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Calc Guide 24.2

Chapter 7 Printing, Exporting, Emailing, and Signing

Copyright

This document is Copyright © 2024 by the LibreOffice Documentation Team. Contributors are listed below. You may distribute it and/or modify it under the terms of either the GNU General Public License (https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html), version 3 or later, or the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), version 4.0 or later.

All trademarks within this guide belong to their legitimate owners.

Contributors

To this edition

Steve Fanning

Olivier Hallot

B. Antonio Fernández

To previous editions

Barbara Duprey

Jean Hollis Weber

John A Smith

Peter Schofield

Christian Chenal

Martin Saffron

Kees Kriek

Steve Fanning

Leo Moons

Felipe Viggiano

Annie Nguyen

Rafael Lima

‍Skip Masonsmith

Olivier Hallot

B. Antonio Fernández

Feedback

Please direct any comments or suggestions about this document to the Documentation Team’s forum at https://community.documentfoundation.org/c/documentation/loguides/ (registration is required) or send an email to: loguides@community.documentfoundation.org.

Note

Everything you send to a forum, including your email address and any other personal information that is written in the message, is publicly archived and cannot be deleted. Emails sent to the forum are moderated.

Publication date and software version

Published March 2024. Based on LibreOffice 24.2 Community.Other versions of LibreOffice may differ in appearance and functionality.

Using LibreOffice on macOS

Some keystrokes and menu items are different on macOS from those used in Windows and Linux. The table below gives some common substitutions for the instructions in this document. For a detailed list, see the application Help and Appendix A (Keyboard Shortcuts) to this guide.

Windows or Linux

macOS equivalent

Effect

Tools > Options on Menu bar

LibreOffice > Preferences on Menu bar

Access to setup options

Right-click

Ctrl+click and/or right-click depending on computer setup

Opens a context menu

Ctrl or Control

and/or Cmd or Command, depending on keyboard

Used with other keys

Alt

and/or Alt or Option depending on keyboard

Used with other keys

Printing

Quick printing

To quickly print a spreadsheet, click on the Print Directly icon (not visible by default) on the Standard toolbar to send the entire spreadsheet to the default printer that is defined for your computer.

Note

You can change the action of the Print Directly icon to send a document to the printer defined for the document instead of the default printer for the computer. Go to Tools > Options > Load/Save > General and select the Load printer settings with the document option.

Controlling printing

For more control over printing, select File > Print on the Menu bar, or click the Print icon on the Standard toolbar, or press Ctrl+P, to open the Print dialog (Figure 1).

Note

The options selected on the Print dialog apply to this printing of this document only.

To specify default printing settings for LibreOffice, go to Tools > Options > LibreOffice > Print and Tools > Options > LibreOffice Calc > Print. For details, see Chapter 15, Setting up and Customizing.

The Print dialog has multiple tabs where you can choose a range of options, as described in the following sections. Depending on your computer’s operating system, the number of tabs and the layout of each tab may be different from the illustrations shown in this chapter.

The Print dialog includes a Preview checkbox which enables you to turn on/off a preview of how your data will appear on the printed page. The preview appears on the left hand side of the dialog. Adjacent controls allow you to navigate through multiple pages.

General tab

On the General tab of the Print dialog (Figure 1), you can choose from the following options:

Figure 1: Print dialog – General tab

Print dialog – General tab

LibreOffice Calc tab

On the LibreOffice Calc tab of the Print dialog (Figure 2), you can select whether to suppress the output of empty pages when you print the spreadsheet.

Figure 2: Print dialog – LibreOffice Calc tab

Print dialog – LibreOffice Calc tab

Printing multiple pages on a single piece of paper

To print multiple pages of a spreadsheet on one piece of paper:

1)  Use File > Print on the Menu bar, or click the Print icon on the Standard toolbar, or press Ctrl+P, to open the Print dialog.

2)  In the Page Layout section of the General tab, select the number of spreadsheet pages to print per sheet of paper in the Pages per sheet drop-down list. The preview panel on the right shows how the pages will look in the printed document.

