Writer Guide

Chapter 7
Printing, Exporting, Emailing,
SigningCopyrightThis document is Copyright © 2021 by the LibreOffice Documentation Team. Contributors arelisted below. You may distribute it and/or modify it under the terms of either the GNU General
Public License (https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html), version 3 or later, or the Creative
Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), version 4.0 or later.
All trademarks within this guide belong to their legitimate owners.

Contributors
To this edition
Jean Hollis Weber

Kees Kriek

To previous editions
Jean Hollis Weber
Bruce Byfield

John A Smith
Gillian Pollack

Ron Faile Jr.
Dante Legaspi

Feedback
Please direct any comments or suggestions about this document to the Documentation Team’s
mailing list: documentation@global.libreoffice.org

Note
Everything you send to a mailing list, including your email address and any otherpersonal information that is written in the message, is publicly archived and cannot
be deleted.

Publication date and software version
Published April 2021. Based on LibreOffice 7.1 Community.
Other versions of LibreOffice may differ in appearance and functionality.

Using LibreOffice on macOS
Some keystrokes and menu items are different on macOS from those used in Windows andLinux. The table below gives some common substitutions for the instructions in this document.
For a detailed list, see the application Help.
Windows or LinuxmacOS equivalent

EffectTools > Options
menu selection

LibreOffice > Preferences

Access setup options

Right-click

Control+click or right-click
depending on computer setup

Open a context menu

Ctrl (Control)⌘ (Command)

Used with other keys

F11

⌘+T

Open the Styles deck in the Sidebar

Documentation for LibreOffice is available at https://documentation.libreoffice.org/en/Contents
Copyright............................................................................................................................2
Contributors.............................................................................................................................. 2
Feedback.................................................................................................................................. 2
Publication date and software version.......................................................................................2
Using LibreOffice on macOS.....................................................................................................2

Quick printing....................................................................................................................4
Controlling printing...........................................................................................................4
Selecting general printing options.............................................................................................5
Selecting printer and print job options.......................................................................................5
Printing multiple pages on a single sheet of paper....................................................................5
Selecting what to print...............................................................................................................6
Choices on the LibreOffice Writer tab........................................................................................6
Printing a brochure....................................................................................................................7
Printing in black and white (on a color printer)..........................................................................8
Previewing pages before printing..............................................................................................9

Printing envelopes............................................................................................................9
Printing labels..................................................................................................................11
Exporting to PDF.............................................................................................................12
Quick export to PDF................................................................................................................ 12
Controlling PDF content and quality........................................................................................12
General tab of PDF Options dialog.....................................................................................12
Initial View tab of PDF Options dialog................................................................................14
User Interface tab of PDF Options dialog...........................................................................15
Links tab of PDF Options dialog.........................................................................................15
Security tab of PDF Options dialog.....................................................................................16
Digital Signatures tab of PDF Options dialog......................................................................17

Exporting to EPUB format..............................................................................................18
Quick export to EPUB............................................................................................................. 18
Controlling export to EPUB.....................................................................................................18

Exporting to other formats.............................................................................................20
Emailing Writer documents............................................................................................20
Emailing a document to several recipients..............................................................................20

Digital signing of documents.........................................................................................20
Applying a digital signature.....................................................................................................21
Including a signature line........................................................................................................ 22

Removing personal data.................................................................................................23
Redaction.........................................................................................................................23
Auto-redaction......................................................................................................................... 24

Chapter 7 Printing, Exporting, E-mailing, Signing | 3

Quick printing
If the Print Directly icon is visible on the Standard toolbar, you can click it to print the entire
document using the current default print settings. If the icon is not visible, you can make it visible
by right-clicking on the toolbar, pointing to Visible Buttons, and selecting Print Directly.
You can specify the default printer on the Printer Setup dialog; go to File > Printer Settings on
the Menu bar. To access other printing options, click the Options button on the Printer Setup
dialog. The same options are available through Tools > Options > LibreOffice Writer > Print,
and more general print options through Tools > Options > LibreOffice > Print. See Chapter 20,
Customizing Writer, for more information.

