LibreOffice import seems to have frozen

[JohnJR]

Hi,

I have a Scribus document that I've applied Master Pages to with linked text frames formatted for the font and point size I need.  I also have a LibreOffice .odt that is formatted the same.  I first went to File>Import>Get Text and did get some oddly formatted text, but at least it was the text.

Here I noted that the highlighted Scribus page was very deep into the document and this is where the first Title page of the .odt text placed itself in the document and wouldn't have had many document pages left to accommodate to .odt import.  The document didn't append pages to accommodate anything and there are no overflow X boxes.

I deleted the import and went to the first page of the Scribus document and re-selected File>Import, but this time the option Get Text was greyed out, not selectable.  I tried Page>Import and selected the .odt file from the "select" option, but once selected in did not enter into the dialog's file box (blank) and I got instead a "cursor" symbol that I haven't seen before (mac OS-X 10.13.6).  It was a circle crossed in the middle with four alternating black and white pie wedges.  The circle did not spin, but moved like the cursor.  It is not the circle with the diagonal line through it.

I think I had read a similar event happening to a user whose OS provided a spinning blue circle that never responded.

I decided I must have overwhelmed my poor iMac somehow, closed my files and restarted my computer and tried again.  This didn't change anything, the same behavior repeated itself.  I'm going to try shutting off my computer and completely powering it back on to see if that clears something.

This brings me to an import question that might keep this from happening again.  Both the .odt file and the Scribus document are formatted duplicates and have blank empty pages to start with before the Title page and have blank pages in the interior.  Do I set my Scribus document on the first bank page to correspond to the .odt import or on the first document page where text appears (page 3)?  With both programs read blank pages the same way, or how should this be handled?

Thanks,

[utnik]

hi john

I have a Scribus document that I've applied Master Pages to with linked text frames formatted for the font and point size I need.  I also have a LibreOffice .odt that is formatted the same.  I first went to File>Import>Get Text and did get some oddly formatted text, but at least it was the text.

to import formatted text you need to format it with paragraph styles.
...and did you select the importer: 'openoffice.org writer documents' in the import window?

The document didn't append pages to accommodate anything and there are no overflow X boxes.

in scribus you need to insert the pages you need.
normally layout programs don't generate pages automatically...

I deleted the import and went to the first page of the Scribus document and re-selected File>Import, but this time the option Get Text was greyed out

this is grayed out, as long as there's no frame selected to place the text in.

I tried Page>Import and selected the .odt file from the "select" option, but once selected in did not enter into the dialog's file box

you can't import .odt pages. afaik page import works only for pages from .sla documents.

utnik

[JohnJR]

Hi Utnik'

I'm going to go back into Scribus and see if I can grasp Paragraph Styles and it seems Character Styles as well.  Google is of poor help with this and the best Scribus source seems to be the Help Manual from at best the early 2011-12's (wiki.scribus.net/canvas/Help:Manual).  By complete chance, on another subject, I discovered the most though article on Styles, you're in there too, by GarryP (forums.scribus.net/index.php? topic=2783).  As you probably guessed, I've wandered Google and the forums for weeks to the point I was thinking of giving up on Scribus.  So much in both places is arcane, incomplete, off-point, and on Google should just be removed.

I noted on File>Import that no importer selection options window came up in the import dialog box, just the box for the file.  Perhaps this is just a function of macOS, it did import something as described above.

My note of appending was only in reference to wondering where the bulk of the .odt import went, since the cursor was on a text frame late in the Scribus document.  Also after the import fiasco, and my deletion using, I think, Edit>Undo, I got that odd black and white crossed circle pie.  The pie made me wonder if the bulk of my .odt import must still be hidden inside my Scribus document and not allowing further imports.

I've decided I should be posting in the Beginner's Category and asked a question there as to how both the import and the Scribus document treats blank pages at the beginning or anywhere inside either document.

Is trying to use Page>Import the source of the crossed pie symbol?

Thanks