Opening, Creating and Saving Files

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Contents

The Start Dialog

When you start up Scribus, you will be shown a dialog with three tabs:

“New Document”, “Open Existing Document”, “Open Recent Document”.

Image:Newdoc.png

The first tab allows you to create a new document. The other two tabs make it possible to open a Scribus document which has been saved earlier. Once the startup dialog has been closed, it is possible to access Open, Save and New actions using the file menu's and toolbar's entries. In addition, there are also template documents that can be opened using New > From Template. It is also possible to save one's own documents as templates using File > Save as Template.

In File> Preferences > Miscellaneous, you can choose to not automatically be shown this startup dialog.

Supported File Formats

For opening and saving, the only file format fully supported by Scribus is its own SLA (Scribus Layout) format. It's the only format with which everything is guaranteed to be placed exactly where it was originally placed. However, the File > Open dialog has options to open a few other vector based formats. Importing and exporting other formats than SLA (and its older incarnation called SCD [Scribus Document]) will be explained later on.

SLA files

A SLA file is a regular text file having a style similar to XML. To save space, the SLA file can be compressed with gzip, resulting in the file extension SLA.GZ. Scribus will automatically uncompress these gzipped SLA files, but it's also possible to unzip the file with a program like WinZIP or Ark.

Scribus is a rapidly evolving program, with each version providing more features. This has required several changes to the SLA format, the result being that older Scribus versions cannot open sla files from newer ones. However, it is part of the development process to ensure that newer versions can always load sla files from older versions.

You will always be able to load SLA files from an older version of Scribus. For example, 1.3.3.x versions can load files generated by 1.2.x, 1.1.x, and even older Scribus versions. What you cannot do, in contrast, is load a 1.3.3.x file in Scribus 1.2.x.

This is especially important to understand if you are one of the many Scribus users who wants to work or experiment with development versions, obtained via Subversion and then compiled on your computer. As of this writing, 1.3.3.x is considered the current stable version, or more precisely, version series. Bugfixes and other minor enhancements are taking place in this series. SLA files can be freely exchanged back and forth between all 1.3 versions up to 1.3.3.x. If you wish to experiment with later development versions (1.3.4 or later), perhaps help with finding bugs and other problems, be sure to make a copy of an old SLA file to experiment with, since 1.3.4+ will make the file unusable for 1.3.3.x and earlier versions. Also, you may want to turn off Autosave to avoid losing old work.

In case you mistakenly saved a file in the 1.3.4+ format, you can use a trick to get the content back to 1.3.3.x: Group all all items on each page and send each group to the Scrapbook, then open 1.3.3.x and create a new document in 1.3.3.x. Currently, 1.3.3.x and 1.3.4+ share the same Scrapbook, so that you can drag the items back into the 1.3.3.x document.

Vector formats

The dialog File > Open in Scribus also provides an option to open several vector based formats. Supported formats include SVG, PS, EPS, OpenDocument Graphics (ODG) and OpenOffice.org Draw files. Opening files of these types has some limitations. Vector drawing import is described in a chapter of its own. It's also good to note that Scribus cannot open and edit PDF files, but it can use them with some limitations.

The File Dialog in Scribus

At the first launch, Open and Save dialogs will default to the document directory set in File > Preferences > General. Successive open and save actions will open the file dialog in the directory that was last used for the action. The save dialog will have an additional option to compress a SLA file. If this option is enabled, the file will be saved with the extension .SLA.GZ.

The Open File Dialog – Advanced Features

The Dialog File > Open is more than just a tool to open files. Instead, it offers some advanced features.

In the field labeled “Look in:” you can see the path to your current directory. All folders and all files Scribus can open are listed here. It's possible to narrow down the number of listed files by selecting a single file type in the drop down list at the bottom.

Image:File-open-linux.png

On top right you see 6 buttons with the following funtions:

  • Back will move to the previous directory. It's only available if you navigated in the file system before.
  • One directory up will move to the parent directory of your current folder.
  • Create New Folder will create a new directory in the current folder.
  • List View lists all folders and files that Scribus can open without further information.
  • Detail View changes the display, as all files will be listed in one column. In addition, more informations about files and folders, namely size (in kilobyte), type (file or folder), date (date of file creation) and attributes (permissions like read or write).
  • Preview File Contents enables the display of file informations or previews for some, but not all supported file types. The preview capabilities work as follows:
    • SLA, SCD: No visual preview. The document title and the author are listed if they are stored in File > Document Setup > Document information. The Scribus version that created the document will also be shown.
    • SLA.GZ, SCD.GZ: No preview and no document informations will be shown.
    • OpenDocument Drawing, OpenOffice.org Drawing, SVG, PostScript: No preview and no document informations will be shown.
    • EPS: A preview will be displayed if the EPS contains a preview image. Scribus also shows the size, the resolution and the color space of the file.
    • PDF: A preview will be displayed. Scribus also shows the size, the resolution and the color space of the file.
  • Move to the Document Directory moves to the default directory for your documents. On Linux and *NIX systems this is the home directory, on Windows your “Personal Files” folder. The default directory for Scribus documents can be changed in the Preferences.