3)  When printing more than one page per sheet, select the order in which the pages are printed on a sheet in the Order drop-down list (Figure 3).

4)  To distinguish each page on a sheet, select the Draw a border around each page option.

5)  Click Print.

Figure 3: Printing more than one spreadsheet page per sheet of paper

Printing more than one spreadsheet page per sheet of paper

Tip

To access some of the options on the General tab of the Print dialog, you may need to click one of the More buttons. For simplicity, these clicks are deliberately omitted from the descriptions in this chapter.

Selecting what to print

In the Range and Copies area of the General tab of the Print dialog, choose Print All Sheets in the From which drop-down to print all sheets in the document. In addition to printing a full spreadsheet document, you can choose single sheets, multiple sheets, and selections of cells for printing.

To print an individual sheet:

1)  In the spreadsheet, click on the sheet tab to select the sheet you want to print.

2)  Choose File > Print on the Menu bar, or click the Print icon on the Standard toolbar, or press Ctrl+P, to open the Print dialog.

3)  In the Range and Copies area of the General tab of the Print dialog, choose Print Selected Sheets in the From which drop-down.

4)  Click Print.

To print a range of sheets:

1)  In the spreadsheet, select the sheets to print. For details on how to select multiple sheets, see Chapter 1, Introduction.

2)  Choose File > Print on the Menu bar, or click the Print icon on the Standard toolbar, or press Ctrl+P, to open the Print dialog.

3)  In the Range and Copies area of the General tab of the Print dialog, choose Print Selected Sheets in the From which drop-down.

4)  Click Print.

To print a selection of cells:

1)  In the spreadsheet, select the cells to print.

2)  Choose File > Print on the Menu bar, or click the Print icon on the Standard toolbar, or press Ctrl+P, to open the Print dialog.

3)  In the Range and Copies area of the General tab of the Print dialog, choose Print Selected Cells in the From which drop-down.

4)  Click Print.

Printing in grayscale on a color printer

You may wish to print a spreadsheet in grayscale on a color printer. You can do this in two ways.

Note

Some color printers may print in color regardless of the settings you choose.

For an individual file, you can change the printer settings to print in black and white or grayscale:

1)  Choose File > Print on the Menu bar, or click the Print icon on the Standard toolbar, or press Ctrl+P, to open the Print dialog.

2)  Click Properties to open the Properties dialog for the printer. The available choices vary from one printer to another, but you should find options for the color settings. See your printer’s help or user manual for more information.

3)  The choices for color might include black and white, or grayscale. Choose grayscale.

4)  Click OK to confirm your choice and return to the Print dialog.

5)  Click Print to print the document.

You can change the LibreOffice settings to print all color text and graphics as grayscale:

1)  Choose Tools > Options > LibreOffice > Print.

2)  In the Defaults section, select Convert colors to grayscale. Click OK to save the change.

Caution

This changes the print settings for all components of LibreOffice, not just Calc

Previewing pages/sheets before printing

To preview the sheets in Calc before printing:

1)  Choose File > Print Preview on the Menu bar, or click the Toggle Print Preview icon on the Standard toolbar, or press Ctrl+Shift+O.

2)  The Calc window now displays the Print Preview toolbar instead of the Formatting toolbar.

Figure 4: Print Preview toolbar

Print Preview toolbar

3)  To print the document from this view, select File > Print on the Menu bar, or click the Print icon on the Standard toolbar, or press Ctrl+P, to open the Print dialog.

4)  Choose the print options and click the Print button.

5)  Click the Toggle Print Preview icon again, or click the Close Preview icon on the right-hand side of the Print Preview toolbar, to return to the normal spreadsheet view.

Using print ranges

You can define which range of cells on a spreadsheet are to be printed or exported to a PDF. The cells on the sheet that are not part of the defined print range are not printed or exported. Also, any sheets without a defined print range are not printed or exported. Creating a user-defined print range will replace any existing defined print range.

