Boy this has been one problem project after another. I tried to produce my latest Bible Class workbook using Scrivener. I had been using Pages. For one apparently Scrivener doesn’t support using png files. Then it will not import PDF files. So I took my pages file and exported it as a Word document out of pages. When I tried to import that to Scrivener it would not import. I tried to export it out of pages as an epub I get the response can’t support floating graphics. I have to have floating graphic because of the placement of the png’s in Pages. So don’t know what to do. I wanted to be able to publish for iBook and Kindle. Any ideas? Can look at some of my other Workbooks on my website at - www.mikealrhughes.com
Not being facetious, but have you read the relevant part of the manual? In Chapter 11, which deals with importing files it says:
“As well as these text file types, Scrivener also supports all of the main image file types (TIF, JPG, GIF, PNG, BMP etc), all of the main QuickTime audio/visual formats (MOV, MPG, WAV, MP3 etc), PDF files, HTML, and .webarchive file types for importing saved web pages from Safari and other Mac applications that support it.”
I suspect you might be having a problem because of taking the wrong approach. Some types of file (i.e. anything that is not text) can only be imported to the Research folder. (Note that a pdf file is not purely a text file: it contains an image layer.) Having said that, you can certainly drop a png file into an already existing text file in the Draft folder, because I have just tried it out. (I’m using the latest beta, which you can download from the betas thread.)
Others more expert than I will have to help with all the details of image handling, but one has to bear in mind that Scrivener was never intended for page layout. It is a program for drafting a text that can be cleaned up in a word processor if necessary. And do have a look at the manual if you haven’t already done so – it might save some heartache.
Best wishes,
Martin.
I dropped the PNG’s into the research folder. When I compiled the file to an eBook or a Kindle file every place that a PNG was suppose to be came out as a black rectangle. I could not get the PDF to come in.
I dropped the PNG’s into the research folder. When I compiled the file to an eBook or a Kindle file every place that a PNG was suppose to be came out as a black rectangle. I could not get the PDF to come in.
The main reason I wanted to use Scrivener was an avenue to take my Class books and make Kindle mobi files for publications so they could be viewed and read on tablets.
Well, once again, I’ve just tried dropping a pdf into text in the main editor window, and it works for me.
I can’t really help with the pngs not appearing after compile. I’d just ask if you are using one of the standard presets for compiling to epub. And I’d also look at whether the pngs use some form of compression – that might mess things up. But the simple thing to do, if they continue not to work, is to convert them to jpg and try that. And if that doesn’t work, try tiff. Many is the hour I have spent messing around with file formats (not with Scrivener, I hasten to add) until I found something that worked. You would think that computers would be good at “talking to each other”, but not a bit of it. It’s better than it used to be, though.
Best wishes,
Martin.
PS: just to quote from the Scrivener manual again (Chapter 14):
“Scrivener is not intended to be a full-blown word processor, but rather a word generating environment. It is not a layout tool, but a tool for cutting the text that will become your book. Many authors who have stricter formatting requirements, such as scriptwriters, will start their projects in Scrivener, and end in a word processor or desktop publishing, or some other specialised application. Someone writing a novel or short story could very well do the whole thing in Scrivener, including the final print for submission and export to Word format for sending an electronic copy.”
I’m not saying you shouldn’t be using it for what you are trying to do, but it is probably as well to know what the original philosophy behind the program was, which might help explain why it is proving a little difficult to do what you are attempting. The thing was originally meant to be a drafting tool rather than a conversion tool. In a sense, you seem to be using Scrivener “backwards” – you are trying to take a finished product and run it through Scrivener to make it into something else, whereas it was originally intended to produce something that would be finished off elsewhere (except in the cases mentioned above and a few others that do not demand special formatting).