Flip PDF alignment to right-to-left (PDFopened with Writer)

[meet]

Hi everyone

I have installed OpenOffice 4.1.1 a couple of days ago on ubuntu 14.04 LTS. I have also installed the PDF Import 1.0.4 extension.
I would like to flip the PDF as a mirror image to right-to-left alignment. The aim is to translate the document into Arabic with the same formatting.
I have tried to convert to curve or Bitmap and then flip, but you can't change the text afterwards. I also tried to change the alignment of the page to right-to-left but this only moves everything to the right without regard to original formatting and spaces between elements. The point is, I can get the result that I want by working on each and every text box and other elements individually, but that will take for ever. Does anyone have a better and easier way to do this for the whole document so that all I have to do is type in the Arabic in place of the English?

Any assistance is much appreciated
Thank you

[Villeroy]

Is there a specific reason why you install OpenOffice on a system that comes with a fairly recent version of LibreOffice?
Just curious.

[meet]

For some reason I couldn't get the Arabic spell checker to work in LibreOffice.

[Villeroy]

For some reason I couldn't get the Arabic spell checker to work in LibreOffice.

Thanks.

menu:Tools>Options>LanguageSettings>Languages> Enable "Complex text layout" = ON
Ctrl+Shift+D shifts the current paragraph to the right border and turns on right-to-left writing.
Ctrl+Shift+A does the opposite.

Oh, by the way: Writer can not open PDF. Draw may do this in some awkward ways when you have the PDF extension installed. PDFs are more like computer drawings representing print pages with any printable shapes on them.

If you can actually open a PDF in Writer, then the PDF is a hybrid with its source document piggyback. What you open is the source document whereas you save both parts.

[meet]

Yes, you are right, Draw is the one that opens the PDF not Writer.

[Villeroy]

So the text is arranged by stripes of text boxes.
menu:Tools>Options>LanguageSettings>Languages> Enable "Complex text layout" = ON
Select one or more of these shapes.
Right-click>Paragraph...
Text direction = right-to-left

[meet]

This does allow me to write from right-to-left but the text box itself remains on the left. I could get it to the right of the page by Modify-alignment-right, but there are bullet points before the text box which I want to keep at the right distance from the text box when things move to the right. I tried to group things but that doesn't work either.

[Villeroy]

Then you need the original document from which this PDF had been created, edit that and create a new PDF. Or you need the commercial PDF editor by Adobe. Generally speaking, PDF is not an editable file format. It is a virtual print out.

[meet]

Yes I guess so, thank you.