ONLYOFFICE Docs 8.1 release with a great PDF editor

ONLYOFFICE is a fairly popular open source alternative to Microsoft Office, with many users using it to self-host on various server configurations, while others choose the desktop version for better accessibility.

A few months after the release of the previous version, the developers introduced a new version, ONLYOFFICE 8.1 Documentationwith many improvements and fixes.

So let’s take a quick look at this.

🆕 ONLYOFFICE 8.1 Documentation: What’s new?

ONLYOFFICE Docs is a self-hosted online office suite with many essential editors. It receives regular updates thanks to the efforts of its dedicated development team and supportive community.

In this article I will focus on the following points the most important information this issue:

Language improvements
Improved spreadsheets
Better presentations
PDF editor

screenshot of OnlyOffice Documents 8.1 Serbian interface

Building on existing RTL scripting support, we now have improved word order, correct alignment for various text types, and an improved Arabic number/punctuation algorithm for Neutral AND Weak classes.

Is support for two additional languages in Spreadsheets, which includes Bengali, the official language of Bangladesh, also widely spoken in India, and Sinhala, one of the main languages spoken in Sri Lanka.

And finally, Serbian-Cyrillic localization is available for all editors.

Improved spreadsheets

screenshot of the OnlyOffice Documents 8.1 option that limits the display of cells within a protected range

To improve security, it is now option to restrict cell browsing within a protected range to protect sensitive data from prying eyes. Users can access it by going to: Protection → Range Protection.

The creators also added support for ligatures and new functions, including: GETIVOTDATA/IMPORTANTnew feature category based on jsdocand edited cells are now highlighted when using version history.

Better presentations

a screenshot showing the OnlyOffice Documents 8.1 presentation slide master feature in action

For presentation users, this is now possible it’s easier to quickly apply the same layout to multiple slides using the new “Master of sliding” feature. There are also new slide settings on the right panel that let you reset the background, apply settings to slides, and display background graphics, among other things.

Users can also take advantage of the newAnimation pane” which can be accessed from “Animation” to see which animations have been applied to your slides in the convenient timeline at the bottom of the screen.

PDF editor

The The PDF editor in ONLYOFFICE Documents has received a significant updateNow there is support for editing text, pages, inserting objects such as tables, shapes, images, TextArt, hyperlinks and more.

Improvements have also been made to annotation mode – when you start annotating, a new mini toolbar appears, allowing you to add comments and explanations. Comments can also be deleted using the context menu.

Even form creation has received a significant boosta ONLYOFFICE Documents now switches to PDF forms, making the form creation process less cumbersome and more convenient by doing away with the previous DOCXF format.

To switch between editing and viewing modes, users can click the button at the top right of the header.

🛠️ Other changes and improvements

Of course, the above is only the most important information, here are some other changes worth paying attention to:

Increased set of available color schemes in all editors.
Extensive template library with many free templates in multiple languages.
Ability to choose to hide/show quick access buttons such as Rescue, Print, UndoAND Redo.
Smooth switching between Editing, BrowsingAND Browsing modes when using documents.

More information about this release can be found on the official release blog and in the changelog.

📥 Download ONLYOFFICE Documents 8.1

To check out the latest version of ONLYOFFICE Docs, you can go to the official website where you will find self-hosted versions.

Dedicated desktop versions also include all the benefits of the new version. To learn more, you can check out the release blog and changelog for desktop editors.

💬 Are you excited to try this version? Let me know in the comments below!

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