When exporting as PDF from Writer (when text is selected) > File > Export As > Export as PDF... Only the selected text is exported as PDF. While I can imagine that this might be useful on occasion, it is not the expected action. One expects the entire document to be exported - just as if: > File > Save As... Due to this idiosyncratic behaviour, I have accidentally distributed a PDF that only contained a few words of text - not the entire document that recipients were expecting. Now, I pause before exporting to PDF to double check that some random text is not selected and that the cursor is sitting at the end of a line or between two characters? Is this the intended behaviour? I am sure that few people expect Export As to behave this way. If this is a bug, then it should be fixed. If this is the intended behaviour, then could we initiate a discussion on this issue? TIA
I first observed this in v7.3.6.2 and I still see this in v7.4.3.2 - maybe this is observed in previous versions too, I don't know.
> File > Export As > Export as PDF... There you can change from 'Selected' to 'All' or 'Pages', while keeps the selection. I think it's expected to export the 'Selected' when some part of the document it's selected. In any case, it is not a bug. We all tend to think that our point of view is the best. But we are not alone in the world.
It is not simply my point of view. I submit that the intuitive expectation of the majority would be that [Export As] would behave in a parallel way to [Save As]. When using [Save As] I suggest that the default should be [All]. That would not prevent someone from selecting [Pages:] or [Selection]. I can imagine a use case where someone only wanted to create a PDF of selected pages - but I can't immediately imagine a use case where someone only wanted to create a PDF of some selected text. In any event, I feel confident that the large majority of end-users would expect that [Export As] to default to creating a PDF of the entire document - just as [Save As] defaults to saving the entire document (actually, that is the only option). ~~
It's done by design, see bug 54908. But it has been challenged, see last comment on the ticket or bug 139164 and duplicates and bug 138543.
This is even worse for Calc, as it ALWAYS defaults to selection/selected sheet when exporting to PDF and there is no way to change that. Quite annoying, considering I never had a need to only export part of a document, after all, printing and exporting are two completely different things.
We discussed the topic in the design meeting and share some ideas for solution on the duplicate bug 139164. *** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 139164 ***