OpenDocument Text (.odt) convert to PDF (LibreOffice over Microsoft Word) SOLVED

[MedBooster]

I am not able to open an .odt file neither by right clicking and choosing open with PDF-XCE in the file explorer, nor opening the file through PDF-XCE and choosing "all supported files"

Is this by design?

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hello MedBooster,

Yes - such a conversion is not currently supported. So you might need to convert your .odt files to .docx and then convert them to PDF.

Kind regards,
Stefan

[MedBooster]

Do you plan on supporting it?

please....

I recently switched to LibreOffice because of how laggy and unusable Microsoft Word had become... giving me all sorts of errors

[Dimitar - PDF-XChange]

Hello MedBooster,

I'm afraid this feature has been rejected by the developers, as you can use MS Office to convert it to a normal office format.


Regards.

[Daniel - PDF-XChange]

Hello, Medbooster,

I am sorry for the confusion, but I need to pop in with a slight correction to Dimitar's latest comment.

We do plan to implement support for Libre/OpenOffice conversions in the future. It is not a high priority at the moment, for both the reason Dimitar cited, and the complexity involved in the conversion process, but yes, we do intend, eventually, to allow for Libre/OpenOffice applications to be used for conversions, in place of MS Word, as well as to support their own native formats.

The following ticket exists for that investigation/development:
RT#7089: FR: Investigate possibility of "OpenOffice/LibreOffice" conversion and formats

Kind regards,

[MedBooster]

I deem libreoffice>microsoft word
to be a similar comparison to
PDF-XCE>adobe PDF acrobat

both libreoffice and PDF-XChange editor is superior in it's customization for keyboard shortcuts and free customization of UI buttons.

I hope it is coming soon!

I much prefer right clicking in the Windows 10/11 file explorer and choosing "open with" and getting it converted directly than having to use some other program like pdf24 tools or something

[Daniel - PDF-XChange]

[MedBooster]

7000 views on the post, so perhaps people are interested in this? Unfortunately there is no "REACT"-button on the forum, so you don't really see engagement unless there are comments.... I guess it is good for seeing whether it is spam or real based on the history of the user though...

Anyway, apparently Docx runs seemingly well within libreoffice writer... it just messes with extensions, e.g. Zotero (Program for citations) — which only works when the file is in .odt.

So I'm hoping it will be supported soon, but I guess it could be difficult to implement.

[Dimitar - PDF-XChange]

Hi,

That’s a clear and practical stance from our developers:

Leveraging native applications like MS Office or LibreOffice for converting ODT files to DOC or PDF takes advantage of their built-in compatibility and conversion accuracy, which is quite complex to replicate in third-party software.

By relying on those existing tools for conversion, our product can stay focused on its core strengths without adding redundant or potentially error-prone conversion features.

The above means that this FR is currently far from being implemented.


Regards.

[MedBooster]

I see .odt is not available under "converters".

image.png

Currently I am mostly using docx within Libreoffice Writer, it seems to work quite well.. the only drawback is that I can't use extensions such as Zotero (for citing references) when I save a file as docx rather than odt in libreoffice writer...

The .odt format works not only in LibreOffice Writer but also in other free programs like Apache OpenOffice, OnlyOffice, and Calligra Words, as well as in commercial editors such as Microsoft Word and Google Docs.

[Dimitar - PDF-XChange]

Hi,

I see that .odt is not available in "converters".

That's true.

And it won't be available for a long time.

As I mentioned, this is not something our developers plan to add in the near future.

[Jensen Head]

The .odt format works not only in LibreOffice Writer but also in other free programs like Apache OpenOffice, OnlyOffice, and Calligra Words, as well as in commercial editors such as Microsoft Word and Google Docs.

I fully support your desire to see PDF-XChange support this free format, or even the [url=https://api.libreoffice.org/]LibreOffice API[/url], but, as was clearly stated above, you are advised to use normal office formats. Don't be ashamed to be like the majority =)

[Daniel - PDF-XChange]

Hello all,

As an update, for anyone who is curious about the current status. The ticket:
RT#7089: FR: Investigate possibility of "OpenOffice/LibreOffice" conversion and formats
Is still alive and "open".
So this has not been rejected. I believe I did correct Dimitar's post in the other thread, but I figure making an official statement about its status over here would be helpful as well.

Kind regards,