---
title: "Usage"
weight: 30
description: "Daily use of the DoliPDF module: PDF generation, notifications and checks."
source_hash: "720e6f11"
---

# Usage

## Automatic operation

Once the module is set up, DoliPDF works transparently. You have nothing in particular to do: the conversion happens automatically when Dolibarr generates a document from an ODT template.

### Conversion flow

1. You generate a document in Dolibarr (invoice, proposal, order, etc.) using an ODT template
2. Dolibarr creates the ODT file
3. DoliPDF catches the creation of the ODT file
4. Depending on the mode set up:
   - **Remote mode**: the ODT file is sent to the DoliPDF server, which returns the converted PDF
   - **Local mode**: LibreOffice performs the conversion on your server
5. The PDF file is saved and indexed in Dolibarr
6. If the option is enabled, the source ODT file is deleted

### Documents concerned

DoliPDF works with every type of Dolibarr document that uses ODT templates:

- Customer invoices
- Commercial proposals
- Customer orders
- Supplier invoices
- Supplier orders
- Contracts
- Interventions
- Any other document using an ODT template

## Notifications

If you enabled the **Display notifications** option, a message appears at the top right of the screen after each conversion:

- **DoliPDF server has generated the PDF file** - The conversion succeeded.
- **Error transferring PDF file from DoliPDF server** - The PDF file was received but the MD5 integrity check failed. The PDF file may be corrupted.
- **DoliPDF error** - The conversion failed. Check the setup of the module and the connection to the DoliPDF server. If in doubt, the **Test connection** button of the **Configuration** tab gives the cause.

## Selective conversion

If you enable the **Run DoliPDF only on validated documents** option, the conversion only starts for documents with the "Validated" status. Draft documents do not generate a PDF.

This is useful to:

- Save calls to the remote service while a document is being written
- Avoid generating useless intermediate PDFs
- Reduce the load on the server in local mode

## Checking the generated files

After the conversion, the PDF file is visible in the **Linked files** tab of the document concerned. You can download it, preview it or send it by email directly from Dolibarr.

If the **Delete ODT file** option is enabled, only the PDF file appears in the linked files. Otherwise both files (ODT and PDF) are kept.