Defining and printing a print range

To set a user-defined print range:

1)  Select the range of cells to be used in the print range.

2)  Go to Format > Print Ranges > Define on the Menu bar. If Tools > Options > LibreOffice Calc > View > Page breaks is enabled, then automatic page break lines are displayed on the screen, defining the cells included in the print range.

3)  Click on the Print Directly icon on the Standard toolbar to print the defined print range, or open the Print dialog and click Print to print the defined print range.

Tip

You can check the print range by using Toggle Print Preview or the Preview pane in the Print dialog. Calc will display only the cells in the print range. See “Viewing print rangesbelow.

Editing a print range

At any time, you can edit the print range, For example to add or remove cells, or define rows and columns to repeat (such as column or row headings). For more details on how to define repeated rows and/or columns, see “Repeat printing of rows or columnsbelow.

1)  Go to Format > Print Ranges > Edit on the Menu bar to open the Edit Print Ranges dialog (Figure 5).

Figure 5: Edit Print Ranges dialog

Edit Print Ranges dialog

2)  If only a single range is defined, then clicking anywhere in the Print Range text box displays the defined print range bounded in blue, as shown in Figure 6.

Figure 6: Single print range marked by a bounding box

Single print range marked by a bounding box

3)  Multiple cell ranges can also be defined by separating each range with a single comma. This can be done with the keyboard by typing in a comma and the cell references, using the same format as the print ranges already defined in the Print Range text box. Remember to separate the cell references with a colon. New cell ranges can also be added by holding Ctrl as you select the cell range using the cursor.

4)  To remove a print range, select the print range in the Print Range text box and delete it. Make sure the remaining print ranges are separated by a single comma and there is not a comma at the end of the sequence.

5)  Click OK to save your changes and close the dialog.

Viewing print ranges

After print ranges have been defined, they are formatted with automatic page breaks. To view the page breaks, go to View > Page Break on the Menu bar to open the preview (Figure 7).

The print ranges are outlined by default with a blue border and contain a pale gray page number in the center of each page. The non-printing area of the spreadsheet normally has a gray background.

To exit the page break preview, go to View > Normal on the Menu bar.

Figure 7: Page break preview

Page break preview

Named print ranges

In addition to defining a print range for each print job, you can also define a range of cells to be used repeatedly, without having to select a range of cells every time. This is useful if different areas of a large spreadsheet have to be printed for different reports; several named print ranges can be defined to meet this need.

Figure 8: Define Name dialog

Define Name dialog

Defining and naming

1)  Select the cells you want to define and name as a print range, then go to Sheet > Named Ranges and Expressions > Define on the Menu bar to open the Define Name dialog (Figure 8). The selected cells are displayed in the Range or formula expression box.

2)  Alternatively, open the Define Name dialog, then select the cells you want to define and name. The selected cells are then displayed in the Range or formula expression box.

3)  Type a name for the range in the Name box. Use only letters, numbers, and underscores in the name; no spaces, hyphens, or other characters are allowed.

4)  If necessary, you can edit or set the range of selected cells for the print range in the Range or formula expression box. See “Editing a print rangeabove for more information.

5)  Make sure Document (Global) is selected in the Scope drop-down list.

6)  Select Print range from Range Options to define the settings as a print range.

7)  Click Add to accept the data and close the dialog.

Printing a named range

To select a named range for printing:

1)  Go to Format > Print Ranges > Edit on the Menu bar to open the Edit Print Ranges dialog (Figure 9).

2)  Select the defined and named print range in the Print Range drop-down list.

3)  Click OK to close the dialog.

4)  Open the Print dialog, which will show only the named range in the preview area. Click Print.

Figure 9: Choosing a named range for printing

Choosing a named range for printing

Deleting a named print range

To delete a named print range if it is no longer required:

1)  Go to Sheet > Named Ranges and Expressions > Manage on the Menu bar, or press Ctrl+F3, to open the Manage Names dialog (Figure 10).

