Total Newbie - importing from Microsoft Publisher - text boxes

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CycleFelixstowe

O.K. - I have a partially written newsletter in a ".pub" file and I have imported it into Scribus 1.5.4.

This because the author is on 2 weeks holiday, and anyway his is the only PC of 3 which has Publisher so I would like us all to work with the same package.

Anyway, the import seemed to work and I have started tinkering but I have come up against a blocker already.

Some of the boxes with text in behave as text boxes - that is, a Right Click shows Properties/F2 and Text Properties/F3. I am working with these and slowly learning.

However other boxes on Right Click only show Properties/F2 and I can't edit the text. This makes me think that they aren't seen as text boxes by Scribus.

This is a two page document (A5 pages) and the first page displayed is the one with the "not text" boxes whilst the second page seems fine.

Is this a feature of the conversion from ".pub" or have I done something unusual?

Can I convert the boxes to text boxes in any way?

Edit: should have said Windows 7 64 bit as the OS.

dragonfly

As far as I understand (and I don't have much experience with Scribus options) ..

http://write.flossmanuals.net/scribus/importing-text-and-images/

you cannot import epub into frames.

However I have a suggestion.  If pandoc is installed from here

https://pandoc.org/

you can go back a stage in your workflow and convert original epub into a format which can be more easily imported into Scribus frames.

Then import into fresh instance of Scribus.

Look at pandoc document conversion options in diagram at bottom of above web site URL.

CycleFelixstowe

Thanks - I followed both links and couldn't find any reference to Microsoft Publisher or .pub files. Just EPUB.

Importing from Microsoft Publisher is apparently a new feature in the latest 1.5.x software, and it has almost worked for me. It has imported some text boxes as text but seems to have imported some (notably with bold text at the start) as images.

It may be that I will have to replace the parts that I can't edit with new text blocks and just try and dig out the original text to re-input. Although even with LibreOffice Draw I can't see all the text.

I assume that this is a feature of the new filter for importing .pub files.

So near, and yet so far.....

dragonfly

I don't use MS Publisher, in fact I'm on Linux.
PUB format is very dated and MS proprietary format.
I would work on a plan to move away from being dependent on MS Publisher.
e.g. look at LibreOffice which installs on Windows and Linux.

But your existing PUB source might be converted to DOC using this online tool ..

https://www.zamzar.com/convert/pub-to-doc/

Then with converted PUB to DOC output you can open with LibreOffice or older Abiword.
You should be able to massage the source to get some format to import into Scribus.

Then consider dropping MS Explorer as your editor in the pipeline..

mnawij

Hi CycleFelixstowe, welcome to Scribus.  I have dealt with this issue several times at my print shop.  You should be able to copy & paste those troublesome text areas directly from publisher into a new text box for replacement in Scribus (you will lose the formatting).  It is not a perfect "import" of pub files yet, but it is continually being worked upon and improving since 2013 I think.  I hope this helps.

Cheers!

mnawij

a.l.e

hi felixstower

i wonder if the text has filters layered over it and scribus is loading a preview image instead of the real content

.would it be possible to upload
- the .pub file
- a pdf created from publisher
- and the .sla you get

to the bug tracker? (https://bugs.scribus.net).
if you mark the ticket as private it won't be world readable, just available for the developers.

ciao
a.l.e

dragonfly

QuoteThis because the author is on 2 weeks holiday, and anyway his is the only PC of 3 which has Publisher so I would like us all to work with the same package.

I understood from reading the opening post from @CycleFelixstowe that a multi-author workflow is required where all three PC's / authors can use the same application and not be dependent on Publisher.

If there is only one user licence for Publisher, and the "keeper" of Publisher is away, my approach would be to adopt an open source solution such as LibreOffice and then import *.odt into Scribus?   Also possibly create a dropbox account to allow collaboration in authoring content?   Have I misunderstood the requirements?

CycleFelixstowe

Quote from: dragonfly on June 27, 2018, 10:28:49 AM
QuoteThis because the author is on 2 weeks holiday, and anyway his is the only PC of 3 which has Publisher so I would like us all to work with the same package.

I understood from reading the opening post from @CycleFelixstowe that a multi-author workflow is required where all three PC's / authors can use the same application and not be dependent on Publisher.

If there is only one user licence for Publisher, and the "keeper" of Publisher is away, my approach would be to adopt an open source solution such as LibreOffice and then import *.odt into Scribus?   Also possibly create a dropbox account to allow collaboration in authoring content?   Have I misunderstood the requirements?

Nearly there. :D

Short term problem.
I have been left with a .pub file and no access to Microsoft Publisher.
Therefore any solution which relies on using Publisher as the starting point is sadly unworkable.

Alternative strategies are for the future; I have a newsletter which is 90% complete and in .pub format. I want to be able to complete it and get it out without having to wait for the author to return from holiday.

CycleFelixstowe

#8
Quote from: a.l.e on June 27, 2018, 08:44:32 AM
hi felixstower

i wonder if the text has filters layered over it and scribus is loading a preview image instead of the real content

.would it be possible to upload
- the .pub file
- a pdf created from publisher
- and the .sla you get

to the bug tracker? (https://bugs.scribus.net).


if you mark the ticket as private it won't be world readable, just available for the developers.

ciao
a.l.e

I can do two of them - .pub and .sla.
Can't get a PDF because I don't have access to publisher.

Edit: Done.

dragonfly

Have you tried the PUB > DOC conversion link
in post #4 above?

