Base Guide 7.2PrefaceCopyrightThis document is Copyright © 2021 by the LibreOffice Documentation Team. Contributors arelisted below. You may distribute it and/or modify it under the terms of either the GNU General
Public License (https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html), version 3 or later, or the Creative
Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), version 4.0 or later.
All trademarks within this guide belong to their legitimate owners.

Contributors
To this edition
Steve FanningJean Hollis WeberTo previous editions
Pulkit KrishnaPeter Schofield

Dan Lewis

Jean Hollis Weber

Feedback
Please direct any comments or suggestions about this document to the Documentation Team’s
mailing list: documentation@global.libreoffice.org.

Note
Everything you send to a mailing list, including your email address and any otherpersonal information that is written in the message, is publicly archived and cannot
be deleted.

Publication date and software version
Published December 2021. Based on LibreOffice 7.2 Community.
Other versions of LibreOffice may differ in appearance and functionality.

Documentation for LibreOffice is available at https://documentation.libreoffice.org/en/Contents
Copyright............................................................................................................................2Contributors.............................................................................................................................. 2Feedback.................................................................................................................................. 2Publication date and software version.......................................................................................2

Who is this book for?........................................................................................................4
What's in this book?..........................................................................................................4
Sample databases.............................................................................................................4
Where to get more help.....................................................................................................4
Help system.............................................................................................................................. 5
Other free online support.......................................................................................................... 6
Paid support and training.......................................................................................................... 6

What you see may be different........................................................................................7
Illustrations................................................................................................................................ 7Icons......................................................................................................................................... 7

Using LibreOffice on macOS............................................................................................7
What are all these things called?.....................................................................................8
Frequently asked questions.............................................................................................9
What’s new in LibreOffice Base 7.2 Community?........................................................10Preface | 3

Who is this book for?
Anyone who wants to get up to speed quickly with LibreOffice Base will find this book valuable.
Whether you have never worked with databases before, or have worked with them in a DBMS
(Database Management System), or you are used to another database system from an officesuite or a stand-alone database system such as MySQL, this book is for you. You may wish tofirst read Chapter 8, Getting Started with Base, in the Getting Started Guide.

What's in this book?
This book introduces Base, the database component of LibreOffice. Base uses the HSQLDB(HyperSQL DataBase) database engine to create database documents. It can access databases
created by many database programs, including Microsoft Access, MySQL, Oracle, Firebird, andPostgreSQL. Base includes additional functionality that allows you to create full data-driven
applications.

NoteIn addition to the HSQLDB engine, an experimental facility is available to create
database documents using an embedded Firebird database engine. Advanced users
can enable experimental facilities by selecting the Enable experimental facilities
checkbox on the Tools > Options > LibreOffice > Advanced dialog.
This book introduces the features and functions of Base, using a set of sample databases.
•

Creating a database•

Accessing external databases•

Creating and using tables in relational databases•

Creating and using forms for data entry•

Using queries to bring together data from different tables, calculate results wherenecessary, and quickly filter a specific record from a mass of data•

Creating reports using the Report Builder•

Linking databases to other documents and external forms, including use in mail merge•

Filtering and searching data•

Using macros to prevent input errors, simplify tasks, and improve usability of forms•

Maintaining databases

Sample databases
A set of sample databases has been created to accompany this book. You can find them here:
https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/images/5/52/Sample-databases.zip.

Where to get more help
This book, the other LibreOffice user guides, the built-in Help system, and user support systems
assume that you are familiar with your computer and basic functions such as starting a program,
opening and saving files.

4 | PrefaceHelp system
LibreOffice comes with an extensive Help system. This is the first line of support for using
LibreOffice. Windows and Linux users can choose to download and install the offline Help for use
when not connected to the Internet; the offline Help is installed with the program on macOS.
To display the Help system, press F1 or select Help > LibreOffice Help on the Menu bar. If you
do not have the offline help installed on your computer and you are connected to the Internet,
your default browser will open the online Help pages on the LibreOffice website.
The Help menu (Figure 1) includes links to other LibreOffice information and support facilities.

Figure 1: The Help menu

Note
The options indicated by a ‡ symbol in the list below are only accessible if yourcomputer is connected to the Internet.
•What’s This? – For quick tips when a toolbar is visible, place the mouse pointer over anyof the icons to see a small box (“tooltip”) with a brief explanation of the icon’s function.
For a more detailed explanation, select Help > What’s This? and hold the pointer overthe icon. In addition, you can choose whether to activate extended tips using Tools >Options > LibreOffice > General > Extended tips.

•User Guides‡ – Opens your default browser at the English Documentation page of theLibreOffice website https://documentation.libreoffice.org/en/english-documentation/.
There you will find copies of user guides and other useful information.

