Installing SoftMaker Office for Linux
SoftMaker Office NX contains a set of 64-bit applications that can be used with 64-bit (x86_64, amd64) Linux distributions. 32-bit distributions are not supported.
We test SoftMaker Office NX with the latest versions of the following distributions and recommend choosing one of them:
Information on how to install on other systems can be found here.
You can install SoftMaker Office NX for Linux in two ways:
- Via the SoftMaker repository: This is the recommended installation method if you are using a DEB or RPM-based Linux. You add the SoftMaker repository to your Linux system once and then receive all updates automatically.
- By downloading from our web server: You download SoftMaker Office and install it manually. When an update is released, you download the new installation package and install it again manually.
Debian
Recommended: Installation via the SoftMaker repository
If you use the SoftMaker repository, you can easily install SoftMaker Office and keep it up-to-date.
Open a shell or terminal window and enter these commands to set up the repository and install SoftMaker Office:
su -
mkdir -p /etc/apt/keyrings
wget -qO- https://shop.softmaker.com/repo/linux-repo-public.key | gpg --dearmor > /etc/apt/keyrings/softmaker.gpg
echo "deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/softmaker.gpg] https://shop.softmaker.com/repo/apt stable non-free" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/softmaker.list
apt update
apt install softmaker-office-nx
If you have set up automatic updates on your system, your Linux package manager will keep SoftMaker Office up-to-date automatically.
If you do not use automatic updates on your system, you can update SoftMaker Office to the latest available revision by entering the following commands:
su -
apt update
apt upgrade
Alternative: Manual installation
First, download the .deb installation package of SoftMaker Office:
Open a shell or terminal window and enter the following commands to install SoftMaker Office:
su -
apt update
apt install -f ./softmaker-office-nx_1222-01_amd64.deb
Note: If you have not downloaded the .deb file to the current folder, replace ./ with the path to the .deb file.
When a service pack is released, download the latest .deb installation package and install it again as just described.
Ubuntu, Linux Mint
Recommended: Installation via the SoftMaker repository
If you use the SoftMaker repository, you can easily install SoftMaker Office and keep it up-to-date.
Open a shell or terminal window and enter these commands to set up the repository and install SoftMaker Office:
sudo -i
mkdir -p /etc/apt/keyrings
wget -qO- https://shop.softmaker.com/repo/linux-repo-public.key | gpg --dearmor > /etc/apt/keyrings/softmaker.gpg
echo "deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/softmaker.gpg] https://shop.softmaker.com/repo/apt stable non-free" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/softmaker.list
apt update
apt install softmaker-office-nx
If you have set up automatic updates on your system, your Linux package manager will keep SoftMaker Office up-to-date automatically.
If you do not use automatic updates on your system, you can update SoftMaker Office to the latest available revision by entering the following commands:
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
Alternative: Manual installation
First, download the .deb installation package of SoftMaker Office:
Open a shell or terminal window and enter the following commands to install SoftMaker Office:
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -f ./softmaker-office-nx_1222-01_amd64.deb
Note: If you have not downloaded the .deb file to the current folder, replace ./ with the path to the .deb file.
When a service pack is released, download the latest .deb installation package and install it again as just described.
Manjaro
Manjaro includes SoftMaker Office NX in its repository, making its installation especially easy.
Open a shell or terminal window and enter the following command to install SoftMaker Office:
sudo pamac install softmaker-office-nx
The Manjaro package manager keeps SoftMaker Office up-to-date automatically.
Fedora
Recommended: Installation via the SoftMaker repository
If you use the SoftMaker repository, you can easily install SoftMaker Office and keep it up-to-date.
Open a shell or terminal window and enter the following command to set up the repository:
sudo wget -qO /etc/yum.repos.d/softmaker.repo https://shop.softmaker.com/repo/softmaker.repo
If you use dnf, proceed as follows to install SoftMaker Office:
sudo -E dnf update
sudo -E dnf install softmaker-office-nx
If you use yum, proceed as follows to install SoftMaker Office:
sudo -E yum update
sudo -E yum install softmaker-office-nx
If Fedora prompts you to confirm the import of the SoftMaker GPG key, you should do so.
If you have set up automatic updates on your system, your Linux package manager will keep SoftMaker Office up-to-date automatically.
If you do not use automatic updates on your system, you can update SoftMaker Office to the latest available revision by entering the following commands:
– If you use yum:
sudo -E yum update
– If you use dnf:
sudo -E dnf update
Alternative: Manual installation
Our RPM installation packages are digitally signed. Before installing SoftMaker Office, you should download our public GPG key:
Open a shell or terminal window and enter the following command to import the GPG key:
sudo rpm --import ./linux-repo-public.key
Note: If you have not downloaded the GPG key to the current folder, replace ./ with the path to the key file.
