For users who prefer native .deb package, LibreOffice 24.2 is finally available to install via Ubuntu PPA!
LibreOffice is the default office suite for Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, and many other Linux. And, the latest so far is LibreOffice 24.2.x release series that was released a month ago.
The office suite provides official packages for Linux through Flatpak, Snap, Deb/RPM, and AppImage.
However, for Ubuntu users who prefer the native Deb package format, the LibreOffice Fresh PPA maintained by Ubuntu Team members, is a better choice.
“OTOH, it is _way_ _better_ to use packages from this PPA than using the *.deb files that The Document Foundation provides upstream, which are intentionally build against a very old baseline for maximum compatibility. So, _if_ you want to be on the bleeding edge, do it here, not with upstream *.debs.”
And now the PPA finally is updated that contains LibreOffice 24.2.1 for Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 23.10, and Ubuntu 24.04. While the Ubuntu 20.04 build is stuck at the last v7.6.5.
Install LibreOffice 24.2.x from Ubuntu PPA
1. First, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open up a terminal window. When it opens, run the command below to add the PPA:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:libreoffice/ppa
Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it asks for sudo authentication and hit Enter to continue.
2. After adding the PPA, search for and launch “Software Updater” from Activities overview. Or, open ‘Update Manager’ (and refresh) depends on your system.
There you should see LibreOffice packages available to update. Just click install and wait until done.
If you have previously removed the pre-installed LibreOffice packages, then you can run the command below instead to install the latest .deb packages from PPA:
sudo apt update && sudo apt install libreoffice
How to Restore:
For any issue, you may restore the packages to stock version in system repository. To do so, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal, and run command:
sudo apt install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:libreoffice/ppa
This command will first install ppa-purge tool, then use it to purge the PPA which also downgrade all installed packages from that repository.