•Show Tip of the Day – Opens a dialog showing a useful bit of information to help
expand your knowledge of LibreOffice.

•Get Help Online‡ – Opens your default browser at the Ask LibreOffice forum of questions
and answers from the LibreOffice community https://ask.libreoffice.org/en/questions/.

•Send Feedback‡ – Opens your default browser at the Feedback page of the LibreOfficewebsite https://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/feedback/. From there you can report bugs,
suggest new features, and communicate with others in the LibreOffice community.
Where to get more help | 5•Restart in Safe Mode – Opens a dialog where you can restart LibreOffice and reset thesoftware to its default settings.

•Get Involved‡ – Opens your default browser at the Get Involved page of the LibreOfficewebsite https://www.libreoffice.org/community/get-involved/. There you can choose a
topic of interest to help improve the program.

•Donate to LibreOffice‡ – Opens your default browser at the Donation page of theLibreOffice website https://donate.libreoffice.org/.

•License Information – Outlines the licenses under which LibreOffice is made available.

•Check for Updates‡ – Opens a dialog and checks the LibreOffice website for updates toyour version of the software.

•About LibreOffice – Opens a dialog, which displays information about the version of
LibreOffice and the operating system you are using. This information will often be
requested if you ask the community for help or assistance with the software. A button isprovided to enable you to copy this information to the clipboard so that you cansubsequently paste it into a forum post, an email, or a bug report. (On macOS, this itemis under LibreOffice on the Menu bar.)

Other free online support
The LibreOffice community not only develops software, but provides free, volunteer-based
support. In addition to the Help menu links above, other online community support options areavailable, see Table 1.
Table 1: Free LibreOffice support
FAQs

Answers to frequently asked questions
https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Faq

Mailing lists

Free community support is provided by a network of experiencedusers
https://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/

Questions &Answers andKnowledge BaseFree community assistance is provided in a question and answer
formatted web service. Search similar topics or open a new one in
https://ask.libreoffice.org/en/questions.
The service is available in several other languages; just replace /en/with de, es, fr, ja, ko, nl, pt, tr, and many others in the web address
above.

Native language
supportThe LibreOffice website in various languages
https://www.libreoffice.org/community/nlc/
Mailing lists for native languages
https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Local_Mailing_Lists
Information about social networking
https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Website/Web_Sites_services

Accessibility
options

Information about available accessibility options
https://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/accessibility/

Paid support and training
You can also pay for support through service contracts from a vendor or consulting firm
specializing in LibreOffice. For information about certified professional support, see The
Document Foundation’s website: https://www.documentfoundation.org/gethelp/support/.
For schools, educational and research institutions, and large organizations, see
https://www.libreoffice.org/download/libreoffice-in-business/.

6 | Preface

What you see may be different
IllustrationsLibreOffice runs on Windows, Linux, and macOS operating systems, each of which has several
versions and can be customized by users (fonts, colors, themes, window managers). The
illustrations in this guide were taken from a variety of computers and operating systems.
Therefore, some illustrations will not look exactly like what you see on your computer display.
Also, some of the dialogs may be different because of the settings selected in LibreOffice. You
can either use dialogs from your computer’s operating system or from LibreOffice. The
differences affect mainly Open, Save, and Print dialogs. To change which dialogs are used, go toTools > Options > LibreOffice > General and select or deselect the option Use LibreOfficedialogs.

Icons
The LibreOffice community has created icons for several icon sets: Colibre, Breeze, Breeze
Dark, Elementary, Karasa Jaga, Sifr, Sifr Dark, and Sukapura. Each user can select a preferred
set. The icons in this guide have been taken from a variety of LibreOffice installations that use
different sets of icons. The icons for some of the many tools available in LibreOffice may thendiffer from the ones used in this guide.
To change the icon set used, go to Tools > Options > LibreOffice > View. Choose from thedrop-down list under Icon Style.

NoteThe Galaxy, Oxygen, and Tango icon sets are no longer included as part of thestandard installation package. They can be added back by downloading andinstalling the following extensions:
https://extensions.libreoffice.org/extensions/galaxy-icon-theme
https://extensions.libreoffice.org/extensions/oxygen-icon-theme
https://extensions.libreoffice.org/en/extensions/show/tango-icon-theme-for-libreofficeSome of the previously included gallery backgrounds are now only available as anextension from:https://extensions.libreoffice.org/extensions/legacy-gallery-backgrounds

Using LibreOffice on macOS
Some keystrokes and menu items are different on macOS from those used in Windows or Linux.
Table 2 gives some common substitutions for the instructions in this document. For a moredetailed list, see the application Help.
Table 2: Example keystrokes for different environments
Windows or LinuxmacOS equivalent

