LO Draw does not display all text reading PDFs

English
#1

using libre draw to open an existing pdf sent to me. All the shapes on the pages have to be brought to front to be visible. Using other pdf readers - show its contents in full without any problems.

Is there any way to rectify this situation?
I can open other pdfs without any issues in libre draw, its just this pdf file that is the culprit.
Any ideas?

#2

Draw is not a PDF reader. It is a graphical manipulation program: it sees a PDF file as a collection of shapes xĂ—y-positioned in a page. Since it does graphical manipulation, it takes into account the z-order of shapes. You may have a big shape (intended for background for example) which is in the foreground and hides others.

PS: when asking here, always mention OS name, exact LO version (not “latest”, we don’t know nor see your computer) and save format.

#3

Adobe Acrobat is the one and only PDF editor, able to edit each and every feature of that file format.

How to use PDF with LibreOffice:

  1. First and foremost, you can export anything printable to PDF. PDF is a print-out into a file instead of paper. A PDF consists of characters, lines and pixel graphics on virtual print pages. Just like a printed sheet of paper, PDF does not have any paragraphs, hierarchy of (sub-)chapters, spreadsheet tabs nor spreadsheet formulas. In order to fix errors on PDF, you need to edit the original office document and export to PDF again, just like you’d do with a bad paper print.
  2. Yes, the draw component can load PDF files, even if they did not originate from any office program. Draw interprets the PDF as a collection of characters, lines and pixel graphics on virtual paper sheets. You may edit minor errors, misspellings with Draw, if you don’t have the original document at hand, just like you may fix minor errors on a sheet of paper with a correction pen or by printing a P.S. below the existing text.
  3. LibreOffice can save hybrid PDF, that is PDF with the original document piggyback. Any PDF reader should be able to load the PDF only, ignoring the office document. When opening a hybrid PDF with LibreOffice, you get the office document for editing. Saving the hybrid PDF with LibreOffice stores both, the edited piggyback document and its derived PDF.
1 Like
#4

Not without the file itself. PDF-files a very diverse, so for the moment you are the only one who can inspect this file.
.
But as you wrote

it seems your title is exaggerating a bit? (“upgrade-breaks-reading-pdfs”)
Could older versions of Draw really open this file and have other arranging?

1 Like
#5

Version: 7.4.7.2 / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: 40(Build:2)
CPU threads: 8; OS: Linux 6.1; UI render: default; VCL: gtk3
Locale: en-AU (en_AU.UTF-8); UI: en-US
Debian package version: 4:7.4.7-1+deb12u8
Calc: threaded

Running on Debian Version:Linux debian-hp 6.1.0-32-amd64 #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Debian 6.1.129-1 (2025-03-06) x86_64 GNU/Linux

Yes I use Libreoffice Draw to open PDF files and embed my signature image and then print to PDF to sign any PDFs I received for the last 5-6 years.

Its just this particular PDF file that has this oddity. So, I am incorrect in the accuracy of the subject line, LO Draw works fine, but not on this PDF file.

The file cannot be shared, any diagnostics on the file I can do? It is readable in a Document Viewer as well as Microsoft Edge on Debian

#6

Solved the issue -

  1. Opened the PDF in LO Draw
  2. Clicked on the page
  3. Changed the Fill to None (For all Pages)
  4. Saved the file.
    Screenshot from 2025-08-10 13-50-58
    Screenshot from 2025-08-10 13-50-58920Ă—642 70.3 KB

    This property was set to Color previously, which prevented the text from displaying on the page.

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