Installer for offline situation

[sortingoffice]

An elderly family member is always complaining to me about MS Word. They are interested in trying LibreOffice. The only issue is they don’t have (and refuse) internet access. So I will have to bring them a USB stick with the installer and as much documentation as possible. I’m not going to be able to bring updates all the time, if ever.

Is there a “long term support” version that would be appropriate? Or should I just get whatever the latest is?

They are running a reasonably modern version of Windows.

What is the most comprehensive way of including documentation for a situation like this?

[Wanderer]

@sortingoffice

The only issue is they don’t have (and refuse) internet access

The installer you download at LibreOffice.org works offline. Download also the fitting offline help, mentioned a bit below the installer.

@sortingoffice

Is there a “long term support” version that would be appropriate? Or should I just get whatever the latest is?

No, “lts” is a concept useful for kernel/os, where other software relies on, not for “individual” projects. I would not recommend “the lastest”, but either use a version I use myself or the previous release with most updates. So now I use/check 24.8.6 or 24.8.7

https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/ReleasePlan

@sortingoffice

What is the most comprehensive way of including documentation for a situation like this?

Besides the offline help mentioned above, check the menu at LibreOffice.org for Get help > documentation and download the books as pdf. They will have more than most will ever read…

https://documentation.libreoffice.org/en/english-documentation/

@sortingoffice

I’m not going to be able to bring updates all the time, if ever.

On a computer with no internet most security related problems are less troublesome. One can still use versions 6.x or 7.x without trouble on Windows. (Fans of dark mode should use quite new versions…)

[Zizi64]

@sortingoffice

Is there a “long term support” version that would be appropriate?

Download LibreOffice | LibreOffice - Free and private office suite - Based on...

See the “latest stable release” and the “previous stable branch” of the LibreOffice.
(Formarly named Fresh and Still versions)
If I know ir exactly, the bugfixes will be ported to the previous stable branch, but the new features will not. And the “latest stable release” will be the “previous stable branch” when a new main version will be published.
Only these two versions will be maintained.
The today “previous stable branch” will be maintained until June 2025.
The older versions are available, but they are not maintained.
Older versions:
https://downloadarchive.documentfoundation.org/libreoffice/old/