LO for Android - is there more than a Viewer available? Beta maybe?

users
#1

With the posts about iOS version is not available [on the Website list], I remember reading something about an Android version that was more than just a Viewer.

Is there an Android version yet, that can edit documents? Even if it is a Beta version.

I am running Android 4.4.x on a 10 inch tablet with a Bluetooth keyboard built into the tablet case.

I really would love to have a LibreOffice fork to Android, instead of other "brand", to work with ODF files and maybe .doc ones as well. I need something more than a viewer for the "simple" documents I would create on my tablet at various places outside my apartment, like doctor office waiting areas or other places where my laptop would not is not welcome.

#2

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.andropenoffice

#3

I forgot about that package.

Actually, I tried it on my older tablet but did not have an external keyboard at that time. Maybe this newer tablet would have better luck with that package.

I wonder when some of our developers get that type of viewer/editor for the LibreOffice "brand". Right now I was forced to use the free Word for Android package, which keeps trying to have me use their online services. In Win10, I keep getting a message insisting that I log into their Cloud services every time I switch to Win10's boot to use a couple of graphic packages I need to use and does not have the same "filters and functions" with GIMP or other Linux graphics packages.

#4

Do you really believe in brands?

#5

I would rather have a LibreOffice for Android instead of Open Office for Android.

I chose LibreOffice over all of the forks out there. Since LibreOffice has a "brand", according to the web site, I choose its brand over the "brands" of those other forks that were developed over the past 4 or 5 years.

#6

I trust that the developers who made this happen know exactly what they
are doing.

#7

Ummm... LibreOffice is a fork of OpenOffice.

#8

LibreOffice and Apache OpenOffice - plus NeoOffice and probably some other office suite - have been forked out of OpenOffice.org at different times. The LGPL source code has ended it's life in June 2011, when the move to Apache Foundation inspired by IBM has deliberately changed the license from copyleft to permissive and replaced all copyleft code with permissive code, with a more substancial amount of changes than the LibreOffice fork.

Italo Vignoli

#9

Your initial question was if there is more than a viewer for Android and
now you come up with issues of taste and branding.

It is the decision of those who actually do the work.
They may find the Apache license more attractive.
They may be familiar with the old code base but not with the forks.
The "stability" (lack of development) could be attractive too.

#10

Sorry. It was Tim's initial question.

#11

Dear LO users,

I would like to give away *.odt files without hidden formated text.
Do you have some advice how to remove the hidden (hard-)formatted text in a
simple way?
Is it possible by a macro?

(I am aware that you can make hidden text invisible and print the file without
hidden text on paper. I also know how to remove properties)

Thank you in advance

Walther

#12

I started using OpenOffice.org before it had the ability to save .doc files. I tried Oxygen Office and a few others over the years. When LibreOffice came out in its first version, I switched and never looked back. When Apache's version came out I did not switch.

Yes, my original question was about needing a package that has the editing ability for ODF, but I have the LibreOffice viewer and wanted to use an Android version of LibreOffice that does the editing. For whatever reasons, I come to prefer LibreOffice's "brand", from the reasons for creating this fork to the "community" developed around this fork.

I did download the suggested Android app and will look into using it. If you do not have an external keyboard, you cannot use "landscape orientation" and see what you are typing at the same time - or at least for my tablet's display resolution.

Note - in my honest opinion[s]:
Someday, hopefully soon, our volunteer developers will produce an Android app that will create and edit ODF and MSO file formats. Also, one day those users of iOS devices will have a LO version to use as well. For me, I like the idea that I could use the same "brand" of an office suite for every device that I would use. Right now I use Linux and Windows 10 for desktops/laptops, and Android for a tablet and a phone. Right now, MSO is available for my laptops/desktops and my Android tablets. There are Windows phones and Windows tablets, and MS wants to easily run their MSO on all platforms. It seems that they are working on an easier way to run MS packages on Linux than using Wine. I keep seeing references to this. SO, I really like to see LibreOffice on all the common platforms - Linux, Windows, Mac OSX, and one day Android and iOS.

If the Linux "hating" Microsoft is working with Linux developers to make it easier to use MS packages on Linux, then maybe they realize that there are a lot of users out there who prefer Linux - and maybe LibreOffice - over MS's OS and packages. If MS is actively looking towards the Linux user base to make MSO, and other Windows packages, usable on Linux so MS could try to dominate the one market they have not been able to do so.

Right now, LibreOffice is the dominate [default] office package for most Linux distros. I really hope it could be dominate in the Android market as well - when LO has has its own editor ready.

#13

Dreams are free.

#14

I chose LibreOffice over all of the forks out there.

Ummm... LibreOffice is a fork of OpenOffice.

Your initial question was if there is more than a viewer for Android and

now you come up with issues of taste and branding.

It is the decision of those who actually do the work.
They may find the Apache license more attractive.
They may be familiar with the old code base but not with the forks.
The "stability" (lack of development) could be attractive too.

