> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://itsfoss.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # LibreOffice 26.8 Doubles Down on No AI, Right After Collabora Welcomed It - URL: https://itsfoss.com/news/libreoffice-26-8-release/ - Published: 2026-08-27T15:55:54.000Z - Updated: 2026-08-27T15:55:54.000Z - Description: TDF is not interested in providing any AI features, sticking to the basics of an open source office suite. - Author: Sourav Rudra - Tags: News TDF and Collabora have been at odds since April, when TDF's Membership Committee [kicked out](https://itsfoss.com/news/document-foundation-collabora-feud/) every Collabora staffer and partner in one move, with more than 30 people dropped. That didn't stop Collabora from shipping a range of new releases, with [Collabora Office 26.04](https://itsfoss.com/news/collabora-office-26-04/) being the most recent one, where AI was introduced as an opt-in feature, letting users pick a model and bring their own credentials. Now, LibreOffice, and by extension, The Document Foundation, has put its rejection of AI at the very forefront with the [LibreOffice 26.8 release](https://blog.documentfoundation.org/blog/2026/08/26/libreoffice-26-8/?ref=itsfoss.com), going as far as calling it out in the release announcement title itself. ## 🆕 LibreOffice 26.8: What's New? ![about dialog for the libreoffice 26.8 release is shown here, with the rest of the interface visible in the background](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/2026/08/libreoffice-26-8-about-dialog.png) There's no AI in LibreOffice 26.8\. Nothing about the suite talks to a remote server, and none of it needs an internet connection to work. This isn't an oversight; **it's a promise**. TDF says that if your work can't leave the building for legal or privacy reasons, the only way to prove that later (*during an audit, for example*) is if the software never gave it anywhere to go. Anyhow, coming back to the editors. 👇 **Writer** now detects paragraph direction automatically when you open or paste a document, end-of-line spacing follows the paragraph's direction instead of the reading direction, and object resize controls play well with RTL and vertical CJK documents. It also gets a way to see the baseline grid during editing, and the grid itself now aligns correctly inside text frames. A new *Draft View* for stripping out the headers, footers, and page margins for distraction-free writing is available too. **Calc** picks up the same RTL detection we saw earlier. Typing right-to-left text into an empty cell sets its direction automatically instead of requiring a manual toggle. With additional improvements like **Calculated Fields** for pivot tables and a "*Shuffle*" command for scrambling cell order within a selected range. Similarly, **Math** gets new named functions and operators built for two west African writing systems, [N'Ko](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N%27Ko%5Fscript?ref=itsfoss.com) and [Adlam](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adlam%5Fscript?ref=itsfoss.com), which cover the Manding languages and Fulani, plus left-pointing vector arrows for formulas written right to left. ![](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/2026/08/libreoffice-26-8-writer-baseline-grid.png) ![](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/2026/08/libreoffice-26-8-impress-page-resize.png) ![](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/2026/08/libreoffice-26-8-notebookbar-colors.png) **From left to right: Writer, Impress, and Colored Notebookbars.* **Chart** has basic support for reading and writing back the newer chart formats (*chartex*) that show up in Microsoft's OOXML files, covering the *box-and-whisker*, *funnel*, *Pareto*, *sunburst*, *treemap*, and *waterfall* types. **Impress** and **Draw** can mix page sizes within one file instead of forcing every slide or page to match, and Impress also picks up presentation sections, letting you group slides under a name instead of scrolling through one long list. And generally speaking, Calc, Writer, Impress, and Draw now **each carry their own background tint** in the Notebookbar (*the ribbon-style interface on top*), so you can tell which app you're in without reading the title bar. There's also a new **Paragraph Composer** that balances word spacing across a whole paragraph instead of judging each line by itself, fixing the uneven look that comes from justifying one line at a time. ### ⚙️ How to Install/Upgrade? You will usually find LibreOffice already installed on popular Linux distributions, and it is only a matter of time before this release shows up as part of a routine system upgrade. If you can't wait, then downloading the [DEB](https://download.documentfoundation.org/libreoffice/stable/26.8.0/deb/x86%5F64/LibreOffice%5F26.8.0%5FLinux%5Fx86-64%5Fdeb.tar.gz?ref=itsfoss.com) or [RPM](https://download.documentfoundation.org/libreoffice/stable/26.8.0/rpm/x86%5F64/LibreOffice%5F26.8.0%5FLinux%5Fx86-64%5Frpm.tar.gz?ref=itsfoss.com) package is the quickest way to get this release installed. Alternatively, you could also opt for the [Flatpak](https://flathub.org/en/apps/org.libreoffice.LibreOffice?ref=itsfoss.com), but know that it receives updates a bit late. [LibreOffice 26.8](https://www.libreoffice.org/download/?ref=itsfoss.com) Refer to the [release notes](https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/ReleaseNotes/26.8?ref=itsfoss.com) if you want to see the new changes in action.