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| Scribus | |
|---|---|
 | |
 Scribus 1.4.6 underLinux Mint 18 | |
| Developer | The Scribus Team |
| Initial release | 16 June 2001; 24 years ago (2001-06-16) |
| Stable release | 1.6.4[1]  / 20 April 2025 |
| Repository | |
| Written in | C++ (Qt) |
| Operating system | Linux/UNIX Mac OS X 10.5-10.8 (up to 1.4.8) Mac OS X 10.9 (64-bit, up to 1.5.3), Mac OS X 10.10-10.12 (64-bit, up to 1.5.4), macOS X 10.13 (64-bit, up to 1.5.5) Windows 2000 (32-bit, up to 1.5.0), Windows Vista (64-bit), Windows 7 OS/2 Warp 4/eComStation (up to 1.5.0) ArcaOS FreeBSD (up to 1.5.0), PC-BSD (up to 1.5.0), OpenBSD (up to 1.5.0), NetBSD (up to 1.5.0) Solaris (up to 1.4.8) OpenIndiana (up to 1.5.0) GNU/Hurd Haiku |
| Available in | Multilingual |
| Type | Desktop publishing |
| License | GNU LGPL 2.1,MIT,3-clause BSD,Public domain |
| Website | www |
Scribus (/ˈskraɪbəs/) isfree and open-sourcedesktop publishing (DTP) software available for most desktop operating systems. It is designed for layout,typesetting, and preparation of files for professional-quality image-setting equipment. Scribus can also create animated andinteractive PDF presentations and forms. Example uses include writing newspapers, brochures,newsletters, posters, and books.
Scribus is written inQt and released under theGNU General Public License. There are native versions available forUnix,Linux,BSD,macOS,Haiku,Microsoft Windows,OS/2 (includingArcaOS andeComStation) operating systems.
Scribus supports most majorbitmap formats, includingTIFF,JPEG, andPSD.Vector drawings can be imported or directly opened for editing. The long list of supported formats includesEncapsulated PostScript,SVG,Adobe Illustrator, andXfig. Professional type/image-setting features includeCMYK colors andICCcolor management. It has a built-inscripting engine usingPython. It is available in 60 languages.
High-level printing is achieved using its own internal level 3PostScript driver, including support forfont embedding and sub-setting withTrueType,Type 1, andOpenType fonts. The internal driver supports full Level 2 PostScript constructs and a large subset of Level 3 constructs.
PDF support includes transparency, encryption, and a large set of the PDF 1.5 specification including layers (OCG), as well asPDF/X-3,[2] including interactive PDFs form fields, annotations, and bookmarks.[3][failed verification]
The current file format, called SLA, isXML. Old versions of SLA were based on XML. Text can be imported fromOpenDocument (ODT) text documents (such as fromLibreOffice Writer),OpenOffice.org XML (OpenOffice.org Writer's SXW files),Microsoft Word'sDOC,PDB, andHTML formats (although some limitations apply). ODT files can typically be imported along with their paragraph styles, which are then created in Scribus. HTML tags which modify text, such asbold anditalic, are supported. Word and PDB documents are only imported as plain text.[4]
ScribusGenerator is amail merge-like extension to Scribus.[5][6]
Scribus 1.5.1 added PDF/X-4 support.[7]
Initially, Scribus did not properly supportcomplex script rendering and so could not be used withUnicode text for languages written in Arabic, Hebrew, Indic, and Southeast Asian writing systems, even though it supported Unicode character encoding.[8][9] In August 2012, it was announced that a third party had developed a system to support complex Indic scripts.[10][11][9] In May 2015 it was announced that the ScribusCTL project had started to improve complex layout by integrating the OpenType text-shaping engineHarfBuzz into the official Scribus 1.5.1svn branch.[12] In July 2016 it was announced that the text layout engine had been rewritten from scratch in preparation for support of complex scripts coming in Scribus 1.5.3 and later.[13] In December 2016 Scribus announced they got support for OpenType advanced feature in 1.5.3svn, as well as complex script and RTL direction.[14]
Scribus 1.4.7 did not have OpenType alternative glyph support, so ligatures, for example, were not inserted automatically;[15] this became available from v1.5.3.
Scribus cannot read or write the native file formats of other desktop publishing programs such asQuarkXPress orInDesign; the developers consider that reverse engineering those file formats would be prohibitively complex and could risk legal action from the makers of those programs.[16]
Due to licensing issues, the software package does not include support for thePantone color matching system (PMS), which is included in some commercial desktop publishing applications. Pantone colors can be obtained and incorporated within Scribus without licensing issues.[17] Scribus is shipped with more than 100 color palettes, most donated by various commercial color vendors, but also including scientific, national, and government color standards.
Support for importingMicrosoft Publisher is incorporated into version 1.5,[18] and QuarkXPress Tag files, InDesign's IDML, as well as InCopy's ICML formats were added to the development branch.[19]
Scribus 1.5.3 onwards contains more than 300 color palettes.
German Organisation freieFarbe e.V. built last HLC Colour Atlas for real colours based on CIELAB. This free Colour Palette is also available in Scribus 1.5.4+.[20]
Scribus 1.5.6 supports native PDF export with embedded open type fonts and PDF 1.6.Python 3 is now default in scripts.[21]Scribus 1.5.7 improves undo and redo action. Qt 5.14 is new base for compilation and 3rd party components have newer versions.Next version is 1.5.8 as perhaps last step before 1.6.0.[22]
From view of developers Version 1.5.7 is stable. There are no new versions in pipe with backports for the 1.4 tree with the near end of Qt4 support in most systems.
Scribus 1.5.8 supports full Python 3 support also for MacOS and modern UI features like Dark Mode.[23]
Books about Scribus are available in several languages,[24] as is a manual for using Scribus 1.3 in desktop publishing.[25]
Janayugom, aMalayalam daily newspaper inKerala,India, migrated all desktop publishing to Scribus andGimp in November 2019, saving over 10 million Indian rupees (approximatelyUS$130,000).[26]
