Bug 152272 - wrong properties dialog for print to file / paper size limited on print to file
Summary: wrong properties dialog for print to file / paper size limited on print to file
Status: NEW
Alias: None
Product: LibreOffice
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Printing and PDF export (show other bugs)
Version:
(earliest affected)
Inherited From OOo
Hardware: x86-64 (AMD64) Linux (All)
: medium normal
Assignee: Not Assigned
URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords: implementationError
: 153851 161081 (view as bug list)
Depends on:
Blocks: Print-Dialog
  Show dependency treegraph
 
Reported: 2022-11-28 18:10 UTC by linux
Modified: 2024-05-28 11:56 UTC (History)
5 users (show)

See Also:
Crash report or crash signature:


Attachments
screenshot: printer settings dialog of standard printer even print to file is selected (77.33 KB, image/png)
2022-11-28 18:16 UTC, linux
Details
sample multi-page A4 onto A2 via Print to File with suitable file printer (50.95 KB, application/pdf)
2023-03-09 14:37 UTC, V Stuart Foote
Details

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Description linux 2022-11-28 18:10:56 UTC
From time to time I need to export 2 pages in format A4 to one A3 landscape page. On the latest official version of LibreOffice on Kubuntu 20.04 I was able to select A3 from the properties settings of the "print to file"-printer. 
On 7.3.7.2 on Kubuntu 22.04 this does not work respectively only with a workaround. When I click on die properties button when the "print to file"-printer is selected, the properties of the physical standard printer are shown. As this one only can print to A4, I cannot select A3 anymore. 
For the "print to file"-printer I would expect all possibilities of this virtual printer in the properties dialog - or none, but the possibility so select all possibilities of the "print to file"-printer below in the page layout section of the printing dialog. This also is not the case as long as the physical standard printer does not support printing to A3.
Workaround: I installed a printer which can print to A3. After making it standard an restarting LibreOffice the properties settings of the "print to file"-printer show this printer where I can select A3. As my physical printer normally should be the standard printer I have to switch back the same way.
(The cups-ppd virtual printer creates big bitmap PDF files which I don't want.)

=> BUG: Wrong settings dialog after clicking on the properties button for the "print to file"-printer.

I hope I translated the German terms correctly:
Eigenschaften <=> properties
Einstellungen <=> settings
In Datei drucken ... <=> print to file ...

Perhaps this is a duplicate, but then I used the wrong search terms. 

Thanks in advance!
Comment 1 linux 2022-11-28 18:16:27 UTC
Created attachment 183865 [details]
screenshot: printer settings dialog of standard printer even print to file is selected
Comment 2 Buovjaga 2023-03-09 12:19:13 UTC
I reproduce that it opens the properties of a printer. I guess the behaviour is inherited from the earlier style of the dialog, when Print to file was a checkbox in another tab and the main tab did not have Print to file as a "device". Tested with older versions as well.

UX: should this be solved by disabling the Properties button when Print to file is selected?

Arch Linux 64-bit, X11
Version: 7.6.0.0.alpha0+ (X86_64) / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: 013fbfb592f71c1f0a60b6a7ec08aded375515ac
CPU threads: 8; OS: Linux 6.2; UI render: default; VCL: kf5 (cairo+xcb)
Locale: fi-FI (fi_FI.UTF-8); UI: en-US
Calc: threaded
Built on 9 March 2023

Version: 7.6.0.0.alpha0+ (X86_64) / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: a179f6c91692076e7e17babf4890638caa398384
CPU threads: 2; OS: Windows 10.0 Build 22621; UI render: Skia/Raster; VCL: win
Locale: en-US (en_FI); UI: en-US
Calc: threaded
Comment 3 V Stuart Foote 2023-03-09 14:37:29 UTC
Created attachment 185860 [details]
sample multi-page A4 onto A2 via Print to File with suitable file printer

Not clear this is an issue.

The Print to file... dialog will use properties of the os/DE provided "default" printer.

But the print dialog allows selection and configuration of any printer available to the os.

I rarely use the LO "Print to file.." and instead set one of any of multiple PS or PDF print options as default.  

However if the system "default" printer is set to any ghostscript based printing (e.g. gs & CutePDF Writer), or to the Microsoft print to PDF, or to Adobe print to PDF (when Acrobat is installed) then the LO "Print to file..." dialog will use it.

Configurations provided by any of those direct to file based printers when set as system default respond correctly in the LO "Print to file..." dialog. You can get multiple pages onto a single 

=-testing-=
Version: 7.6.0.0.alpha0+ (X86_64) / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: a179f6c91692076e7e17babf4890638caa398384
CPU threads: 8; OS: Windows 10.0 Build 19045; UI render: Skia/Vulkan; VCL: win
Locale: en-US (en_US); UI: en-US
Calc: threaded

GPL Ghostscript 9.53.3
CutePDF Writer 4.0
Comment 4 Heiko Tietze 2023-03-10 10:44:06 UTC
(In reply to linux from comment #0)
> For the "print to file"-printer I would expect all possibilities of this
> virtual printer in the properties dialog...

Me too, I don't see why the file shouldn't be capable of A3 or larger. And installing another printer is a hacky workaround, at best.

However, these options modify the page properties so it can be printed at all, eg. the page is letter but the printer works with A4. This becomes irrelevant in case of print to file and the actual "paper size" selection is grayed out. Ilmari's suggestion to disable the "Use only paper size..." makes sense in this regards.

What I now expect is that my page settings are respected. Meaning the preview changes from A4 to A3 (if the page is defined as A3 and the printer is print to file) and the exported document has this dimension. And that's not working.

The checkbox was introduced for bug 79077.
Comment 5 Stéphane Guillou (stragu) 2024-05-08 07:52:36 UTC
*** Bug 153851 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 6 Stéphane Guillou (stragu) 2024-05-08 07:54:29 UTC
Let's mark as inherited, as I can reproduce in OOo 3.3 (and a recent daily build) that the paper size used by Print to File is the one automatically picked for the default printer.
Comment 7 Stéphane Guillou (stragu) 2024-05-15 07:52:04 UTC
*** Bug 161081 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 8 Evan Langlois 2024-05-28 01:59:08 UTC
I need the print to file working because the PDF export won't do N pages per sheet.  Until recently, this worked.  Now I am wondering if I need to redo this whole thing in another app.  Using the export to PDF and then trying to use Evince  or other tools has been ineffective.

This was the ONLY thing I used LibreOffice for, and now it won't do it!  Please tell me there is some work-around so I can get this into a PDF in the right format. I'm dead in the water.
Comment 9 V Stuart Foote 2024-05-28 11:56:22 UTC
(In reply to Evan Langlois from comment #8)
> I need the print to file working because the PDF export won't do N pages per
> sheet.  Until recently, this worked.  Now I am wondering if I need to redo
> this whole thing in another app.  Using the export to PDF and then trying to
> use Evince  or other tools has been ineffective.
> 
> This was the ONLY thing I used LibreOffice for, and now it won't do it! 
> Please tell me there is some work-around so I can get this into a PDF in the
> right format. I'm dead in the water.

As in comment 3, no issues on Windows builds doing a N-up "print to file" with a custom page size configured (MS print to PDF, or Ghostscript based print to PDF).

Version: 24.8.0.0.alpha1+ (X86_64) / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: 838f6adc9bdde2f656eb26bdc2870adfa7aa412b
CPU threads: 8; OS: Windows 10 X86_64 (10.0 build 19045); UI render: Skia/Vulkan; VCL: win
Locale: en-US (en_US); UI: en-US
Calc: CL threaded