Convert ODS to CSV using command line when Libreoffice instance is running

Question

I'm working with an ODS file in LibreOffice, and every now and then I want to convert it to CSV from the command line. I have found two tools for this: libreoffice --headless --convert-to csv and unoconv -f csv but none of them works when there is an UI instance of LibreOffice running.

Is there a way to convert an ODS file to CSV from the command line, while LibreOffice UI instance is running?

Answer 1

To convert csv on the command line while LibreOffice is running, just skip the --headless parameter. The following command (run in PowerShell) worked for me even while C:\TEMP\Untitled1.ods resp. /tmp/Untitled1.ods was opened in LibreOffice Calc:

Windows 10 (tested with LibreOffice 7.0.1)

& 'C:\Program Files\LibreOffice\program\soffice.exe' --convert-to csv --outdir C:\TEMP\ .\Untitled1.ods

Or similar, if the present working directory is C:\Program Files\LibreOffice\program\:

.\soffice --convert-to csv --outdir C:\TEMP\ C:\TEMP\Untitled1.ods

Linux (tested with LibreOffice 6.4.6)

soffice --convert-to csv --outdir /tmp/ /tmp/Untitled1.ods

On linux, you could alternatively use the libreoffice command instead of soffice (seems to be linux-specific...):

libreoffice --convert-to csv --outdir /tmp/ /tmp/Untitled1.ods

In all cases, Untitled.csv was created in the expected place.