Using Xara Designer and LibreOffice together

[speedsterharry]

Hi all,

I'm a Maths teacher and for a long time, I used Artworks, aka the ancestor of Xara, on an Acorn Risc PC computer along with Techwriter, a scientific wordprocessor.

Both programs lived happily together and It was such a joy to drag and drop the vector files inside a Techwriter frame for import of schematics... Wanting to edit something in the file, I CTRL-double-clicked on the vector frame inside TW and could edit the file in Artworks, then save and the result would appear in TW's frame. Brilliant !

Now, I no longer use the RISC PC and have a WinPC instead. I can now use many advanced programs on my PC but creating Wordprocessor files with Xara is rather awkward, because as far as I know, LibreOffice doesn't import SVG as true SVG but as raster file ! As a workaround, I save as WMF from Xara then import into LibreOffice (and copy-paste doesn't transfer the vector file but a raster file).

So, does anyone use LibreOffice and Xara in a satisfactorily manner ? If so, I'd love ot hear from you ! I do not want to get rid of LO because the formula editor is so great.

Thank you

[mwenz]

I suppose it depends on the effects used, which will export as a bitmap when using SVG, but the screen shot below is from inside LO that has an XDP exported SVG file. Opening the SVG in InkScape and Illustrator shows that the vector remains.



As well, I chose to export it out as a very small version of the XDP file, then enlarged it significantly, there is no degradation...because it's vector. It hits the exported PDF from LO as vector as well.

I don't use LO for layout work. But like MS Office, I would simply export a PNG at sufficient resolution if there are any effects in XDP that would end up rasterized in the SVG.

Mike

[Acorn]

Remember, you can actually get a RISC OS emulator that will run TechWriter and Artworks and you probably could export Artworks file formats across the divide.
Acorn

[speedsterharry]

Acorn: I forgot to say but I want to be able to exchange documents with my colleagues. It was very difficult working with them during the Acorn era because of file format wars. There's no way I'm going back now (don't get me wrong, my Acorn years have been the most enjoyable computing years ever).

mwenz: Do you mind being more specific ? All I use in Xara is lines and text labels, very basic shapes. However, when inserted inside the LO document, they are translated to bitmaps (when I try exporting the vector file from LO, I can only save PNGs and in the "pictures" folder inside the .ODT file, I don't have any SVG, only PNGs).

[Albacore]

I thought LO will import PDF's? Would that not work instead of .png or not just use Draw in LO itself.

[mwenz]

They may appear as images in LO. And depending upon how you export them from your Xara application and into LO can make a difference. Export from your Xara application as an SVG. Import from File that exported SVG from your Xara application. If you copy and paste it will nearly always be a bitmap that gets pasted into LO.

If you upload a sample drawing you have exported to SVG, I would take a look at it.

Mike

[speedsterharry]

Usually, I save to disk in SVG from Xara
Then Import Image from file
When I trying exporting back, I can't do so in SVG, only bitmap

mwenz: if you want tinkering with some of the SVG I get, you can try with this file

[mwenz]

I'll grab the file in a bit. But are you saying that on "trying exporting back" that you mean exporting out of LO?

[speedsterharry]

But are you saying that on "trying exporting back" that you mean exporting out of LO?

Definitely, exporting back like saving out of LO (to further modify the schematic). Inside the ODT archive, I see no trace of a vector file (except when I use EMF/WMF which is a great shame)

[mwenz]

Don't open the odt as an archive. Select the image and export it as an svg.

It would help if you explain the what and why of your unusual workflow. But it works with svg in both directions.