Some exceptional work coming to the fore for 26.8, the paragraph composer is going to be really helpful for layout and formatting in text-heavy documents. It’s not LaTeX-level, but it’s heading towards that level of fidelity.
https://blog.documentfoundation.org/blog/2026/08/26/libreoffice-26-8/
I converted all my legacy documents a few years back to open document formats, a couple of hours work, but well worth it to know that they’ll be accessible regardless of platform. Not a single .doc or .xls left on my system, which is a relief. Here’s hoping the increased usage by Governments and large orgs helps to deliver the funding needed to keep momentum going!
LibreOffice 26.8 contains no generative AI features. Documents are not transmitted to remote services for processing, and no component of the suite requires network access to function. This is a deliberate position. Any organisation handling confidential, legally privileged or personal data needs to know where that data goes, and the only assurance that survives an audit is that it does not leave the machine.
The fact that humans are prone to believing that text regurgitated by a program indicates the program is therefore intelligent (or even accurate) never ceases to amaze me.
It’s when we hook up actionable choices to the results of such regurgitation that the danger unfolds. That’s serious trouble.
Meanwhile, if you just scream “human” repeatedly at an AI phone answering system eventually you get one.
I was messing with gemini the the other day, it apolgised for using me a f guinnea pig, was literally feeding it crap and complaing that every output was wrong, something that was intelligent would ignote me with the stuff I was feeding it