Scribus Lesson 3 - Add Text Frames

[@thejoyfuldraft]

I can see that Scribus is going to be one of my favorite and everyday software all because your awesome tutorials.

[@TJFREE]

Glad to hear it!

[@laurenwood1376]

Reples

[@suephipps]

These videos are superb - particularly the way they are delivered. I love the way you say, "Does that make sense?" - and mostly it does! Thank you. I'm saving up my questions because I expect you'll have answered them by the time I get to the last video!

[@cescadiebschlag5837]

These are definitely the best Scribus tutorials I've found yet.

[@pulkitagrawalCFA]

Thanks for these videos. I have installed and deleted Scribus several times in the past. But this time your videos have given me an anchor point for a start with this software.

[@heidihansen1482]

I am just going to say that your videos is still out here helping - so thank you

[@violetgypsie]

Thank you! You are a good teacher and I'm excited to watch the rest of this course.

[@TJFREE]

You're welcome! Thanks for the feedback.

[@carlaspahr6886]

Thank you for taking the time to show us how to do this. I was fumbling through before then I came across your vid and it helped TONS!!! Tx Again!

[@TJFREE]

That's great to hear. Thanks for watching!

[@markharrington5826]

Fantastic tutorials , very well presented Thank you , good to see people like your self making good use if the internet I wish we would see more quality and professionalism like this

[@thingsiplay]

Hi, these are so useful videos, thank you. I just started and experimented with Scribus and updated to the newest version. Its an incredible tool!

[@YesiPleb]

I've been used to using PageStream on the Amiga with a little Aldus PageMaker and TimeWorks Publisher on the PC for creating my own leaflets etc. and at the moment the main reason for me wanting to learn Scribus (a little "introduction" project to learn how to use it) is to create a table for the dingbat fonts, so I can print out reference/cheat sheets for each graphic font so I can see what image/symbol I get on which key press. I made these using PageStream back in the 90s and it made using the fonts so much easier!

[@juditkiss9965]

These are very helpful, thank you!!! I've had Sribus for some years now but indeed, opening up I just got very frustrated very soon after InDesign expreiences, haha. But I decided to go for it finally and just after the 3rd lesson I already like it more!

[@georgekennedy1886]

Thanks for the wonderful tutorials. Much appreciated!

[@falkasete]

thank you for these fantastic videos and very good explanations

[@MACDcreations]

hey, thanks for putting in the time for the tutorials!

[@Mazda1080]

I want to create a multi-page document. How do I define that it is multi page and how do I ensure that if, for instance, I insert extra text on page 1, all text on subsequent pages moves down as required.

[@TJFREE]

Hi Ishaq. To add more pages, go to Page > Insert. To make text flow to the next page, add text frames to each page, then make text flow from one frame to another my using the 'Link Frames' icon or by pressing the 'N' key on the keyboard. This is covered in this tutorial series. Hope that helps!

[@davidenglund]

In my Story Editor on my iMac, the left side where it lists styles is all black. I can do all the editing stuff on the right side however. Any thoughts? And, THANKS FOR YOUR TUTORIALS! :D

[@yachuba]

How are you able to draw a perfect text frame that starts from margin till the exact end of margin? It seems it stretches automatically the text frame till the end? How is it done? That doesn't seem to work for me and i am on 1.5.5.

[@pablocruzdrums]

Excellent videos!

[@PaulKater]

Thank you for these amazing tutorials. I have a question about the last lines in a justified paragraph: if the last line in such a paragraph only contains 3 words, that too is justified - and looks awful. My trick now is to add a line break in the right spot and simply justify that single line to the left. Which makes a mess if the text needs some editing afterwards. Is there a better way to handle htat?

[@PaulKater]

Oh, never mind, I found it. )

[@CrapE_DM]

What keyboard layout are you using? Your random text is coming up with an interesting set of characters if you're using QWERTY

[@MrOlegrom]

Thank you very much for your tutorials! I am thinking of switching to Linux and the scribus seems to be the only option there for this kind of jobs.

[@THAILANDCANUCK]

I downloaded Scribus 1.4.8 and there is no text icion to click on. Is it different than the version you are using?

[@veronikastiebler4253]

Hi, I always get 3 columns when I open textbox. How can I get rid of that??

[@fredberri7225]

TJ, thank you for your tutorials. I am disappointed in them because I was under the impression tutorials would be a step by step guide to put my fininished manuscript into Scribus and not an overall view of how it works. Ie: Setting up margins for 6x9 paperback. Setting master pages and numbering pages and how to insert Drop Caps, etc. Can you suggest any tutorials that do that? I have not yet found any. I am using 1.5.8 version.

