[SUPPORT] PDF Export is monochrome

[oliverbacsi]

Question

• When exporting the MarkDown file to PDF (Preview) , the exported PDF will be black&white only (greyscaled)
• When using File --> Print --> Print to File (PDF) , then it has colors

I went to the Settings, opened the "Preview" section, there are the settings for Rendering and Exporting.
I tried all 4 combinations of the two settings: Use editor highlighting styles also for the preview and Use internal export styling fpr the PDF export and printing of the preview -- same result.

OK, worst case I can always use Print to file but still wondering why the PDF export is B&W while the preview inside the application has colors.

Output from the debug section in the settings dialog

Expand

Relevant log output in the Log panel

Expand

[pbek]

I don't know when this changed in Qt, but I can fix that.

25.12.0

• Fixed PDF export from markdown preview now renders in color instead of grayscale
  • The printer color mode is now explicitly set to color when exporting notes as PDF

[pbek]

There now is a new release, could you please test it and report if it works for you?

[oliverbacsi]

Nope, unfortunately it didn't change.

QOwnNotes - version 25.12.0 - Launchpad PPA Qt6 - build 1233

This is the version apt has refreshed QOwnNotes into from the PPA, so this should be the latest one.

• When exporting to PDF, then it's still B&W
• When printing to PDF file, then it's color

[pbek]

What text did you test?
For me (with Qt 6.10) it's color:

[oliverbacsi]

[pbek]

Can you please post the output from the Debug settings in the settings dialog? You just need to paste it here.
And is there any useful log output if you enable the log panel (see Window / Panels) when you export the note?
Please make sure you also enable debug logging in the log panel by right-clicking on the panel and selecting Debug in Options.

[oliverbacsi]

After refreshing to 25.12.1 :

I opened the log panel and enabled ALL types of messages into the log.
This is all I have there:

[11:05:30] [debug] cloudConnection: CloudConnection: <id>1 <name>"Default" <serverUrl>"" <username>"" <accountId>"" <priority>1
[11:05:33] [debug] getDiskDatabasePath - 'databaseFileName': "/home/oliver/.local/share/PBE/QOwnNotes/QOwnNotes.sqlite"

Here is the contents of the debug window:

QOwnNotes Debug Information

General Info

Current Date: Fri Dec 5 11:05:33 2025
Version: 25.12.1
Build date: Dec 4 2025
Build number: 1234
Platform: linux (xcb)
Operating System: Ubuntu 24.04.3 LTS
Build architecture: x86_64
Current architecture: x86_64
Release: Launchpad PPA Qt6
Qt Version (build): 6.4.2
Qt Version (runtime): 6.4.2
Portable mode: no
Settings path / key: /home/oliver/.config/PBE/QOwnNotes.conf
Application database path: /home/oliver/.local/share/PBE/QOwnNotes/QOwnNotes.sqlite
Application arguments: /usr/bin/QOwnNotes
Qt Debug: no
System Botan: no
Libgit2: no
Locale (system): en_US
Locale (interface): empty
Primary screen resolution: 1366x768
Icon theme: breeze-dark-qownnotes
Notes in current note folder: 6
Calendar items: 0
Enabled scripts: 2
Database drivers: QSQLITE

Server Info

serverUrl: empty
appIsValid: yes
notesPathExists: empty
serverVersion: empty
appVersion: empty

Spellchecking

Enabled: true
Selected language: auto
Language codes: en_AU, en_CA, en_GB, en_US, en_ZA, hu_HU
Language names: Australian English (Australia), Canadian English (Canada), British English (United Kingdom), American English (United States), English (South Africa), magyar (Magyarország)
Application dictionaries path: /home/oliver/.local/share/PBE/QOwnNotes/dicts

Note folders

currentNoteFolderId: 1

Note folder default

id: 1
isCurrent: yes
activeTagId: 0
localPath: /home/oliver/_settings_/Notes
remotePath: Notes
cloudConnectionId: 1
isShowSubfolders: yes
isUseGit: no
allowDifferentNoteFileName: no
activeNoteSubFolder name: empty
database file: /home/oliver/_settings_/Notes/notes.sqlite

