Category:FAQ: Difference between revisions

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* I'm using MS Windows and the Latex Frames don't work<br>
* I'm using MS Windows and the Latex Frames don't work<br>
First, you have to install a Latex distribution (like MiKTeX); If Scribus fails to find pdflatex, you should add the directory where "pdflatex" is located to the PATH environment variable (using Control panel > System > Advanced > Environment variables > User variables > PATH; running set at the command line ensure that the path is up to date)
First, you have to install a Latex distribution (like MiKTeX); If Scribus fails to find pdflatex, you should add the directory where "pdflatex" is located to the Path environment variable (using Control panel > System > Advanced > Environment variables > User variables > Path (if it does not exist, create it); running set at the command line ensure that the path is up to date)


==Editing==
==Editing==

Revision as of 19:35, 12 August 2009

Other languages: Polski (pl) Portuguese (pt_BR)

Work in progress

a.l.e: i'm trying to reformat this FAQ as a list of question *and* answers which -- i hope so -- will be easier to search through. if i don't succeed, please revert to the last version before the 13 december 2008.

How to fill a FAQ entry: you're welcome to add your entries to the FAQ. If possible, try to keep the FAQ entries as short as possible (and add links to one or more other wiki entries if necessary) and write about one topic at a time.

When to add a FAQ section?: the goal is to make simple to find a FAQ entry. So there should not be too many titles but the sections should not get too long or general either...

Installing and running Scribus

Which Scribus should I install on my computer?

Platform

How do i get Scribus for Linux?

  • If you don't need anything fancy, use your packet manager to install Scribus.
  • If you want to be more up to date than your distribution is, you can add Scribus own repositories. They are available for Debian, Fedora, Red Hat, Suse, and Ubuntu
  • If you want to test the newest feature (or if there are no binaries for your platform) you can compile the source code you get from sourceforge (link) or from the svn server (svn://scribus.info/Scribus/)

How do i get Scribus for OS X?

  • The stable version is only available through Fink or Darwinports
  • Snapshots of the development version are availabe on Sourceforge (link)
  • At the moment, there is no way to compile yourself Scribus for OS X
  • You can get a Ghostscript .dmg from here

How do i get Scribus for Windows?

Which version should I use?

New users doing productive work should stick with stable versions. One big exception, that currently (as of the july 8th, 2009) it may be better to use 1.3.5 since it has much more features than 1.3.3.x and should evolve in the near future into a stable version.

Stable version

1.3.3.12 is the stable version: use it for your normal work.

Development version

  • 1.5: only for people wanting to do experiments with Scribus
  • 1.3.5: use it if you want to try out Scribus or if you need new features which aren't available in the stable version (link to a page which describes how to protect yourself when you're using the development version)
  • 1.3.4 is an old development version which should have disappeared few weeks after its release but is still downloaded and used after almost two years: DON'T TOUCH IT!! Please use the stable version or a recent development version.

Compatibility

You can't load a 1.3.5 file into 1.3.3.12, but you can load 1.3.3.x files into 1.3.5svn.

So which one should I use?

If you are still wondering, please do use the stable 1.3.3.12

GUI / Interface

Language

  • Scribus picks up your environment language automatically. If you want to use another language for your GUI, just go the menu "File / Preferences", and in the "General" section set the language you prefer.

Input

Images

Graphics

PDF

Text

  • tagged text (tbc)
  • You can import Openoffice.org .odt files and Scribus will recognize most formattings and style sheets. You can manage how the formatting is handled from the import dialog. (link)
  • You can direclty import Microsoft Word (.doc) documents but you will lose all formattings. You'd better use Openoffice.org and save the document in .odt format.
  • Microsoft RTF documents can't be read from Scribus: you should use Openoffice.org to convert them to .odt or save them in .doc from Microsoft Word.

Render frames

  • I'm using MS Windows and the Latex Frames don't work

First, you have to install a Latex distribution (like MiKTeX); If Scribus fails to find pdflatex, you should add the directory where "pdflatex" is located to the Path environment variable (using Control panel > System > Advanced > Environment variables > User variables > Path (if it does not exist, create it); running set at the command line ensure that the path is up to date)

Editing

Creating documents

Books

  • Currently, Scribus isn't very good at managing documents which are longer than 30 pages. You should split your work in several Scribus documents and join them to a simgle pdf afterwards (link)
  • You can set the value for the first page number (more)
  • You can't automatically create a table of contents over several files.
  • You shouldn't make too long chains of text frames
  • You can automatically create text frames which are automatically chained (link)
  • You can create (multilevel?) table of contents (TOC).
  • No index, no footnotes.

