Making a College Paper with LibreOffice

LibreOffice is a powerful suite of applications which is available free and works well on a variety of computer systems. I have been using the Apple version of the word processor and spreadsheet for years, and I’m very happy with them.

Getting Started

Begin by downloading your copy of LibreOffice and installing it on your computer.

Unlike LibreOffice, Microsoft 365, or Google Docs, LibreOffice does not have its own cloud storage. If you would like free cloud storage which will allow you to seamlessly open your documents on several different computers, Dropbox Basic is a good choice.

LibreOffice does not have an APA or MLA template, so here are a couple which will help you write college papers.

• LibreOffice APA Template
• LibreOffice MLA Template

How to use the templates:

1. Click the link. The template will land in your “Downloads” folder.
2. Move the template to the LibreOffice Templates folder: Open LibreOffice and click the “Templates” icon in the Startcenter. (You may have to open the Startcenter by dropping the “File” menu down and selecting “Startcenter.”) With the Startcenter open, drop the “File” menu down (again) and select “Templates > Manage Templates.” Now you can select your new template and load it LibreOffice.
3. When you save for the first time, the default name for the new file is “Untitled 1,” and the default location is the “Templates” folder. You can do better than that. Begin the writing process by saving your file with a name that will help you in a place where you can find it.
4. MLA NOTE: An MLA paper needs your own last name at the top of each page. The MLA template is set up to do this if you highlight [Student Last Name] and delete it. Caution point: If you triple-click this item, you will take out the page number as well. just delete the material within the brackets.

Writing the Paper

This template is very forgiving, and most of the instructions are within the template itself. Simply delete the template material and type your own in its place. If you foul up and delete too much (so you lose the paragraph style information) refer to the table below to get the correct tag.

LibreOffice does not automatically save your paper, so you should save every few minutes you are working (Ctrl + S or command + s).

Managing the Paragraph Styles

If you need to assign a different style to a paragraph, it’s easy to do. Click anywhere in the paragraph. Drop the menu down to the see the available options and click the one you want. Here are the elements of the template and the styles currently assigned:

APA Template

• Page number: Header
• Paper title: Main Title
• Cover page information: Centered
• Abstract title: Abstract Title
• Abstract body: Abstract body
• Paper title (inside): Title
• Body paragraphs: Text Body
• Indented long quotation: Quotations
• References page title: References Title
• References page entries: Bibliography 1

MLA Template

• Page number: Header
• Student name block: Name Block
• Paper title: Title
• Body paragraphs: Text Body
• Indented long quotation: Quotations
• Works Cited page title: Works Cited Title
• Works Cited page entries: Bibliography 1

Downloading Your Paper for Blackboard or Printing

Both Blackboard and Microsoft Office can read the odt file format used by LibreOffice, so you can simply upload the file you have been working on.

If you need a Microsoft Word docx file for some reason, drop the “File” menu down to “Save As…” and choose what you need from “File Type.”

The views and opinions expressed in this page are strictly those of the page author.

The contents of this page have not been reviewed or approved by Ashland University.

Revised 10/6/23 • Page author: Curtis Allen • e-mail: callen@ashland.edu.