I created an image with draw which is supposed to be used as headbow/letterhead.
My problem is to export it as a transparent pdf.
The exported file covers the text, which I merge with pdftk. With an editor I can “see” the text. But it’s invisible due to the intransparency of the pdf-file. That’s funny but not useful. I already looked here and found some hints about that. But non of these worked for me.
I could not find any text behind the covering (white) rectangle.
Sorry, I forgot to upload the final result. So here you go:
00_SS_an_Margarete_Mustermann.pdf (167.3 KB)
Just open that with e.g. Adobe Reader, hit Ctrl+A and the hidden text is marked. One can even use it with copy & paste, which is weird to me.
The usual method would be to create a template as desired in Writer and then create documents using the template. Maybe there is a good reason to go through the extra steps of exporting it to pdf and merging the pdfs but it sounds a bit like printing documents on letterhead paper like we did in the 1990s.
I made a couple of documents that could be used as templates in Writer. I don’t have your BauerBodoni RomanOsF font so I made a substitution in LibreOffice for Bodoni BT which is not the same but close enough for me.
The first template will use BauerBodoni RomanOsF if it is on the computer. The template uses First Page style for the first page, second and subsequent pages will be in Default page style which may need editing to suit. [Edit: modifed template]
b_letterhead126034EA2.ott (84.9 KB)
The second is just a document, not a template. In this I copied the layout (with Bodoni BT font, this will not change on a different computer) from Writer to Draw, saved the page as .svg and inserted the svg as a background for First Page page style in Writer.
LetterheadAsBackground.odt (89.6 KB)
I know that there exists templates (ott). Who defines what the usual method would be? For certain reasons we just can’t use templates at all. I don’t want to discuss it here. But I’d appreciate, if you could respect that fact. Thank you for your efforts with that ott anyway. That also doesn’t has to do anything close to the 1990s and it’s nothing I could influence in any way.
If found a workaround for me. You can find it in the fork with koyotak/wanderer. On of them still uses LibreOffice 7.6 - or might have forgotten some numbers.
Very simple solution:
– write your WRiTER file;
– draw your DRAW file;
– copy the desired elements;
– paste them into the desired WRiTER line;
Simple forms you are able drawing directly with WRiTER.
… this is how it’s done:
012345_TEST.transparentes Bild über Text_Versuch0000_071539.pdf (53.5 KB)
It doesn’t seem to be that simple:
It’s possible to insert the content from the DRAW file into a WRITE file. It’s also possible to change the tranparency of the template page to 100%. I also set the transparency of all OLE objects to 100%. At least all pages but the first are now visible. That’s some progress.
But the first page still shows the letterhead only. The text is still invisible.
I can’t change that by hand every time. That might work. But if it comes to 50+ letters a day it’s to much workflow. I need to make it work with
pdftk a_text.pdf multistamp b_letterhead.pdf output c_done.pdf
a_text.pdf (80.2 KB)
b_letterhead.pdf (126.6 KB)
Since I’m a new user and only allowed to attach 2 files, here is the Source for my letterhead “converted” to a WRITEr file and the result.
c_done.pdf (200.9 KB)
b_letterhead.odt (72.9 KB)
Have you tried to use background instead of multistamp?
That doesn’t work.
The parameter multistamp is made for this specific case - only the first page is supposed to get a letterhead. But using background isn’t working either. One time the text covers the letterhead partially. The other time the letterhead covers the text complete and removes all pages after page 1. I guess there is a serious problem creating transparent pdf-files with Libreoffice at all.
pdftk 2025_Musterbrief.pdf background 2025_Briefbogen.pdf output Test.pdf
leads to this
head_as_background.pdf (203.5 KB)
and
pdftk 2025_Briefbogen.pdf background 2025_Musterbrief.pdf output Test.pdf
leads to this
letter_invisible_only_1_page.pdf (202.7 KB)
No, there is not.
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I suggested this because I have an old, but still working batch using BACKGROUND with pdftk. As I was not sure, how I created my files years ago, I tried with a fresh Writer file and a pdf-1a as Text to be placed on my old background-pdf, and this worked fine.
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(Reversing Text and my graphic background actually hides part of the text at the right margin. Expected, and tested only for completeness.)
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I didn’t use Draw. But the main question would be: Where is your source for the “covering (white) rectangle”.
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Tested on Win10 / LibreOffice 7.6
No, there is not.
If you say so. At least i didn’t find a way to export a transparent pdf-file out of DRAW. And even with WRITER it’s not that easy at all. Maybe it was with Windows 10 / LibreOffice 7.6. I have Windows 11 and LibreOffice 25.2.5.
I found a solution for me. I made a script, which extracts the first page of (transparent) text. I’m using the text as “letterhead” (pdftk background) and the letterhead as “text”. After that I reassamble the file with the “stamped” 1st page. That doesn’t solve the problem but ist a workaround for me. I even use that opportunity to recompress the pdf and make it much smaller.