Controlling printing
For more control over printing, use the Print dialog (File > Print, Ctrl+P (⌘+P for macOS), or the
Print icon on the Standard toolbar). The appearance of the Print dialog is different on macOSand may include extra printer controls not described in this chapter.

Figure 1: The Print dialog in Writer
The Print dialog has two tabs, on which you can choose a range of options, as described in thefollowing sections.
4 | Chapter 7 Printing, Exporting, E-mailing, Signing

Selecting general printing options
On the General tab of the Print dialog, you can choose:•

The printer, from the list of available printers.

• Which pages to print, the number of copies to print, and whether to collate multiple
copies (Range and copies section).
• Paper size and print orientation (Page Layout section).
• How many pages to print on one sheet of paper and whether to draw a border aroundeach page (Page Layout section).
• Whether to print a brochure (see page 6).
• Whether to print in reverse page order (useful on some printers to make the pages comeout in page order).

Selecting printer and print job options
In the Printer section of the General tab, click the Properties button to display the selected
printer’s properties dialog where you can choose portrait or landscape orientation, which paper
tray to use, and the paper size to print on.
Click the More Options button at the bottom of the Print dialog to choose whether to create
separate print jobs for collated output, instead of one print job containing all the collated pages(not relevant if only one copy of a document is printed).

Printing multiple pages on a single sheet of paper
You can print multiple pages of a document on one sheet of paper. To do this, in the Page Layout
section of the General tab, click more and select from the Pages per sheet drop-down list the
number of pages to print per sheet of paper. The preview panel on the left of the Print dialog
shows how the printed document will look.
When printing more than two pages per sheet, you can choose the order in which they are
printed across and down the paper. Figure 2 shows the difference.

Tip
To print two pages per sheet in “facing pages” (book layout) style, print from Print
Preview instead. See page 9.

Figure 2: Print order choices

Controlling printing | 5

Selecting what to print
In addition to printing a full document, you can choose to print individual pages, a ranges ofpages, or a selection from a document.
Printing an individual page:1) In the Print dialog, in the Range and Copies section, select the Pages option. The text
box shows the current page number.
2) Enter the page number of the page you want to print. The preview box on the leftchanges to show the selected page.
Printing a range of pages:
1) In the Print dialog, in the Range and Copies section, select the Pages option.
2) Enter the page numbers of the pages to print (for example, 1–4 or 1,3,7,11 or a
combination).
Printing a selection of text or graphics):
1) In the document, select the material to print, then open the Print dialog.
2) In the Range and Copies section of the Print dialog, now the Selection option is active.
The preview box shows the selected material (Figure 3).

Figure 3: Printing a selection of text

Choices on the LibreOffice Writer tab
On the LibreOffice Writer tab (Figure 4) you can choose to print a subset of contents (forexample, images or hidden text), print text in black (even if a color is defined for the text),
whether to print automatically inserted blank pages, and whether and where to print any
comments that are in the document.
Some selections may not be available all the time. For example, if the document contains nocomments, the Comments drop-down list is disabled.

6 | Chapter 7 Printing, Exporting, E-mailing, SigningFigure 4: LibreOffice Writer tab of Print dialog

Printing a brochure
In Writer, you can print a document with two pages on each side of a sheet of paper, arranged sothat when the printed pages are folded in half, the pages are in the correct order to form abooklet or brochure.

