Bug 118814 - Export window should default to PDF
Summary: Export window should default to PDF
Status: NEW
Alias: None
Product: LibreOffice
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Writer (show other bugs)
Version:
(earliest affected)
6.0.5.2 release
Hardware: All All
: medium enhancement
Assignee: Not Assigned
URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords: needsDevAdvice
Depends on:
Blocks: File-Export-Dialog
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Reported: 2018-07-17 21:14 UTC by Frank Brütting
Modified: 2021-05-18 07:24 UTC (History)
2 users (show)

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Description Frank Brütting 2018-07-17 21:14:10 UTC
Description:
Currently (v6.0.5.2-Flatpak @ Linux/Gnome) the export window shows “all formats” in the drop-down menu by default. When you click “save”, you’ll get an HTML file. This is irritating and I don’t think that HTML export is that widely used. Therefore, I propose to
• default that drop-down menu to “PDF” and
• thus save documents by default as PDF.

Steps to Reproduce:
.

Actual Results:
.

Expected Results:
.


Reproducible: Always


User Profile Reset: No



Additional Info:
Comment 1 Timur 2018-07-18 10:05:02 UTC
It's always good to be specific. I guess you mean File-Export...
In Windows, with 6.0 and 6.2+, default format for export is .epub. Not sure why you have HTML. This shouldn't be OS specific. 
There's already File-Export As-Export As PDF... and direct Export As PDF and "Export as PDF" toolbar icon. So I don't really see why this matters.
Comment 2 Jean-Baptiste Faure 2018-07-19 16:08:09 UTC
Definitely not a bug -> set as enhancement.

I reproduce the described behavior. That said I am not sure that it should be changed because there is at least 2 very easy ways to export directly in PDF format:
1/ menu File > Export As... > choose the kind of PDF export you want
2/ icon Export as PDF in the standard toolbar (same as "Export Directly as PDF" menu)
3/ you can add a second "Export as PDF" icon which open the export dialog: see menu Tools > Customize > Toolbars tab

So I suggest to close this bug report as WontFix.

Best regards. JBF
Comment 3 Frank Brütting 2018-07-19 18:01:34 UTC
Yeah, I know that there are other methods. Still, I’m pretty sure that PDF is most widely used, so I see no reason why it should be epub or HTML.

The thing here is more, that the dialog doesn’t show the format it exports to. So I propose to either default the format to one that would aid the user (which is PDF in 99%), or give the user at least a hint of what format it gets exported to.
Comment 4 Frank Brütting 2018-07-19 18:03:23 UTC
Especially if the default format varies with some sort of “randomness”, like Timur pointed out.
Comment 5 Timur 2018-07-20 07:55:29 UTC
In Windows, with 5.1 and 5.3. I got TXT, with 5.4 HTML, with 6.0.4 and 6.2+ it was EPUB. 
In Linux, with 5.1 and 5.4 I got JPG format for export, with 6.0.4 and 6.2+ it was EPUB. 
So there were changes and it looks to me the same now. But I don't see how zyklon has HTML.

Let's first find out where this was changed and why.
zyklon is right that the dialog in Linux doesn’t show the format it exports to and at least that should be changed.
Comment 6 Heiko Tietze 2018-07-20 08:03:40 UTC Comment hidden (no-value)
Comment 7 Heiko Tietze 2018-07-24 15:32:46 UTC
The common solution is to insert a dummy file name with extension pointing to the default format. And the user can change it from Untitled.pdf to Untitled.epub without going into the list of formats.

The better workflow from UX POV is to not have a Swiss army knife that supports every format in the world but a short list. And the user selects the target format in a sub menu at Export To > <1..10>, or the like.
Comment 8 Heiko Tietze 2021-05-18 07:24:12 UTC
Linux v7 defaults to XML. Most widely used formats are PDF and epub followed by png and jpg, and while we have commands to directly export to this format, many users may run the simple Export and have to change the file type. So this should be changed.

(In reply to Timur from comment #5)
> Let's first find out where this was changed and why.

-> needsDevAdvice