Document properties in exported PDF

English
#1

When I EXPORT AS PDF, Writer is creating an author as part of the PDF document properties. Ironically, this author is an city government agency that I engaged with long ago, before I even used LO. So conceivably an author was embedded in some PDF or DOCX file that came my way and maybe I opened it recently for some reason(?).

But I can’t figure out where it is embedded in LO Writer. It is not in the ODT document properties. I cannot find a setting in TOOLS > OPTIONS. When I export, I have de-selected all options under GENERAL and STRUCTURE. (I had hoped “tagged pdf (add document structure)” might be the source but it does not appear so.)

I own PDF authoring software (Nitro Pro) so I can change PDF document properties. Now that I know this is happening, I’m trying to remember to look for it.

But how can I make LO stop presenting this extra nuisance? Where is this setting that is adding “Dept. of Buildings” as the author of my documents?

Many thanks,
Jeanne

1 Like
#2

From which file format, ODT vs. DOCX?

Check setting:

Tools > Options > LibreOffice > User data > [address|data for document properties].

For inquiries please specify:
Operating system and LibreOffice version. Thank you.

#3

Thanks for trying. I’m talking only about documents born in LibreOffice, never a DOCX version, not built on an old document.

Every line in the dialog box you reference is blank. I tried DEselecting “Use data for document properties” but that didn’t work. Even tho there is no author in the ODT file properties, the PDF that LO exports shows Dept. of Buildings as author.

LibreOffice Writer 24.8.6.2 (X86_64)
Windows 11 Professional

#4

May be , if the document is based in a template, this information is provided by the template.

  • Have you Reset the properties of the document in File > Properties (tab General)?
  • Are you sure the tag is “author”, not “Publisher” File > Properties (tab Description)?

Can you post a blank odt document with the problem ?

1 Like
#5

The simplest way to fix your document is to click File > Properties > General and click the button Reset Properties, then Save

Whatever name you have in Tools > Options > LibreOffice > User Data will become the new Author in the exported pdf. If there is no name entered in Tools > Options > LibreOffice > User Data then the Author name will be blank.

It is the name of the initial creator of the file that is saved in the file, even if it was just a blank document. Resetting the properties makes LibreOffice take the current name from user data.

1 Like
#6

bantoniof:
“Dept. of Buildings” is the author, not publisher, in the PDF exported from ODT, but not in the ODT file.

But your first suggestion hit the spot. Re-setting properties resulted in being able to export a clean PDF–even tho all of those properties were blank.

But what does this mean going forward? Every time I start a new ODT or pick up an old one to work on (or just export to PDF), I have to go click that button just in case?

I’m grateful to have made this much progress, but I’d dearly like to better understand the root of it. Never has the Dept of Buildings authored a file in LibreOffice or any other program on this computer. I cannot rule out that at some point many years ago I might have opened a DOCX file from the Dept. of Buildings, but that almost certainly would have been in Word, not LO, on the computer I retired in 2023. And maybe I edited such a file in Word years ago.

It still seems odd that that could have gotten embedded into LO in this manner.

So I do thank you for your guidance so far, and I’m still listening for any further insights.

#7

Earnest AI: User Data is also completely blank. There is nothing on any line in User Data or in the document properties. Clean as a whistle.

#8

The author tag is saved within an odt document when the document is created. And if there is identity data and the box " Use identity data in documents " is checked (Tools> Options> LibreOffice> User data).

You can see the author tag of documents in the Windows explorer When passing the mouse over the file

The author tag is exported to PDF if the documente has this tag.
The author tag (Example “Dept. of Buildings”) is written in new documents :

  • If an old document is reused, (ie copies the document and change the content totally)
  • If you use a template for the new documents, and the author’s information is recorded in the template.

To create new documents without the author tag information:

  • If you want to use a different template from the predetermined, Be sure to restore identity data on the template (or in each document).
  • If you use the predetermined template bunded with LibreOffice, you should not have to restore the data in each new document.
#9

Just for the record In fact, no AUTHOR field exists in LO Writer’s FILE > PROPERTIES. And really, I don’t see an author field under User Data in TOOLS > OPTIONS > LIBREOFFICE

But this dialog has been of some help. I went back to the beginning of my current project to a file created 18 days ago. It’s not based on anything other than what I get when I choose FILE > NEW in LO Writer. So that’s some basic template I’ve never messed with.

When I hover over the ODT file in Windows Explorer there’s the author Dept. of Buildings. This author isn’t in the Document Properties when I open the ODT in LO.

That author does not show up when I hover over the PDF created by LO in Windows Explorer, altho when I open that PDF, there it is in that file’s properties.

It is just too much of a coincidence that Dept. of Buildings appears here and I did work with some files from that agency a decade ago in MS Word. There must be some bridge that I’ve forgotten about. But it is buggy. There’s no way LO should have exported an author that doesn’t appear in LO.

BUT NOW at least, when I create a new document in LO and test creating a PDF, there is no author in the file. So I think perhaps I’ve solved the problem for new files. But since I can’t fully explain the why and how, I feel I’d better double check any old file I need to access. And if the problem reappears in new files, I guess I’ll have to create a new template. But right now, that doesn’t seem necessary.

This may be the best I can do. But I do thank you for your interest.

#10

The below is important. It doesn’t matter what you have in User Data for an existing file until you Reset Properties. To reiterate:


Exactly. New files will take the current name in User Data.

Note that Security options allow you choose what information is included in your document. Click Tools > Options > LibreOffice > Security and click the button Options to get a dialogue for various save and export options.
SecurityOptions&Warnings

Any filled-in fields in File > Properties > Description in a template will be carried through to a new document.
The fields Title, Subject & Keywords are included in the properties of an exported pdf. Title will appear on the tab in Adobe Reader. They do not change the Author which is the current name in User Data

#11

EarnestAI, I do appreciate your continuing and, in particular, showing the SECURITY WARNINGS you displayed, tho I’m not sure how it applies here. There is no personal info to save or not save. All those fields are blank.

There was never any name whatsoever in User Data. There was no field called AUTHOR but more important there was no name entered in any field. If I’d somehow transferred an author name from from an old file or template, I’d expect the name to be displayed in FILE > PROPERTIES or in USER DATA as you seem to say. But they are blank. Completely. 100%.

I can assure you this whole thread originates with LO Writer creating an author–which it does not display anywhere–in an exported PDF.

I hope I’m not being hopelessly dense and I don’t deny that one day 10 years ago I might have picked up a DOCX with the author Dept. of Buildngs–in Word on another computer. And maybe I even edited it and saved it. But nothing explains why I cannot find Dept. of Buildings in any LO program setting or property of an ODT file and yet it appears auto-magically in a PDF exported from LO Writer.

Well, anyway, I think it won’t appear in the future thanks to the help I got here, but I’ll always have to double-check. Right now, thanks to you and others, LO does not do this on new files, but it still does this on old files. Admittedly, it’s pretty rare to pick up an old file and need to create a PDF. But this is still true.

Again, sincerest thanks.

#12

There is; that is the basis of your question. You can set this, and your old files with Dept of Buildings as Author will not be exported with the Dept of Buildings as Author.

I am not trying to wind you up, I just want you to resolve your problem.

#13

I did re-set properties a couple of days ago. On pure faith/hope, because there were no data in any of those fields. All new files seem to be okay. All old files produce PDFs with an author that doesn’t exist in the ODT.

#14

I refer you to the security options

Impressum (Legal Info) | Datenschutzerklärung (Privacy Policy)   Content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike 3.0 license.