Tip
Plan your document so it will look good when printed half size; choose appropriate
margins, font sizes, and so on. You may need to experiment.
To print a brochure on a single-sided printer:1) In the Page Layout section of the General tab of the Print dialog, click more and selectBrochure near the bottom. The preview on the left changes to show the sequence inwhich the pages will be printed. (Figure 5.)2) Depending on your language settings (Tools > Options > Language Settings >Languages), the Print dialog may include a drop-down menu adjacent to the Brochurebutton (not shown in Figure 5). This provides Left-to-right script and Right-to-left script
options. Select the required setting in this menu.
3) In the Range and Copies section, select Even pages. Click OK to print.
4) Take the printed pages out of the printer and put them back into the printer in the correctorientation to print on the blank side. You may need to experiment to find the correct
arrangement for your printer.
5) On the Print dialog, in the Range and Copies section, select Odd pages. Click OK.

Tip
If your printer can print double-sided (duplex) automatically, choose All pages instep 3 and skip steps 4 and 5.

Controlling printing | 7

Figure 5: Settings for printing a brochure on a simplex printerPrinting in black and white (on a color printer)
You may wish to print documents in black and white on a color printer. Several choices areavailable.

Note
Some color printers may print in color regardless of the settings you choose.
For one document, change the printer settings to print in black and white or grayscale:1) On the Print dialog, click Properties to open the Properties dialog for the printer. The
available choices vary from one printer to another, but you should find options for thecolor settings. See your printer’s help or user manual for more information.
2) The choices for color might include black and white or grayscale. Choose grayscale.
3) Click OK to confirm your choice and return to the Print dialog.
4) Click OK to print the document.
To print all color text and images as grayscale, change the LibreOffice settings:
1) Choose Tools > Options > LibreOffice > Print.
2) Select the Convert colors to grayscale option. Click OK to save the change.
To print all color text as black, and all images as grayscale, change the LibreOffice Writer settings
1) Choose Tools > Options > LibreOffice Writer > Print.
2) Under Contents, select the Print text in black option. Click OK to save the change.

8 | Chapter 7 Printing, Exporting, E-mailing, Signing

Previewing pages before printing
The normal page view in Writer shows what each page will look like when printed; you can edit
the pages in that view. If you are designing a document to be printed double-sided, you may want
to see what facing pages look like. Writer provides two ways to do this:•View Layout (editable view): use the Book View button on the status bar and (usually)
zoom out.

•

Print Preview (read-only view).

To use Print Preview:1) Choose File > Print Preview on the Menu bar, or click the Toggle Print Preview icon on
the Standard toolbar, or press Ctrl+Shift+O. Writer now displays the Print Preview toolbar
instead of the Formatting toolbar.

2) Select the required preview icon: Single Page, Two Pages, Book Preview, or Multiple
Pages.
3) To print the document from this view, click the Print icon to open the Print dialog. Choose
the print options and click OK.

Printing envelopes
Printing envelopes involves two steps: setup and printing.
To set up an envelope to be printed by itself or with a document:
1) Click Insert > Envelope on the Menu bar.
2) In the Envelope dialog, start with the Envelope tab (Figure 6). Verify, add, or edit the
information in the Addressee and Sender (the “from” on the envelope) boxes. The sender
information is picked up from the User Data page in Tools > Options > LibreOffice.
You can type information directly into the Addressee and Sender boxes, or use the righthand drop-down lists to select the database or table from which you can draw theenvelope information. See Chapter 14, Mail Merge, for details on how to print envelopes
from a database.
3) On the Format tab (Figure 7), verify or edit the positioning of the addressee and thesender information. The preview area on the lower right illustrates your choices.
4) To format the text of these blocks, click the Edit button to the right. In the drop-down list
you have two choices: Character and Paragraph.
– Select Character to open a dialog similar to the standard Character dialog, where you
can set the formatting of the text.
– Select Paragraph to open a dialog similar to the standard Paragraph dialog, where
you can set the paragraph's attributes.
5) In the lower left of this tab is the Size section. Choose the envelope format in the dropdown list. The width and height of the selected envelope show in the boxes below theselected format. If you chose a pre-existing format, just verify these sizes. If you chose
User Defined in the Format list, then you can edit the sizes.

