Hello,
I’d like to create a shape (or a textbox, or a table) in LibreOffice Writer with a solid border, but that casts a “soft” shadow around; that is, the further one is from the border, the lighter the shadow is. In CSS, that would be the effect one would get by adjusting the value of the “blur” parameter (the 3rd one) of the box-shadow attribute, like this one:
How can I achieve that ?
Addendum: Unfortunately Draw lacks this capability also. I would have thought Draw would have some finer controls regarding (not only) drop shadows and other graphic elements. I’m not suggesting Draw should be on par with, for example, Adobe Illustrator or Inkscape, but fine-tuning a drop shadow should already have been an option. I mean, even the placement of a drop shadow is confined to only eight compass points…?
but fine-tuning a drop shadow should already have been an option
… which would be a request for enhancement 
@mikekaganski as usual you are absolutely right! 
But, personally, being how I have no use for Draw I’ll let someone else have the pleasure of submitting that feature request! Cheers!
I’m afraid you can’t do that directly in LibreOffice. Writer has some basic graphic capabilities, but at the end of the day it’s a word processor, powerful as it may be on that front.
Your best bet is to create that graphic in an outside program and insert it into your Writer document.
I tried that solution already - create an SVG in Inkscape with such a shadow. Unfortunately, LibreOffice doesn’t properly import it: I get the border of my shape without the shadow around it. So I’m likely confined to relying on non-vector graphics that are unsatisfactory when the size of the shape needs to be adapted to the text, as is the case for a floating text area or a table.
@kevkilobyte ain’t it fun playing the compatibility game? Try saving the Inkscape file as an .eps. For some reason (not laying blame in either camp) LO will insert the file correctly with the drop shadow visible. Just in case your drop shadow seems cut off around the edges in Inkscape, open the Filter Editor and under the Filter General Setting tab expand the dimensions.
@gtomorrow It would have been fun if it had not been for use at work, but fortunately summer made my work load lighter, so I could afford some hours of experimenting.
Strangely enough, the EPS file format does not properly work in LO Writer either - inserting it results in a white area with some text describing some of the file format .
I’ve also tried with EPS encoded in Postscript Level 3, with similar results. Just for the record, I had also attempted the “Simple SVG” variant, that gave me the same result as the regular SVG Inkscape produces (Drawing with no border shadow effect).
At this point, although I’m myself stubborn enough to finally find some sort of solution, this is getting a bit ingeniously cumbersome 
Kev, that’s odd. Before I replied to your first comment I did a test in Inkscape and LO and it worked perfectly, hence my suggestion. If you are interested here’s a link to my test file (expires in 5 days). Anyway, when you do have a moment, I would test other options in Inkscape such as save as .pdf.
@gtomorrow Yes, it is. Here’s how your odt appears on my side . For the record, I’m using LO 6.2.5.2 on Windows 7. Head scratching time?
A PDF (finally!) seems to import fine the shadow border effect… But doesn’t seem to properly consider the “white” space around the shape as ‘transparent’, but instead as opaque white (duh!). I also tried DXF (let’s go crazy, after all!), but LO-W was unable to open it.
@kevkilobyte, that is INSANE! I’m inclined to file a bug report, both with LibreOffice and Inkscape! I knew there were translation problems but not to this extent. Glad to hear that .pdf is (somewhat reasonably) working out for you.
@gtomorrow Yeah. I’ll do a few tests at home, both under Windows and Linux, to see if I can reproduce the issue. That’s indeed weird.
PDF doesn’t really fill the job, due to lack of transparency. I’d likely use PNGs (despite the scaling limitations) to achieve the desired result.
I’m dropping my initial intent of replacing Word by LO-W at work for now, though - there are simply too many missing features (this being one of them) to allow me to reproduce my current document models on LO.
Thanks for your help anyway!
This feature is not possible in Writer/Draw/Impress. Thinking back it was introduced in CorelDraw8 as “interactive shadow”, later on in Word 2007. Doubtless it lacks in LibreOffice. I don’t know if its implementation is planned…
@gtomorrow wrote: “Your best bet is to create that graphic in an outside program and insert it into your Writer document.”
That’s possible but in some (many?) cases the result in the print-out is not satisfactory.
Another work-around in Draw could be the so-called cross-fading (or duplicating) of shape menu.
Example: Let a rectangle cross-fade from black to white in 15 steps - see attached screenshot and file. It’s cumbersome, isn’t it?
TextboxAndCrossFadedShadow.odg
@Grantler I still stand by what you quoted. If one knows what they’re doing in regards to graphics (not implying anything!) the printed output should be more often that not satisfactory. And, yes, your drop-shadow solution is ingeniously cumbersome! Bordering on evil!
I cannot give a solution as there isn’t one unless Libre sort it of which they are capable. I have been asking the same question and want a similar outcome as @kevkilobyte’s. I had a document I lost that I originally created with Msoft word, inserted some photos and word was able to create 3D shadowing just like the illustration in the original question above. basically wanting to create gradients and transparency within a shadow. I’m sorry but the shadow function in Libre writer is very basic, the finished result is very poor,its so 90s. its 2019! and it appears Apache open office actually does it and for a while, this article was updated in 2008 Shadows and transparency - Apache OpenOffice Wiki.
so why cant Libre office do the same as they are both a fork of each other.
As it has been noted above that Impress ( libre ) doesn’t have the ability to create feathered or soft shadows my work around is to use GIMPS ellipse, feather and fill. then I copy it to impress ( control C and Control V )
In Impress I draw my circle and Past the shadow I made in Gimp, then send it to the back and adjust size to meet the circle I made. Using the IMAGE tool under properties I then adjust the transparency once I’m happy I group them together. Hope this helps.
