Printing Problem with Scribus

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Bob P

Several weeks ago I downloaded Scribus 1.4.0Rc2 and have spent considerable time working with it to learn how to use it. I am writing a book and have the first chapter completed with Headers, Page Numbers and Line underneath. The first page of the chapter also has a Chapter title. Everything looks great but, unfortunately, when I go to print it the Body Text on the first page does not print even though it shows up clearly on the computer monitor. All other pages print perfectly. I have searched everywhere trying to find out why when I try to print the Body Text does not print. :(

Could someone help me with this problem. If you can't help me correct this situation can you help me work around it?

Bob

John_Jason_Jordan

Printing directly from Scribus is often a problem. I recommend exporting as PDF and then printing the PDF from Adobe Reader or whatever PDF viewer you use.
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Bob P

When I try to print to PDF I get the same results--No Body Text on first page. :(

Bob

Christen_Anderson

Quote from: Bob P on April 15, 2011, 04:17:25 AM
Everything looks great but, unfortunately, when I go to print it the Body Text on the first page does not print even though it shows up clearly on the computer monitor. All other pages print perfectly. I have searched everywhere trying to find out why when I try to print the Body Text does not print. :(

Just a thought.....do you by any chance have the first page body text on a different layer than the rest of the text? if so, check and see if printing is disabled for that layer.
Scribus 1.4.0 on Windows Vista 32-bit

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John_Jason_Jordan

Quote from: Bob P on April 15, 2011, 05:02:10 PMWhen I try to print to PDF I get the same results--No Body Text on first page. :(

Are you _printing_ to PDF from Scribus (e.g., with a print to PDF utility) or are you _exporting_ to PDF from Scribus. If the former, try the latter. If the latter, check in Scribus Preferences for the font you are using for the missing text.

Also, try opening a new document, create just one simple text frame, and fill it with some text, then set the font for the frame to the same font as in your original document.

You may also have found a bug, in which case it is very important to report it at bugs.scribus.net.
Linguistics on Linux!

Bob P

Hi Guys! Thanks for your input. I redid page 1 and now it works like a charm. Also, I now believe the problem was that I upgraded the program while in the middle of this.

Now I have some additional questions if I could avail myself of your expertise:

How can I substitute the new page I just did for the old page that does not work?

In order for text to flow from page to page I had to put all the Body Text in first and then add other Text Boxes. Is there a simpler way to do this?

I put the page numbers in manually. Exactly how, step by step, do I set this up to do this automatically.

Your assistance will be greatly appreciated.

Bob

John_Jason_Jordan

Quote from: Bob P on April 15, 2011, 09:05:29 PMHow can I substitute the new page I just did for the old page that does not work?

You can import pages with Page > Import. Or you could select all the items on the new page and copy them to the Scrapbook, then drag them from the Scrapbook into the old page.

Quote from: Bob P on April 15, 2011, 09:05:29 PMIn order for text to flow from page to page I had to put all the Body Text in first and then add other Text Boxes. Is there a simpler way to do this?

You can make text frames appear automatically with a checkbox on the New document dialog box. They will also be automatically linked.

Quote from: Bob P on April 15, 2011, 09:05:29 PMI put the page numbers in manually. Exactly how, step by step, do I set this up to do this automatically.

There is an option to create page numbers, but I prefer to do it on a master page. First, open the default master page (or create a new one), then use the Insert menu to add a page number where you want it. Finally, apply the master page to all the document pages that you want to display the page number. If you haven't figured out master pages yet, this is a good time to learn. Master pages are very handy time-savers.
Linguistics on Linux!

Bob P

I have finished the first chapter of my book and am trying to convert to PDF file so I can print the four pages on front and back of an 8 1/2 X 11 sheet using my Canon Duplexe printer. (Each page of my book will be 5 1/2 X 8 1/2)  When I do this my PDF file is reduced in size. I have worked with this extensively and I can arrange the pages in the proper order for printing but the pages have been reduced significantly in size. I feel like there is something I am missing here. Perhaps someone can give me a clue about what is going on.  :(

Bob

Meho R.

I personally would recommend you to create a normal PDF from Scribus, normal page sizes, normal page order... After that, you can use one of imposition tools described here.

Also, if you're using Adobe Reader for print, pay attention to "Page Scaling" option in Print dialog, it is turned on by default and scales page automatically which is probably what you do not want it to do.

Bob P

Quote from: Meho R. on April 18, 2011, 11:19:43 AM
I personally would recommend you to create a normal PDF from Scribus, normal page sizes, normal page order... After that, you can use one of imposition tools described here.

Also, if you're using Adobe Reader for print, pay attention to "Page Scaling" option in Print dialog, it is turned on by default and scales page automatically which is probably what you do not want it to do.

