Scribus fails to import PDF file

Previous topic - Next topic

PitaGyros

Hi there,

I have just yesterday downloaded Scribus 1.4.8 for the first time.
After installation I found out that I also have to install ghostscript which I did.

I then opened Scribus and tried to open a pdf file,  but every time I tried (all kinds of PDF files)  it starts to import and then half way through I get a message that importing the file has failed.

Any idea as to what may be going on?

thns in advance.

PS:  Please explain everything you say in a way that a 10 year old can understand, since I am no computer wizard.   :)

a.l.e

dear pitagyros,

first: you don't need to be a wizard to use a computer. but it will probably need some time and exercise to get you up and running and able to do tasks with a computer. or with scribus.

i don't know why some people think that other people were born with some magical computer skills.

i hope that you did not tell your driving teacher that she should talk to you like a 10 year old, because you're not a car wizard...
oh, wait, if you're not a 10 year old, you probably had a driving teacher. that reminds me that you might need to read some tutorials or view a few screencasts (hint: http://booki.flossmanuals.net/scribus-2/hands-on ) when learning to use scribus.
(at least, there is a very tiny risk that you will kill other people or yourself while using scribus...)

now, back to what could have gone wrong when importing the PDF.

scribus 1.4.8 cannot import PDF files (despite what the menu entry says), but can load single pages from a PDF in an image frame (by using ghostscript).
i don't know if the difference matters in your case... (and the next version of scribus will be able to import PDFs...)

since you did not tell us the steps you did: did you trigger "file > import > get image"?

if that's what you did, there are three likely failure points:

- scribus did not find ghostscript and you should check "file > preferences > external tools > post script interpreter > name of executable" and make sure that it "points" to the ghostscript executable.
- you don't have enough memory (RAM) and the process fails.
- the PDFs are broken.

if that's not what you did, well, just do it : - )

ciao
a.l.e

PitaGyros

Hi a.l.e.,

Some people in computer fora just assume that everyone knows the lingo and jargon that they surround themselves with 24/7 and give instructions that might as well be Chinese to me,  that's why I asked for advice that a 10 year old would understand.  :P

In any case,  I opened Scribus ==> open existing document==> dubbel click on the PDF I was trying to open.

But I understand now that Scribus cannot open whole PDF files at all.  Only one pages.  That's a bit of a bummer, since I want to convert a 1200 page PDF file to fit printing on A5 paper.  As it is now,  the letters will be way too small to read.

You said the new versions on Scribus will be able to open whole PDF files.  Is that the Scribus version that is already possible to download and use, only not fixed for all child diseases?

Would you know of another program besides InDesign (way too expensive) that could help me?

a.l.e

hi pytagyros,

no version of scribus is able to extract the text from an existing pdf. you should take the original files, the ones that have been used to create the pdf.

if that's not possible, you can do an internet search for "pdf to text" and you will find lot of services that let you convert a pdf to a text file which you can then load into a scribus file.

if you're on linux or macos you can try with pdftotext (it probably also works on windows, but it might be harder to install and use the poppler utils there).

if that will work well for 1200 pages, i don't know.

dab it up
a.l.e

PitaGyros

Thanks a bunch A.l.e..

That's most helpful.