Cloud connections

Cloud connection Default

id: 1
isCurrent: yes
serverUrl: empty
username: empty
accountId: empty

Enabled scripts

Script Mermaid Diagrams

id: 1
path: /home/oliver/.local/share/PBE/QOwnNotes/scripts/mermaid/mermaid.qml
variablesJson:

{
}

identifier: mermaid
version: 0.0.4
minAppVersion: 22.1.1

Script Custom note preview styling

id: 2
path: /home/oliver/.local/share/PBE/QOwnNotes/scripts/preview-styling/preview-styling.qml
variablesJson:

{
    "customStylesheet": "img {width: 100%;} table {border-width: 2px;} th,td {border-style: solid; border-width: 1px;}\n"
}

identifier: preview-styling
version: 0.0.5
minAppVersion: 20.6.0

Settings

AboutDialog/geometry (QByteArray): <binary data>
ActiveNoteHistoryItem (NoteHistoryItem): empty
Debug/fakeOldVersionNumber (QString): false
Debug/fileLogging: empty
Editor/CurrentSchemaKey (QString): EditorColorSchema-046e1c8d-9175-4272-81d8-203febd5bc8a
Editor/autoBracketClosing (QString): true
Editor/autoBracketRemoval (QString): true
Editor/disableCursorBlinking (QString): false
Editor/editorWidthInDFMOnly (QString): true
Editor/highlightCurrentLine (QString): true
Editor/indentSize (QString): 4
Editor/removeTrailingSpaces (QString): false
Editor/showLineNumbers (QString): true
Editor/useTabIndent (QString): false
Editor/vimMode (QString): false
FileDialog/LastPath (QString): /home/oliver/_settings_/Exports
FileDialog/LastPath-NoteHTMLExport (QString): /home/oliver/_settings_/Exports
FileDialog/LastPath-NotePDFExport (QString): /home/oliver/_settings_/Exports
LastUpdateCheck (QDateTime): 2025-12-05T10:53:39.655
LogWidget/criticalLog (bool): true
LogWidget/debugLog (bool): true
LogWidget/fatalLog (bool): true
LogWidget/infoLog (bool): true
LogWidget/scriptingLog (bool): true
LogWidget/statusLog (bool): true
LogWidget/warningLog (bool): true
MainWindow/geometry (QByteArray): <binary data>
MainWindow/mainToolBar.iconSize (QString): 24
MainWindow/menuBarGeometry (QByteArray): <binary data>
MainWindow/noteTextEdit.code.font (QString): DejaVu Sans Mono,10,-1,5,400,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1
MainWindow/noteTextEdit.font (QString): Ubuntu Mono,10,-1,5,400,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1
MainWindow/noteTextView.code.font (QString): DejaVu Sans Mono,12,-1,5,700,2,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1
MainWindow/noteTextView.font (QString): Ubuntu,12,-1,5,400,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1
MainWindow/noteTextView.ignoreCodeFontSize (QString): true
MainWindow/noteTextView.refreshDebounceTime (QString): 600
MainWindow/noteTextView.rtl (QString): false
MainWindow/noteTextView.underline (QString): false
MainWindow/noteTextView.useEditorStyles (QString): false
MainWindow/noteTextView.useInternalExportStyling (QString): true
NoteFolder-1/NoteTabNameList (QString): STATUS-FLEX
NoteFolder-1/NoteTabStickinessList: empty
NoteFolder-1/NoteTabSubFolderPathDataList (QString): empty
NoteHistory-1 (QVariantList): <variant list with 8 item(s)>
NoteHistoryCurrentIndex-1 (QString): 7
PiwikClientId (QString): <hidden>
Printer/NotePDFExport (QByteArray): <binary data>
Printer/NotePrinting (QByteArray): <binary data>
ScriptRepositoryDialog/geometry (QByteArray): <binary data>
ScriptRepositoryDialog/mainSplitterState (QByteArray): <binary data>
SearchEngineId (QString): 0
SettingsDialog/geometry (QByteArray): <binary data>
SettingsDialog/mainSplitterState (QByteArray): <binary data>
ShowSystemTray (QString): false
StartHidden (QString): false
WelcomeDialog/geometry (QByteArray): <binary data>
acceptAllExternalModifications (QString): false
