How to Disable Hardware Acceleration in LibreOffice

Graphical glitches, screen flickering, sluggish performance, and visual artifacts in LibreOffice are frequently caused by incompatibilities between the software’s graphics rendering engine (such as Skia or OpenGL) and your system’s display drivers. Disabling hardware acceleration forces LibreOffice to use software rendering, which reliably eliminates these visual errors. This guide outlines how to turn off hardware acceleration through the standard settings menu or via Safe Mode if the interface is too corrupted to navigate normally.

Method 1: Disable Hardware Acceleration via the Options Menu

If LibreOffice is still usable despite the graphical glitches, you can disable the setting directly within the program preferences:

  1. Open LibreOffice (Writer, Calc, or the main launcher).
  2. Open the options menu:
    • Windows/Linux: Click Tools in the top menu bar and select Options (or press Alt + F12).
    • macOS: Click LibreOffice in the application menu and select Preferences (or press Cmd + ,).
  3. In the left-hand pane, expand the LibreOffice section and select View.
  4. Locate the Graphics Output section on the right side of the window.
  5. Uncheck Use hardware acceleration.
  6. If visible, also uncheck Use Skia for all rendering (or check Force Skia software rendering if available in your version).
  7. Click Apply, then click OK.
  8. Restart LibreOffice for the changes to take effect.

Method 2: Disable Hardware Acceleration via Safe Mode

If the graphical glitch prevents you from reading or clicking menus, use Safe Mode to disable the setting without navigating the standard interface:

  1. Launch LibreOffice in Safe Mode:
    • Within the App: Click Help > Restart in Safe Mode and confirm the prompt.
    • Windows Shortcut: Open the Start Menu, search for LibreOffice (Safe Mode), and launch it.
    • Command Line (Linux/macOS/Windows): Run libreoffice --safe-mode in your terminal or command prompt.
  2. In the Safe Mode dialog window that appears, select the Configure option to expand its settings.
  3. Check the box labeled Disable hardware acceleration (OpenGL, OpenCL, Vulkan).
  4. Click Apply Changes and Restart.

LibreOffice will restart in normal mode with hardware acceleration disabled, resolving the visual issues.