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I am using the stable LibreOffice PPA, which just pushed out 3.5.0 and I (foolishly) upgraded from 3.4.5.

Now my LibreOffice is broken, with all sorts of issues like icons and launchers not appearing, being unable to Alt+Tab or Alt+~, the Unity dock filling up with (broken) LibreOffice icons that do not disappear when files are closed, and random errors and crashes.

What is the "proper" way to downgrade the LibreOffice version so that all new files get purged?

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I wish I had an answer but I've only got a comment. Sad experience has taught me that waiting for updates and upgrades to appear in the Ubuntu repositories is often a much better option. At the very least, I wait a few days and watch for problems such as these to appear in AskUbuntu. Sorry, that's no help right now, I know. And frankly,some of the sites that promote the latest whiz-bang apps before they're ready do a great disservice to noobs like me. – Kelley Feb 29 '12 at 3:56

3 Answers

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Because libreoffice has a bunch of additional packages that integrate it seamlessly into gnome/unity/ubuntu, a simple "reinstall libreoffice" isn't a complete answer and leaves things half-installed.

I think I got it now though. Here's what I did:

1) sudo apt get purge libreoffice?

2) opened Software Sources, clicked the Other Sources tab and removed the libreoffice PPA

3) sudo apt-get update

4) sudo apt-get clean && sudo apt-get autoremove

5) sudo apt-get install libreoffice libreoffice-gnome lo-menubar

6) reboot the machine

This puts me back at LibreOffice 3.4.4 and unity integration seems happy again.

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I don't know what proper is, but I've had to do this for other programs. This is how I do it:

  • Open up synaptic

  • Search for libreoffice.

  • Mark for complete removal, and choose all dependencies or related files and mark them for complete removal.

  • Apply.

  • Open up nautilus

  • Go->Search for files

  • Type in libreoffice. Carefully remove what you can. I.e., Icons may come in theme packs sometimes and are not installed by the programs they represent.

  • Reinstall preferred version

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Because libreoffice has a bunch of additional packages that integrate it seamlessly into gnome/unity/ubuntu, a simple "reinstall libreoffice" isn't a complete answer and leaves things half-installed. – amc Feb 29 '12 at 16:43
up vote 0 down vote

I have not attempted this, but Synaptic Package Manager gives you the option to "force" a particular version.

You can see what versions it has available: search "LibreOffice", highlight it (click once on it, not "marking" it), then on menu bar, Package > Force Version (also CTL-E).

On my Lubuntu machine, I get two versions of LibreOffice (3.4.4 and 3.4.3) which I can choose from to force-"install".

I take it from "force install" discussions in the Ubuntu forums, that this approach is not entirely risk-free. Caveat lector!

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