Figure 10: Manage Names dialog

Manage Names dialog

2)  Select the named print range you want to delete and confirm it is a print range by checking the options from the Range Options.

3)  Click Delete and then click OK to close the dialog.

Removing print ranges

It may become necessary to remove a defined print range, for example if the whole sheet needs to be printed later, or you no longer want to print some of the added ranges.

Go to Format > Print Ranges > Clear on the Menu bar to remove all of the defined print ranges in the spreadsheet, except for named print ranges. After the print range is removed, the default page break lines for the selected paper size will appear on the screen (assuming that Tools > Options > LibreOffice Calc > View > Page breaks is enabled).

To remove named print ranges, see “Deleting a named print rangeabove.

Repeat printing of rows or columns

If a spreadsheet is printed on multiple pages, you can define specific rows or columns (for example, headings) to repeat print on each printed page.

Using print ranges

Figure 11: Repeat printing of rows and columns

Repeat printing of rows and columns

1)  Go to Format > Print Ranges > Edit to open the Edit Print Ranges dialog (Figure 11).

2)  In the Rows to Repeat box, type the references for the rows to be repeat printed. For example, to repeat rows 1, 2 and 3, type $1:$3. This automatically changes the Rows to Repeat drop-down from - none - to - user defined -.

3)  You can also place the cursor in the Rows to Repeat box and then, using the mouse, select a cell in each row you want to be repeat printed. It is not necessary to select the whole row.

4)  In the Columns to Repeat box, type the references for the columns to be repeat printed. For example, to repeat column A, type $A. This automatically changes the Columns to Repeat drop-down from - none - to - user defined -.

5)  You can also place the cursor in the Columns to Repeat box and then, using the mouse, select a cell in each column you want to be repeat printed.

6)  Click OK to save your changes and close the dialog.

Using named print ranges

You can also define named print ranges to use for repeat printing of rows or columns as follows:

1)  Define and name the rows and/or columns you want to repeat print. See “Named print rangesabove for more information. Similar to user defined print ranges, it is sufficient to select one cell from the row or column you want to be repeat printed.

2)  Select Repeat column and / or Repeat row from Range Options to define the columns and/or rows for repeat printing in the Define Name dialog (Figure 8 on page Figure 8).

3)  Click Add to accept the data and close the dialog.

4)  Go to Format > Print Ranges > Edit to open the Edit Print Ranges dialog (Figure 11).

5)  Select the defined and named print ranges from the Rows to Repeat and/or Columns to Repeat drop-down lists.

6)  Click OK to save your changes and close the dialog.

Page breaks

While defining a print range can be a powerful tool, you may sometimes need to manually adjust the page breaks to make sure the spreadsheet prints the way you want it to look. You can insert two types of page breaks into a spreadsheet:

When a manual break is inserted, it appears as a blue line or as a bold line between the rows or columns on the display. The actual appearance depends on your computer setup. To see manual break lines more easily on your display, you can change their appearance. Go to Tools > Options > LibreOffice > Application Colors and scroll down to the Spreadsheet section where you can change how page breaks appear.

Inserting page breaks

1)  Select the cell where you want to insert a manual break in the spreadsheet.

2)  Go to Sheet > Insert Page Break on the Menu bar.

3)  Select Row Break to insert a row break above the cell or Column Break to insert a column break to the left of the cell.

Alternatively, go to View > Page Break on the Menu bar. Select the cell where you want to insert a manual break, right-click in the spreadsheet and select Row Break or Column Break in the context menu. Remember to go to View > Normal on the Menu bar and return to the standard spreadsheet view.

Deleting page breaks

1)  Select the cell where you want to delete a manual break from the spreadsheet.

2)  Go to Sheet > Delete Page Break on the Menu bar.

3)  Select Row Break to delete a row break from above the cell or Column Break to delete a column break from the left of the cell.

Note

The Column Break or Row Break options are grayed if an appropriate cell has not been selected, either to the right of a column break or below a row break.