Printing envelopes | 9

Figure 6: Choosing addressee and sender information for an envelope

Figure 7: Choosing positioning and size of elements for an envelope

10 | Chapter 7 Printing, Exporting, E-mailing, Signing6) After formatting, go to the Printer tab (Figure 8) to choose which printer to use, its setup(for example, specification of the tray holding envelopes), and other printer options suchas envelope orientation and shifting. You may need to experiment to see what options
work best for your printer, as well as how the envelopes need to be positioned in theprinter.

Figure 8: Choosing printer options for an envelope
7) When you have finished formatting and are ready to print, click either the New Document
button or the Insert button to finish. New Document makes only an envelope or starts a
new document with the envelope. Insert puts the envelope into your existing document as
page 1.
8) Save this file before you do anything else.
To print the envelope:1) Choose File > Print on the Menu bar.
2) On the Print dialog (Figure 1 on page 4), under Range and Copies, choose Pages andtype 1 in the box. Choose the required printer (which may be different from the usual
printer). Click OK to print.

Printing labels
Labels are commonly used for printing address lists (where each label shows a different
address), but they can also be used to make multiple copies of one label, for example returnaddress stickers, labels for CDs/DVDs, or other items.
Printing labels, like printing envelopes, has two steps: setup and printing. This topic is covered indetail in Chapter 14, Mail Merge.

Printing labels | 11

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

Warning
A document in PDF format is not protected against contents tampering or editing by
default. The PDF document contents can be edited by specialized software tools,
including LibreOffice Draw.

Tip
Unlike Save As, the Export command writes a copy of the current document in a new
file with the chosen format, but keeps the current document and format open in yoursession.

Quick export to PDF
Click the Export Directly as PDF icon on the Standard toolbar, or File > Export As > Export
Directly as PDF, to export the entire document using the PDF settings you most recently
selected in the PDF Options dialog. You are asked to enter the file name and location for the
PDF, but you do not get a chance to choose a page range, the image compression, or otheroptions.

Controlling PDF content and quality
For more control over the content and quality of the resulting PDF, use File > Export as >Export as PDF. The PDF Options dialog opens. This dialog has six tabs (General, Initial View,
User Interface, Links, Security, and Digital Signatures). Select the appropriate settings, and thenclick Export. Then you are asked to enter the location and file name of the PDF to be created,and click Save (Windows and Linux) or Export (macOS) to export the file.

Note
You can also export to PDF with File > Export. On the Export dialog, select the PDF
file format, the file name and location, and click Save or Export. The PDF Options
dialog then opens. Select the appropriate settings and then click Export. The only
difference between the two export methods is the sequence in which steps occur.

General tab of PDF Options dialog
On the General tab (Figure 11), you can choose which pages to include in the PDF, the type ofcompression to use for images (which affects the quality of images in the PDF), and otheroptions.
Range section• All: Exports the entire document to PDF.
•

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 ofpage ranges and single pages, by using a format like 3-6;8;10;12.

•

Selection: Exports whatever material is selected.

•

View PDF after export: Your default PDF viewer will open and display the newly
exported PDF.

12 | Chapter 7 Printing, Exporting, E-mailing, SigningFigure 9: General tab of PDF Options dialog
Images section• Lossless compression: Images are stored without any loss of quality. Tends to makelarge files when used with photographs. Recommended for other kinds of images orgraphics.
• JPEG compression: Allows for varying degrees of quality. A setting of 90% works wellwith photographs (smaller file size, little perceptible loss of quality).
• Reduce image resolution: Lower DPI (dots per inch) images have lower quality. For
viewing on a computer screen generally a resolution of 72dpi (for Windows) or 96dpi(GNU/Linux) is sufficient, while for printing it is generally preferable to use at least 300 or
600 dpi, depending on the capability of the printer. Higher DPI settings increase the sizeof the exported file.