Opening a document

There are three options for opening a Scribus document. If the document has been worked on recently, it is likely that you will find an entry for it in the File menu's Open Recent submenu. The number of recent documents shown can be set in the “General” tab in File > Preferences. If the document cannot be opened with the Open Recent menu, it's possible to open it using File > Open. This will bring up a regular file dialog, so that you can browse for your Scribus document and open it by selecting and clicking on the “Open” button. The last option for opening a Scribus file is to have the SLA file associated with Scribus, so that double clicking on an SLA document will start up Scribus and open the document. It may be the case that your operating system does not allow gzipped SLA files to be handled by Scribus. In this case you will need to open SLA.GZ files using File > Open in Scribus.

The open action inside Scribus can be triggered using three different methods:

  • using File > Open.
  • using The Open icon in the Icon Bar.
  • using the keyboard shortcut CTRL+O

Revert to Saved

Revert to Saved is a special case of opening a document. The Revert to Saved action can be found in the File menu. The function makes it possible to reload the last saved version of the currently opened document. This can be a good workaround when Scribus' still limited undo and redo functionality has failed to recover an error that has been made. To get the most out of this feature, you will need to save your document in relatively short intervals. All your changes done after the last save action will be lost when running Revert to Saved. As might be expected, if you have made no edits since the last Save, this option will be nonfunctional.

Creating a New Document

Creating a new document in Scribus can be accomplished either by beginning with a blank page, or with a template. A few templates are included with your Scribus distribution, but you can also create your own.

Clicking on File > New from Template (keyboard Ctrl+Alt+N) will show a dialog with some choices of layouts: a brochure, two newsletters, and a presentation. See below for details about templates.

You can always begin a new document using whatever the default settings are, but for many tasks it will be better if you think through the requirements of your layout job before beginning your document. While it is possible to change the document details afterwards, you will find it easier and less frustrating if you already have made some of the choices for your document, such as page size, layout and margin widths.

If you find yourself using a particular document size, layout style, or certain font most commonly, make these your default settings. See the Customizing Scribus for more information. If you make similar documents with only some small variations in layouts, consider creating templates you can reuse and modify for future documents – this will be covered later in this chapter.

New Document Dialog

The New Document dialog is of course what you see when you first start Scribus, along with tabs to choose existing documents. The default values you see in the dialog can be set in File > Preferences.

This dialog can also be brought up later by clicking File > New, the New icon on the toolbar, or keyboard Ctrl+N.

Image:New-doc.png

Document Layout controls the page setup inside Scribus. The first option Single Page will create pages in a single column, one page per row. The Double Sided option will create a regular magazine type layout where pages are set in pairs (two pages per row). With the second, third and fourth option it is also possible to control the first page drop down box where one can tell Scribus the position of the first created page. For a regular left-to-right magazine first page would be Right.

Keep in mind that with Double Sided, 3-Fold, and 4-Fold, you are still creating individual pages, printed or exported to PDF as individual pages. These multiple-page selections only apply to the layout appearance in Scribus, so you can see the juxtaposition you desire for whatever reason. A commercial printer, of course, will be able to take those individual pages and arrange them in the end format you desire. In contrast, if you want to create a 3-fold brochure that you plan to print yourself – ie., a brochure printed on a single sheet of stock and then folded – you should create a single page landscape document of the appropriate size, then use guides to indicate the folding points. How guides are used is explained in Customizing Scribus.

Inside the Page Size Frame are general options for the page size. Scribus includes a wide range of preset paper formats that can be selected from the “Size” dropdown list. If no suitable format is available, there is also an option to create a custom page size by inserting custom values for width and height in the spin boxes below the drop down lists.

Once you are done with the page size, set margins with the spin boxes in “Margin Guides”. Scribus can also query your printer driver for a possibility to manually adjust the margin settings and offer you to change them with the Printer Margins… button. If you have selected any other page layout than Single Page the margin selection will be: Inside, Outside, Top, Bottom instead of Left, Right, Top, Bottom. If you conceive of a book as your final product, inside will be the side closest to the binding, outside the farthest away. There are a few preset margin schemes to be used with the double-sided, 3-fold and 4-fold layout options. These presets are controlled by selecting the desired scheme from the “Preset Layout” drop down list and by altering the width of the inside margin. Scribus will then automatically calculate the other margins based on the inside margin's value and the selected margin scheme.

Options include the number of pages which are initially created and the default measuring unit for the document. You will not need to know the actual number of pages in the final document yet, because pages can be easily added to a document using the Page menu after the document has been created.

The last section, “Automatic Text Frames”, can be used to create a text frame, bounded by the margins, for every page of the document. These automatic text frames will also be linked, so that the text will flow from one frame to another. This option also enables selection of the number of columns and the gap between them. Also note that if you later insert additional pages, these too will have frames automatically created and linked.

