Controlling PDF content and quality
For more control over the content and quality of the resulting PDF, use File > Export as PDF. You are asked to enter the location and file name of the PDF to be created, and then the PDF Options dialog box opens. This dialog box has four pages. Make your selections, and then click Export.
General page of PDF Options dialog box
On the General page (Figure 142), 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.
Pages section
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All: Exports the entire document.
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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.
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Selection: Exports whatever material is selected.
Images section
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Lossless compression: Images are stored without any loss of quality. Tends to make large files when used with photographs. Recommended for other images.
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JPEG compression: Allows for varying degrees of quality. A setting of 90% tends to work well with photographs (small file size, little perceptible loss).
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Reduce image resolution: Lower-DPI (dots per inch) images have lower quality.
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Note
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EPS images with embedded previews are exported only as previews. EPS images without embedded previews are exported as empty placeholders.
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General section
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Tagged PDF: Includes special tags into the corresponding PDF tags. Some tags that are exported are table of contents, hyperlinks, and controls. This option can increase file sizes significantly.
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Export notes: Exports notes in Writer and Calc documents as PDF notes. You may not want this!
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Use transition effects: Not available in Writer; in Impress, this option exports slide transition effects in their respective PDF effects.
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Submit forms in 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.
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Export automatically inserted blank pages: If selected, automatically inserted blank pages are exported to the PDF. This is best if you are printing the PDF double-sided. For example, books usually have chapters set to always start on an odd-numbered (right-hand) page. When the previous chapter ends on an odd page, OOo inserts a blank page between the two odd pages. This option controls whether to export that blank page.
Initial View page of PDF Options dialog box
On the Initial View page (Figure 143), you can choose how the PDF opens by default in a PDF viewer. The selections should be self-explanatory.
User Interface page of PDF Options dialog box
On the User Interface page (Figure 144), 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
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Resize window to initial page. Causes the PDF viewer window to resize to fit the first page of the PDF.
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Center window on screen. Causes the PDF viewer window to be centered on the computer screen.
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Open in full screen mode. Causes the PDF viewer to open full-screen instead of in a smaller window.
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Display document title. Causes the PDF viewer to display the document’s title in the title bar.
User interface options section
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Hide menubar. Causes the PDF viewer to hide the menu bar.
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Hide toolbar. Causes the PDF viewer to hide the toolbar.
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Hide window controls. Causes the PDF viewer to hide other window controls.
Security page of PDF Options dialog box
As of OOo 2.0.4, PDF export includes options to encrypt the PDF (so it cannot be opened without a password) and apply some digital rights management (DRM) features.
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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).
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With a permissions password set, the PDF can be opened by anyone, but its permissions can be restricted. See Figure 145.
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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.
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Note
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Permissions settings are effective only if the user’s PDF viewer respects the settings.
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Figure 146 shows the pop-up dialog box displayed when you click the Set open password button on the Security page of the PDF Options dialog box.
After you set a password for permissions, the other choices on the Security page (shown in Figure 145) become available. These selections should be self-explanatory.