EffectTools > Options
menu selection

LibreOffice > PreferencesAccess setup options

Right-click

Control+click and/or right-click
depending on computer setup

Open a context menu

Ctrl (Control)⌘ (Command)

Used with other keys

F11⌘+TOpen the Styles deck in theSidebar

Using LibreOffice on macOS | 7

What are all these things called?
The terms used in LibreOffice for most parts of the user interface (the parts of the program you
see and use, in contrast to the behind-the-scenes code that actually makes it work) are the same
as for most other programs.
A dialog is a special type of window. Its purpose is to inform you of something, or request input
from you, or both. It provides controls to use to specify how to carry out an action. Some commoncontrols are highlighted by callouts in Figure 2, with a brief technical description given in the key
that follows the figure. In most cases the technical terms are not used in this book, but it is useful
to know them because the Help and other sources of information often use them.
In most cases, you can interact only with the dialog (not the document itself) as long as the dialog
remains open. When you close the dialog after use (usually, clicking OK or another button saves
your changes and closes the dialog), then you can again work with the document.
Some dialogs can be left open as you work, so you can switch back and forth between the dialog
and your document.

Figure 2: Dialog showing common controls
1) Tabbed page (not strictly speaking a control).
8 | Preface

2) Radio buttons (only one can be selected at a time).
3) Checkbox (more than one can be selected at a time).
4) Spin box (click the up and down arrows to change the number shown in the text box next
to it, or type in the text box).
5) Thumbnail or preview.
6) Drop-down list from which to select an item.
7) Push buttons.

Frequently asked questions
How is LibreOffice licensed?
LibreOffice is distributed under the Open Source Initiative (OSI) approved Mozilla Public
License (MPL). See https://www.libreoffice.org/about-us/licenses/.
It is based on code from Apache OpenOffice made available under the Apache License 2.0
but also includes software that differs from version to version under a variety of other Open
Source licenses. New code is available under GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL)
3.0 and MPL 2.0.
May I distribute LibreOffice to anyone? May I sell it? May I use it in my business?
Yes.
How many computers may I install it on?
As many as you like.
Is LibreOffice available in my language?
LibreOffice has been translated (localized) into over 100 languages, so your language isprobably supported. Additionally, there are over 100 spelling, hyphenation, and thesaurus
dictionaries available for languages, and dialects that do not have a localized programinterface. The dictionaries are available by selecting the Dictionary tag filter from theLibreOffice Extension Center https://extensions.libreoffice.org/.
How can you make it for free?
LibreOffice is developed and maintained by volunteers and has the backing of several
organizations.
I am writing a software application. May I use programming code from LibreOffice in myprogram?
You may, within the parameters set out in the licenses: https://www.mozilla.org/MPL/2.0/
https://www.libreoffice.org/about-us/licenses/.
Why do I need Java to run LibreOffice? Is it written in Java?
LibreOffice is not written in Java; it is mostly written in the C++ language. Java is one ofseveral languages that can be used to extend the software. The Java JRE (Java RuntimeEnvironment) is only required for some features. The most notable one is the HSQLDB
relational database engine used by the Base component of LibreOffice.
Java is available at no cost. More information and download links to the appropriate edition
for your operating system can be found at: https://java.com/en/download/manual.jsp.

NoteIf you want to use LibreOffice features that require Java it is important that thecorrect 32 bit or 64 bit edition matches the installed version of LibreOffice.

Frequently asked questions | 9How can I contribute to LibreOffice?
You can help with the development and user support of LibreOffice in many ways, and you
do not need to be a programmer. To start, check out this webpage:https://www.libreoffice.org/community/get-involved/.
May I distribute the PDF of this book, or print and sell copies?
Yes, as long as you meet the requirements of one of the licenses in the copyright statement
at the beginning of this book. You do not have to request special permission. We requestthat you share with the project some of the profits you make from sales of books, inconsideration of all the work we have put into producing them.
Donate to LibreOffice: https://www.libreoffice.org/donate/.

What’s new in LibreOffice Base 7.2 Community?
LibreOffice 7.2 Community includes many changes not visible in the user interface. Thesechanges include improved interoperability with Microsoft’s proprietary file formats andperformance improvements in handling large files, opening certain .docx and .xlsx files,
managing font caching, and opening presentations and drawings that contain large images.
More information is in the announcement:
https://blog.documentfoundation.org/blog/2021/08/19/libreoffice-7-2-community/.
Release Notes are here: https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/ReleaseNotes/7.2.
This user guide is based on Base Guide 6.4. The information in the chapters and appendixes that
follow this Preface is unchanged from Base Guide 6.4 – the main work carried out on Base since
6.4 has been concerned with on-going development of the experimental facility to create
database documents with Firebird.

10 | Preface