Exporting to PDF

Calc can export documents to PDF (Portable Document Format). This industry-standard file format is ideal for sending the file to someone else to view using Adobe Reader or other PDF viewers.

Quick export to PDF

Click the Export Directly as PDF icon to export the entire document using your default PDF settings. You are asked to enter the file name and location for the PDF file, but you do not get a chance to choose a page range, the image compression, or other options.

Controlling PDF content and quality

For more control over the content and quality of the resulting PDF, use File > Export as PDF. The PDF Options dialog opens. This dialog has five pages (General, Initial View, User Interface, Links, and Security). Make your selections, and click Export. Then you are asked to enter the location and file name of the PDF to be created, and click Save to export the file.

General page of PDF Options dialog

On the General page, you can choose which pages to include in the PDF, the type of compression to use for images (which affects the quality of images in the PDF), and other options.

• All: Exports the entire document.
• Pages: To export a range of pages, use the format 3-6 (pages 3 to 6). To export single pages, use the format 7;9;11 (pages 7, 9, and 11). You can also export a combination of page ranges and single pages, by using a format like 3-6;8;10;12.
• Selection: Exports whatever material is selected.

• PDF/A-1: PDF/A is an ISO standard established in 2005 for long-term preservation of documents, by embedding all the pieces necessary for faithful reproduction (such as fonts) while forbidding other elements (including forms, security, encryption, and tagged PDF). If you select PDF/A-1, the forbidden elements are greyed-out (not available).
• Tagged PDF: Exports special tags into the corresponding PDF tags. Some tags that are exported are table of contents, hyperlinks, and controls. This option can increase the file size significantly.
• Create PDF form - Submit format: Choose the format of submitting forms from within the PDF file. This setting overrides the control’s URL property that you set in the document. There is only one common setting valid for the whole PDF document: PDF (sends the whole document), FDF (sends the control contents), HTML, and XML. Most often you will choose the PDF format.
• Export bookmarks: Exports sheet names in Calc documents as “bookmarks” (a table of contents list displayed by some PDF readers, including Adobe Reader).
• Export comments: Exports comments in Writer and Calc documents as PDF notes. You may not want this!
• Export automatically inserted blank pages: Not available in Calc.

Initial View page of PDF Options dialog

On the Initial View page, you can choose how the PDF opens by default in a PDF viewer. The selections are self-explanatory.

User Interface page of PDF Options dialog

On the User Interface page, you can choose more settings to control how a PDF viewer displays the file. Some of these choices are particularly useful when you are creating a PDF to be used as a presentation or a kiosk-type display.

Window options section

• Resize window to initial page. Causes the PDF viewer window to resize to fit the first page of the PDF.
• Center window on screen. Causes the PDF viewer window to be centered on the computer screen.
• Open in full screen mode. Causes the PDF viewer to open full-screen instead of in a smaller window.

• Display document title. Causes the PDF viewer to display the document’s title in the title bar.

User interface options section

• Hide menubar. Causes the PDF viewer to hide the menu bar.
• Hide toolbar. Causes the PDF viewer to hide the toolbar.
• Hide window controls. Causes the PDF viewer to hide other window controls.

In Impress, displays slide transition effects as their respective PDF effects.

Select how many heading levels are displayed as bookmarks, if Export bookmarks is selected on the General page.

Links page of PDF Options dialog

PDF export includes options to choose how links in documents are exported to PDF.

Export bookmarks as named destinations

If you have defined Writer bookmarks, Impress or Draw slide names, or Calc sheet names, this option exports them as “named destinations” to which Web pages and PDF documents can link.

Convert document references to PDF targets

If you have defined links to other documents with OpenDocument extensions (such as .ODT, .ODS, and .ODP), this option converts the files names to .PDF in the exported PDF document.

Export URLs relative to file system

If you have defined relative links in a document, this option exports those links to the PDF.

Defines the behavior of links clicked in PDF files.

Security page of PDF Options dialog

PDF export includes options to encrypt the PDF (so it cannot be opened without a password) and apply some digital rights management (DRM) features.

• With an open password set, the PDF can only be opened with the password. Once opened, there are no restrictions on what the user can do with the document (for example, print, copy, or change it).
• With a permissions password set, the PDF can be opened by anyone, but its permissions can be restricted.
• With both the open password and permission password set, the PDF can only be opened with the correct password, and its permissions can be restricted.

The figure below shows the dialog displayed when you click the Set open password button on the Security page of the PDF Options dialog.

After you set a password for permissions, the other choices on the Security page become available. These selections are self-explanatory.

Exporting to XHTML

Calc can export spreadsheets to XHTML. Choose File > Export. On the Export dialog, specify a file name for the exported document, then select the XHTML in the File format list and click the Export button.

Saving as Web pages (HTML)

Calc can save files as HTML documents. Use File > Save As and select HTML Document, or File > Wizards > Web Page.

If the file contains more than one sheet, the additional sheets will follow one another in the HTML file. Links to each sheet will be placed at the top of the document. Calc also allows the insertion of links directly into the spreadsheet using the Hyperlink dialog.