If you skip this step, you will still be able to install SoftMaker RPM packages, but you must press Ignore when you are informed of the missing GPG key.
Next, download the RPM installation package of SoftMaker Office:
Install this package by double-clicking on it.
When a service pack is released, download the latest RPM installation package and install it again by double-clicking on it.
openSUSE
Recommended: Installation via the SoftMaker repository
If you use the SoftMaker repository, you can easily install SoftMaker Office and keep it up-to-date.
Open a shell or terminal window and enter the following commands to set up the repository:
sudo zypper addrepo -f https://shop.softmaker.com/repo/rpm SoftMaker
sudo zypper --gpg-auto-import-keys ref
You must confirm these commands by entering your root password.
Then enter the following command to install SoftMaker Office:
sudo -E zypper install softmaker-office-nx
If you have set up automatic updates on your system, your Linux package manager will keep SoftMaker Office up-to-date automatically.
If you do not use automatic updates on your system, you can update SoftMaker Office to the latest available revision by entering the following commands:
– If you use zypper:
sudo -E zypper update
– If you use yum:
sudo -E yum update
– If you use dnf:
sudo -E dnf upgrade
Alternative: Manual installation
Our RPM installation packages are digitally signed. Before installing SoftMaker Office, you should download our public GPG key:
Open a shell or terminal window and enter the following command to import the GPG key:
sudo rpm --import ./linux-repo-public.key
Note: If you have not downloaded the GPG key to the current folder, replace ./ with the path to the key file.
Do not skip this step, as the installation will fail otherwise with the obscure error message "Internal error" flashing briefly on the screen.
Next, download the RPM installation package of SoftMaker Office:
Install this package by right-clicking on it, selecting Open with and then YaST Software. Press Accept to start the installation.
When a service pack is released, you can install it in the same way.
Installation on other systems
If your system is not listed here and you cannot run the installation with the instructions given above, you can install SoftMaker Office using our .tgz-based installation package.
First, download the .tgz installation package of SoftMaker Office:
Unpack it:
tar xvzf ./softmaker-office-nx-1222-amd64.tgz
Note: If you have not downloaded the .tgz file to the current folder, replace ./ with the path to the .tgz file.
Then run the installation script contained in it:
./installofficenx
Restoring document icons
When you install SoftMaker Office, the icons for common document formats such as DOCX, XLSX and PPTX are assigned to SoftMaker Office. If you do not like our icon style, you can easily restore the previous icons by running this script:
sudo /usr/share/officenx/mime/remove_icons.sh
Installing on a USB flash drive
If you want to have SoftMaker Office NX for Linux and important documents with you when on the go, you can copy SoftMaker Office to a USB flash drive. You can then insert this USB flash drive into any Linux-based computer (for example, those of friends or in Internet cafes) and run SoftMaker Office. When you unplug the USB flash drive, no trace of SoftMaker Office will remain on the PC.
Proceed as follows:
- Install SoftMaker Office on the built-in hard drive of your Linux PC. This lets you work with SoftMaker Office as usual, even without a USB flash drive.
- Create a folder on the USB flash drive and copy the contents of the SoftMaker Office application folder (for example, /usr/share/officenx) to this folder:
mkdir /media/disk/officenx (replace /media/disk with your USB flash drive's path) cd /usr/share/officenx cp -Rv * /media/disk/officenx (replace /media/disk with your USB flash drive's path)
- Create a file with the name portable.txt in this new folder on the USB flash drive. Its content is irrelevant:
cd /media/disk/officenx (replace /media/disk with your USB flash drive's path) touch portable.txt
The portable.txt file is just a "marker file" that informs SoftMaker Office that it should run in portable mode and not leave any configuration files on the host operating system.
- Then, launch TextMaker:
./textmaker
TextMaker will create the folder /media/disk/officenx/SoftMaker and copy its default document templates and configuration files into it. This can take up to thirty seconds. After that, TextMaker will be launched.
The installation is complete now.
If you like, you can now also copy additional documents and templates to the flash drive. Place documents in /media/disk/officenx/SoftMaker. Copy document templates to /media/disk/officenx/SoftMaker/TextMaker NX templates and /media/disk/officenx/SoftMaker/PlanMaker NX templates.
To launch one of the programs, open the SoftMaker Office folder on the USB flash drive and double-click on the program you want to launch (textmaker, planmaker or presentations).