Note
EPS (Encapsulated PostScript) images with embedded previews are exported only
as previews. EPS images without embedded previews are exported as empty
placeholders.
Watermark section• Sign with Watermark: When this option is selected, a transparent overlay of the text you
enter into the watermark text box will appear on each page of the PDF.
General section• Hybrid PDF (embed ODF file): Use this setting to export the document as a PDF
containing two file formats: PDF and ODF. In PDF viewers it behaves like a normal PDF
file, and it remains fully editable in LibreOffice.
• Archive (PDF/A, ISO 19005): PDF/A is an ISO standard for long-term preservation of
documents, by embedding all the information necessary for faithful reproduction (such as
fonts) while forbidding other elements (including forms, security, and encryption). PDF

Exporting to PDF | 13

tags are written. If you select PDF/A-1a, the forbidden elements are grayed-out (notavailable). The PDF/A-1b option refers to the minimum compliance level with PDF/A-1,
while the PDF/A-2b option refers to the minimum compliance level with PDF/A-2.
• Tagged PDF: Tagged PDF contains information about the structure of the document’s
contents. This can help to display the document on devices with different screens, andwhen using screen reader software. Some tags that are exported are table of contents,
hyperlinks, and controls. This option can increase file sizes 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. Mostoften you will choose the PDF format.

•

Allow duplicate field names: If enabled, the same field name can be used for multiple
fields in the generated PDF file. You can enter data in the first occurrence of the named
field in the PDF document and all fields with the same name will carry your entry. If
disabled, field names will be exported using generated unique names.

Structure section• Export outlines: Exports headings as an outline (table of contents list) displayed bymost PDF viewers, including Adobe Reader. In Writer 7.0 and earlier, called bookmarks.
• Export placeholders: The PDF will include any defined placeholder fields, which can be
filled in by users.
• Comments as PDF annotations: If selected, comments are included in the PDF as
annotations.
• Export automatically inserted blank pages: If selected, automatically inserted blankpages 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 (righthand) page. When the previous chapter ends on an odd page, Writer inserts a blank
page between the two odd pages. This option controls whether to export that blank page.
• Use reference XObjects: If you don’t know what this means, leave this box unchecked.

Initial View tab of PDF Options dialog
On the Initial View tab (Figure 10), you can choose how the PDF opens by default in a PDF
viewer. The selections should be self-explanatory.

Figure 10: Initial View tab of PDF Options dialog
14 | Chapter 7 Printing, Exporting, E-mailing, SigningIf you have Complex Text Layout enabled (in Tools > Options > Language settings >Languages), an additional selection is available under the Continuous facing button: First
page is left (normally, the first page is on the right when using the Continuous facing option).

User Interface tab of PDF Options dialog
On the User Interface tab (Figure 11), 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.

Figure 11: User Interface tab of PDF Options dialog
Window options section• Resize window to initial page. The PDF viewer window will resize to fit the first page of
the PDF.
•

Center window on screen. The PDF viewer window will be centered on the computer
screen.

•Open in full screen mode. The PDF viewer will open full-screen instead of in a smaller
window.

•

Display document title. The PDF viewer will display the document’s title in the title bar.

User interface options section• Hide menubar. The PDF viewer will hide the Menu bar.
•

Hide toolbar. The PDF viewer will hide the toolbar.

•

Hide window controls. The PDF viewer will hide other window controls.

Transitions
Not available in Writer.
Bookmarks
Select how many heading levels are displayed as bookmarks, if Export bookmarks is
selected on the General page.

Links tab of PDF Options dialog
On the Links tab, you can choose how links in documents are exported to PDF.
Export bookmarks as named destinations
If you have defined Writer bookmarks, they are exported 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), the file extensions are converted to .pdf in the exported PDF document.

