The latest version of the open-source office suite comes with around 30 new features and more than 500 bug fixes
Singapore – The developers of ONLYOFFICE Docs (www.ONLYOFFICE.com) released version 8.2 of the online editors with multiple novelties. Built with document collaboration in mind, the native PDF editor gets support for co-editing and signatures. Other enhancements include redesigned UI, faster file loading, zero-downtime deployment, field codes, desktop support for touch screen, RTL and smooth scrolling in sheets, and others.
PDF collaboration for more efficient business teamwork
The ONLYOFFICE team continues to further polish its native PDF editor. Starting from this release, co-authoring is provided for PDF files as well. By default, Strict co-editing – paragraph-locking collaboration – is enabled when switching to the editing mode. It means that the changes are saved upon hitting the “Save” button. To enable real-time co-editing, users just need to select the Fast mode.
Signatures for PDF
Users welcome the first version of signatures for PDF forms. The current release allows signing PDF forms by inserting an image. In the next updates, the developers are going to improve the feature and add further types of inserting a signature, including digital signatures which are currently available in ONLYOFFICE desktop app.
Revamped neat interface
The upgraded interface for all editors is available in ONLYOFFICE Docs 8.2. From now on, users can decide whether to display tabs in the fill or line style. Besides, it’s possible to apply the toolbar color as the background color for tabs. For those who don’t want to be distracted by any colors in the editor interface and don’t want to use the dark theme, there is an ability to set the newly added Gray theme.
Optimized performance
To speed up opening of the editors, the ONLYOFFICE developers optimized loading scripts. File opening is up to 21% faster, if comparing with the previous version.
Another enhancement is zero-downtime deployment for ONLYOFFICE Docs delivered as Kubernetes Shards. This upgrade type allows updating the editors without having to take it offline.
Field codes and improved collaboration in the document editor
The latest release comes with a helpful tool for streamlining document creation. Field codes, or special placeholders, allow automatically updating changing data in documents, such as page numbers, author names, dates, time, etc.
Further novelties for the document editor comprise an option to highlight deleted text in the document version history, text insertion from third-party sources, and an Arabic preset numbering.
Iterative calculations and smooth scrolling in the spreadsheet editor
With the iterative calculation option activated, users are able to specify how many times, or iterations, the spreadsheet editor runs through a formula chain to calculate a result, usually so as to converge on an outcome of acceptable precision.
Following the user requests, the developers fixed the scroll behavior. It’s more comfortable to scroll in sheets, especially in large files which contain cells with multiple lines within.
Drawing on slides and random transition in presentations
During a presentation, the digital pen allows drawing on the screen in one color to highlight important points or illustrate connections. For those who would like to add some spontaneity to slides, the Random transition is implemented. This means that any of the available transition effects will be applied to the slides in random order, every time starting the slideshow.
RTL & localization
ONLYOFFICE is constantly improving localization of the editors to make the suite accessible to all users, all over the world.
Refining RTL support is one of the most important directions. Thus, the release comes with RTL support in the spreadsheet editor, with correct alignment of cells on the sheet.
Besides, the version 8.2 brings Hebrew localization, updated dictionaries and improved spell checking for all languages.
More useful improvements in all editors
Among further enhancements available to the users in ONLYOFFICE Docs 8.2 there are improved Pivot Tables and enhanced Smart Arts, ability to add custom fields in the file Info section, the Histogram, Waterfall, and Funnel chart types for viewing.
Updated desktop app
ONLYOFFICE Desktop Editors – a free application for working with local files on Windows, Linux and macOS – is also updated to version 8.2. Along with the improvements from the online version, the app got desktop support for touch screen, CSV preview for local files, and several other features.
