[scribus] Convert Pagemaker 6.5 documents to Scribus

["Christoph Schäfer"]

Hi Achim,

>
> Hi,
> 
> I would like to convert my dad to open source software. The last problem on this path would be some old Pagemaker 6.5 documents. Those documents should all be rather simple, just having some text blocks, some graphics and a few "hand drawn" tables. Usually only a few pages an no fancy layout, color, ... magic.
> 
> Is there a known working way to get such documents into Scribus? I would still have access to a Pagemaker 6.5 installation to convert/export documents. If required, I would also be able to get access to a Indesign instance to convert the documents.
> 
> As far as I see, there's no direct conversion path, so I'm asking for advice using which file types I should have the best chance.

Unless someone actually spends some time on re-engineering of the PageMaker format(s) and, once this is done, a Scribus developer has enough time to write an importer, you're out of luck. 

What you can do, though, is to export/print the PageMaker files to PostScript files (one file per page) and then import the PS files into Scribus.

If you are using InDesign, you can try to use its EPS or SVG exporters, but again: one file per page.

Once Scribus 1.6.0 final is available, all this will be easier, as Scribus will then be able to import PDF, AI and IDML (hopefully) files reliably.

HTH,

Christoph