Saving as packages
It can be really frustrating when you transfer a file to another computer only to find that you are missing either an image or a typeface. The “Save as Package” feature allows you to gather together all the files that you’ve used in a publication, including fonts and linked graphics, for easy transfer to another computer or to a print bureau. When you package a publication, you create a special PPP file that contains the linked resources. This can be opened and extracted at a later date and will preserve the file links. This method allows you to continue work on the publication, without having to worry whether you’ve overlooked supporting resources. By including resources such as bitmaps, movies and sound files, regardless of whether they are linked or embedded, documents can be guaranteed to open on any machine. Including referenced fonts ensures that they will always look the same.
To save a document as a package:
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Go to File>Save as Package…
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Type a name for your publication and choose a destination folder. Click Save.
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The Save as Package dialog appears. Check the Fonts option to include any font files within the package. The Linked Resources option is checked by default. Click OK.
The file will be saved as a PPP file, but one that has special properties that allow PagePlus to recognise it as a package when it is next opened.
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Close the publication.
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When you save the file as a package, the file size will increase as it will include all of the resources and/or font files that have been used. Please bear this is mind if you intend to email the document as an attachment!
To open a package and extract the resources:
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Go to File>Open…
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Browse to the file, select it, and click Open.
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In the Opening Package dialog, click Yes to extract resources and fonts.
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In the Browse For Folder dialog, choose the location that the files will be extracted to. Click the Make New Folder button to create a folder if needed. Click OK.
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The resource and/or font files will be extracted to the chosen location and the publication will open.
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If there are files with the same name as the extracted files, the extracted files will be renamed to Pag#.* (e.g. if the folder already contains a file called ball.jpg, the extracted file would be renamed from ball.jpg to Pag1.jpg).
The resources will now be linked to the new location and the file will revert to a standard PagePlus file.
At this point, any font files will not have been installed. Although you will be able to view them in the document, you will not be able to use them for editing purposes as they need to be installed separately. See Installed vs embedded fonts for more information.
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If you want to maintain the publication as a package, you will need to use the Save as Package… option from the File menu again.
To open a package without extracting the resources:
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Go to File>Open…
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Browse to the file, select it, and click Open.
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In the Opening Package dialog, click No.
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The publication will open and the images and fonts will display in the Resource Manager as embedded.
At this point you can view or make small changes to the file, e.g. add QuickShapes or new Text objects. If you
File>Save at this point, as long as no new resources or fonts have been used, the file will remain ‘packaged’. However, we recommend that if you plan to make changes to the file, you should extract the resources first.
Installed vs embedded fonts
When you open a packaged file in PagePlus, the fonts will display as an Embedded font. This means that the font displays correctly on screen and when you print the document but it will not be available for general use within other publications. An embedded font is displayed as !fontname on the Text context toolbar.
In order to be able to use the font in other publications, you will need to manually install it to your Windows® fonts folder. See Microsoft Windows help for more information.