LibreOffice 24.2 Alpha 1 Brings Many New Features

LibreOffice 24.2 Alpha 1 was just tagged in Git as the first development snapshot toward this next major release of this open-source office software.

LibreOffice 24.2 Alpha 1 was tagged a short time ago in Git for what's working toward a stable debut in February. Besides shifting to a new date-based versioning scheme, LibreOffice 24.2 is bringing new features such as:

- Improved multi-page floating tables within LibreOffice Writer.

- A new search field in the functions sidebar deck for LibreOffice calc spreadsheets.

- Implemented Small Caps for LibreOffice Impress.

- "Save AutoRecovery information" is now enabled by default along with "always create backup copies" to make LibreOffice more robust in the event of crashes or other problems. There's also many auto recovery fixes.

- Search functionality added to LibreOffice Options area.

- Automatically switching to dark app colors and a dark icon theme when using a dark color scheme from desktop settings now works for Qt-based UI variants such as on KDE Plasma.

- LibreOffice's "save with password" dialog adds a password strength meter.

More details on the work-in-progress LibreOffice 24.2 features can be found via the Document Foundation Wiki.

The release schedule shows the alpha release coming right on time. The LibreOffice 24.2 feature freeze and code branching will be in early December followed by the beta release. At least three release candidates are expected in December and January before LibreOffice 24.2 should premiere around the start of February.