How do I insert and display a pdf into a Calc spreadsheet?

desertcorgi · May 18, 2022, 4:44am

Hi,

I’m currently running Version 7.2.6.2 of LibreOffice Calc on Fedora 35.

In Calc, I have a list of items and quantities. Separately, I have a sketch in pdf format. Now, I’m trying to insert that pdf into the Calc spreadsheet so that the list, quantities, and sketch can be printed on one page.

However, when I try to insert the pdf (or any pdf), all I get is an anchor icon at my current cell. No sketch; just an anchor icon. And, no matter what I do next, the anchor disappears.

What am I doing incorrectly?

The weird thing is that I had no problem with whatever version of LibreOffice Calc that was available 2 years ago with Ubuntu 20.04.

Thank you,

Grantler · May 18, 2022, 5:06am

… solution PDF as OLE object found in a former question here on this website. HTH - cheers
Double click on OLE object for further customizing the displayed page/area of page.

Hrbrgr · May 18, 2022, 4:56am

The weird thing is that I had no problem with whatever version of LibreOffice Calc that was available 2 years ago with Ubuntu 20.04.

This is not a Calc problem.
It is simply not intended that you open PDF files with Calc.
Try the following:
Open the PDF with Draw.
Try to select the sketch.
Choose File>Export from the menu.
In the dialog choose PNG for file type and
set a check mark at “Selection” and Save.
Now you can paste the PNG into Calc.

EarnestAl · May 18, 2022, 5:12am

Or if it is a vector drawing, export as svg. The text won’t be editable or selectable in Calc but will be in a svg editor (right-click Edit with External Tool)

Or select everything, copy and paste from Draw into Calc. This is editable but would need ungrouping first

mikekaganski · May 18, 2022, 6:22am

To the contrary, this is a Calc problem.

It is expected, that if you are able to Insert|Image something in Writer, you would also be able to do the same with Calc and other modules.
The insertion “works” in fact; only the position doesn’t. The image gets a negative position, with its bottom right corner being at position [0,0]. But if immediately after insertion, you use Format|Image|Fit to Cell Size, you get it re-positioned and resized, and then you can manage it.

@desertcorgi: please file a bug report.

By the way, it looks like it’s fixed in master; so likely will be OK in 7.4 (no idea if the something that fixed that was backported to 7.3, so no idea if it will get into 7.3.4 - the proposal to file a bug report would still help to discover that, and possibly to make sure it gets fixed in 7.3).

desertcorgi · May 21, 2022, 1:00am

Thank you all.

I had no idea that there was a newer version out there.

After I filed a bug report, I upgraded to the latest version of LibreOffice.

Now, PDFs insert nicely into Calc.