CycleFelixstowe

Quote from: dragonfly on June 26, 2018, 10:25:09 PM
I don't use MS Publisher, in fact I'm on Linux.
PUB format is very dated and MS proprietary format.
I would work on a plan to move away from being dependent on MS Publisher.
e.g. look at LibreOffice which installs on Windows and Linux.

But your existing PUB source might be converted to DOC using this online tool ..

https://www.zamzar.com/convert/pub-to-doc/

Then with converted PUB to DOC output you can open with LibreOffice or older Abiword.
You should be able to massage the source to get some format to import into Scribus.

Then consider dropping MS Explorer as your editor in the pipeline..

Asked for a convert to odt and that was a waste of time - just got hex back.
Tried again for .doc and the same.
It just seems to convert to text - which looks like XML style source. No useful data in a readable format.
It also crashes LibreOffice Writer.

dragonfly

Sorry about that blind alley.
As I explained I have no use for MS Publisher
and I am just posting links I found by a google search which you can also do

"convert pub to doc"

Most hits refer to using Publisher but of course you do not have Publisher.

This link I found ..

https://www.file-extensions.org/convert-pub-to-doc

Advises ...

QuoteAlternatively, .pub files can be also opened and exported as .doc files in the OpenOffice.org free office suite for Windows, Mac and Linux and its derivatives with installed PubOOo extension.

Now this requires you to install LibreOffice (which should contribute to your future workflow).   Although You confirm that you have LibreOffice (version=???) installed but you might need the PubOOo extension.

https://www.libreoffice.org/

Next investigate ....

https://www.libreoffice.org/discover/templates-and-extensions/

and

https://extensions.libreoffice.org/

Then read ...

https://forum.openoffice.org/en/forum/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=31795

and try this download ...

http://www.softpedia.com/get/Office-tools/Other-Office-Tools/PubOOo.shtml

QuotePubOOo is a useful extension designed to recursively convert Microsoft Publisher documents to OOo format (Impress).
It displays comprehensive interface which makes it a cinch to create the new OOo files within a few clicks.
OpenOffice extension MS Publisher to OOo Convert to OOo Microsoft PublisherOpenOffice Convert Publisher2OOo

I offer no warranty that this path will work for you.

However, if at some later stage you take the view that you might try Linux (Ubuntu) on your cluster of PC's so that you can benefit from more open source software I am willing to refer to how to dual boot your PC so that you can use Windows or Ubuntu 16.04

From your first post ...

QuoteEdit: should have said Windows 7 64 bit as the OS.

Adopting my suggestion you would end up with a dualboot Windows 7 + Ubuntu 16.04.
But this will not help you in your short term task.

[Later Edit / Postscript]

Further trawling  found this ..

https://www.techwalla.com/articles/how-to-open-a-pub-file-without-publisher

which advises to open the PUB file using LibreOffice Draw (in LibreOffice suite) first and not LibreOffice Writer, then save as DOC.

mnawij

Felixstowe, did you post the Publisher and Scribus files, I do not see any download links.

mnawij

utnik

hi mnawij   

he might have uploaded the files with a private bug report.
you won't be able to see them unless you're a scribus developer...     

utnik

CycleFelixstowe

Quote from: dragonfly on June 27, 2018, 06:51:07 PM
Sorry about that blind alley.
<snip>

However, if at some later stage you take the view that you might try Linux (Ubuntu) on your cluster of PC's so that you can benefit from more open source software I am willing to refer to how to dual boot your PC so that you can use Windows or Ubuntu 16.04

From your first post ...

QuoteEdit: should have said Windows 7 64 bit as the OS.

Adopting my suggestion you would end up with a dualboot Windows 7 + Ubuntu 16.04.
But this will not help you in your short term task.

[Later Edit / Postscript]

Further trawling  found this ..

https://www.techwalla.com/articles/how-to-open-a-pub-file-without-publisher

which advises to open the PUB file using LibreOffice Draw (in LibreOffice suite) first and not LibreOffice Writer, then save as DOC.

Perhaps I should note that I do have some Linux systems and can also administer them and set up dual boot.
I have been a Unix system administrator off and on since about 1987. Started out with AT&T System V but have worked with many variants including Berkley. 8)
I used to run Fedora at one time, but recently I have been running Mint mainly.
However I have various hardware devices which are only supported in Windows so I use Windows for about 99% of the time these days.
However thank you for your kind offer. :)

Thanks for the details about filters for LibreOffice.

I did open the document on LibreOffice Draw but the text was overlaid and scrambled so much that it was more or less unreadable.

Now for another techie diversion which has good news at the end. I have several systems which were upgraded to Windows 10 then immediately downgraded again to Windows 7 or Windows 8.1. This reserved the ability to run W10 in the future without having to pay for an upgrade. I had an SSD crash on my Windows 8.1 system but was short of time and just used a Windows 7 system instead. I've resurrected the crashed system from the HDD copy that was upgraded to W10 and this one has a copy of Publisher. So I am hopeful that I can get at the file and edit it once the system has finished doing whatever W10 does after it has been left turned off for a while. Seems to be mainly thrashing the HDD, presumably doing whatever background patching that is required.

Touch wood my most immediate problem has gone away (subject to the vagaries of W10) but I still would prefer to switch to using Scribus in the longer term. There is also the bug in the import from .pub to try and bottom out with the developers.

Thanks to everyone for their help so far.