Why does Libreoffice scroll so slowly?
Q
I have a Windows 10 laptop and an ancient desktop PC running Windows 7. I’ve been running Libreoffice on my laptop for a while without bother. However, I recently had cause to install it on the Windows 7 PC. I’m gobsmacked at how much faster it is on the older machine. In particular, scrolling through Writer documents is quick and smooth. On the laptop, which is just over a year old, scrolling is jerky by comparison. I don’t understand why a computer that’s more up-to-date should perform worse than one that’s nearly a decade old. Could you advise?
Stuart Neal
A
There’s a bug in some versions of Libreoffice prior to 5.0 that causes exactly this problem. As you’ve had Libreoffice installed for a while on your Windows 10 laptop, but have only recently put it on your Windows 7 desktop, it seems likely that the newer machine is saddled with a flawed older version of the suite.
The fix is simple: update the Windows 10 laptop to the latest version of Libreoffice. You can grab the latest version from the Libreoffice website ( www. libreoffice.org) or, in any Libreoffice app, click the Help menu, then click ‘Check for Updates’ (see screenshot top). Then, depending on the version you have, you might be able to click the Install button to be upgraded automatically. If not, click Download to grab the installation file from the Libreoffice website (see screenshot bottom), then double-click the downloaded file.