Once you are happy with the values, click the “OK” button. Scribus will create your document, and you may begin to add content. There are some additional document options not covered by the “New Document” dialog, which can be set in File > Document Setup. This is covered in Customizing Scribus.ENDNOTE

New from template

Whenever you will be serially creating documents with a number of recurrent, similar or identical features, such as graphics, headers, titles, and even content, Document Templates can greatly ease the layout work. In addition to actual content, a template can also include paragraph and line styles and a custom color set.

The New from Template dialog can be opened using the New from Template menu entry in the File menu. This will open up a dialog with three sections:

Image:New-from-template.png

The left-most section lists the template categories. Scribus includes a basic set of categories that can be localized. It's also possible to create your own categories with the Save as Template option as described later on. The middle column shows thumbnails of the templates that belong to the selected category, and the right-most column has details about the currently selected template. Instead of details it is also possible to show a larger screenshot of the template by clicking on the image button above the details. To open a template, double-click on the thumbnail or select a template and click “OK”. It is also possible to remove templates from the template dialog by using the template's context menu's Remove entry.

There are only a few default templates, and these are admittedly of limited scope, but are mainly included as illustrations of how they might be used. As you will see further in this chapter, creating and editing your own is quite easy, since it only involves creating your own layout, then saving as a template.

Saving a document

Image:Wanna-save.png

The second section in the File menu is reserved for save actions which include Save, Save as, Save as Template and Collect for Output. In addition to the File menu's save actions there are two additional save actions more hidden from the user. These are Autosave to automatically save your document at a given interval and Emergency Save which is trying to save your document in a case of sudden crash. If you have done some changes to your document and have not saved it yet but are closing the document or Scribus you will be shown a pop up dialog asking if you would like to save the document before it's going to be closed.

Save and Save As...

Save actions will save all unsaved changes that have been done since it was opened or saved the last time. If the document has not been saved when the save action was triggered, the Save as... action will be run instead. The Save as... action will bring up a file dialog, letting you choose a directory and a filename for the currently opened document. These actions always save the currently shown document. If there are many documents open at the same time, you will be prompted to save any unsaved documents.

The save actions will save the file in the Scribus' native SLA file format. If you want to save your document in some other file format like PDF or EPS see the chapter File Export. One thing to note with the SLA file format is that it does not save the images inside the file, but only links to the used images. The links will point to the original place from where they were imported to Scribus. Vector graphics however will be converted to Scribus' internal vector format and those are a part of the SLA file.

As of Scribus versions 1.3.3.x, the paths to images are relative ones, from the location of the Scribus file itself. The downside of this is that, if you move this file to another location – for example using your computer's copy utility, the file will likely not be able to load your images, since the links will be broken. One way of preventing this problem is by keeping a file and its images in its own separate directory. Another is by using Collect for Output as we will see next.

Collect for output

To avoid the problem of broken image links, it's possible to use Collect for Output from the File menu. This will be necessary if you want to share your work with someone else and need to send it to another Scribus installation along with its images. This will copy all the images and the Scribus document to a single directory. It's important to understand that with Collect for Output you are not just creating a file, but a directory with a collection of files inside. Once you name the directory and click “OK”, the default action is to create the directory if it does not already exist, then save the Scribus file and its images inside. If you later import new images to the document, you will need to repeat Collect for Output.

The dialog for picking up a directory includes two additional options compared to a regular file dialog. It is possible to compress the collected Scribus document and to include used fonts in the output directory. If you are unsure whether another Scribus installation using your saved directory will have all the necessary fonts, check the “Include Fonts” option. Beware of possible licensing issues with fonts if you decide to include fonts, though.

Image:Collect-for-output-options.png

Save as template

Image:Save-as-template.png

The Save as Template action in the File menu is similar to Collect for Output. The first step, like Collect for Output, is to choose a directory where the template and additional files will be collected. Afterward, you will be shown a new dialog where some metadata can be inserted. You will get the metadata dialog in its full size by clicking the “More Details” button. Once you are done with the meta data, clicking OK will finalize the saving of the template. From now on, your template will be shown in the New from Template dialog that can be opened from the File menu.

By default, the Save as Template dialog will open your template directory, which is set in the Preferences. If you have not set any template directory the default user level template directory will be used. This directory is ~/.scribus/templates on a Linux platform.

Autosave

Scribus can save your document automatically at a given interval, with a default of every 10 minutes. The Autosave option and its interval can be set in File > Preferences > Document for future documents, and for the current document in File > Document Setup > Document.

Autosave saves your document regularly and creates a copy of the previous version adding the extension “.bak”. If you need to recover this old version, you will need to rename it with an SLA extension, so that it will be recognized as a Scribus file.

Emergency Save

In case of an emergency – eg. Scribus crashing for any reason or being closed by the operating system –, Scribus will try to save the document. The emergency save will use the same directory where the document was originally stored or, if it hadn't been saved yet, the emergency save will be done to the current working directory. The file saved in case of emergency is easy to recognize, because its file extension is “sla.emergency”. Just as with backup files, it will need to be renamed to end with “.sla” to be recognized as a Scribus file, yet even then there is no guarantee that this file can be opened. In such a case you will have to reload the last saved version.

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