Booklets

Flyers

Create a file of the size of the whole flyer and use the guides to separate the different "columns". (more...)

Typical errors

  • If you're using Windows and have a custom theme installe, you won't get any new page displayed when creating a new document: use the default Win theme or "Classic", and everything will work fine

Page formatting

  • When creating a new document you can choose a "Document Layout": in most cases you can safely ignore this option (it will only affect the way the document is shown on screen). You certainly don't need it if you are trying to create a flyer or a leaflet! (more...)

How can I insert page numbers?

  • Why is Insert > Character > Page number grayed out?

In order to insert a page number character into a text frame, you have to be in edit mode (using the icon on the toolbar, double-clicking the frame, or by entering the Story Editor.

  • Why do I only see the page numbers up to 9?

In the 1.3.3.x versions of Scribus you have to insert as many page number characters are there are digits in the page numer (## for the pages from 10 to 99)

How can I do Pagination?

There is no pagination concept in DTP, still the word is often used and may have several meanings:

  • If you want to add a page number see the page number howto.
  • If you want to impose the pages you have created with scribus please have a look at the howtos about imposition.
  • If you want to layout several pages into one scribus page, please refrain from doing it. There are some exception to this rules: (like creating a threefold brochure).
  • If you want to create some pages and add a text flowing through them, you will learn more about it by reading the Scribus tutorial

Paragraph formatting

Character formatting

Language

  • The hyphenation language can be choosen in the "Hyphenation" section of the menu "File / Preferences".
  • The language for the spell checker (if available in your version) is to be set in the character style.

Colors

Spot colors

Color Management

Fonts

Loading fonts

  • You can get good free fonts from (link)
  • Scribus will automatically discard fonts which could lead to problems in a printshop

Embedding and vectorizing fonts

Output

PDF

  • The PDF generated by Scribus is of very high print quality and should never be a problem when delivered to a Print Shop
  • Bugs related to the PDF generation are handled with very high priority by the Scribus-team.

Print preview

Scribus Print Preview depends on the installed Ghostscript: (is it true for Windows, too?)

  • If no Ghostscript is installed, you can generate a PDF to preview your work. Since at the end of the workflow, you probably will hand a PDF to a print shop, previewing through the PDF creation makes sure that the final result will match your expectations.

Print

  • Scribus uses the system's native Printing subsystem.
  • Even if you should always be able to print with Scribus, finding the correct parameters may be complicated: you may prefer to generate a PDF and print from your preferred PDF-reader.

Scripting / Command line

  • You can write Python scripts which will run inside of Scribus (link)
  • The scripting API for 1.3.5 is not yet fully published.
  • If you have questions about scripting you should post them to the mailing list.
  • You can use scripts to read Data from an SQL-database.
  • You can run shell, Perl or Python scripts for:
    • transforming Scribus' .sla files
    • impose PDFs produced by Scribus

Hardware & other software

  • How can i profile my monitor? (tbc)
  • Scribus can't edit files created by other DTP programs (Latex, Indesign, Quark, Publisher, ...; more...):
    • Most of the time you can import in Scribus the pictures and texts you've used to layout when working with another program.
    • For recreating the templates in Scribus, you can import in the backround an image (PDF, PNG, ...) of the original work (you can put the background in its own layer).

Support: the Scribus-Team and the Community

How can I contact the Scribus community?

  • You can contact the Scribus-Team throug the irc channel (#scribus on irc.freenode.net; a web interface is available at http://www.scribus.net/?q=irc
  • You can subscribe to the Scribus mailing list where you can ask your questions and get informations on most news related to Scribus (it's not a high traffic list, but you can get up to 20 mails per day).
  • The main language of the project is English but every language is welcome on the mailing list and in the irc channel. If you're not comfortable with English, you try to use your preferred language: with a bit of luck you will get an answer (the language you can expect to be understood are German, French, Finnish, Italian, Czech, Hungarian, Portuguese, and Spanish; you may be understood even if you write in some other language).

I have a problem: how can I show what doesn't work?

  • Share the .sla and the .pdf files
  • If there is a bug, put the files in the bug tracker (you can mark the bug as private if you only want the developers to see it).
  • Make a screenshot and show how you see your file.
  • If you're reporting the problem in IRC or in the mailing list you can upload your files

Old items

Installation

Usage

PDF issues

Fonts

DTP

Printing issues

Other

Pages in category "FAQ"

The following 38 pages are in this category, out of 38 total.