I have ribbon controls, but I don’t have the menu above that. Also, Libre Office (I use Writer mostly but the launcher also) has made itself full screen, and that interferes with the panel (which I keep on the left side). I have had to resort to Alt-F4 to quit. How can I get menus back? Will I be able to get Libre-office to respect the open panel?
Try Shift+Ctrl+J to toggle Full Screen. If that doesn’t work (non-English UI, other key bindings, …) try Shift+Esc that presents a search command input field, enter full and it should list “View -> Full Screen” (in English UI); hit that.