version would allow to have installed components upgraded, while “manual uninstall then reinstall” would require doing the selection of components again.
Thanks for your answer.
I don’t remember seeing a list of components showing what was previously installed and allowing me to modify the selections when I upgraded ( 6.1.0.3 to 6.2.0.3 on Windows 10) but I will look out for it when I upgrade next.
It is very difficult to give a hard-and-fast answer that applies to all cases. Here are some considerations:
- A same-major-version upgrade (eg 4.3.2 over the top of 4.3.1) will overwrite the previous version.
- A same-major-version upgrade (eg 4.3.x over the top of 4.2.x) may overwrite the previous version.
- A major-version upgrade (eg 5.x.x over the top of 4.x.x) is unlikely to overwrite the previous version.
- Uninstalling LO is unlikely to remove the Personal Profiles.
(customisations are stored within these personal Profiles)- Updating LO sometimes overwrites customisations, sometimes updates the new install from those customisations
(I’ve never found rhyme nor reason within the choices)- Profile Corruption seems to be the single, greatest cause of strange LO errors
You can backup your Profile dir/folder first as a just-in-case (look at (menu):Tools→Options→LibreOffice→Paths to discover where this is) but, in general, it should be fine. Uninstall first if you wish (the Profile will be left in place, deliberately).
More information at Q56510.
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Alex! Please answer my simple question: do I need to uninstall my old version of LO when upgrading to a newer version or not. I don’t want two versions on my hard drive and Program Files. And note: I don’t care about my Profile dir/folder contents, etc. I just want to upgrade cleanly. Thanks.
AFAIK, EWyatt, you do not need to uninstall the old version when upgrading. I’ve currently got both 5.0.0 + 4.4.4 installed. They share the same Profile. I can only boot one at a time, but they seem to coexist without problems.
I thoroughly understand & share your desire for a clean install. Go ahead if that is what you want. However, whilst I’ll give as much info as I can, I will never tell someone what to do, unless I know that it will cause damage. That is unlikely here.
“Uninstalling LO is unlikely to remove the Personal Profiles.”
…
“Uninstall first if you wish (the Profile will be left in place, deliberately)”.
Does it or does it not? It is important to know.
Anyway, before to update and especially before upgrade LO, I would always recommend to save a backup copy of the personal profile. (I do it also with Firefox and Thunderbird)
My concern is that after installing 5.1.2.2, opening a file from explorer opens it in 5.1.0.3.
I would prefer to not have the older version installed for convenience of opening the file from within the Windows Explorer folder.
I just upgraded from 6.1.0.3 to 6.2.0.3 on Windows 10 and had the same question.
After reading the other answers on here I decided to just go ahead with the install for the new version and see what happens.
I had some File Explorer windows open during the install to investigate a bit. 
During the installation the LibreOffice install window showed an entry “Removing files from previous installation”. Also, the File Explorer windows showed that the new installation seemed to remove files in the previous install - Explorer windows were populated with old files, then blank, then showed new files.
All looks fine. Except the icons for LibreOffice pinned apps on the task bar seem to have changed. But that has nothing to do with this question
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