Collabora Office

Collabora Office is the desktop and mobile version of Collabora Online, the browser office suite made by Collabora Productivity. Collabora describes the new desktop application as bringing the Collabora Online experience to run locally on a computer, with the same interface and the same code as the online editors.

What it does

The suite has a word processor (Writer), a spreadsheet (Calc), a presentation editor (Impress) and a drawing tool (Draw). Collabora's page lists the formats each one handles: Writer opens ODT, DOCX, DOC, RTF and PDF files; Calc opens ODS, XLSX, XLS, XLSM and CSV; Impress opens ODP, PPT and PPTX; and Draw opens ODG, VSD and VSDX. Because it shares its code with Collabora Online, a document edited on the desktop behaves the same way when it is opened in the browser version that an organisation hosts.

Platforms and editions

The desktop app is offered for Windows through the Microsoft Store, for macOS through the App Store and for Linux through Flathub. Collabora also publishes Collabora Office apps for Android and iOS, and a version for Chromebooks. A separate product, Collabora Office Classic, keeps the older LibreOffice-style menus and toolbars for desktop users who prefer them.

Who it is for

It suits people and organisations that already use Collabora Online in a platform such as Nextcloud or ownCloud and want the same editors offline, and users who want an open-source desktop suite with a modern interface. Collabora's subscription page lists a desktop version and mobile support as part of its Enterprise subscription for organisations with 100 or more users; it gives no separate desktop price.