Libreoffice performance issues on linux

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#1

LibreOffice is very laggy on Linux, all the LibreOffice apps including writer and impress are suffering from the same issue. Here are some further details:

LibreOffice details :
Version: 24.8.3.2 (X86_64) / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: 48a6bac9e7e268aeb4c3483fcf825c94556d9f92
CPU threads: 18; OS: Linux 6.11; UI render: default; VCL: gtk3
Locale: en-US (en_US.UTF-8); UI: en-US
Flatpak
Calc: threaded

Specs :
CPU: Intel core ultra 5 125H
GPU: Intel Arc graphics (integrated graphics)

What I tried:

  1. Restarting in safe mode
  2. Reinstalling completely
  3. Switching distros
  4. toggling hardware acceleration

Workarounds:

  1. The windows version works seamlessly.
  2. Lowering the resolution somewhat mitigates the issue, but not a practical solution.

What I think the issue is that the Arc graphics is suffering from the “too new hardware” problem on Linux. Maybe something to do with the driver or LibreOffice itself, I don’t know.

#2

Please, distro name. Which desktop is installed? VCL says gtk3 which suggests Gnome or similar. LO is installed as flatpak; have you compared with a regular package from the distro?

#3

I switched from mint to fedora. I have tried native packages and flatpaks and the issue persists.

#4

Quick test:
Shutdown LO completely.
Open a terminal
Start LO like this: SAL_USE_VCLPLUGIN=gen libreoffice

#5

Same issue unfortunately

#6

Fedora, but which desktop? Gnome (which is usually the default)?

I was thinking of a discrepancy between the widget collection and VCL. If you’re under Gnome, then gtk3 is the right library.
Have you “special” daemons running in the background? Have you RAID HD groups? It happens that the array needs periodically resync. With present HD size, it takes hours (on my machine, 3 hours/TB). During resync, all apps are lagging.

Is your PC also lagging under other apps? If so, it may be a driver issue. Fedora philosophy is to provide fully libre software. Then you might want to enable rpm-fusion repos to access less open S/W.

Here: Fedora 41, KDE Plasma desktop (Qt-based, hence VCL=kf6+cairo)

#7

Fedora 41, gnome
No i do not think I have installed any daemons. My fedora install is mostly stock and fresh.
No my computer does not lag in other applications.
I have enabled non free repositories, installed and restarted, and it didn’t fix the issue unfortunately.

#8

:thinking:
doing what ?
measured by what ?

image

were prior versions very_laggy too ?

like which one(s) ?

#9

The user interface (of writer for example) looks like it runs at 15 FPS, it can be noticed by scrolling through the document. I tried checking cpu usage with top but there was nothing abnormal.

were prior versions very_laggy too ?

I don’t know because this is my first time running LibreOffice in the first place.

All other apps work fine like the browser and the operating system UI.

#10

Then what are the properties of your test document? Is it very large? Created in another application (like a .doc(x) one)? If the document needs conversion, the translation process creates a structure which is not optimised because alien features are approximated in native primitives. The main problem is proliferation of direct formatting. In other words, instead of efficiently common factoring your formatting every “decoration” is repeated by its own. This is aggravated by the presence of numerous images or tables.

Please, give more information on your document and; if possible, attach a reduced sample for analysis.

#11

I have included below a few recordings of the performance. (The fps of the gifs match the original recording).

Using Impress
output

#12

Using writer
output2
You could argue that there is a lot of spelling errors here, but at the end of the day, if it works fine in other situations, then that ultimately doesn’t matter.

I have a desktop that handles these situations without an issue. My laptop also runs fine if using libreoffice on windows or using ms office

#13

using writer (docx file)
output3

#14

I don’t know how to “read” your GIFs because what you want to show is not obvious, neither is what you expect. Rendering FPS on my computer can be different on yours.

All I can comment upon is your choice of tabbed UI. This is a way to smooth transition between Word and Writer but it encourages to perpetuate Word workflow. Writer native workflow is radically different: it is based on styles, everywhere. What is not styled is called direct formatting (many users think of it as being intuitive and easy, whereas it is the opposite). It is responsible for “formatting hell” (making formatting and layout tuning a real nightmare) and for noticeable slowdown as soon as your document grows, say, beyond ~50 pages.

