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Scribus => General Discussion => Topic started by: gmlent on March 19, 2020, 03:59:33 PM

Title: How to Recover My Files
Post by: gmlent on March 19, 2020, 03:59:33 PM
Good morning.

I have a lengthy (250-ish page) document I've been working on for some time. Yesterday afternoon it crashed on me, and now when I try to open it I get the attached error message. The emergency recovery file and the autosave files both give the same error. I have a backup from late January that I had in my Google Drive and when I download and open it, it opens fine. However, so much changed in the file between January and now that it would be a ton of work to bring that file up to date.

What options do I have to recover my file? It was saved in 1.5.5, so the error stating that it was created in a later version of Scribus makes no sense. The help files mention opening and editing the file in a text editor, but neither of the ones I've tried can open it.

What can I do? I'm at my wits' end.

Thank you!



 

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Title: Re: How to Recover My Files
Post by: utnik on March 19, 2020, 05:25:17 PM
hi gmlent

after a crash there are a couple of possible file damages.
if you show me the .sla files (the old one and the crashed one), i'll take a look and see if i can fix it. i don't need fonts or images for this.

utnik
Title: Re: How to Recover My Files
Post by: gmlent on March 19, 2020, 06:09:09 PM
Thank you for your quick response!

Not to sound like a newbie, but how I I show them to you (what do you mean by that)? These files are massive - I'm talking 1-2GB.
Title: Re: How to Recover My Files
Post by: utnik on March 19, 2020, 06:23:47 PM
hi gmlent

did you embed your images into the .sla file? or what makes a 250 page file heavier than 1 gb?

even if it is that fat, you might put it to a file host service and send me a link to it. (your upload might take a while...)

utnik
Title: Re: How to Recover My Files
Post by: gmlent on March 20, 2020, 12:53:26 AM
The file is a document intended for print on demand, and the pecs form the PoD service dictate 600 DPI for black & white images (of which there are many in the document).

How do I show it to you without images or fonts? I feel I'm missing something important here.

Thank you again for your help!
Title: Re: How to Recover My Files
Post by: utnik on March 20, 2020, 05:49:07 AM
hi gmlent

Quote from: gmlent on March 20, 2020, 12:53:26 AM
The file is a document intended for print on demand...

...How do I show it to you without images or fonts?

ok. – now i understand...
the .pdf file is in the gigabytes. but what i would like to see is the .sla files, as i think scribus fails when you try to open the workfile, not the final print document.

utnik
Title: Re: How to Recover My Files
Post by: gmlent on March 20, 2020, 11:09:42 AM
No, the .sla file is also in the gigabytes.

Part of the reason it took me so long to respond yesterday was the time it took to upload these to a Google Drive folder.

But if I am understanding correctly, when you saw "show you" the .sla file, you need to actually download my source files (the ones I show in the attached image), correct?


 

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Title: Re: How to Recover My Files
Post by: utnik on March 20, 2020, 12:40:16 PM
hi gmlent

Quote from: gmlent on March 20, 2020, 11:09:42 AM
No, the .sla file is also in the gigabytes...

...But if I am understanding correctly, when you saw "show you" the .sla file, you need to actually download my source files (the ones I show in the attached image), correct?

yes, the source files (.sla) are exactly what i asked for. and the size of them implies that you embedded the images (instead of linking them to the .sla file...)

utnik
Title: Re: How to Recover My Files
Post by: gmlent on March 20, 2020, 12:45:32 PM
You are correct. I embedded all images, as required by the PoD service.

The Drive folder containing my files is here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1KZldGneSShbDSEBLgdG2SK3XkVqU7J_1

"Copy of Adventures in the Land of Fate with Calendar is the older file I can successfully open. The three others are the ones that give the error message I mentioned.

Thank you again for your help!
Title: Re: How to Recover My Files
Post by: utnik on March 20, 2020, 01:06:46 PM
i'll take a look at them – but first i'm at work (despite of 'covid19' i'm one of those who are still allowed to go to work...)

utnik
Title: Re: How to Recover My Files
Post by: gmlent on March 20, 2020, 01:14:44 PM
I appreciate anything you can do to help!

Thanks again!

Title: Re: How to Recover My Files
Post by: Nermander on March 20, 2020, 03:03:38 PM
Quote from: gmlent on March 20, 2020, 12:45:32 PM
You are correct. I embedded all images, as required by the PoD service.

Are you sending the SLA to the PoD service?