Deleting multiple page breaks

Multiple manual row and column breaks can exist in the same spreadsheet. If you want to remove all breaks from the spreadsheet:

1)  Go to View > Page Break on the Menu bar.

2)  Right-click in the spreadsheet and select Delete Page Breaks in the context menu to remove all manual breaks from your spreadsheet.

3)  Go to View > Normal on the Menu bar to return to the standard spreadsheet view.

Printing options for page styles

When using page styles for your spreadsheets, you can include printing options within the page style. For example, page order, details, scale to be printed, and so on. Using page styles allows you to quickly set up and change the printing options of different sheets within your spreadsheet. See Chapter 5, Using Styles and Templates, for more information about page styles.

Figure 12: Page Style dialog – Sheet tab

Page Style dialog – Sheet tab

Make sure you have selected the correct sheet within the spreadsheet before setting the print options. Go to Format > Page Style on the Menu bar to open the Page Style dialog, then click on the Sheet tab (Figure 12) to set the printing options for a page style. The dialog title indicates the name of the page style you are about to change.

Tip

You can also open the Page Style dialog by going to the Styles deck of the Sidebar, right-clicking the relevant page style, and selecting Modify in the context menu. Another alternative is to double-click the name of the page style on the Status Bar.

Headers and footers

Headers and footers are predefined pieces of text that are printed at the top or bottom of a sheet outside of the sheet area. Headers and footers are set the same way and you can have different content on left and right pages that use the same page style.

Setting headers and footers

To turn the headers or footers on in your spreadsheet:

1)  Select the sheet where you want to turn on the header or footer.

2)  Open the Page Style dialog using one of the following methods:

3)  Select the Header (or Footer) tab (Figure 13). The Header and Footer tabs on the Page Style dialog are identical.

4)  Select the Header on or Footer on option.

5)  Enter the values for the other options according to your requirements. These options are described below.

6)  Click OK to save your changes and close the dialog.

Figure 13: Page Style dialog – Header tab

Page Style dialog – Header tab

Header or footer contents

The headers and footers in a Calc spreadsheet have three columns for text. Each column can either be empty or have different contents than the other columns.

1)  Select the sheet where you want to turn on the header or footer.

2)  Open the Page Style dialog (Figure 13), then select Header on or Footer on and the options for the header or footer. See “Setting headers and footers” above.

3)  Click Edit to open the Header or Footer dialog (Figure 14). If Same content on left and right pages and / or Same contents on first page is deselected in the Page Style dialog, the Header or Footer dialog will have tabbed pages where you can set the header or footer contents for the first page as well as right and left pages.

Figure 14: Header dialog

Header dialog

4)  To enter standard contents into the header or footer, select an option from the Header or Footer drop-down list.

5)  To enter customized contents into the header or footer, click in one of the area boxes and type your text, or click in one of the area boxes and click one of the Custom header or Custom footer icons. These icons are explained below.

6)  To change the appearance of the text in the header or footer, click the Text Attributes icon to open the Text Attributes dialog, where you can set the font, font effects and font position.

7)  Click OK to save the changes to text attributes and close the Text Attributes dialog.

8)  Click OK to save the changes to the contents of the header or footer and close the Header or Footer dialog.

9)  Click OK to save the changes to your header or footer and close the Page Style dialog.

The options available for a Custom header or Custom footer are as follows:

Exporting to PDF

Calc can export documents to PDF (Portable Document Format). This industry-standard file format is ideal for sending a file to someone else, for viewing using Adobe Acrobat Reader or any other PDF viewer.

Caution

By default, a document in PDF format is not protected against contents tampering or editing. The PDF document contents can be edited by specialized software tools, including LibreOffice Draw.

Tip

Unlike Save As, the Export command writes a copy of the current document in a new file with the chosen format, but keeps the current document and format open in your session.

Quick export to PDF

Click the Export Directly as PDF icon on the Standard toolbar to export the entire spreadsheet using the PDF settings most recently selected on the PDF Options dialog (see below). You are asked to enter the file name and location for the PDF, but you do not get a chance to choose a page range, image compression, or other options.

