When Microsoft launched Workplace 2016, one huge enchancment the replace introduced was the assist for Bitcoin, the world’s hottest cryptocurrency. Now, LibreOffice, arguably one among Microsoft Workplace’s greatest opponents, has lastly added the identical function. It has been a very long time coming for customers of the free workplace suite who deal with digital property.

The change stemmed from a function request by @social.chemicals267, just a few days in the past, on the mission’s bug tracker. The person identified that Bitcoin is a standard unit of account and having native assist would “assist customers handle Bitcoin transactions immediately in spreadsheets while not having customized format workarounds.” They even offered the precise technical specs: the ₿ image is U+20BF, it ought to have 8 decimal locations to account for a Satoshi, and it should seem earlier than the quantity, identical to a greenback signal.

This small patch has been merged into the primary LibreOffice code. However don’t anticipate to see it straight away, because the change missed the function freeze for the upcoming 25.8 launch. However in keeping with Phoronix, we should always anticipate to see it subsequent 12 months, doubtless with the LibreOffice 26.2 replace.

When you consider it, LibreOffice has been taking part in plenty of catch-up currently. The mission has additionally been on the offensive, doing issues like immediately courting Home windows customers and inspiring them to modify to Linux and ditch Workplace for LibreOffice. It even launched a collection of free guides to assist individuals who make the swap.

Aside from this Bitcoin assist, the newest beta, 25.8, introduced correct embedded font assist, which ought to enhance interoperability with PowerPoint. And for those who look again, model 25.2 gave us assist for inline headings in Author, one other a type of options that individuals migrating from Phrase simply anticipate to work.

When this function lastly lands, managing your Bitcoin in LibreOffice Calc will turn into a lot less complicated. You’ll simply choose your cells, head over to the Numbers tab within the Format Cells dialog, and decide Bitcoin from the foreign money checklist.