Libre Office won't export as PDF

[Javelin Dan]

Running Ubuntu 12.04 Powerpc on an eMac G-4, 1GHZ processor, 1 GB RAM, 40 GB Hard drive.

On this install I had originally loaded Libre Office 3 (don’t know if that’s the correct version number but it’s what displays when the program opens). I thought everything worked on it till last night when I tried to export a Jpeg as a PDF file. I tried clicking on both the PDF icon in the toolbar across the top and the “export as PDF” command in the “File” menu – neither worked. From the File command, it went to a window showing all the settings for the outgoing file with a button at the lower right that said “Export”. I clicked that and got a second window showing a default name for the file giving me a chance to re-name it, but there was no field showing where I wanted to send the file, and no button to “Save”. I know those are supposed to be there because I watched a YouTube tutorial showing that they should be. If I clicked on the PDF icon in the toolbar, it just went to the previously mentioned second window showing the file, but with no option to direct or save it. I also tried exporting a regular text document with the same results.

This software was installed through Synaptic and I didn’t tinker with any of the dependencies. Could there be a missing library or dependency that needs to be installed? On a previously installed OS, I had a version of Openoffice that had a button at the top to “Save as PDF” that was elegantly simple and worked like a charm. Anyone know if it’s still there?

[zombifier25]

The "Save" button was there for me. Can you post a screenshot?

It is possible that the window was too large, so the button was hidden. If so, Alt + Click to move the window around. Just a guess though.

[Javelin Dan]

Zombifier 25 –

I can certainly take a screenshot, though it will have to wait till after work this evening. That’s actually a good thought you had about the view being too large – I did think it looked like it wasn’t all displayed on the screen, but dullard that I am I never thought to adjust the view. I’ll try that first and report back. Thanks.

[SeijiSensei]

When you say you tried to export a JPEG as a PDF, do you mean you imported the graphic into Writer then tried to export the document you created?

If you want to convert graphics to PDFs, the easiest solution by far is to use Imagemagick, though it means typing a few commands at the prompt. (I think there may be a GUI front-end for Imagemagick, but I've never used it.)

Install it with "sudo apt-get install imagemagick" then use the command:

convert image.jpeg image.pdf

That's it!

[Javelin Dan]

I apologize for not being specific. What I actually did was to scan a document via "simplescan" which automatically gets saved as a Jpeg. I then opened it with Libre Office Writer. I also tried Impress and Draw with the same results.

Thanks for the heads-up on "Imagemajick". If I can't get Libre Office to work, I'll definitely give that a go.

[SeijiSensei]

I opened a graphic in Writer, and it came up in Draw. To export it from there, click on the object so it is highlighted in a frame, then choose File > Export as PDF, and click the "Selection" box in the dialog that follows. That worked for me.

One of the most annoying aspects of Calc for me is that you cannot directly export charts. You have to go through a convoluted process of copying the chart, dropping it into Impress, then clicking on the object and exporting it from there as, say, a PNG. Gnumeric lets you export directly, but I don't like the look of the charts it creates as much as the ones in Calc.

I have found the ability to save to PDF from Calc useful when exporting tables. I select the table, export to PDF, open the PDF in GIMP, then crop the image to include just the table. If it is too big, I can rescale the image to a more manageable size. You can then save to PNG from within GIMP. Make sure to use lossless compression when you write the original PDF to ensure that the text is not too blurry, especially if you need to resize the result before publication.

Examples of both types of exports appear in my blog linked below.

[Javelin Dan]

I'll try that and report back. Thanks!

[gordintoronto]

You could install cups-pdf, which lets you "print" to a PDF file from any application.

[Javelin Dan]

I actually did install cups-pdf, but don't see any option to print to pdf in the file menu. Is it a CLI application only? If so, I'll need instructions. Life got in the way and I only had time last night to go back and check to see if I could somehow scroll down or change the view - I couldn't. I'll try to post a screen shot tonight to display the screen I'm getting.

[Impavidus]

I opened a graphic in Writer, and it came up in Draw. To export it from there, click on the object so it is highlighted in a frame, then choose File > Export as PDF, and click the "Selection" box in the dialog that follows. That worked for me.

One of the most annoying aspects of Calc for me is that you cannot directly export charts. You have to go through a convoluted process of copying the chart, dropping it into Impress, then clicking on the object and exporting it from there as, say, a PNG. Gnumeric lets you export directly, but I don't like the look of the charts it creates as much as the ones in Calc.

I have found the ability to save to PDF from Calc useful when exporting tables. I select the table, export to PDF, open the PDF in GIMP, then crop the image to include just the table. If it is too big, I can rescale the image to a more manageable size. You can then save to PNG from within GIMP. Make sure to use lossless compression when you write the original PDF to ensure that the text is not too blurry, especially if you need to resize the result before publication.

Examples of both types of exports appear in my blog linked below.

This sounds ugly. There ought to be a way of exporting tables and charts, nicely cropped, to a pdf in vector format. Anything involving GIMP or png will turn it into a raster image, something you never want with text and charts. Off course I know you can use a pdf printer driver, turn you pdf into postscript (or directly use a postscript printer driver), edit your postscript in a text editor to get nice cropping/margins/clipping and convert the result back into pdf, but that's messy too, although file size stays pretty low.