[Scribus] [Fwd: [Techtalk] openoffice and scribus]

[Gregory Pittman]

Figaro wrote:
> Hello, all.
> I am forwarding this message in the hope someone(s) here may be able to
> help them.
> FROM > chantal at antenna.nl
> DATE > 01/31/08 10:43
> TO:> techtalk at linuxchix.org
>
>   
>> Hi everyone,
>>
>> One my customers publishes books. We are planning to migrate to openoffice and 
>> eventually to Linux desktops. 
>> Writing, editing and layout are all done in Microsoft Word. At the moment a 
>> pretty complex template is used to make sure the layout is maintained.
>> We have already established that it is impossible to build a template with the 
>> same functionality for Openoffice. This is not a really big problem because 
>> the template is not 100% user friendly, but an alternative solution is needed 
>> before we can migrate to openoffice.
>>
>> And yes I know it is possible to use Microsoft Office in a Linux environment, 
>> but then we need a licence for crossover office and we will in time have to 
>> spend a lot of money for an office upgrade.
>> So it would be nice if this can be avoided.
>>
>> The person in charge of publishing has already worked with Scribus (more 
>> information in the previous post) and she likes it. Scribus is however too 
>> complicated for the writers, translaters and editors.
>> finishing a book in openoffice and the simply import it into Scribus is not a 
>> solution because of the workflow. Writing, editing and layouting are not 
>> done "one after the other" but can occur at the same time.
>>
>> We are looking for a way to connect the data between the Writer document and 
>> the Scribus document, or maybe a script or program that is able to translate 
>> the Openoffice document to Scribus in combination with a simple writer 
>> template? An extra complexity is that a lot of translaters work from home, 
>> they may not be willing to use a Openoffice, lthough it is my personal 
>> opionion that that is not a really great sacrifice because it's free. Someone  
>> has told me that it is possible to install a small plugin for MS Office, with 
>> this plugin it is possible to read documents in the open document format and 
>> also use Openoffice templates. That may be an interesting alternative.  
>>
>> As you can see we are still in the brainstorming phase. Any advise on this 
>> subject will be greatly appreciated.
>>     
hard to be sure where to reply...
I'll put a response here in case list readers are interested.

 From the message it's a little unclear to what degree importation is 
desired. Scribus does have the ability to import Writer files and even 
apply styles, in case that is enough.
See this for more specifics:

http://documentation.scribus.net/index.php/Working_With_Text#ODT_Import_Example

Greg