start parameters command line parameters parameters;command line arguments in command line

Starting $[officename] Software With Parameters

By starting $[officename] software from the command line you can assign various parameters, with which you can influence the performance. The use of command line parameters is only recommended for experienced users. For normal handling, the use of command line parameters is not necessary. A few of the parameters require a deeper knowledge of the technical background of $[officename] software technology.

Starting $[officename] Software From the Command Line

Search for Run in the Windows Start menu. Type the following text in the Open text field and click OK. "{install}\program\soffice.com" {parameter} Replace {install} with the path to your installation of %PRODUCTNAME software (for example, C:\Program Files\%PRODUCTNAME). Use soffice.exe instead of soffice.com, when you do not need console (e.g., you do not use command-line interface for headless operations). Open a shell under Linux, *BSD, or macOS platforms. Type the following line of text, then press Return: {install}/program/soffice {parameter} Replace {install} with the path to your installation of %PRODUCTNAME software (for example, /opt/%PRODUCTNAME in UNIX)

Valid Command Line Parameters

Using without special arguments

Using without any arguments opens the start center. {file} Tries to open the file (files) in the components suitable for them. {file} macro://./[Library.Module.MacroName] Opens the file and applies specified macros from the file.

Getting help and information

Parameter Meaning --help / -h / -? Lists the available command line parameters to the console. --helpwriter Opens $[officename] built-in or online Help on Writer. --helpcalc Opens $[officename] built-in or online Help on Calc. --helpdraw Opens $[officename] built-in or online Help on Draw. --helpimpress Opens $[officename] built-in or online Help on Impress. --helpbase Opens $[officename] built-in or online Help on Base. --helpbasic Opens $[officename] built-in or online Help on Basic scripting language. --helpmath Opens $[officename] built-in or online Help on Math. --version Shows $[officename] version and quits. --nstemporarydirectory (macOS sandbox only) Returns path of the temporary directory for the current user and exits. Overrides all other arguments.

General arguments

--quickstart[=no] Activates[Deactivates] the Quickstarter service. It can take only one parameter no which deactivates the Quickstarter service. Without parameters this service is activated. --nolockcheck Disables check for remote instances using the installation. --infilter=InputFilterName
[:InputFilterParam[,param]] Forces an input filter type, if possible. For example: --infilter="Calc Office Open XML" --infilter="Text (encoded):UTF8,LF,Liberation Mono,en-US".

--pidfile={file} Store soffice.bin pid to {file}. --display {display} Sets the DISPLAY environment variable on UNIX-like platforms to the value {display}. This parameter is only supported by the start script for $[officename] software on UNIX-like platforms.

User/programmatic interface control

--nologo Disables the splash screen at program start. --minimized Starts minimized. The splash screen is not displayed. --nodefault Starts without displaying anything except the splash screen. --invisible Starts in invisible mode. Neither the start-up logo nor the initial program window will be visible. $[officename] software can be controlled, and documents and dialogs can be controlled and opened via the API. Using the parameter, $[officename] can only be ended using the taskmanager (Windows) or the kill command (UNIX-like systems). It cannot be used in conjunction with --quickstart. More information is found in $[officename] Developer's Guide. --headless Starts in "headless mode" which allows using the application without user interface. This special mode can be used when the application is controlled by external clients via the API. --norestore Disables restart and file recovery after a system crash. --safe-mode Starts in a safe mode, i.e. starts temporarily with a fresh user profile and helps to restore a broken configuration. --accept={UNO} Notifies $[officename] software that upon the creation of "UNO Acceptor Threads", a "UNO Accept String" will be used. UNO-URL is string the such kind uno:connection-type,params;protocol-name,params;ObjectName. More information is found in $[officename] Developer's Guide. --unaccept={UNO-URL} Closes an acceptor that was created with --accept={UNO-URL}. Use --unaccept=all to close all open acceptors. --language={lang} Uses specified language, if language is not selected yet for UI. The lang is a tag of the language in IETF language tag.

Developer arguments

--terminate_after_init Exit after initialization complete (no documents loaded). --eventtesting Exit after loading documents.

Unix and Linux user can invoke %PRODUCTNAME with these additional parameters for debugging purposes. Parameter Meaning --record An enhanced debugger. --backtrace Prints the backtrace of the entire stack. --strace strace is a diagnostic, debugging and instructional userspace utility for Linux. --valgrind Automatically detect many memory management and threading bugs, and profile the program in detail.

The debug options --record, --backtrace, --strace and --valgrind cannot be used together. Please use them one by one.

New document creation arguments

The arguments create an empty document of specified kind. Only one of them may be used in one command line. If filenames are specified after an argument, then it tries to open those files in the specified component. --writer Starts with an empty Writer document. --calc Starts with an empty Calc document. --draw Starts with an empty Draw document. --impress Starts with an empty Impress document. --math Starts with an empty Math document. --global Starts with an empty Writer master document. --web Starts with an empty HTML document.

File open arguments

The arguments define how following filenames are treated. New treatment begins after the argument and ends at the next argument. The default treatment is to open documents for editing, and create new documents from document templates. -n Treats following files as templates for creation of new documents. -o Opens following files for editing, regardless whether they are templates or not. --pt {Printername} Prints the following files to the printer {Printername} and ends. The splash screen does not appear. If the file name contains spaces, then it must be enclosed in quotation marks. If used multiple times, only last {Printername} is effective for all documents of all --pt runs. Also, --printer-name argument of --print-to-file switch interferes with {Printername}. -p Prints following files to the default printer, after which those files are closed. The splash screen does not appear. If the file name contains spaces, then it must be enclosed in quotation marks. --view Opens following files in viewer mode (read-only). --show Opens and starts the following presentation documents of each immediately. Files are closed after the showing. Files other than Impress documents are opened in default mode , regardless of previous mode. --convert-to OutputFileExtension
[:OutputFilterName
[:OutputFilterParams[,param]]]
[--outdir output_dir]

If --convert-to is used more than once, last value of OutputFileExtension[:OutputFilterName[:OutputFilterParams]] is effective. If --outdir is used more than once, only its last value is effective. For example: --convert-to pdf *.doc --convert-to pdf:writer_pdf_Export --outdir /home/user *.doc --convert-to "html:XHTML Writer File:UTF8" *.doc --convert-to "txt:Text (encoded):UTF8" *.doc

See the list of document filters for file conversion. The list of filter options for Lotus, dBase and Diff files. The list of filter options for CSV files.

--print-to-file [--printer-name printer_name] [--outdir output_dir] Batch print files to file. If --outdir is not specified, then current working directory is used as output_dir. If --printer-name or --outdir used multiple times, only last value of each is effective. Also, {Printername} of --pt switch interferes with --printer-name. For example: --print-to-file *.doc --print-to-file --printer-name nasty_lowres_printer --outdir /home/user *.doc --cat Applies filter "txt:Text" to the following text documents and dump text content to console (implies --headless). Cannot be used with --convert-to. -env:VAR[=VALUE] Set a bootstrap variable. For example, to set a non-default user profile path: soffice.com -env:UserInstallation=file:///c:/my-test-profile open LibreOffice.app -env:UserInstallation=file:///tmp/test soffice -env:UserInstallation=file:///tmp/test

Ignored switches

-psn Ignored (macOS only) -Embedding Ignored (COM+ related; Windows only) --nofirststartwizard Does nothing, accepted only for backward compatibility. --protector {arg1} {arg2} Used only in unit tests and should have two arguments.