I started using OpenOffice.org before it had the ability to save .doc
files. I tried Oxygen Office and a few others over the years. When
LibreOffice came out in its first version, I switched and never looked
back. When Apache's version came out I did not switch.

Yes, my original question was about needing a package that has the editing
ability for ODF, but I have the LibreOffice viewer and wanted to use an
Android version of LibreOffice that does the editing. For whatever
reasons, I come to prefer LibreOffice's "brand", from the reasons for
creating this fork to the "community" developed around this fork.

I did download the suggested Android app and will look into using it. If
you do not have an external keyboard, you cannot use "landscape
orientation" and see what you are typing at the same time - or at least for
my tablet's display resolution.

Note - in my honest opinion[s]:
Someday, hopefully soon, our volunteer developers will produce an Android
app that will create and edit ODF and MSO file formats. Also, one day those
users of iOS devices will have a LO version to use as well. For me, I like
the idea that I could use the same "brand" of an office suite for every
device that I would use. Right now I use Linux and Windows 10 for
desktops/laptops, and Android for a tablet and a phone. Right now, MSO is
available for my laptops/desktops and my Android tablets. There are
Windows phones and Windows tablets, and MS wants to easily run their MSO on
all platforms. It seems that they are working on an easier way to run MS
packages on Linux than using Wine. I keep seeing references to this. SO,
I really like to see LibreOffice on all the common platforms - Linux,
Windows, Mac OSX, and one day Android and iOS.

If the Linux "hating" Microsoft is working with Linux developers to make
it easier to use MS packages on Linux, then maybe they realize that there
are a lot of users out there who prefer Linux - and maybe LibreOffice -
over MS's OS and packages. If MS is actively looking towards the Linux
user base to make MSO, and other Windows packages, usable on Linux so MS
could try to dominate the one market they have not been able to do so.

Right now, LibreOffice is the dominate [default] office package for most
Linux distros. I really hope it could be dominate in the Android market as
well - when LO has has its own editor ready.

I'm not sure that the LibreOffice people are looking for world domination.
They do a great job with this suite (even though I prefer Apache
OpenOffice, since LibreOffice sometimes destroys my spreadsheets and only
Apache OpenOffice seems to be able to repair them again…), but they don't
try to force you to use it. I have even seen people on this list
recommending unhappy users something else, sometimes even MS Office… So it
seems to be more like ”look what we did, feel welcome do use it if you want
to, and if it doesn't feel right for you, maybe you could try this or that
instead”, rather than ”we must double the user base until next year” or
whatever.

And no, there is no LibreOffice for Android available yet. The best app yet
seems to be that AndrOpen Office app, but who knows what the future holds…
AndrOpen Office seems to be based on Apache OpenOffice, but as far as I
know, no Apache people are involved in that project, so it's kind of a
fork, just like LibreOffice.

#15

No, I do not think LO is going for "world domination", but I really think having every "major" platform should have a good/great free and open source option for their office suite needs. Since I support LibreOffice, it would be nice to have LibreOffice on all of those platforms as one of those free and open source options. Since LibreOffice does not - yet - have an editor for Android, AndrOffice will do for now. MSO packages are now free for Android [at least for the basic versions]. I really do not want to see that MS becomes the dominate Android office package, like it is for Windows. Also, the way the articles imply, I do not want to see MSO come to Linux and try to take over the dominance of the Linux office suite marketplace.

The last time I bought MSO, it was 2003 version for the Education market. I gave up MSO when OpenOffice.org read/write the MSO 97-2003 file formats. Also, once I made Ubuntu [9.10 or 10.04] as my default OS, I had a real excuse to do most of my work using Ubuntu Linux instead on my Windows XP desktops/laptop. Well, another reason was the lack of viruses and malware on the Linux OS. I first heard about OpenOffice.org in an author's notes at the end of one of his books, where he use Linux and OpenOffice.org to write that book. Been using it, or its various forks, since then. Now that I use desktops [sometimes], laptops [mostly], and tablets [more and more], I want to have the same office package on all my systems, Windows 10, Ubuntu Linux, and Android. Then I would not have issues with non-compatibility between the documents made on one device like my Android 4.4.x tablet, and the same file on my Ubuntu 16.04 laptop. For now I have to use a different "brand" of open source office package till LibreOffice comes to Android as an editor. Actually I have LibreOffice reader and the AndrOffice Android apps installed on the tablet. That is a good start.

#16

Hi Tim,

Is there an Android version yet, that can edit documents? Even if it is
a Beta version.

To my knowledge :

AndrOpenOffice - the whole suite, but you really need a keyboard with
your tablet

EuroOffice Calc/Text/Presenter - supposedly designed for Android tablets

Alex

#17

I looked at AndrOpenOffice before, on a tablet when I did not have an external keyboard. In Portrait orientation, you do have some ability to see the text while you are typing, but not enough to really use it.. Since my current tablet had the bluetooth keyboard attached to the fake leather "case". I have not tried a tablet version of EuroOffice.