libreoffice(1)

📦 version 25.2.5.2, in opensuse-leap 16.0

👑 libreoffice — it's giving "whole office suite, bestie" 👑

okay so this is the libreoffice(1) page, and it lives in the User Commands manual. yes that's the manual name, no I will not be normal about it. let's go 🫶

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

libreoffice [--accept=accept-string] [--base] [--calc] [--convert-to
output_file_extension[:output_filter_name] [--outdir output_dir]
file]...  [--display display] [--draw] [--global] [--headless]
[--help|-h|-?] [--impress] [--invisible] [--infilter="<filter>"]
[--math] [--minimized] [-n file]... [--nodefault] [--nolockcheck]
[--nologo] [--norestore] [-o file]... [-p file...]  [--print-to-file
[--printer-name printer_name] [--outdir output_dir] file]...  [--pt
printername file...]  [--show Impress file]...
[--unaccept=accept-string] [--terminate_after_init] [--view file]...
[--web] [--writer]  [file...]
lobase
localc
lodraw
lofromtemplate
loimpress
lomath
loweb
lowriter

like. look at her. so many little flags. she contains multitudes 💅

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

LibreOffice (we call her LO for short, it's a nickname, it's affectionate) is a multi-platform office productivity suite. she was derived from OpenOffice.org 3.3 Beta on September 28, 2010. iconic birthday, honestly 🎂

libreoffice is a shell script — bestie it is literally just a script — that sets up the environment and then passes the command line arguments along to the soffice.bin binary. the script does the vibes, the binary does the work. teamwork 🫶

Alternatively, the following helper scripts start the respective module:

sbase, scalc, sdraw, simpress, smath, sofficerc, swriter

(and yes, those are different from the lobase / localc / lodraw / lofromtemplate / loimpress / lomath / loweb / lowriter crew in the synopsis. both exist. both are real. do not @ me 😭)

💖 OPTIONS 💖

  • --accept=accept-string — specifies a UNO-URL connect-string to create a UNO acceptor that other programs can connect through to access the API. the syntax of a UNO-URL connect-string is: uno:connection-type,params;protocol-name,params;ObjectName
🚨 okay so listen: API access allows execution of arbitrary commands. like, for real for real. that is not a drill, that is the manual telling you so. treat that acceptor like your house keys 🔑
  • --base — starts the wizard for a new Base document.
  • --calc — starts with a new Calc document.
  • --convert-to output_file_extension[:output_filter_name] [--outdir output_dir] file... — batch converts files. if --outdir is not specified then the current working directory is used as the output directory for the converted files. it implies --headless.

Examples:

--convert-to pdf *.doc

converts all .doc files to PDFs. slay ✨

--convert-to pdf:writer_pdf_Export --outdir /home/user *.doc

converts all .doc files to PDFs using the settings in the Writer PDF export dialog and saving them in /home/user. chef's kiss 👑

  • --display display — this option specifies the X server to use; see X(7).
  • --draw — starts with a new Draw document.
  • --global — starts with a new Global document.
  • --headless — starts in "headless mode", which allows using the application without a user interface.

this special mode can be used when the application is controlled by external clients via the API.

it implies --invisible and strictly ignores any GUI environment. also, --quickstart does not work with this parameter. no GUI, no quickstart, no notes 💀

  • --help|-h|-? — lists LibreOffice command line parameters. your little cheat sheet 🎀
  • --impress — starts with a new Impress document.
  • --invisible — starts in invisible mode.

neither the start-up logo nor the initial program window will be visible. LO can be controlled and documents and dialogs can be opened via the API.

when started with this parameter, it can only be quit using the taskmanager (Windows) or the kill command (UNIX based systems). yes. it's giving ghost mode. you cannot just close the window, there IS no window 😭

and --quickstart does not work with this parameter either.

  • --infilter="<filter>" — force an input filter type if possible. for example --infilter="Calc Office Open XML" only
🙈 okay so the original manpage's sentence literally just ends at "only". that's it. that's where it stops. I'm not gonna invent an ending for her, I'm just gonna report the facts and let the sentence live its life 💀
  • --math — starts with a new Math document.
  • --minimized — keeps the splash screen minimized.
  • -n template... — creates the a new document from the given templates. (yes, "the a". we're keeping it. character for character, bestie 🫶)
  • --nodefault — starts LO without creating a new document. the next time you start LO, the welcome screen is shown.

it's used together with --nologo by quick starters. note that --quickstart has no longer been supported since OpenOffice.org 2.0.0.

  • --nolockcheck — disables the check for remote instances using the installation.
  • --nologo — disables the splash screen at program start.
  • --norestore — disables restart and file recovery after a system crash. it is possible that LO will try to restore a file it keeps crashing on, if that happens --norestore is the only way to start LO.
🚨 like genuinely the only way. the crash-loop file is holding your install hostage and this flag is the locksmith.
  • --nosplash — disables the splash screen at program start. (twin of --nologo, we love a duo 💅)
  • -o file... — opens the given files for editing, even templates.

without -o a template file would create a new document derived from that template.

  • -p file... — prints the given files to the default printer and ends. the splash screen does not appear.

if the file name contains spaces, then it must be enclosed in quotation marks.

  • --print-to-file [--printer-name printer_name] [--outdir output_dir] file... — batch print files to file. if --printer-name is not specified the default printer is used. if --outdir is not specified then the current working directory is used as the output directory for the converted files.

Examples:

--print-to-file *.doc

prints all .doc files to the current working directory using the default printer.

--print-to-file --printer-name nasty_lowres_printer --outdir /home/user *.doc

prints all .doc files to /home/user directory using the nasty_lowres_printer. and yes, that printer name is real, that's what the page says, and honestly? it's serving ✨

  • --pt printername file... — prints the given files to the printer printername and ends. the splash screen does not appear.

if a file name contains spaces, then it must be enclosed in quotation marks.

  • --quickstart --quickstart=no — starts LO with its quick starter. --quickstart disable the quick starter.

does not work with --invisible or --headless. (we did warn you up there 👆)

  • --show Impress file... — opens the given Impress files, starts the presentation and quits after they have finished. auto-presentation-then-dip 🦋
  • --unaccept=accept-string — closes an acceptor that was created with --accept option.

use --unaccept=all to close all open acceptors.

  • --terminate_after_init — starts LO and terminates after it registers some UNO services. doesn't show the splash during startup.
  • --view file... — opens the given files read-only creating a temporary copy of them at $TMPDIR. look but do not touch 🎀
  • --web — starts with a new HTML document.
  • --writer — starts with a new Writer document.

🩹 TROUBLESHOOTING PROBLEMS 🩹

see http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/BugReport for more details on how to report bugs in LibreOffice.

like, go tell them. they want to know. bug reports are a love language 🫶

👀 SEE ALSO 👀

http://www.documentfoundation.org/

💜 AUTHOR 💜

this manual page was created by Rene Engelhard <rene@debian.org> for the Debian GNU/Linux Distribution, because the original package does not have one. it was updated for Novell by Petr Mladek <petr.mladek@novell.com> and adapted for LibreOffice by Philipp Weissenbacher <philipp.weissenbacher@gmail.com>.

three whole legends. a whole collab. we love to see it 👑

and that's the whole page bestie 🎀 this was LibreOffice, dated 2010-12-18, and it is page libreoffice(1) — that's the source, the version and the date, all wrapped up with a bow. go forth and --convert-to pdf something. periodt 💅✨

📦 where this page comes from