Do you notice slow down/lag on freshly created documents? If so, there is something in the base configuration of your computer.

I use standard distro packages and have no issue with complex documents ~400 pages, despite many daemons (web and DB servers amongst others).

#15

What I wanted to show with the gifs is how jittery the UI of LibreOffice is. You asked for a sample and this is it.

Yea yea… you are right I suppose, but I just want to use office as I do on my desktop .It is not my concern if it encourages bad formatting or whatever, if it worked fine with my desktop (which uses LibreOffice), it should work as well on my laptop. That is all I care about as the user. That is why I said it’s probably an issue with the graphics driver for intel Arc.

What I think the issue is that the Arc graphics is suffering from the “too new hardware” problem on Linux. Maybe something to do with the driver or LibreOffice itself, I don’t know.

Yes, see the gif of me using impress

#16

i have the same issue.

in addition, even typing lags. it’s noticeably most prominent if i just keep a character key pressed.

at least since my OS (Fedora) is using plasma 6 (but i can’t rule out wether the problem has occured earlier, because i haven’t been using libreoffice much back then).

scrolling is very laggy. like OP i tried measuring the cpu load, but nothing out of the ordinary happened there.

the strange thing is, it only happens on my laptop, but not on my desktop-pc, although the software-configurations (OS etc.) are identical.

i tried unsuccessfully:

  • using the .rpms from the fedora repsoitory (with gtk and kf6 backend)
  • using the flatpak version
  • using the appimage version
  • enabling/disabling the “wayland”-permission of the flatpak version (i.e. the lagging occurs on wayland native and xwayland)
  • enabling/disabling the “direct graphic rendering”-permission of the flatpak version
  • enabling/disabling screen zoom at OS level
  • enabling/disabling adaptive sync at OS level
  • enabling/disabling the “[ ] use hardware acceleration”-checkbox in the libre office settings (section: libre office → view)
  • enabling/disabling the “[ ] use anti-aliasing”-checkbox on the libre office settings (section: libre office → view)
  • enabling/disabling the “[ ] smooth scroll”-checkbox in the libre office settings (section: writer → view"
  • i tried scolling with the mousewheel instead of the laptop’s trackpad
  • i tried different icon themes
  • trying different (or disabling completely) the power saving modes

the affected laptops’s system details are:
Operating System: Fedora Linux 41
KDE Plasma Version: 6.2.4
KDE Frameworks Version: 6.9.0
Qt Version: 6.8.1
Kernel Version: 6.12.6-200.fc41.x86_64 (64-bit)
Graphics Platform: Wayland
Processors: 12 × AMD Ryzen 5 6600HS Creator Edition
Memory: 14,3 GiB of RAM

Graphics Stack:
Graphics Processor: AMD Radeon Graphics 660M
GBM platform:
EGL API version: 1.5
EGL vendor string: Mesa Project
EGL version string: 1.5
EGL client APIs: OpenGL OpenGL_ES
EGL driver name: kms_swrast
OpenGL core profile vendor: Mesa
OpenGL core profile renderer: llvmpipe (LLVM 19.1.0, 256 bits)
OpenGL core profile version: 4.5 (Core Profile) Mesa 24.2.8
OpenGL core profile shading language version: 4.50

LibreOffice:
Version: 24.8.4.2 (X86_64) / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: bb3cfa12c7b1bf994ecc5649a80400d06cd71002
CPU threads: 16; OS: Linux 6.12; UI render: default; VCL: gtk3
Locale: de-DE (en_US.UTF-8); UI: de-DE
Flatpak
Calc: threaded

my desktop pc works fine. its spec are:
Operating System: Fedora Linux 41
KDE Plasma Version: 6.2.4
KDE Frameworks Version: 6.9.0
Qt Version: 6.8.1
Kernel Version: 6.12.6-200.fc41.x86_64 (64-bit)
Graphics Platform: Wayland
ryzen 2700x (8-core), 32 ddr4-2933, radeon r9 380 4GB.

=> i guess the culprit is somewhere in the graphics stack, as the GPU is the major difference between my my desktop pc and my laptop.

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