Exporting to PDF | 15

Figure 12: Links tab of PDF Options dialog
Export URLs relative to file system
If you have defined relative links in a document, this option exports those links to the PDF.
Cross-document links
Defines the behavior of links clicked in PDF files. Select one of the alternatives:– Default mode: The PDF links will be handled as specified in your operating system.
– Open with PDF reader application: Use the same application used to display the PDF
document to open linked PDF documents.
– Open with Internet browser: Use the default Internet browser to display linked PDF
documents.

Security tab of PDF Options dialog
PDF export includes options to encrypt the PDF (so it cannot be opened without a password) andapply 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 (forexample, print, copy, or change it).

• With a permissions password set, the PDF can be opened by anyone, but its permissions
can be restricted. See Figure 13. After you set a password for permissions, the otherchoices on the Security page become available.
•

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.

Note
Permissions settings are effective only if the user’s PDF viewer respects the settings.

16 | Chapter 7 Printing, Exporting, E-mailing, SigningFigure 13: Security tab of PDF Options dialog with passwords set

Digital Signatures tab of PDF Options dialog
The Digital Signatures tab (Figure 14) contains the options for exporting a digitally signed PDF.

Figure 14: Digital Signatures tab of PDF Options dialog
Digital signatures are used to ensure that the PDF was really created by the original author (thatis, you), and that the document has not been modified since it was signed.
The signed PDF export uses the keys and X.509 certificates already stored in your default key
store location or on a smartcard. The key store to be used can be selected under Tools >Options > LibreOffice > Security > Certificate Path (macOS and Linux only). When using asmartcard, it must already be configured for use by your key store. This is usually done during
installation of the smartcard software. Details about using these features is outside the scope of
this chapter.
•

Use this certificate to digitally sign PDF documents: Click Select to open the SelectCertificate dialog, where all certificates found in your selected key store are displayed. If
the key store is protected by a password, you are prompted for it. When using asmartcard that is protected by a PIN, you are also prompted for that.

Exporting to PDF | 17

Select the certificate to use for digitally signing the exported PDF, then click Sign.
All other fields on the Digital Signatures tab are accessible only after a certificate has
been selected.
•

Certificate password: Enter the password used for protecting the private key associatedwith the selected certificate. Usually this is the key store password. If the key store
password has already been entered in the Select Certificate dialog, the key store may
already be unlocked and not require the password again.
When using a smartcard, enter the PIN here. Some smartcard software will prompt you
for the PIN again before signing.

•

Location, Contact information, Reason: Optionally enter additional information about thedigital signature that will be applied to the PDF. This information will be embedded in theappropriate PDF fields and will be visible to anyone viewing the PDF. Any or all of thethree fields may be left blank.

•

Time Stamp Authority: Optionally select a Time Stamping Authority (TSA) URL. During
the PDF signing process, the TSA will be used to obtain a digitally signed timestamp thatis then embedded in the signature. Anyone viewing the PDF can use this timestamp toverify when the document was signed.
The list of TSA URLs that can be selected is maintained under Tools > Options >LibreOffice > Security > TSAs. If no TSA URL is selected (the default), the signature
will not be timestamped, but will use the current time from your local computer.

Exporting to EPUB format
EPUB format has become popular since mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets, ande-readers appeared on the market. The EPUB format is implemented as an archive fileconsisting of HTML files carrying the content, along with images and other supporting files.
Writer can export a file to EPUB. A text-only document generally exports well, but some contents(such as illustrations, tables, and cross-references) may not export correctly. These functions are
expected to be added or greatly improved in later releases of LibreOffice.

Tip
Other ways to export to ePub from Writer (.odt) files include Calibre, an open-source
e-book manager that runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux. Calibre provides manye-book conversion facilities and allows editing of the result.
https://calibre-ebook.com/

Quick export to EPUB
Choose File > Export As > Export Directly as EPUB to export the entire document using the
EPUB settings you most recently selected on the EPUB Export dialog (see below). You are
asked to enter the file name and location for the EPUB file, but you do not get a chance to selectother options.

