How to make LibreOffice look more like Microsoft Office

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A reader contacted me recently to ask how he could configure the LibreOffice interface to resemble that of Microsoft Office. He wanted to accomplish this task to finally make Linux his default operating system.

Naturally, I wanted to oblige with instructions on how to make this switch. For anyone wanting to move away from Microsoft's Office suite (whatever the reason), LibreOffice is as solid a choice as you'll find. 

Also: 5 stand-out LibreOffice features that make it my go-to office suite

LibreOffice is highly compatible with Microsoft Office and is also cross-platform, open-source, and flexible, illustrated perfectly by the software's customizable user interface (UI). With LibreOffice, you have several choices for the UI, including:

Standard Toolbar Tabbed
Single Toolbar
Tabbed Compact
Groupedbar Compact
Contextual Single

Believe it or not, changing up the LibreOffice interface is pretty easy.

Let me show you the way.

How to customize the LibreOffice UI

What you'll need: The only thing you'll need for this task is the latest version of LibreOffice installed on your operating system of choice. The software is available for Linux, MacOS, and Windows, and the process of customizing the UI is the same for each. 

Also: How to install Steam on Linux to start playing thousands of games

I'll demonstrate the steps with version 24.8.1 installed on Pop!_OS Linux. Also, note I'm comparing LibreOffice to the office365.com UI.

Screenshot by Jack Wallen/ZDNET Screenshot by Jack Wallen/ZDNET

To further customize what toolbars are visible, click the gear icon again and then click Toolbars. You'll see a rather large dropdown with several options. 

Also: How to refine your writing with LibreOffice's statistical analysis tool

You can also select the Customize option and add or remove any item you want from the toolbars by adding it from the Available Commands to the Assigned Commands columns and then moving the newly added item up or down as needed.

Screenshot by Jack Wallen/ZDNET

Also: LibreOffice removes personal data from documents. Why that matters

It might take you a few minutes to get the LibreOffice UI layout to look exactly how you want it but with the help of all the various customizations, you can go full-on Picard and make it so.