Uusually you would send a PDF, then all images get embedded no matter if they were embedded into the SLA or not.
Title: Re: How to Recover My Files
Post by: gmlent on March 20, 2020, 03:08:16 PM
I am not sending the .sla to the printer, no. But Scribus crashes often, and my document is very image-intensive. On a couple of occasions I have been unable to open the file until I moved it to another drive or location on my computer, and in order to preserve all of the images I embedded them in the .sla file. It is an easier solution than having to remember the location of 150 or so images within the document so I can replace them each time I had to move it.
Title: Re: How to Recover My Files
Post by: a.l.e on March 20, 2020, 03:56:01 PM
i've opend "Copy of Adventures in the Land of Fate w-Calendar.sla"

it's all there... but, of course, being a 1Gb+ file everything is very slow.

you will probably need to:

- split the document in multiple sub documents (if you can't open the file mentioned above anymore i can do that for you).
- reduce the size of the images (there are a few 20Mb jpgs...)
- probably, avoid including the images in the .sla (that makes one more 1 1/2 Gb to open in parallel to loading all the images...)

scribus really need to improve and only load the images that are on screen... but until that happens, you need to find a workaround that works for you...
Title: Re: How to Recover My Files
Post by: gmlent on March 20, 2020, 04:02:47 PM
Thank you for your help!

The file you mentioned is one that I can still open easily; It was the backup I saved to my Google drive in late January and I included it in the folder I linked as a counterexample. The others have an extra month and change worth of work in them, and are the ones I really need.

Are you able to open any of the other three files?

I have been hesitant to split the document because of page numbering and similar concerns. As a last resort I can try that, but I need to be able to open it first.

Title: Re: How to Recover My Files
Post by: a.l.e on March 20, 2020, 04:58:49 PM
is "Adventures in the Land of Fate.sla" your real file?

all other files are rescue files and if you're having issue, there are good chances that they are broken...
anyway, "Adventures in the Land of Fate.sla" is 2.2Gb... not sure i will be able to open it... i also have limited memory... but i'll give it a try...
Title: Re: How to Recover My Files
Post by: gmlent on March 20, 2020, 05:02:08 PM
Yes, Adventures in the Land of Fate is the main file. That's the one i was working on when it crashed and I have since been unable to open it.

I didn't know there was a size limit to what Scribus could handle.

Thank you for your help!
Title: Re: How to Recover My Files
Post by: a.l.e on March 20, 2020, 05:08:47 PM
There is no hard limit to the size of the documents.

It all depends on the RAM (and speed of the processor / hard disk) you have.

The simplest rule is: if Scribus is getting slow because of the size of the document, create multiple files.
Title: Re: How to Recover My Files
Post by: gmlent on March 20, 2020, 05:10:04 PM
I guess that makes sense, and I sure wish I'd known/thought of it last week!
Title: Re: How to Recover My Files
Post by: a.l.e on March 21, 2020, 11:41:15 AM
i could open Adventures in the Land of Fate.sla by first removing all images.

probably, i can  provide you with a set of files with parts of the document (one per section?) in each and the images as separate linked files...

... but this will require some work, so if you're planning to earn money with this document,  it would be nice if you could compensate my effort.
Title: Re: How to Recover My Files
Post by: gmlent on March 21, 2020, 11:56:14 AM
Interesting. So the issue I was having is due to embedding the images? The whole reason I embedded them was because the file kept crashing trying to load them every time. This really feels like a no-win situation.

Compensating you for your time and help only seems fair. What were you thinking?

Title: Re: How to Recover My Files
Post by: a.l.e on March 21, 2020, 03:53:27 PM
no, the issue is not that the images are embedded.

the issue is that scribus does not manage "well" the resources.

embedding the images will increase the need for resources, but even if you did not embed, the amount of images and pages in your document would probably become an issue at some time.

finally, i'd suggest that i recover the files and, then tell you how much time it took to me (i think it will be something between 1 and 1 1/2 hours) plus the half an hour i l already spent on your issue, and you will define how much it is worth for you.
Title: Re: How to Recover My Files
Post by: gmlent on March 21, 2020, 06:04:15 PM
That sounds fair enough, and thank you!

It doesn't need to be a new file per section, though. Could we do Chapters 1-3, Chapter 4, then the rest? So 3 total .sla files. Chapter 4 is the most image-intensive portion of the book.

Does that work?

