Creating a table in Scribus DTP (not hypnotherapy)

If you have seen some of my previous posts about Linux you'll know that I made the move from Windows to Linux quite a while ago.

Part of my work involves creating desk top published documents. In the past I used the very fine Adobe InDesign (on Windows to do this. Adobe however seem to have no inclination to produce a Linux version of their products. Indeed they have now gone down the web based subscription route with Creative Cloud.

Not for me thank you.

So I persevere with the open source DTP package Scribus. Actually this is a nice program with a lot of the facilities you need except in one area; implementing tables. It's pretty hopeless at this. If you create a Scribus table it's basically a collection of frames stitched together.

This has had me stumped for a while; but now I have a work around.

It relies on the fact that Scribus can import vector based drawings in a variety of file formats.

Here's how I do it.

1) Create your table at the finished size you want in LibreOffice Writer. Save it as a document in case you need to make changes later.

2) Make sure there is a background fill or else the borders seem to get lost in the process

3) Export the table to a PDF (I'd export to Postscript but that option does not exist on the version I use). I embed the font and unclick 'make this PDF editable in LibreOffice'

4) Now open up Inkscape the vector drawing program that is similar to Adobe Illustrator.

5) Inkscape will allow us to import (under the file menu) the newly created PDF.

6) An import box will be shown. Set the precision to high and unclick the 'Replace PDF fonts with nearest font' radio box. Leave embed images and click OK.

7) Now you have your new Inkscape drawing that should look identical to the original table.

8) Go to the file menu and 'save as' a .PS postscript file.

9) Now return to Scribus

10) Go to the file menu. Select import/Get vector file. Select the file you just created.

11) A fist icon will be shown on the screen to indicate where the vector drawing will be placed. No need to be exact you can move it around once on the page. Click to place the drawing.

12) You now have a nice clean accurately sized table on the page.

I know this seems a bit longwinded but it works, looks clean and delivers for me.

Alternatively I have seen others use the Draw package of LibreOffice to create the table. This has the advantage of being able to save the table directly in a vector file without needing the Inkscape step, however being able to accurately size table cells in Draw is harder as there is no dialog allowing you to specify cell size. (They can be dragged with the mouse).

I hope you find this useful, it has certainly enabled me to make more use of Scribus until such time as table functions are fully implemented in either version 1.5 or 1.6 (I use 1.4.1)