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.
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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 TabbedSingle 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.
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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.
You can apply the new UI to just one LibreOffice component or all of them.
The Sky's the limit with how much you can customize the LibreOffice interface.
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.
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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.
You can add as many or as few toolbars as needed.
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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.