While we can’t natively run LibreOffice from within ChromeOS, we can run LibreOffice on a Chromebook using Linux Development Environment. So in this video we demonstrate how from the Linux command prompt, we installed LibreOffice onto our Chromebook.
Notes: In order to run LibreOffice from a Chromebook, you will need to install Linux Development Environment (LDE). LDE is really just a Virtual Machine of Linux within ChromeOS. So by default Linux will be isolated from ChromeOS and any data you have stored on it. If you are using a school or work Chromebook you might not be able to use Linux. So please contact your system administrator or tech support before trying.
Quick reference notes:
- Open the Linux Development Environment menu
- From within the menu select Penguin to open a Linux Terminal windows
- First we are going to check for update by typing:
sudo apt update- As we did not have any updates, there was no need to perform an update. However, if you need to update the applications and services in your instance of Linux you will need to type:
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade- When we are once again presented with the command prompt we can install LibreOffice
Note: In order to make installing Linux applications into Linux easier, we use a Software Management Utility called Flatpak. In order for you to use the following commands you first need to install Flatpak into your instance of Linux. – ChromeOS | Linux Development Environment | Install Flatpak onto a Chromebook
- At the command prompt type:
sudo flatpak install flathub org.libreoffice.LibreOffice- When prompted “Do you want to install it” type Y
- When prompted to “Proceed with these Changes to the system installation?“, type Y
- LibreOffice will now install onto your Chromebook
- When you once again see a command prompt you can exit out of the terminal window by typing:
exit- We can now try and run one of the LibreOffice application.
- In the ChromeOS app Launcher you will a folder called Linux apps which will contain any Linux applications you have installed onto your Chromebook. You should find the suite of applications for LibreOffice here.
Note: As most cheap Chromebooks use eMMC drives rather that SSD’s, you might find that it takes a while for the LibreOffice applications to load. So this slow load speed is more a limitation of your model of Chromebook, rather than LibreOffice as an application.
Reference materials:
- Google support article – Setup Linux on your Chromebook
- Wikipedia – Virtual Machine
- LibreOffice website – www.libreoffice.org
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