Not sure about difference. Any help appreciated.
I assumed it is actually the same. The “direct” export skips the dialogue and I assumed it will use the last configuration used before.
At least Cell selection is not taken into account.
Maybe Zoom level (the PDF viewer in this PC is very basic and I see no difference):
zoom50.pdf.ods (8.4 KB)
zoom100.pdf.ods (8.4 KB)
zoomfit.pdf.ods (8.4 KB)
Tested with LibreOffice 7.3.3.1.
EDIT: Opened the files with Adobe Reader, and Zoom level is kept.
Initially, there is no difference.
You should note that “Export Directly as PDF” always applies the settings made under “Export as PDF”.
So if you need other settings or you are not sure which settings are available, you should choose “Export as PDF” at least the first time.