Collabora Office 26.04: Desktop suite with self-selected AI | heise online
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Collabora Productivity has released version 26.04 of its desktop office suite Collabora Office. The most important innovations: optional integrated AI support and closer integration with Windows, macOS, and Linux. Furthermore, the desktop version adopts all functions of the web version CODE 26.04 released in spring. The AI is deactivated by default.
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Collabora Office is a commercially maintained open-source office suite based on LibreOffice. The desktop applications and the browser version Collabora Online, or their community version CODE, largely share the codebase and rendering engine. New features are therefore expected to appear on both platforms almost simultaneously in the future.
AI Assistant with Selectable Model
The focus of the new version is an AI assistant that works directly in Writer, Calc, and Impress. Users no longer have to switch between Office and an external chatbot, but can call up the AI via a sidebar in the open document. It formulates or shortens texts, creates formulas for spreadsheets or analyzes errors in them, and builds presentations from bullet points. It can also generate images. Prompt templates for typical tasks and a selection of the desired writing style are intended to facilitate getting started.
According to the manufacturer, data sovereignty is paramount. Users decide for themselves which AI provider or language model they use – from cloud services to self-hosted models in their data center. The application communicates directly with the chosen model; Collabora is not involved. According to the manufacturer, the AI only accesses document content when users explicitly grant permission. In addition, the suite displays transparency notices in accordance with the EU AI Act and labels the supported models according to their capabilities, for example for image generation.
Native in Windows, macOS, and Linux
In parallel, Collabora has more closely integrated the desktop applications with the respective operating systems. On Windows, this includes a native menu bar, support for the Windows certificate store for digital signatures, and improvements for high-resolution displays and the system-wide dark mode. The macOS version brings a native menu bar, document tabs, and a revised presenter view for multi-screen setups. On Linux, Collabora relies on Qt6 WebEngine and distributes the application as Flatpak and Snap. In addition, there is better integration into desktop settings such as dark mode and optimizations when opening documents via D-Bus, the standard communication bus between Linux applications.
The integrated innovations from CODE 26.04 include: Writer, among other things, receives a document comparison and a multi-page view. Calc gets calculated pivot fields and new design options for tables. Calculated pivot fields allow new key figures to be determined within a pivot table from existing data without modifying the source data. In Impress, Collabora mentions slide sections, improved support for multiple monitors, and “Follow Me” presentations, where the view of all participants automatically follows that of the presenter.
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Furthermore, the suite now imports and exports Markdown documents. A new start screen shows recently opened files and templates, along with improvements in accessibility and compatibility with Microsoft's OOXML formats. Collabora Office will initially open documents in read-only mode; a clearly visible switch activates edit mode.
Collabora Office 26.04 is available free of charge in the Microsoft Store, the Mac App Store, and for Linux via Flathub and as a Snap package. However, the manufacturer points out that the desktop applications are still considered previews. Errors, performance issues, and incomplete translations are still to be expected; enterprise support will follow later.
(axk)
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This article was originally published in
German.
It was translated with technical assistance and editorially reviewed before publication.
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