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    Printing and exporting

    Export a Nixt Writer document as PDF, web page, Markdown or plain text, what each format keeps, and how printing works.

    Writer can save a copy of your document as a PDF, a web page, a Markdown file or plain text, and print through your computer’s PDF viewer.

    Export a copy

    1. Click the download icon (Save a copy as) at the right of the title bar.
    2. Choose a format.
    3. In the save dialog, choose a folder and a file name. Writer suggests the document’s name with the new extension.
    4. Click Save.

    The status bar says Saved and the file name. While Writer lays out and writes the file, a small spinner turns at the right of the status bar.

    Menu itemExtensionUse it for
    Word document.docxA Word copy of the document.
    PDF.pdfSharing a document that looks the same everywhere, and printing.
    Web page.htmlPublishing the text on a website or pasting it into an email.
    Markdown.mdNotes apps, wikis, and text you want to compare line by line.
    Plain text.txtThe words alone.

    Exporting to PDF, web page, Markdown or plain text doesn’t change which file you are editing. Saving a copy as a Word document makes the copy the file you are editing — see Save a copy in another format.

    A Word document copy keeps everything, including comments and tracked changes. The other formats leave comments out. PDF, Markdown and plain text show the document as it would read with all tracked changes accepted; the web page marks insertions and deletions (see below).

    What a PDF contains

    Writer lays out the PDF itself, page by page. The same layout is used for printing, for the page numbers in a table of contents, and for page-number cross-references, so they always agree.

    In the documentIn the PDF
    Page size, orientation and marginsAs set on the Layout tab.
    ColumnsText flows down each column, then across, then on to the next page.
    Page breaks and “page break before”Start a new page.
    Headings (Heading 1 to Heading 6)Also listed as bookmarks in the PDF viewer’s sidebar, nested by level.
    Paragraph alignmentLeft, centred and right as set.
    Indents, space before and after, line spacingAs set.
    ListsBullets and numbers as on screen, indented by level.
    Bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, colour, sizeAs set.
    Superscript, subscript, all capsAs set.
    Tab charactersShown as a fixed space.
    LinksBlue, underlined and clickable. A link to a bookmark jumps to the bookmark’s page.
    FootnotesNumbered, at the foot of the page their reference is on.
    Headers and footersOn every page, in the margin, with page numbers and page counts filled in. A different first-page header, or different odd and even headers from Word, are used.
    WatermarkGrey, semi-transparent and diagonal on every page, behind the text.
    Page borderA rule 24 points in from the edge of every page.
    Page colourNot included.
    TablesText, borders, cell shading and merged cells. Header rows bold with a light background.
    PicturesPNG and JPEG pictures, each placed below the text of its paragraph at its size.
    ChartsDrawn below the text of their paragraph.
    Title and authorFrom Document properties. With no title, the file name is used.

    Fonts in PDFs

    PDFs from Writer use the standard fonts every PDF viewer has, so files stay small and nothing has to be embedded. Each font in the document is matched to one of three families:

    Document fontPDF font
    Names containing “Times”, “Georgia”, “Garamond”, “Book” or “Serif” (but not “Sans”)Times
    Names containing “Mono”, “Courier”, “Consolas” or “Menlo”Courier
    Everything else, including Calibri, Arial and HelveticaHelvetica

    Bold and italic are kept.

    What a web page contains

    The web page is a single .html file with its formatting written into each element, so it keeps its look when pasted into an email.

    • The page title is the document’s Title, or “Document”.
    • Headings become HTML headings; paragraphs keep their alignment and left indent.
    • Bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, colour, highlight, font and size are kept, and superscript and subscript.
    • Bulleted and numbered lists become HTML lists.
    • Tables become HTML tables with header cells and shading.
    • Links are kept.
    • Tracked insertions and deletions are marked: deleted text is included, struck through, and inserted text is marked as inserted.

    What a Markdown file contains

    • Headings become # to ######.
    • Bold becomes **text**, italic _text_, strikethrough ~~text~~.
    • Bulleted items start with -, numbered items with 1., indented by level.
    • Links become [text](address).
    • Tables become Markdown tables, with the first row as the header.
    • Deleted tracked text is left out.

    What a plain text file contains

    The document’s words, one paragraph per line, with table cells separated by tabs. Deleted tracked text is left out. There is no formatting.

    Print

    Writer lays the document out as a PDF — exactly as Save a copy as › PDF would — and opens it in your computer’s PDF viewer, which has the printer list, copies and page range.

    1. Click More (three dots) at the right of the title bar.
    2. Click Print….
    3. When the PDF opens in your PDF viewer, print from there.

    The status bar says “Opened in your PDF viewer — print from there.”

    Everything in What a PDF contains applies to printing.

    The print copy is a temporary file. To keep a PDF, use Save a copy as › PDF instead.

    MessageWhat it meansWhat to do
    Could not open the print copy: followed by a reasonWriter made the PDF but your computer couldn’t open it — for example no PDF viewer is set up.Install or choose a default PDF viewer, or use Save a copy as › PDF and open the file yourself.
    Could not print: followed by a reasonWriter couldn’t make the print copy.Try again. If it keeps happening, save a PDF copy to another folder.

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