LibreOffice Draw

importing and lightly editing PDF files with LibreOffice Draw, where the Document Foundation wiki FAQ How can I open a PDF in Draw at https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Faq/Draw/118, revision 892580 dated 4 September 2026, says in its Open and edit foreign PDF files section that LibreOffice recognizes foreign PDF files as graphical documents so PDFs are opened in Draw, that the processing of foreign PDF files in Draw may be limited, that the texts are usually no longer continuous texts as they are in Writer, that the texts and images are usually selectable as single snippets, that these snippets are defined as Shape Text frames in the Draw navigator, that these snippets can be edited, and that in most cases this only makes sense if only single words or letters are to be exchanged, and its Open and edit PDF files created in LibreOffice section adds that an exported PDF file can then be edited in Draw or better yet in Writer, with no claim of continuous text editing, layout fidelity, support for every PDF, structure preservation, annotation or form editing, or automation

exporting a Draw document as PDF, where the Draw Guide 26.2 chapter on printing and export, at https://books.libreoffice.org/en/DG262/DG26210-PrintExportEmail.html, describes exporting documents as a PDF file in its Exporting PDF format section, gives Export Directly as PDF on the Standard toolbar or File Export As Export Directly as PDF as the path that exports the complete document using default PDF settings with the note that page range, image compression and other printing options are not available that way, and gives Export as PDF as the path that opens the PDF Options dialog whose pages carry the options, and where the current LibreOffice 26.8 Help page General for PDF export describes the Range choices of All, Pages typed in the box using formats such as 3-6 and 7;9;11 and Selection, the PDF Version selector, Universal Accessibility PDF/UA creating a PDF that follows PDF/UA ISO 14289 with Tagged PDF automatically enabled and not disableable when PDF/UA is selected, Hybrid PDF embedding the ODF file so the exported .pdf contains both formats and remains fully editable in LibreOffice, the Forms option creating a PDF form whose submit format can be FDF, PDF, HTML or XML, and the Structure options of Tagged PDF, Export outlines, Comments as PDF annotations, Comments in margin and Export automatically inserted blank pages, and where the PDF Export Command Line Parameters help source documents SelectPdfVersion with the values 0 for PDF 1.7 as the default choice, 1 for PDF/A-1b, 2 for PDF/A-2b, 3 for PDF/A-3b, 15 for PDF 1.5, 16 for PDF 1.6 and 17 for PDF 1.7, together with PDFUACompliance, UseTaggedPDF, ExportFormFields, FormsType, ExportBookmarks and PageRange, and shows draw_pdf_Export in its command line examples, the documented direction being a Draw document exported to PDF rather than conversion of an existing PDF to another format

exporting a password protected PDF from LibreOffice Draw, where the current LibreOffice 26.8 Help page Security at https://help.libreoffice.org/latest/en-US/text/shared/01/ref_pdf_export_security.html describes the Security tab reached through File Export As Export as PDF, says it specifies the security options of the exported PDF file, warns that document permission restrictions set by password are observed only by PDF readers compliant with version 1.5 of the format so in older readers the restrictions may have no effect, describes Set passwords opening a dialog where you enter the passwords with a password needed to view the PDF and an optional password allowing the person viewing the PDF to edit and or print, lists the Printing choices of not permitted, low resolution at 150 dpi with the note that not all PDF readers honor the setting, and high resolution, lists the Changes choices of not permitted, inserting deleting and rotating pages only, filling in form fields only, commenting and filling in form fields only, and any except extracting pages, and provides Enable copying of content and Enable text access for accessibility tools, where the PDF Export Command Line Parameters help source documents the corresponding parameter names EncryptFile, DocumentOpenPassword, RestrictPermissions, PermissionPassword, Printing, Changes, EnableCopyingOfContent and EnableTextAccessForAccessibilityTools with its type and default column giving boolean false for RestrictPermissions, long 2 for Printing, long 4 for Changes, boolean true for EnableCopyingOfContent and boolean true for EnableTextAccessForAccessibilityTools, and where neither page names an encryption algorithm, key size or encryption level

exporting a digitally signed PDF from LibreOffice Draw, where the current LibreOffice 26.8 Help page Digital Signatures at https://help.libreoffice.org/latest/en-US/text/shared/01/ref_pdf_export_digital_signature.html describes the Digital Signatures tab reached through File Export As Export as PDF, says the tab holds the options related to exporting to a digitally signed PDF, that the signed PDF export uses the keys and X.509 certificates already stored in the default key store location or on a smartcard, that a smartcard must already be configured for use by the key store, that Select opens a Select Certificate dialog displaying all certificates found in the selected key store and prompting for the key store password and for a smartcard PIN when protected, with the other fields accessible only after a certificate is selected, that the certificate password field takes the password protecting the private key associated with the selected certificate, usually the key store password or the smartcard PIN, that the optional Location, Contact information and Reason fields are embedded in the appropriate PDF fields, visible to anyone viewing the PDF, and may each be left blank, and that the Time Stamp Authority obtains a digitally signed RFC 3161 timestamp embedded in the signature so a viewer can verify when the document was signed, while if no TSA URL is selected, which the page gives as the default, the signature is not timestamped and uses the current time from the local computer, the operation being an export to a new signed PDF rather than signing the original document in place

producing a smaller exported PDF by choosing the image compression options of the PDF export, where the current LibreOffice 26.8 Help page General at https://help.libreoffice.org/latest/en-US/text/shared/01/ref_pdf_export_general.html describes the Images section of the PDF export as setting the PDF export options for images inside the document, with Lossless compression selecting a lossless compression of images in which all pixels are preserved, JPEG compression selecting a JPEG compression level where a high quality level preserves almost all pixels and a low quality level loses some pixels and introduces artifacts but reduces file sizes, Quality entering the quality level for JPEG compression, and Change image resolution selecting to resample or down size the images to a lower number of pixels per inch with a target resolution selected for the images, where the PDF Export Command Line Parameters help source documents the corresponding parameters UseLosslessCompression described as specifying whether images are exported using a lossless compression format like PNG or compressed using JPEG with its type and default column giving boolean false, Quality described as the quality of the JPG export with a minimum inclusive value of 1 and a maximum inclusive value of 100 and a default of long 90, ReduceImageResolution described as reducing the resolution of each image to the value given by MaxImageResolution with a default of boolean false, and MaxImageResolution described as reducing all images to the given value in DPI with possible values of 75, 150, 300, 600 and 1200 and a default of long 300, and where the options apply to the exported PDF file