Controlling export to EPUB
For more control over the content and quality of the resulting EPUB file, use File > Export As >Export as EPUB. The EPUB Export dialog opens (Figure 15).

18 | Chapter 7 Printing, Exporting, E-mailing, SigningFigure 15: EPUB Export dialog
The EPUB Export dialog has the following fields:
VersionChoose the EPUB version for the exported file. Values are EPUB 2.0 and EPUB 3.0.
Split method
Select the method to start a new section. Choose Heading to start the section on aheading, according to the document’s chapter numbering. Choose Page break to start thesection on a page break.
Layout method
Choose Reflowable to have the ebook display change to fit the screen size and the user’s
preference (so page size and header/footer content is not exported). Choose Fixed to havethe ebook layout remain the same under all conditions.
Customize - Cover image
The path to the image file for the cover page. If no image is specified, the EPUB file willautomatically use any image with a name like cover.gif, cover.jpg, cover.png, or cover.svg.
A custom cover image is embedded in the EPUB file.
Customize - Media directory
The path to the optional directory for the cover image, metadata, and multimedia files. If
you do not specify a directory, the exporter looks for custom media and custom metadata inthe current document directory inside a folder with the same name as the document file
name.
Metadata
The basic information for the file that provides tags to help searches. These fields provide
another chance to edit metadata that is picked up by default from File > Properties inWriter.

Exporting to EPUB format | 19

Exporting to other formats
LibreOffice uses the term “export” for some file operations involving a change of file type. If you
cannot find what you want under File > Save As, look under File > Export as well. Writer canexport files to XHTML, EPUB and other formats, as shown in Figure 16.
Choose File > Export. On the Export dialog, specify a file name for the exported document, thenselect the required file format and click Export.

Figure 16: Export file formats

Emailing Writer documents
LibreOffice provides several ways to quickly and easily send a Writer document as an email
attachment in one of three formats: .odt (OpenDocument Text, Writer’s default format), .docx(Microsoft Word format), or .pdf.
To send the current document in .odt format, choose:
1) File > Send > Email Document, or File > Send > Email as OpenDocument Text.
Writer opens your default email program. The document is attached to a new email.
2) In your email program, enter the recipient, subject, and any text you want to add, thensend the email.
If you choose Email as Microsoft Word, Writer first creates a file in Word format (.docx) and thenopens your email program with the Word file attached. Similarly, if you choose Email as PDF,
Writer opens the PDF Options dialog where you can select the settings you want, then creates a
PDF, and then opens your email program with the .pdf file attached.

Emailing a document to several recipients
To email a document to several recipients, you can use the features in your email program or you
can use Writer’s mail merge facilities to extract email addresses from an address book.
You can use Writer’s mail merge to send email in two ways:•

Use the Mail Merge Wizard to create the document and send it.

•

Create the document in Writer without using the Wizard, then use the Wizard to send it.

See Chapter 14, Mail Merge, for details.

Digital signing of documents
To sign a document digitally, you need a personal key, also known as a certificate. A personal key
is stored on your computer as a combination of a private key, which must be kept secret, and apublic key, which you add to your documents when you sign them. You can get a certificate froma certification authority, which may be a private company or a governmental institution.
When you apply a digital signature to a document, a checksum is computed from the document’s
content plus your personal key. The checksum and your public key are stored with the document.
20 | Chapter 7 Printing, Exporting, E-mailing, SigningWhen someone later opens the document on any computer with a recent version of LibreOffice,the program will compute the checksum again and compare it with the stored checksum. If bothare the same, the program will signal that you see the original, unchanged document. In addition,
the program can show you the public key information from the certificate. You can compare thepublic key with the public key that is published on the web site of the certificate authority.
Whenever someone changes something in the document, this change breaks the digital
signature.
For a more detailed description of how to get and manage a certificate, and signature validation,
see “About Digital Signatures” and “Applying Digital Signatures” in the LibreOffice Help.