I have made progress in using Scribus but am at a stalemate in getting a document printed. I have PDFill PDF Writer installed and have taken your advice and have installed Bookbinder program on my computer but I am not getting good results. I print to PDFill to get a PDF. Then when I go to Bookbinder for the Imposition clicking on Generate Document seems to take me to Adobe Reader. It appears that since I don't have Acrobat it cannot produce a PDF so I get a blank document. Could you help me sort out this mess so that I can produce a chapter of my book in Scribus, Print to PDFill for a PDF, Impose in Bookbinder and print on my Canon Duplexe Printer?

I shall be grateful if you (or someone) can help me over the hurdle. 

Meho R.

First, I wouldn't use any of PDF creators/distillers to "print" a document from Scribus to PDF. Scribus excels in PDF creation so use its own way: File > Export > Save as PDF (or simply click PDF icon on the toolbar).

Now, for imposition tools. If bookbinder doesn't work for you (though it should; check your home dir for a new folder named after the PDF you're imposing), try multivalent, it's very nice little app, despite the fact that you'll be using commands via Terminal/Command Prompt. If you're ready to give it a try, download the file from here (this is an older version which includes all necessary tools, unlike the last version). Here's an example command (on Linux, Multivalent.jar and PDF docs in the same folder; for Windows check here):

java -cp Multivalent.jar tool.pdf.Impose -dim 2x1 -verbose -paper-size "11x8.5in" -layout "2,3,4,1" Test.pdf

An example file with Scribus file, bookbinder and multivalent outputs can be downloaded from here.

Bob P

Quote from: Meho R. on April 23, 2011, 01:08:31 AM
First, I wouldn't use any of PDF creators/distillers to "print" a document from Scribus to PDF. Scribus excels in PDF creation so use its own way: File > Export > Save as PDF (or simply click PDF icon on the toolbar).

Now, for imposition tools. If bookbinder doesn't work for you (though it should; check your home dir for a new folder named after the PDF you're imposing), try multivalent, it's very nice little app, despite the fact that you'll be using commands via Terminal/Command Prompt. If you're ready to give it a try, download the file from here (this is an older version which includes all necessary tools, unlike the last version). Here's an example command (on Linux, Multivalent.jar and PDF docs in the same folder; for Windows check here):

java -cp Multivalent.jar tool.pdf.Impose -dim 2x1 -verbose -paper-size "11x8.5in" -layout "2,3,4,1" Test.pdf

An example file with Scribus file, bookbinder and multivalent outputs can be downloaded from here.

I was unaware that Scribus has a builtin PDF application. I downloaded Multivalent.jar along with the Test file and the example file as you suggested. All worked beautifully. When I followed your instructions to produce a PDF file of my Book chapter I, once again, wound up with a blank file in Adobe Reader. Apparently, there is something wrong with my document. Could it be that I actually have a Master file instead of a regular document? If so, how can I find out or, better still, how can I convert the file to a document file?

Needless to say, this is driving me up the wall.

Nermander

Quote from: Bob P on April 22, 2011, 07:58:55 PM
Then when I go to Bookbinder for the Imposition clicking on Generate Document seems to take me to Adobe Reader. It appears that since I don't have Acrobat it cannot produce a PDF so I get a blank document.

You must be doing something totally wrong. Bookbinder does not need Adobe Acrobat, it will take one input PDF and create one or several output PDFs. The PDFs created can then be opened by any PDF reader.

Bookbinder should not launch any other program.

I launch Bookbinder3.0.jar, go to File and Open Input PDF.

The in the upper left corner I can see the number of pages and the page size of the input PDF.

I chose Booklet and click on Generate Document. Bookbinder the creates a folder with the name of the document and the suffix "-files". There I get two files, one for the fronts of the sheets and one for the backs (this is because I told Bookbinder that my printer is simplex).

Nowhere in this process is Acrobat used.

Meho R.

Quote from: Bob P on April 23, 2011, 04:07:38 AM
...I was unaware that Scribus has a builtin PDF application.
High-quality PDF output is one of the greatest features of Scribus. Actually, it's so good that I always use Scribus as the last phase in graphics preparation process, save them as PDFs and include them in projects I'm working on. Works beautifully every time.
Quote
I downloaded Multivalent.jar along with the Test file and the example file as you suggested. All worked beautifully. When I followed your instructions to produce a PDF file of my Book chapter I, once again, wound up with a blank file in Adobe Reader. Apparently, there is something wrong with my document. Could it be that I actually have a Master file instead of a regular document? If so, how can I find out or, better still, how can I convert the file to a document file?

Needless to say, this is driving me up the wall.
Can you present first 3-4 pages of your document for people here to inspect? Or put some dummy text instead of the original one and post the .sla file here. It's hard to say anything without an example file...

Bob P

I produced a Test document in Scribus without using Master Pages. I printed to PDF and I had no problem with it. It looks like the problem has something to do with using the Master Page feature. I am going to redo my chapter document without using Master Pages and see how that works out. In the meantime, If anyone can come up with any other ideas, I will welcome them.

Bob