Apache OpenOffice Community Forum

I recently installed new version of Open Office on a system at work. I tried to test it by downloading a .pdf file too open it with Office. But all I saw was garbled ASCII characters i.e. .pdf WHS%%$$# MDDNS&&SNNSW773dfkc . What is the problem is it the .pdf file or did Open Office have a problem when it loaded?

Thanks in advance.

OOo cannot edit .pdf files except for some limited capabilities using the Sun PDF Import extension http://extensions.services.openoffice.o ... /pdfimport.

You really need to download and install a dedicated PDF reader. The widest known is Adobe Reader, free from the Adobe site. PDF files are intended to be uneditable; OpenOffice is not the correct tool for viewing or editing them.

OOo cannot edit .pdf files except for some limited capabilities using the Sun PDF Import extension

...The pdf editing function available in OOo DRAW, but not available in WRITER program.


The OpenOffice is not a PDF viewer.

PDF isn't designed to be a dynamic file type. It is best considered as an 'electronic printed page'. They were never intended to be edited in the way that, say, a word processor file can be re-edited again and again. Much better to edit the original source document and create a new PDF when required.

However, having said that, OOo provides some limited PDF editing through the use of the Sun PDF Extension, but that extension is provided to correct typos and make tiny adjustments, not for full scale edits.

If this has answered your question please go to your first post and use the Edit button, and add [Solved] to the start of the title. You can use the green tick icon at the same time if you like.

But in placing a Hyperlink as a target in PDF in Calc, OO says "cannot open file"..... IOW, OO is expecting to open all files that are hyperlinked?
Can I place a #target in a pdf using Sun's Extension?

It is informing you that it doesn't know how to open the file you have linked. It is your responsibility to link the correct type of file.

OK, so Calc cannot link to a specific target in a PDF.... no prob.
That does mean, however, that I'd have to convert a version of the pdf to html.
Guess that's scriptable, I am a Noob for this level of use....

Had same issue with draw not displaying PDFs correctly. Text jumbled up with boxes. I used gimp to import as layers. Then exported as pdf. Increased resolution and then libre office draw displayed properly. Finally can enter information after an hour of trying. Was just about to print and fill out by hand etc. Hope this helps somebody out there. )