ai/groq/apiKey (QString): <hidden>
ai/openai/apiKey (QString): <hidden>
ai/responseTimeout (QString): 15
allowNoteEditing (bool): true
allowOnlyOneAppInstance (QString): true
appMetrics/disableAppHeartbeat (QString): true
appMetrics/disableTracking (QString): true
appMetrics/notificationShown (QString): true
autoReadOnlyMode (QString): false
autoReadOnlyModeTimeout (QString): 30
automaticNoteFolderDatabaseClosing (QString): false
checkSpelling (bool): true
closeTodoListAfterSave (QString): false
cryptoKey (QString): <hidden>
currentNoteFolderId (QString): 1
currentWorkspace (QString): 4pLBnTLQFZs9
cursorWidth (QString): 1
darkMode (QString): true
darkModeColors (QString): true
darkModeIconTheme (QString): true
darkModeTrayIcon (QString): true
defaultNoteFileExtension (QString): md
disableAutomaticUpdateDialog (QString): true
disableSavedSearchesAutoCompletion (QString): false
dockWasInitializedOnce (QString): true
enableNoteChecksumChecks (QString): false
enableNoteTree (QString): false
enableSocketServer (QString): false
enableWebAppSupport (QString): false
externalEditorPath (QString): empty
fullyHighlightedBlockquotes (QString): false
gitCommitInterval (QString): 30
gitExecutablePath (QString): empty
gitLogCommand (QString): empty
guiFirstRunInit (bool): true
hideIconsInMenus (QString): false
hideTabCloseButton (QString): false
ignoreAllExternalModifications (QString): false
ignoreAllExternalNoteFolderChanges (QString): false
ignoreNoteSubFolders (QString): ^\.
ignoredNoteFiles (QString): empty
imageScaleDown (QString): false
imageScaleDownMaximumHeight (QString): 1024
imageScaleDownMaximumWidth (QString): 1024
initialLayoutIdentifier (QString): minimal
insertTimeFormat (QString): yyyy-MM-dd hh:mm
interfaceFontSize (QString): 11
interfaceLanguage (QString): empty
interfaceScalingFactor (QString): 100
internalIconTheme (QString): false
itemHeight (QString): 17
legacyLinking (QString): false
localTrash/autoCleanupDays (QString): 30
localTrash/autoCleanupEnabled (QString): true
localTrash/supportEnabled (QString): true
markdownHighlightingEnabled (QString): true
maxNoteFileSize (QString): 1048576
navigationPanelAutoSelect (QString): true
navigationPanelHideSearch (QString): false
networking/ignoreSSLErrors (QString): true
networking/proxyType (QString): 2
newNoteAskHeadline (QString): false
noteEditIsCentralWidget (QString): true
noteFileExtensionList (QStringList): md, txt
noteListPreview (QString): false
noteSaveIntervalTime (QString): 10
noteSubfoldersPanelDisplayAsFullTree (QString): true
noteSubfoldersPanelHideSearch (QString): false
noteSubfoldersPanelOrder (QString): 0
noteSubfoldersPanelShowFullPath (QString): false
noteSubfoldersPanelShowNotesRecursively (QString): false
noteSubfoldersPanelShowRootFolderName (QString): true
noteSubfoldersPanelSort (QString): 1
noteSubfoldersPanelTabsUnsetAllNotesSelection (QString): false
notesPanelOrder (QString): 1
notesPanelSort (QString): 1
notesPath (QString): /home/oliver/_settings_/Notes
notifyAllExternalModifications (QString): true
overrideInterfaceFontSize (QString): false
overrideInterfaceScalingFactor (QString): false
ownCloud/supportEnabled (QString): false
ownCloud/todoCalendarBackend (QString): 3
ownCloud/todoCalendarCalDAVPassword (QString): <hidden>
ownCloud/todoCalendarCalDAVServerUrl (QString): empty
ownCloud/todoCalendarCalDAVUsername (QString): empty
ownCloud/todoCalendarCloudConnectionId (QString): 1
ownCloud/todoCalendarDisplayNameList: empty
ownCloud/todoCalendarEnabledList: empty
ownCloud/todoCalendarEnabledUrlList: empty
ownCloud/todoCalendarUrlList: empty
