[Solved] Images print in Draw file, but text area does not

[CraigG58]

Hello! It's my first post here, although I've been using OpenOffice for quite some time now.

I've created an OpenOffice Draw document using this template for a CD jewel case insert:

https://templates.openoffice.org/en/tem ... template-0

It consists of one cover image (in the upper square), along with text and two additional images on the rear cover (in the lower square). Everything is in one layer.

My issue is, everything looks perfect in Draw and "Preview in Web Browser", but the text area and its background shading is completely missing when printing. It's not an issue with the printer hardware itself, since when I "Print to PDF" or use "Export as PDF", the text is missing in that output as well.

I've tried resetting my OpenOffice profile by renaming "C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\OpenOffice\4\user", which had no effect.

Anyway, I haven't been able to come up with a solution in the OpenOffice help file or on the web. Any ideas what may be causing the problem?

[keme]

The TemplateOutline layer is set up to display on screen, but not on printout. The preexisting content on that layer is meant for guidance, it seems. You can right click the layer tab to edit the layer if you want to enable printing, or insert your picture and text objects on a different layer to have them on printout (use the setup layer, or create a new layer if you want).

[CraigG58]

Thanks so much keme, that was exactly it. Well, almost exactly.

I haven't used Draw very much, so I wasn't familiar with the bottom tabs (time to RTFM!). I'm not the person who started the document, it was sent to me to add artwork with only the text portion completed.

The "TemplateOutline" did have the "Printable" box checked already. However, there is a tab called "Layer1", which I assumed contains the text. When I selected "Modify Layer" on that tab just now, "Printable" was not checked, just as you suspected. Enabling "Printable" on that tab fixed the problem.

In this document, there are 5 layer tabs... The three defaults (Layout, Controls and Dimension Lines), the one that was added (Layer1), and the template layer you referenced (TemplateOutline). It looks like the pictures must have wound up in "Layout", because when I uncheck "Visible" on that tab they disappear.

So, this is probably another dumb newbie question, but perhaps you can shed some light on it...

Is there a way to determine which elements reside in which layer? I can't seem to figure that out, even after referencing the help file. When the tabs are selected one-by-one the entire document is displayed, both the text and pictures. If my assumption that the pictures wound up in the Layout layer is correct, I would expect that those would be the only thing displayed when that tab is selected (likewise for the text in the Layer1 tab), but that's not the case.

Hope that makes sense. Thanks again for your time!

[CraigG58]

Think I've answered my own question after a bit of experimentation...

I wound up recreating the document with 3 layers:

- Front cover art
- Rear cover text
- Rear cover art

I can then select each tab and tick/untick "Visible" to see its contents.

It would be nice if there was some sort of keyboard shortcut to do this, as it does get tedious. Or, perhaps there is and I just haven't dug deep enough to find it yet. I'll look into the keyboard bindings.

[keme]

Most objects you insert will be put on the selected layer (active tab, "Layout" by default). Buttons and form fields will go to the Controls layer. Measurement lines will be sent to the Dimension lines layer.

To move an object to a different layer, click and hold for a second before dragging (the mouse pointer will change to the "alternate drag mode" pointer), then drag and drop onto the target layer's tab.

Shortcut to show/hide a layer: Shift-click the tab.

[CraigG58]

Exact shortcut I was looking for, works perfectly. Thanks again for all of the info, much appreciated!