Applying a digital signature
The following procedure is an example of how to digitally sign a document. The actual procedure
depends on how your computer is set up and its operating system.
1) Choose File > Digital Signatures > Digital Signatures.
– If you have set LibreOffice to warn you when the document contains comments orrecorded changes (see “Removing personal data” on page 23), you may see amessage box asking whether you want to continue signing the document.
– If you have not saved the document since the last change, a message box appears.
Click Yes twice: once to continue and again to save the file.
2) The Digital Signatures dialog (Figure 17) opens. It lists existing signatures together with
their description (if they have any). Click the Sign Document button to add a newsignature to the document.

Figure 17: Signatures of the document
3) In the Select Certificate dialog (Figure 18), select your certificate, add an optionaldescription, and click Sign to return to the Digital Signatures dialog. The certificate used
is displayed in the dialog with an icon next to its name. This icon indicates the status of
the digital signature.
4) Click Close in the Digital Signatures dialog to apply the digital signature.

Digital signing of documents | 21

Figure 18: Signatures can have a description
A signed document shows an icon in the Status bar. You can double-click the icon to view thecertificate. More than one signature can be added to a document.
Changing an existing description invalidates the signature. However, multiple signatures from thesame author are allowed, because each signature can have a different description.

Including a signature line
You can generate a graphic box representing a signature line using Insert > Signature Line (seeFigure 19), and you can optionally sign the signature line using a digital certificate.

Figure 19: Creating a signature line for a document

22 | Chapter 7 Printing, Exporting, E-mailing, SigningFigure 20: Signature line example

Removing personal data
You may wish to ensure that personal data, versions, comments, hidden information, or recordedchanges are removed from files before you send them to other people or create PDFs from them.
In Tools > Options > LibreOffice > Security, click the Options button to display a dialog(Figure 21) where you can set LibreOffice to warn you when files contain certain information
and/or automatically remove personal information on saving.

Figure 21: Set security warnings and options
To remove personal and some other data from a file, go to File > Properties. On the Generaltab, uncheck Apply user data and click the Reset Properties button. This removes any namesin the created and modified fields, deletes the modification and printing dates, and resets theediting time to zero, the creation date to the current date and time, and the version number to 1.
To remove version information, either (a) go to File > Versions, select the versions from the list
and click Delete, or (b) use Save As and save the file with a different name.

Redaction
You can redact documents to remove or hide sensitive information, to allow the selective
disclosure of information in a document while keeping other parts of the document secret. For
example, when a document is subpoenaed in a court case, information not specifically relevant tothe case at hand is often redacted.
To redact a document:
1) Open the document in Writer.
2) Click Tools > Redact on the Menu bar, and wait for the document to be prepared forredaction and transferred to Draw. The Redaction toolbar (Figure 22) opens.

Redaction | 23

Figure 22: Redaction toolbar
3) Do the redaction by using the Rectangle Redaction and Freeform Redaction tools on
the Redaction toolbar. The shapes will be transparent and in gray so you can see what
you are redacting.
4) Optionally use the Export Directly as PDF tool to make an in-redaction copy of the
document in PDF to use as a verbatim copy for review. The redacted items will be intransparent grey.
5) To finalize the redaction, select the desired option (black or white) on the Redacted
Export tool. The transparent grey shapes are converted to opaque black or white shapes
and the document is exported as a pixellized PDF. There will be no selectable text in it,
and the redacted content will be non-existent.

Auto-redaction
To partially automate the redaction process, you can define certain words (such as names) to be
redacted wherever they are found in the document. To do this, choose Tools > Auto-Redact on
the Menu bar to open the Automatic Redaction dialog (Figure 23). Here you can load a list ofterms (targets), add targets, delete targets, edit targets, and save a list of targets.

Figure 23: Automatic Redaction dialog

24 | Chapter 7 Printing, Exporting, E-mailing, Signing