ownCloudInfo/appIsValid (bool): true
ownCloudInfo/connectionErrorMessage (QString): empty
ownCloudInfo/notesPathExistsText (QString): empty
ownCloudInfo/serverVersion (QString): empty
restoreCursorPosition (QString): true
restoreLastNoteAtStartup (QString): false
restoreNoteTabs (QString): true
savedSearches/noteFolder-1 (QStringList): Note 2025-12-01 13h33s36, Note 2025-12-01 09h59s11
showMatches (QString): true
showMenuBar (bool): true
showStatusBar (bool): true
showStatusBarNotePath (QString): true
showStatusBarRelativeNotePath (QString): false
spellCheckLanguage (QString): auto
startInReadOnlyMode (QString): false
systemIconTheme (QString): false
taggingShowNotesRecursively (QString): false
tagsPanelHideNoteCount (QString): true
tagsPanelHideSearch (QString): true
tagsPanelOrder (QString): 0
tagsPanelSort (QString): 0
todoCalendarSupport (QString): true
toolbar/1/items (QStringList): actionFormat_text_bold, actionFormat_text_italic, actionStrike_out_text, actionInsert_code_block, actionInsert_block_quote
toolbar/1/name (QString): formattingToolbar
toolbar/1/title (QString): formatting toolbar
toolbar/2/items (QStringList): actionInsert_text_link, actionInsert_image, actionInsert_current_time
toolbar/2/name (QString): insertingToolbar
toolbar/2/title (QString): inserting toolbar
toolbar/3/items (QStringList): action_Encrypt_note, actionEdit_encrypted_note, actionDecrypt_note
toolbar/3/name (QString): encryptionToolbar
toolbar/3/title (QString): encryption toolbar
toolbar/4/items (QStringList): actionEnable_AI, actionAiBackendComboBox, actionAiModelComboBox
toolbar/4/name (QString): aiToolbar
toolbar/4/title (QString): AI toolbar
toolbar/5/items (QStringList): actionWorkspaceComboBox, actionStore_as_new_workspace, actionRemove_current_workspace, actionRename_current_workspace, actionSwitch_to_previous_workspace, actionUnlock_panels, , actionToggle_distraction_free_mode, action_Increase_note_text_size, action_Decrease_note_text_size, action_Reset_note_text_size
toolbar/5/name (QString): windowToolbar
toolbar/5/title (QString): window toolbar
toolbar/6/items (QString): action_Quit
toolbar/6/name (QString): quitToolbar
toolbar/6/title (QString): quit toolbar
toolbar/7/items (QString): action_Quit
toolbar/7/name (QString): quitToolbar
toolbar/7/title (QString): quit toolbar
toolbar/size (QString): 7
useNoteFolderButtons (QString): false
useUNIXNewline (QString): false
webAppClientService/serverUrl (QString): wss://app.qownnotes.org
webAppClientService/token (QString): <hidden>
webSocketServerService/bookmarksNoteName (QString): Bookmarks
webSocketServerService/bookmarksTag (QString): bookmarks
webSocketServerService/commandSnippetsNoteName (QString): Commands
webSocketServerService/commandSnippetsTag (QString): commands
webSocketServerService/port (QString): 22222
workspace-4pLBnTLQFZs9/name (QString): Minimal
workspace-4pLBnTLQFZs9/noteSubFolderDockWidgetVisible (QString): true
workspace-4pLBnTLQFZs9/windowState (QByteArray): <binary data>
workspace-ArFSk6EGLgt4/name (QString): Preview only
workspace-ArFSk6EGLgt4/noteSubFolderDockWidgetVisible (QString): true
workspace-ArFSk6EGLgt4/windowState (QByteArray): <binary data>
workspace-Gz9v4WZHc49c/name (QString): Full vertical
workspace-Gz9v4WZHc49c/noteSubFolderDockWidgetVisible (QString): true
workspace-Gz9v4WZHc49c/windowState (QByteArray): <binary data>
workspace-initial/name (QString): Full
workspace-initial/noteSubFolderDockWidgetVisible (QString): true
workspace-initial/windowState (QByteArray): <binary data>
workspaces (QStringList): initial, Gz9v4WZHc49c, ArFSk6EGLgt4, 4pLBnTLQFZs9