Controlling PDF content and quality

For more control over the content and quality of the resulting PDF, use File > Export as PDF. The PDF Options dialog opens. This dialog has six tabs (General, Initial View, User Interface, Links, Security, and Digital Signatures). Select the appropriate settings, and then click Export. Then enter the location and file name of the PDF to be created, and click Save to export the file.

Tip

You can also access the PDF Options dialog by going to File > Export on the Menu bar and then then selecting the PDF – Portable Document Format entry in the Save as type drop-down menu.

General tab of PDF Options dialog

On the General tab (Figure 11), you can choose which pages to include in the PDF, the type of compression to use for images (which affects the quality of images in the PDF), and other options. For more information, see the Getting Started Guide or the Help. In most cases, the defaults will be what you need.

Figure 15: PDF Options dialog – General tab

PDF Options dialog – General tab

Range section

Images section

Watermark section

General section

Structure section

Note:

Selecting the Whole Sheet Export option causes Calc to disregard many of the other settings on the PDF Options dialog.

Initial View tab of PDF Options dialog

On the Initial View tab (Figure 16), you can select how the PDF file opens by default in a PDF viewer. The options should be self-explanatory.

Figure 16: PDF Options dialog – Initial View tab

PDF Options dialog – Initial View tab

User Interface tab of PDF Options dialog

On the User Interface tab (Figure 17), you can select options to control how a PDF viewer displays the file. Some of these options are useful when you are creating a PDF to be used as a presentation or a kiosk-type display.

Window Options

Transitions

Not used in Calc.

User Interface Options

Collapse Outlines

Figure 17: PDF Options dialog – User Interface tab

PDF Options dialog – User Interface tab

Note

Outlines are generally not used in Calc.

Links tab of PDF Options dialog

On the Links tab (Figure 18) you can select how bookmarks and hyperlinks are exported to PDF.

General

Cross-document links

Defines the behavior of links clicked in PDF files. Select one among the following alternatives:

Figure 18: PDF options dialog - Links tab

PDF options dialog - Links tab

Security tab of PDF Options dialog

Use the Security tab (Figure 19) to encrypt and set passwords when you export your spreadsheet and create the PDF file. Setting encryption and passwords also allows you to apply restrictions on printing and if changes or copying can be carried out on the PDF file.

Click the Set Passwords button to open the Set Passwords dialog (Figure 20), where you enter the passwords. You can enter a password (Set open password) to open the file and an optional password (Set permission password) to restrict what readers can do with the PDF file.

The options on the Security tab become available only when passwords have been set.

Note

Permissions settings are effective only if the user’s PDF viewer respects the settings.

Figure 19: PDF Options dialog – Security tab

PDF Options dialog – Security tab

Figure 20: Set Passwords dialog

Set Passwords dialog

Digital Signatures tab of PDF Options dialog

The Digital Signatures tab contains the options related to exporting a digitally signed PDF.

Digital signatures are used to ensure that the PDF was really created by the original author (that is, you), and that the document has not been modified since it was signed.

The signed PDF export uses the keys and X.509 certificates already stored in your default key store location or on a smartcard. The key store to be used can be selected under Tools > Options > LibreOffice > Security > Certificate Path. (Not available on Microsoft Windows systems, where LibreOffice will access the system certificate storage.) When using a smartcard, it must already be configured for use by your key store. This is usually done during installation of the smartcard software. Details about using these features is outside the scope of this chapter.

Figure 21: PDF Options dialog – Digital Signatures tab

PDF Options dialog – Digital Signatures tab

Select the certificate to use for digitally signing the exported PDF, then click Select.

All other fields on the Digital Signatures tab are accessible only after a certificate has been selected.

When using a smartcard, enter the PIN here. Some smartcard software will prompt you for the PIN again before signing.

