LibreOffice 7.5 Loaded with New Features and Improvements

LibreOffice is the favorite office suite for many Linux users. With the newest release, version 7.5, there are plenty of new features and even some visual refreshing that has gone into the software.

One of the most obvious changes comes by way of a new icon set that is more colorful and vibrant. As well, if you use LibreOffice on a touch-based device, zoom and rotate finally function via multi-touch gestures. And although you won't find major changes to the UI, the subtle changes help to make LibreOffice more modern and professional feeling.

Other changes include several bug fixes for each module, e.g., entering numbers with a single prefix quote in Calc now correctly behaves, based on when to strip the prefix when followed by a number. Calc also now supports DBF Mazovia Encoding for visual FoxPro files, and some conditional formatting conditions are now case-sensitive.

With Writer, you'll find more options for content control, such as plain text and combo box. Now you also can define custom colors for the grammatical mistakes identifier and the spell-checker works with hyperlinks, plus the last modified words now trigger the spell-check when the cursor is moved.

The Writer bookmark module also received a few updates, such as the ability to directly edit a bookmark from the Settings dialog, hidden bookmarks are now correctly presented, bookmarks are now visible within a document, and bookmarks are now readable using screen readers.

The developers also spent a good deal of time improving MS Office compatibility, export features, and the macro programming tool.

To find out more about what's new and improved in LibreOffice 7.5, make sure to read the release notes (https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/ReleaseNotes/7.5). You can download the latest version from the LibreOffice site (https://www.libreoffice.org/) or wait until 7.5 lands in your distribution's official repositories.

The Next Major Release of Elementary OS Has Arrived

The elementary OS developers have been hard at work crafting version 7 of their open source operating system. With this new release, they've focused on getting users the apps they need, empowering users with new features and settings, and evolving their developer platform.

When you install and boot up elementary OS 7, there are no obvious and major changes to greet you. In fact, the desktop UI looks very much in line with what the team has released in the past, and that's a good thing, because the elementary OS UI is one of the finest on the market.

As for the changes, you'll find more engaging app descriptions in the AppCenter, an easier app update process, better support for sideloading and alternative app stores, and a much more responsive AppCenter.

Version 7 also better supports web apps, making it easier to launch them from the applications menu and even use their own settings (such as privacy controls).

Other new features include the ability to send feedback directly to the developers, a more streamlined installer, and an outstanding Onboarding app that makes it easy for you to configure the UI theme. You can even configure automatic updates for both free and paid apps.

The Mail app has a more modern UI as well as a unified inbox that also supports Microsoft 365 accounts.

The Music app was also completely rewritten from scratch with a focus on more quickly queuing and playing audio files from a local collection.

For more information on the latest release, check out the official release notes (https://blog.elementary.io/os-7-available-now/) and then download an ISO (https://elementary.io/) image for installation.

KDE Plasma 5.27 Beta Ready for Testing

KDE Plasma 5.27 beta was recently announced (https://kde.org/announcements/plasma/5/5.26.90/) and is aimed at testers, developers, and bug hunters. One of the more exciting additions is the new Bigscreen version, which makes the KDE Desktop available for use on televisions.

There is also a new addition to the Display Configuration widget, which now appears active in System Tray by default when you have more than one monitor connected. The Big Multi-Monitor refactor makes working with multiple screens more reliable and gives you fine-grained controls when you have three or more monitors.

The KWin Tiling System is also ready for testing. Using the Meta-T keyboard combination, you can launch the quick tiling features to give you complete control of where your windows are placed.

Another very welcome addition is called Plasma Welcome, which helps you take care of initial setup tasks, such as connecting online accounts. Plasma Welcome is an elegant, simple wizard that should make new users feel right at home on the desktop.

Flatpak gets some added attention in the new release by way of a new System Settings module, called Flatpak Permission Settings app.

This new feature gives you the ability to control the permissions for every installed Flatpak app, including basic permissions (such as Internet connectivity, remote login access, and Bluetooth access), filesystem access, and more.

You can download one of the many live images to test (https://community.kde.org/Plasma/Live_Images) KDE Plasma 5.27 beta now.