[@lotus1219]

Scribus is awesome. Your are awesome. Thank you!

[@TJFREE]

You're welcome! You're awesome!

[@valroe7034]

you are seriously awesome for doing this

[@rebeccavanherck4132]

Thank you for your tutorials, it has been a great help :) I have one question though. I am using Scribus version 1.4.8 and not everything looks the same as in your video. One thing I cannot find is the 'text properties' function. I only see the properties and the story editor. Do you perhaps know where I could find it?

[@jasonb2553]

You have to be on 1.5.4 or later to have the same UI that he does. Otherwise in 1.4.8 the settings are in the properties menu under fonts.

[@MrJAhannes]

thank you so much. I hope you also will elaborate on how to create paragraph styles :)

[@Braindazzled]

I'm liking Scribus so far (I just installed it). I'm an old hand with Quark Xpress and InDesign, and I was hoping for more typographic controls, but i can't find them. Does this software allow for tight leading, kerning, tracking, etc?

[@elyzsabethahne2116]

Yes. Highlight the text, then right-click for "Content Properties" (shortcut is F3). Click on the right arrowhead to the left of "Advanced Properties". You'll find these options there.

[@mysticmac4139]

tried to copy and paste text to scribus doesn't work

[@mikehudson5886]

I am trying to link overflowing text with the next frame - which I have done successfully many times before - but now I keep getting the message “you are trying to link the frame to itself” or “You are trying to link a non-empty frame to a frame which is already linked”. I have tried unlinking and relinking but it didn’t help. I have tried deleting the text frame and putting in a new one. I have checked if the missing text is there by enlarging the frame but it is nowhere to be seen. I’m obviously doing something wrong - but what? By the way: I am Jadwiga Jarvis, not Mike Hudson! My partner's computer keeps taking mine over!

[@erictorbet8104]

Another question: If that red X at lower right of box that indicates text has overflowed appears, is there a quick way to automatically re-size the text box to contain all the text, rather than have to manually re-size it with my mouse? Thanks!

[@TJFREE]

That's a good question. I've always done the manual resize in the past, and I just did a quick search to see if there was a feature like you're describing, but could not find anything...

[@erictorbet8104]

@@TJFREE I, too, did a search, and someone wrote a script to do this: wiki.scribus.net/canvas/Adjust_a_text_frame_to_fit_its_content Now I just need to learn how to incorporate a script!

[@RussellTeapot]

@@erictorbet8104 Fellow user to the rescue! 1) Create a folder, wherever you want, in which you will put the script (and maybe other useful ones). Inside of it, create a new file called "adjust_text.py" (use whatever name you find appropriate) 2) Copy the text of the script that you found on the wiki and paste it in the file 3)In Scribus, go to File>Preferences. Under the "General" tab you should find the section "Paths". Within that section, you can set the path for the scripts: click on "Change" and navigate to the folder created at step 1. Click OK to apply the settings 4)In the menu bar (I don't know how it's called, it's the one with File, Edit, Item etc) click on "Script" and then "Execute Script". You should find the file pasted in step 2 And voilà, you are done! Make sure to select the frame that contains the text, and then execute the script. It works like a charm, I tested it in Scribus v1.4.6. I hope it's all clear, feel free to ask questions if you like, but keep in mind that I'm a noob, just started to learn Scribus (and loving it sooo much) I highly recommend you to learn the basics of the programming language "Python", it's the one used for these scripts: I didn't dig too much in Scribus scripting, but you can do a lot of fancy stuff with it! Besides of this, Python is a full fledge programming language, and you can do many things other than Scribus scripting.. maybe you will find it generally useful

[@RussellTeapot]

@@TJFREE oh, and by the way, thank you very much for these tutorials, your explanations are crystal clear, not too quick, not too slow, and properly sized so they don't feel overwhelming! Your pronounciation is pretty good too, as a non-native English speaker I can easily understand everything you say. Overall, great job!

[@erictorbet8104]

Thank-you for all that, @@RussellTeapot! Yes, I managed to already get it going. But, since you tested this particular text resizing script, I note that I found a little bug in it, so maybe you could try to reproduce it? The bug arises when I have a continuation text box, in which I've linked two text boxes together. Automatically the first text box puts in all the text it can, then it overflows to the next one. So, it's the next one that I need I need to resize. I do that with the script, and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't! When it doesn't, it says "no text in the box" when in fact there is text in the box. Could you please try to see if you get that error? Thank-you!

[@sabrinaroschatt4094]

This is very helpful thank you a lot

[@adeline4305]

Great video thanks !! I can't find the TEXT EDITOR ?