Thank you!
Title: Re: How to Recover My Files
Post by: a.l.e on March 22, 2020, 06:11:32 PM
i've sent you a link to the "rescued" file in a private message.

it's all in one single document, but i'm able to open this as "fast" as the backup from january, so you should also be able to open it.

if you can't open it, just say so and i'll split it in multiple files for you.

for splitting it, you can simply open the file, save it as a copy and then delete the pages you don't want to keep in that part of the document.
repeat until you have small enough chunks you can comfortably work with (most of the time the limit is by 50 to 80 pages...)

later, i'll upload the script i've used for extracting the images from the .sla... if somebody is curious or for those who will have a similar issue in the future.

ciao
a.l.e

Title: Re: How to Recover My Files
Post by: a.l.e on March 23, 2020, 10:49:21 PM
hi

for future reference, this is the script i've used to extract the embedded images from the scribus file:

https://github.com/aoloe/scribus-script-collection/blob/master/extract-embedded-images/extract-embedded-images.py

it runs outside of scribus.

the hard part has been to find out how to convert the base64 gzipped (with qcompress) string to an image file...
Title: Re: How to Recover My Files
Post by: gmlent on March 23, 2020, 11:52:19 PM
Quote from: a.l.e on March 22, 2020, 06:11:32 PM
i've sent you a link to the "rescued" file in a private message.

it's all in one single document, but i'm able to open this as "fast" as the backup from january, so you should also be able to open it.

if you can't open it, just say so and i'll split it in multiple files for you.

for splitting it, you can simply open the file, save it as a copy and then delete the pages you don't want to keep in that part of the document.
repeat until you have small enough chunks you can comfortably work with (most of the time the limit is by 50 to 80 pages...)

later, i'll upload the script i've used for extracting the images from the .sla... if somebody is curious or for those who will have a similar issue in the future.

ciao
a.l.e

Thank you! You really saved the day here.

How long did it end up taking you? And is the email you sent it from connected to your PayPal?
Title: Re: How to Recover My Files
Post by: jack_cat on May 22, 2020, 11:47:02 PM
It does seem that you might try re-arranging your work flow. I have been through several iterations.

> It's not necessary to embed all images in Scribus files in order to embed them in the PDF. It just makes the .sla file
huge. I think  that .svg images do have to be embedded. But if .png, they don't, and they still will embed themselves in the PDF file, which will be just as huge as ever with those 600 DPI images.

> I have learned to keep each Chapter in its own scribus file so that the files are smaller, not overloaded with images,
and Scribus does not cludge down as it did with larger files.

> I also export every chapter to an individual PDF file, and I can deal with these 12 or 15 smaller PDF files a lot easier
than one big one. _Anybody_ can then assemble them in order with a PDF tool. Note that you have to go to the setup and set the page numbers for each chapter individually before you go to PDF.

> Having a whole lot of images scattered around the hard drive is a royal nuisance if you want to edit one. IMO it is much better to copy each image to a "graphics" sub-folder under the one the .sla file is in, so that you can find the file when you want to. If you have to go back to a GIMP (or, Illustrator, Photoshop, Inkscape, etc.) file to edit one, then when you are first collecting the pics into your subfolder, just put another subfolder where you can put the associated Gimp files as well, so they are handy. 

> the "Collect for Output" function is a piece of gold, it really works well for collecting all those graphics files that you have already got scattered around. Check it out. The only thing it won't do is bring your GIMP or INKSCAPE source files along.

> Here is a proposed course of action to consider: Take that giant file, when you get it repaired, and immediately do "save as" a dozen times or so as necessary as Chap_1, Chap_2, etc. Then, open each file individually and chop out everything else except one chapter (careful). Then, do "Collect for Output" to a completely new folder structure. Each Chapter needs its own folder for "Collect to Output", so set these up first. The .sla file and all of its associated graphics will be dumped together into a folder. Note that you cannot cut and paste the .sla file anywhere else, because it will break the internal links, but what you can do, if you want all of the .sla chapter files to be in the folder above where all the folders with the graphics are, then you have to do a save-as individually for each one, and then you can delete the .sla file that is in the folder with all the images.

Make a separate folder called PDF_output, and put all of your exported PDFs in there, where they can be assembled, or zipped, or whatever. When it comes time to send this all to your printer, if you have to do that online, it will be a lot easier to transfer the smaller PDFs. If your POD company is sympathetic, they will assemble the PDFs, but in fact that seems unlikely. But check it out. Hope your get your files fixed.

jack