Collabora Online is an open source online office suite that can be integrated into any web application, it is developed by Collabora Productivity, a division of Collabora.
Collabora Online has LibreOffice at its core, it allows collaborative real-time editing of word processing documents, spreadsheets, presentations and vector graphics.
Collabora are a commercial partner with LibreOffice's parent organisation The Document Foundation (TDF), the TDF state that a majority of the LibreOffice software development is done by its commercial partners, Collabora, Red Hat, CIB, and Allotropia.
Features
Any modern web browser without plug-ins or add-ons can access Collabora Online to edit or collaboratively edit in real-time; text documents, spreadsheets, presentations and vector graphics.
Collaborative functions include comments which other users can respond to, and document version history enabling comparison of documents and restoring among other things.
Advanced collaborative functions include things like integrated video calls or chat whilst collaboratively editing documents, these are possible as Collabora Online integrates with enterprise file synchronisation and sharing cloud solutions such as Nextcloud, ownCloud, Seafile and EGroupware.alt=Web browser accessing Collabora Online Calc 6.4.9 on Android 8" tablet|thumb|8" tablet web browser accessing Collabora Online spreadsheet 6.4.9 alt=Screenshot of Collabora Online Writer 6.4 with sidebar toggled on|thumb|Desktop web browser accessing Collabora Online word processor 6.4 with the sidebar toggled on Apps for desktops, chromebooks, laptops, tablets and smartphones
Client apps are not required to access Collabora Online which only requires a modern web browser; However, native software apps are available for local installation on most devices.
The apps for Google's Android and Chrome OS, plus Apple's iOS and iPadOS share a lot of the software with Online, and they are all built on the LibreOffice core software; improvements in one of these often helps the other apps.
The apps work offline, they will work offline in full functionality without the need for a connection to the cloud or a server, although support for integrations with cloud storage services, such as NextCloud is possible.
They have touch optimised interfaces for varying screen sizes such as smartphone and tablet.
The Chrome OS app which is used in Chromebooks, Chromeboxes, Chromebases, Chromebits and tablets, has a customised touch optimised interface and edits documents offline in the Play files folders.
Desktop applications share the same core software and functionality of LibreOffice and are available for Windows, macOS and Linux, these will work online or offline.
File Formats
Collabora Online supports the Open Document Format for Office Applications (ODF - odt, odp, ods, odg), the Office Open XML formats (docx, pptx, xlsx) as well as legacy Microsoft Office formats (doc, ppt, xls).
Other formats supported include pdf, csv, rtf, and epub.
Visio, Publisher, Keynote, Numbers, Pages, and other file formats can be imported.
Applications
Collabora Online Writer - text editor.
Collabora Online Calc - spreadsheet editor.
Collabora Online Impress - presentation editor.
Collabora Online Draw - vector graphics editor for flyers, newsletters, brochures, diagrams, etc. (Version 6.4.7+)https://www.collaboraoffice.com/release-news/major-new-features-with-macros-and-draw-in-collabora-online-6-4-7-update/
Server
Collabora Online allows collaborative real-time editing of word processing documents, spreadsheets, presentations and vector graphics.
The server or servers can be hosted locally or with a provider, privately hosted cloud services allow data to remain under the control of the respective users, Collabora Productivity support Collabora Online server instances for Debian, Ubuntu CentOS, openSUSE, Univention Virtual Machines and Docker images.
It is often integrated with file share and collaboration cloud platforms, such as Nextcloud, ownCloud, Seafile and EGroupware, which are functionally similar to Dropbox, Google Drive and Microsoft 365, these typically include email, contacts, calendar, file sync and share, calls, chat and video, with apps stores.
Close integrations are possible, enabling things like the possibility to edit documents within a chatroom or a video call, as with Nextcloud's built-in video-conferencing tool Nextcloud Talk.
Collabora Online server can integrate simultaneously with several cloud solutions such as aforementioned and also Moodle, Alfresco, Kolab, Mattermost, Sharepoint and others.
The server can be installed from packages, or during development, for simplicity, from a docker image.
The Docker website indicates that the Collabora Online Development Edition (CODE) Docker image has been downloaded 50 million times.
A software development kit (SDK) including API specifications and integration instructions is available, along with sample integration code snippets in several software languages.
Collaborative functions include comments which other users can respond to, document version history enabling the comparison of documents and their restoration, and other things.
