I’m new to LibO, and have used MS Office for years. Now they’ve lost me to too many bells & whistles & too costly to upgrade. So, do I want the newest LO? or the 6.0 version? I’ve never used all the stuff on MS Word, & found each new upgrade I was forced to accept to be more confusing than the prior one; and it became harder to find the tools I’d come to know & use. I’m using a PC with Windows 10. Thanks for being here for me.
You’re probably fine with either of the versions currently on download =
- 6.0.6 for “production” use, or
- 6.1 “fresh” release for “early adopters”.
My suggestion would be to go with 6.0.6 for an initial foray into LibreOffice. The changes in 6.1, while significant, aren’t of the nature that 6.0.x has been left in the dust. 
I’m still on 6.0.4.5 on my machines.
A couple “tips” (of the obvious variety!):
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Since you’ve used MS Office “for years”, your user experience of LibO’s interface should be familiar from (e.g.) Word 2003 … or whatever the version was before the “ribbon” came in. (LibO Writer does have a “ribbon” style interface available, though I don’t use it personally.) So, it will feel familiar, but it is different enough (I would think, more logical in most cases!) that it can be slightly disorientating, and so a bit frustrating when first making the transition. You might look for something in a familiar spot (e.g., “document” settings under the “File” menu) and not find it (look under “Format” for Page settings in Writer). A bit of patience will help, and you can always ask here.
Have a look at this earlier Q&A if you’re interested in maintaining optimum compatibility with MS Office versions of documents.
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Do have a look at the documentation – nice to see the Writer Guide out now for the 6 series, although my hunch is that the older docs still retain value.
Hope it goes well!
Thank you so much for your help.
It depends on what you want to do with it. For professional use, you need the somewhat older version, because it’s stable. If you aren’t interested in experimental features, you also want the older one.
Thank you.
Thank you for the answers. I’ll proceed with the earlier version. Looking forward to learning how to use it.
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