How to enable importing and exporting different file formats with AbiWord

Etherpad depends on AbiWord or Libre Office to import and export different file formats such as PDF, ODF and MS Word. Plugins can also be used to extend import and export functionality.

Currently we recommend installing and using Libre Office.

Debian / Ubuntu

The installation can be done through the command line. Copy and paste then execute the following, line by line:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install abiword

or sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install libreoffice

The abiword executable should now be installed to /usr/bin/abiword but you can confirm this by running which abiword. Make a note of the path.

or

The soffice executable should now be installed to /usr/bin/soffice but you can confirm this by running which soffice. Make a note of the path.

openSUSE 11.4

Install abiword by using YaST

Download and compile AbiWord on SLE-11 (SUSE Linux Enterprise Edition)

Download the latest abiword release and untar to its subdirectory (on my system, there was a problem which I could overcome by disabling gnome-vfs):

 ./configure --enable-plugins="command" --without-gnomevfs
 make
 make install

FreeBSD

# pkg install abiword

Please note that AbiWord will be installed as /usr/local/bin/abiword (not /usr/bin/abiword)

Other Linux with gtk2

You can compile AbiWord from source.

  cd /usr/local/src
  svn co http://svn.abisource.com/abiword/trunk abiword
  cd abiword
  ./autogen.sh
  ./configure --enable-plugins="command" --with-gtk2
  make
  # make install
  # ldconfig

Test AbiWord installation

 # which abiword
 /usr/bin/abiword
 # abiword --plugin=AbiCommand
 AbiWord command line plugin: Type "quit" to exit
 AbiWord:>

Set up Etherpad to use AbiWord

Now you need to configure Etherpad to your AbiWord installation. Open {path to etherpad}settings.json in a text editor. If you want to use VIM from the command line, assuming Etherpad is installed to /usr/local/etherpad-lite, run sudo vim /usr/local/etherpad-lite.

Find the line that says:

"abiword" : null,

and change it to:

"abiword" : "/usr/bin/abiword",

Use the path to AbiWord noted above. To do this in VIM:

1. Press i to enter INSERT mode
2. Find the 'abiword' configuration and change it
3. Save and close by pressing <escape> then :wq then <enter>

Restart the Etherpad service by running sudo restart etherpad-lite.

Set up Etherpad to use Libre Office

Now you need to configure Etherpad to your Libre Office installation. Open {path to etherpad}settings.json in a text editor. If you want to use VIM from the command line, assuming Etherpad is installed to /usr/local/etherpad-lite, run sudo vim /usr/local/etherpad-lite.

Find the line that says:

"soffice" : null,

and change it to:

"soffice" : "/usr/bin/soffice",

Use the path to Libre Office noted above. To do this in VIM:

1. Press i to enter INSERT mode
2. Find the 'soffice' configuration and change it
3. Save and close by pressing <escape> then :wq then <enter>

Restart the Etherpad service by running sudo restart etherpad-lite.

Tidy

There is an option to tidy up the HTML that Etherpad generates before converting it to PDF with AbiWord/Libre Office. This has the benefit that complex markup generated by users can sometimes be simplified. This can be enabled by configuring the tidyHtml value in the settings.json file.

Find the line that says:

"tidyHtml" : null,

and change it to:

"tidyHtml" : "/usr/bin/tidy",