How to choose PDF version for Export as PDF operation

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bijarniya
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How to choose PDF version for Export as PDF operation

Post by bijarniya »

The PDFs generated with "Export As PDF" always have PDF version 1.4, is there a way to configure to generate PDF with higher versions?
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Villeroy
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Re: How to choose PDF version for Export as PDF operation

Post by Villeroy »

Install a virtual PDF printer of your choice and print to it.
Please, edit this topic's initial post and add "[Solved]" to the subject line if your problem has been solved.
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Zizi64
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Re: How to choose PDF version for Export as PDF operation

Post by Zizi64 »

"Export As PDF" always have PDF version 1.4
What feature/function/property is missing from that version?
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Bill
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Re: How to choose PDF version for Export as PDF operation

Post by Bill »

Villeroy wrote:Install a virtual PDF printer of your choice and print to it.
I haven't found many choices for Linux systems. Using Kubuntu, the only choices I have found are the "Print to file" print option (which is not available from the OpenOffice print dialog) and the package "printer-driver-cups-pdf", version 3.0.1-6. Using "Print to file" in LibreOffice 6.3.6.2 produces version 1.4 PDF files. The "printer-driver-cups-pdf" adds "PDF" as a virtual printer. It produces version 1.2 PDF files. Do you know of any other virtual PDF printers available for Linux?
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Villeroy
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Re: How to choose PDF version for Export as PDF operation

Post by Villeroy »

Bill wrote:Do you know of any other virtual PDF printers available for Linux?
No. My requirements are low. I remember that I once added such a printer to a Windows 7 box. It was based on Ghostscript from the Linux world. I don't recall the PDF version it produced. It simply worked.
Please, edit this topic's initial post and add "[Solved]" to the subject line if your problem has been solved.
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RoryOF
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Re: How to choose PDF version for Export as PDF operation

Post by RoryOF »

Years ago I added an Adobe PDF printer to Windows - it might have been to Windows NT4. Like Villeroy, I cannot remember what version of PDF it produced.
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keme
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Re: How to choose PDF version for Export as PDF operation

Post by keme »

bijarniya wrote:The PDFs generated with "Export As PDF" always have PDF version 1.4, is there a way to configure to generate PDF with higher versions?
According to help files, the pdf version supported by the official build of Apache OpenOffice is 1.4. That's it. No option to select different versions.

The way to configure for different version:
  • Download the sources,
  • install a dev environment,
  • acquire a more extensive pdf library (or write the code yourself),
    PDFTron seems like a decent option, and supports PDFv1.5, adding layers functionality which may be useful. Not sure what it would cost for a single dev. license.
  • rewrite the export routines to take advantage of new pdf code,
  • build your own OpenOffice.
See also this (admittedly rather old) discussion for some hints.

Note that I have not gone through those steps myself. Neither have I acquired PDFTron or other libraries, nor written any software which outputs pdf files. The above is general advice, but as specific as you can expect from me. Good luck!
Last edited by keme on Sat Sep 26, 2020 6:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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RoryOF
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Re: How to choose PDF version for Export as PDF operation

Post by RoryOF »

@bijarniya: Why do you need a higher version of PDF? What does it offer? Can you be certain that older PDF readers will read such additional facilities?
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