The list of TSA URLs that can be selected is maintained under Tools > Options > LibreOffice > Security > TSAs. If no TSA URL is selected (the default), the signature will not be timestamped, but will use the current time from your local computer.

Exporting to other formats

LibreOffice uses the term “export” for some file operations involving a change of file type. If you want to use another spreadsheet file format (for example, Microsoft Excel), use File > Save As. If you want to create web pages from your spreadsheet, use File > Export.

Emailing spreadsheets

LibreOffice provides several ways to send a document quickly and easily as an email attachment in OpenDocument format (LibreOffice default format), other spreadsheet formats, or as a PDF file. You can also email a document to several recipients. For more information, see the Getting Started Guide.

To send the spreadsheet as an email attachment:

1)  Go to File > Send on the Menu bar and select from the following options. LibreOffice opens your default email program (if set) with the spreadsheet attached in the selected format.

2)  In your email program, enter the recipient, subject, and any text you want to add, then send the email.

Note

Avoid the Send via Bluetooth option, which is non-operational in this software build.

Digital signing of documents

To sign a document digitally, you need a personal key, also known as a certificate. A personal key is stored on your computer as a combination of a private key, which must be kept secret, and a public key, which you add to your documents when you sign them. You can get a certificate from a certification authority, which may be a private company or a governmental institution.

When you apply a digital signature to a document, a checksum is computed from the document’s content plus your personal key. The checksum and your public key are stored together with the document.

When someone later opens the document on any computer with a recent version of LibreOffice, the program will compute the checksum again and compare it with the stored checksum. If both are the same, the program will signal that you see the original, unchanged document. In addition, the program can show you the public key information from the certificate. You can compare the public key with the public key that is published on the web site of the certificate authority.

Whenever someone changes something in the document, the change breaks the digital signature.

On Windows operating systems, the Windows features for validating a signature are used. On Linux systems, files that are supplied by Mozilla Thunderbird or Firefox are used to validate the signature. For a more detailed description of how to get and manage a certificate, and signature validation, see About Digital Signatures in the LibreOffice Help.

Applying a digital signature

The following procedure is only an example of how to digitally sign a document. The actual procedure depends on how your computer is set up and the computer’s operating system.

1)  Open the file that you want to digitally sign.

2)  Go to File > Digital Signatures > Digital Signatures on the Menu bar.

3)  On the Digital Signatures dialog, click Sign Document to open the Select X.509 Certificate dialog (Figure 23).

4)  Select the certificate you want to use and click Sign to close the Select X.509 Certificate dialog.

5)  The certificate used is displayed in the Digital Signatures dialog with an icon next to its name. This icon indicates the status of the digital signature.

7)  Click Close to close the Digital Signatures dialog and digitally sign your file.

A signed document shows an icon in the status bar. You can double-click the icon to view the certificate. More than one signature can be added to a document.

Note

If you make any changes to the document after digitally signing, the digital signature is removed automatically and you have to repeat the above procedure to digitally sign it again.

Figure 22: Digital Signatures dialog

Digital Signatures dialog

Figure 23: Select X.509 Certificate dialog

Select X.509 Certificate dialog

Signing multiple times with the same signature

In the past, LibreOffice prohibited creating multiple signatures by the same author on a document, because there was no semantic meaning of signing the same document multiple times. LibreOffice now provides a signature description, so multiple signatures from the same author are allowed, because each signature can have a different meaning.

When you select File > Digital Signatures > Digital Signatures, the dialog (Figure 22) lists existing signatures together with their description (if they have any).

When you click the Sign Document button, the dialog (Figure 23) for certificate selection now also asks for an optional description.

Changing the value of an existing description invalidates the signature.

Digitally signing macros

Normally, macros are part of a document. If you sign a document, the macros inside the document are signed automatically. If you want to sign only the macros, but not the document, go to Tools > Macros > Digital Signature on the Menu bar and apply the signature as described above.

Removing personal data

You may wish to ensure that personal data, versions, notes, hidden information, or recorded changes are removed from files before you send them to other people or create PDFs from them.

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