[@adeline4305]

sorry just found... in French they translated "modify text"... :)

[@joshuanun8192]

Your channel is very helpful!! Thanks!! I subscribed it today. ^^

[@TJFREE]

You're welcome! Glad to hear it.

[@MichaelButlerC]

Based off your keysmashing it looks like you don't use Qwerty :) do you use Dvorak or Colemak?

[@TJFREE]

I do use Colemak now, but I'm not sure if I was at the time of recording this video... How about you? What do you use?

[@MichaelButlerC]

@@TJFREE I used Dvorak from around 2002 up until 2021! I finally switched back to qwerty for a few reasons sadly. I just got tired of having to customize things including buying custom keycaps on new keyboards and controls in video games. It turns out that I don't really do that much typing (e.g. essay, blog, or novel writing) to have an non-standard layout be worth it. I never really lost the ability to type qwerty due to using it occasionally on laptops (mine or others')

[@erictorbet8104]

Thank-you, excellent set of tutorials, I basically learned Scribus by watching these. Question about text boxes: Let's say I want text boxes with a boundary around them, with background color, and with the text indented on all 4 sides from the border. This is all possible but it takes awhile to set it up. Is it possible to save this as a "style" of text box which I can access when I create a new text box, or do I have to just duplicate an existing one then erase contents to create a new empty text box with this style? Thank-you for your help!

[@loreauvillephil]

Thanks! Any chance you are going to make a video on creating editable PDF forms?

[@TJFREE]

I'm still looking for some good free software for that. I do have an inkscape tutorial here on editing PDF files: kzbin.info/www/bejne/o2bYmZKed8ugec0

[@TJFREE]

@Zero 01 I've used Scribus to fill out pdf forms, but I've never been able get it to edit the actual text, images, or fields of an existing pdf doc.

[@loreauvillephil]

@@TJFREE Well I was able to create a PDF form that can be edited then saved and printed up. You use the "Text Frame" pdf button to create the text box. That much I know. You can even attach some javascript to make a "Print" button that is hidden on the printed result. Check out www.pressdat.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Editable-Steiner-Page-GRID-compressed.pdf to see what I mean. NOTE-- Sometimes it takes a couple minutes before you can edit it on-line. I don't know why. What I would love to figure out is creating an editable form that has a certain degree of functionality to it - Font, Text Size, text alignment. I wonder if I could use Javascript to do that as well. I'm sure you've noticed the existing resources for Scribus are barely better than useless.

[@codebitcookie8053]

NEW Version of Scribus supports this (pdf tools in the toolbar). If not, You could use LibreOffice Draw! Maybe in combination with other software!

[@shanagraf9519]

I'm using Scribus 1.4.8 and I just can't get to the text properties window. Can someone please help me out here? Thank you very much in advance. Many thanks for these amazing tutorial videos, I appreciate your efforts!

[@BS_VIC]

Might be a bit late... When using 1.4.8 instead of the version he is using (1.5.4), the text properties opens as a new window altogether. Select the text box you want to edit and press ctrl+t - that should do the trick :)

[@mwidunn]

"Sounds simple -- but, it's a little more complicated than you might think." How did I KNOW you were going to say that? Scribus wouldn't be open-source software, would it?

[@sculptorguy]

Great Tutorials. I see you've not covered word count. Is that because Scribus doesn't do it?

[@sculptorguy]

Ive found a way...it will word count text boxes...if I link them, it adds up the total, but it shunts all the text - which I don' want it to do, so I link them, then leave without saving. Thought it might be easier than that, but at least its a way.

[@SLASHZ2000]

Scribus can apply sample text of different languages.

[@joshdenton611]

great tutorial!

[@onone4199]

Nice video!

[@TJFREE]

Thanks Simon!

[@ChaplainAcosta]

Hi. I'm interested in creating a document where the column on the left continues text always on the left column. The right column always has text that flows onto the right column. Can that be done? The idea is to have consecutive text on the left and commentary/references horizontally across from the text in the right column. [Left column] Revelation 1:1 "The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified [it] by His angel to His servant John," [Right column] Daniel 2:28 "But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days. Your dream, and the visions of your head upon your bed, were these:" I can sort of make it happen with Word in the short run, but it doesn't quite work right in the long term.

[@furripupau]

I appreciate the effort, but I'll make a big suggestion: if you want people to learn, please just walk through the entire creation of an whole page. This will be much easier for people to learn from.

[@tulisanteguhgunawan]

thank's Sir

[@paulradford1585]

Custom colours

[@mwidunn]

Not Latin text; rather, Latin gibberish.

[@LandNfan]

Looks like this old Pagemaker user has a lot of relearning to do!

[@laurenwood1376]

Comments 44