How to transition from open office to Libre X64 for windows 10?

[sailsmanroth]

Do I need to uninstall Open Office BEFORE installing LibreOffice x64 on Windows 10 v.1903. Un-installing OpenOffice will not delete my MANY OO files, correct?

Do I still need a JAVA JRE with LibreOffice 364, in order to do spreadsheets?

DO I still need Virtual C++ ?
Do I need a different ones from the one I used for Open Office, which were 2 versions, X32 and X64?
Do I need to uninstall the present ones prior to uninstalling OpenOffice, or Installing LibreOffice?
Do these self install with the program? Or, Where do I find them.

Sorry for all the questions. I’m sure all the answers are…somewhere. Perhaps a full ‘Transition Heading’ might be a good idea?

Thanks, Martin

[mikekaganski]

There’s no need for all the worries that you expressed in the question.

1. You may uninstall OpenOffice before installing LibreOffice; or you may do it after; or you may choose to not uninstall it, and keep both. They don’t conflict with each other (except for trying to associate themselves with the same types of files, which doesn’t break things, and only affects which app is launched when you double-click your ODT).
2. Uninstalling OpenOffice does not affect any files kept outside of its installation directory; so unless you did a very strange thing - kept your ODTs and ODSs in the C:\Program Files (X86)\OpenOffice, - you are safe. Data in My Documents will stay.
3. Java is not needed for spreadsheets - and wasn’t needed for OpenOffice Calc, too - except for solver component. And if you use the solver, you still need JRE.
4. Required version of MSVC is always part of the installer bundle. It was that way 10 years ago, and it’s still the same today. You didn’t need two MSVC packages for your OpenOffice (only 32-bit one was required, and it was installed automatically), although other programs on your system could require other MSVC versions and architectures. Anyway, you need not worry about that - it will be handled by installer.
5. Multiple MSVC versions happily co-exist on the same system, so no need to uninstall one before installing LibreOffice.

Generally, your questions fall into the category of “this is not needed; that is not needed…”. There is the installation guide linked from download page; there’s finite amount of what is needed, and infinite amount of what is not needed. If you imagine of “full ‘Transition Heading’” as some kind of universal guide to “what is not needed”, then it’s impossible thing.

[erAck]

You can install LibreOffice in parallel with OpenOffice. Removing OpenOffice should not delete any of the documents you created (unless you have a weird document path setup where documents live under one of the installation paths). You don’t need Visual C++, but may need a specific runtime library which LibreOffice will ask for and the installation process will attempt to download and install, so make sure you don’t have MS-Windows updates disabled. If you encounter problems see this FAQ.

There is no LibreOffice 364. Current versions are 6.2.8 and 6.3.2. You need Java JRE for only some tasks (database related and some wizards, or if you want to install extensions that use Java). In general LibreOffice works fine without Java. If you need Java then make sure to have a 64-bit Java matching your 64-bit installation of LibreOffice, or a 32-bit Java matching a 32-bit installation. You can’t use 32-bit of one and 64-bit of the other or vice versa. Java does not come with LibreOffice. You do not need to uninstall Java prior to uninstalling OpenOffice.

[mikekaganski]

Just a note: installer for Windows does not download anything; the needed components are bundled into the MSI itself. The need for the Windows Update service is not because it might need to get the update from the Internet, but because that service is needed to be working to install the update that is inside the MSI.

The computer might be not connected to Internet, which does not break installing LibreOffice on Windows.

[erAck]

Ah right, thanks for noting.