Install Apache OpenOffice In Ubuntu And Linux Mint

This tutorial shows you how to install Apache OpenOffice in Ubuntu, Linux Mint and other Ubuntu based Linux distributions such as elementary OS, Linux Lite, Peppermint OS etc.

Frankly speaking, despite being one of the best Open Source alternatives to Microsoft Office, Apache OpenOffice has never been my favorite office product. I prefer LibreOffice and so do several other Linux distributions that have LibreOffice as default office suite.

The reason for my disliking is simple. It seems that Apache OpenOffice does not care about the ease of installation. It doesn’t have one single installation file which you can download and double click to install. To me, it’s just bad packaging. If they can provide over 20 deb files for various stuff, why not package them in one. This is unnecessarily complicating the things.

As an experienced Linux-er, I can run a few commands to install Open Office in Ubuntu but I am pretty sure this installation procedure could be off-putting for the beginners. I wonder why it is not available in Ubuntu repository for easy installation.

So, why am I writing OpenOffice installation guide then? Actually, it was a tutorial request by Michel and I obliged to it. Without wasting more time, let’s see Open Office installation in Ubuntu and other Ubuntu based Linux distributions.

Install OpenOffice In Ubuntu & Linux Mint

Before you go on installing OpenOffice, I would advise uninstalling the already installed LibreOffice. To remove LibreOffice, use the following commands:

sudo apt-get remove --purge libreoffice*
sudo apt-get clean
sudo apt-get autoremove

Once you have removed LibreOffice, let’s see how to install OpenOffice now. There are two versions available, 32 bit or 64 bit. If you are not sure, here is how to find out if you are using 32 bit or 64 bit Ubuntu.

Install 32 bit OpenOffice in Ubuntu and Linux Mint

cd ~/Downloads

Once you are in the Downloads, use the command below to download the files.

wget sourceforge.net/projects/openofficeorg.mirror/files/4.1.1/binaries/en-GB/Apache_OpenOffice_4.1.1_Linux_x86_install-deb_en-GB.tar.gz

Once we have the files, time to install them.

tar -xzvf Apache_OpenOffice_4.1.1_Linux_x86_install-deb_en-GB.tar.gz
cd en-GB/DEBS
sudo dpkg -i *.deb
cd desktop-integration
sudo dpkg -i *.deb

Install 64 bit OpenOffice in Ubuntu and Linux Mint

Go to Downloads directory.

cd ~/Downloads

Download the installation files.

wget sourceforge.net/projects/openofficeorg.mirror/files/4.1.1/binaries/en-GB/Apache_OpenOffice_4.1.1_Linux_x86-64_install-deb_en-GB.tar.gz

Extract and install the downloaded files.

tar -xzvf Apache_OpenOffice_4.1.1_Linux_x86-64_install-deb_en-GB.tar.gz
cd en-GB/DEBS
sudo dpkg -i *.deb
cd desktop-integration
sudo dpkg -i *.deb

You see, would it not have been better if OpenOffice was simply included in the repository sources? Remember that we have installed en-GB i.e. British version of OpenOffice. If you want the US version, replace GB with US in the above commands and it should be fine.

Anyways, if you want to get rid of Apache OpenOffice and move back to LibreOffice, we are going to see how to do that in the next section.

Uninstall OpenOffice

Simply use the commands below to remove OpenOffice from Ubuntu and Linux Mint:

sudo apt-get purge openoffice*.* && sudo apt-get autoremove

Re-install LibreOffice

To install LibreOffice again, use the command below:

sudo apt-get install libreoffice

OpenOffice instead of LibreOffice?? No way!!!

You seem how easy it is to install LibreOffice compared to OpenOffice? I still wonder why not include OpenOffice in software sources of Ubuntu itself. I hope I am not the only one feeling that way.

I looked upon the internet and found that Apache OpenOffice is either not being developed at all or the development is ridiculously slow, making it almost an obsolete product. In fact, the slow development has left it vulnerable from the security point of view as there are an astronomical number of unfixed bugs. This is why people are advising to stop using OpenOffice altogether.

No wonder that mainstream Linux distributions have preferred to opt for LibreOffice which was actually forked from OpenOffice and have been under heavy development. Oracle, however, has killed an otherwise open source project which lies at the bottom of open world ocean with other sunken open source projects.

I hope this post helped you to install OpenOffice in Ubuntu 14.04, 15.04 etc. Any questions or suggestions are always welcomed.