How to headless update and export to pdf with libreoffice?

jjk

12/29/23, 2:52 PM

I'm perfectly able to export to pdf from the writer GUI after searching and replacing a word via script (unzip odt;sed xml;zip odt).

However exporting via the commandline exports the old word instead of the new: lowriter --headless --convert-to pdf textfile.odt

How can I export via commandline?

How to reproduce:

Create a new calc file
Write foo into cell A1
Save the calc file as /tmp/calc.ods
Create a new writer file
Embed /tmp/calc.ods as linked object into the writer file: Insert > OLE Object > OLE Object > Create from file > Check Link to file
Save the writer file as /tmp/result.odt

Replace foo in the calc file with bar using this shell script:

cd /tmp
mkdir bla
cd bla
unzip ../calc.ods # Unpack the calc file to edit
sed -i 's/foo/bar/g' content.xml #Replace foo with bar
zip -r ../calc.ods . # Pack the calc file back

Now export the writer file to pdf and expect to see the new value (bar) in result.pdf:

lowriter --headless --convert-to pdf /tmp/result.odt

Why does the exported pdf still show the old value (foo)?

306

0 + 6

libreoffice

user68186

12/29/23, 3:02 PM

Add the script to your question.

jjk

12/29/23, 3:44 PM

The question is **if** any script solves the problem

user68186

12/29/23, 3:48 PM

Without the script we can't replicate your problem.

Olivetti

12/29/23, 4:32 PM

Edit: soffice/lowriter lacks the quiet-update option, thus install unoconv. apt install unoconv then unoconv -v --unsafe-quiet-update your-file-with-linked-object.odt

vanadium

12/30/23, 9:16 AM

Provide detail on how you link/embed the file. It appears that the way you work, a copy embedded in the .odt file is used during conversion to PDF.

jjk

12/31/23, 11:29 AM

@Olivetti That's the answer, thank you

Elon Musk

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EN: How to headless update and export to pdf with libreoffice?

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