A work from home solution is made available by Canonical, Collabora, and Nextcloud that includes the Collabora Online office suite, it is called a Nextcloud Ubuntu Appliance and will install to Intel NUCs or ARM based Raspberry Pi 4s, it is pre-configured and automatically updates itself.
Digital Sovereignty
A notable ability of Collabora Online over other office cloud suites is that it is fully audit-able and self-hosted solutions can be implemented where it is not necessary to depend on an account from a 3rd party provider to edit files.
In July 2020, the European parliament published a briefing titled Digital sovereignty for Europe, detailing concerns that citizens, businesses and Member States of the European Union (EU) are losing control over their data, it explains the economic model used by Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft is largely based on the collection and exploitation of online users' data.
Judgements such as “Schrems II” show that it is delicate to rely on solutions from the large cloud providers when it comes to processing and storing sensitive personal data.
Digital sovereignty has been an increasing concern in the EU for several reasons since the Patriot Act enacted in October 2001, the continuing legal privacy conflicts between the US CLOUD Act enacted March 2018 and the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) implemented May 2018.
The French Ministry's IT infrastructure director stated safety of the data of their citizens and employees as a reason for deploying Nextcloud-based private cloud for the French Ministry of Interior.
The Dutch Ministry of Education, the German federal government, and the Swedish federal government agencies are deploying Nextcloud-based private cloud for similar reasons and to increase competition.
Technology
The core of Collabora Online is written in C++ just like the core of LibreOffice.
It uses the LibreOfficeKit, a programming interface that allows the reuse of most of the existing LibreOffice code and the saving, loading and rendering of documents.
The basic principle of Collabora Online is that documents never leave the server.
The parties working on the documents see tile-rendered images of the document and send their changes back to the server.
The visible user interface of Collabora Online is written in JavaScript.
For file access and authentication with a file hosting services, Collabora Online uses the WOPI protocol developed by Microsoft.
This means that Collabora Online can - in theory - be used with any instance allowing a Microsoft 365 integration.
Reviews
Collabora Online was discussed in various online and print publications.
In December 2016 the tech website Softpedia mentioned the availability of collaborative editing in version 2.0 and the integration with Owncloud, Nextcloud and other FSS solutions.
The technology website ZDNet reported in June 2020 that Collabora Online from version 19 of Nextcloud will be delivered as a standard office package and that within the native video conferencing software Talk direct editing of documents is now possible.
The technology blog OMG!
Ubuntu!
covered the release of the Android & iOS apps pointing out the possibility to use them in offline mode.
In September 2020 Linux Magazine compared Collabora Online with OnlyOffice, mentioning the flexibility and platform independence of both tools and pointing out large set of features Collabora Online draws from LibreOffice.
History
The former LibreOffice development team from SUSE joined Collabora in September 2013 forming the subsidiary Collabora Productivity.
In 2015 Collabora and IceWarp announced the development of an enterprise-ready version of LibreOffice Online to compete with Google Docs and Office 365 (now called Microsoft 365).
In December 2015, the company's partnership with ownCloud and release of CODE (Collabora Online Development Edition) was announced on Joinup.
In November 2016, Nextcloud announced their work and integration with v2.0 of CODE and their future work plans for improving performance, scalability, security and capabilities with Collabora Online.
In October 2020 Collabora announced the move of its work on Collabora Online from The Document Foundation infrastructure to GitHub.
A development version of Collabora Online is available called Collabora Online Development Edition (CODE).
See also
Collaborative software
List of collaborative software
List of word processors
List of spreadsheet software
List of desktop publishing software
List of office suites
References
External links
Category:Office suites Category:Open-source office suites Category:Online office suites Category:Collaborative real-time editors Category:Office suites for Windows Category:Office suites for macOS Category:Office suites for Linux Category:Online word processors Category:Word processors Category:Spreadsheet software Category:Online spreadsheets Category:Spreadsheet software for macOS Category:Spreadsheet software for Windows Category:Free presentation software Category:Presentation software Category:Presentation software for MacOS Category:Presentation software for Windows Category:Desktop publishing software Category:Desktop publishing software for Linux Category:DTP for MacOS Category:DTP for Windows Category:Free desktop publishing software Category:Vector graphics editors Category:Document management systems Category:LibreOffice Category:Free PDF software Category:
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