System environment

LANGUAGE: en
USER: oliver
LC_TIME: hu_HU.UTF-8
XDG_SEAT: seat0
XDG_SESSION_TYPE: x11
SHLVL: 0
HOME: /home/oliver
DESKTOP_SESSION: cinnamon
XDG_SEAT_PATH: /org/freedesktop/DisplayManager/Seat0
LC_MONETARY: hu_HU.UTF-8
DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS: unix:path=/run/user/1000/bus
DEBUGINFOD_URLS: https://debuginfod.ubuntu.com
GTK_IM_MODULE: ibus
LOGNAME: oliver
XDG_SESSION_CLASS: user
XDG_SESSION_ID: c2
PATH: /home/oliver/.local/bin:/home/oliver/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/local/games:/snap/bin
GDM_LANG: en
PAPERSIZE: a4
GTK3_MODULES: xapp-gtk3-module
XDG_SESSION_PATH: /org/freedesktop/DisplayManager/Session0
LC_ADDRESS: hu_HU.UTF-8
XDG_RUNTIME_DIR: /run/user/1000
DISPLAY: :0
LANG: en_US.UTF-8
LC_TELEPHONE: hu_HU.UTF-8
XMODIFIERS: @im=ibus
XDG_SESSION_DESKTOP: cinnamon
XAUTHORITY: /home/oliver/.Xauthority
XDG_GREETER_DATA_DIR: /var/lib/lightdm-data/oliver
SHELL: /bin/bash
LC_NAME: hu_HU.UTF-8
QT_ACCESSIBILITY: 1
GDMSESSION: cinnamon
LC_MEASUREMENT: hu_HU.UTF-8
GPG_AGENT_INFO: /run/user/1000/gnupg/S.gpg-agent:0:1
LC_IDENTIFICATION: hu_HU.UTF-8
QT_IM_MODULE: ibus
XDG_VTNR: 7
PWD: /home/oliver
XDG_CONFIG_DIRS: /etc/xdg/xdg-cinnamon:/etc/xdg
CLUTTER_IM_MODULE: ibus
XDG_DATA_DIRS: /usr/share/gnome:/usr/share/cinnamon:/usr/share/gnome:/usr/local/share:/usr/share:/var/lib/snapd/desktop
LC_NUMERIC: hu_HU.UTF-8
LC_PAPER: hu_HU.UTF-8
GNOME_DESKTOP_SESSION_ID: this-is-deprecated
XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP: X-Cinnamon
GIO_LAUNCHED_DESKTOP_FILE: /home/oliver/.local/share/applications/PBE.QOwnNotes.desktop
GIO_LAUNCHED_DESKTOP_FILE_PID: 15122
GJS_DEBUG_OUTPUT: stderr
GJS_DEBUG_TOPICS: JS ERROR;JS LOG
CINNAMON_VERSION: 6.0.4

[pbek]

Are those logs from when you tried to export something?

Phew, Qt 6.4.2... We are at Qt 6.10.1 now... Could be a Qt issue...
Did you test the flatpak or nix version of QOwnNotes?

Do you have the same issue when running QOwnNotes in a new session (see cli-parameters)?