My Project is Done. How Can I Print?

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My Translation is Done. How Do I Print?

Greetings, tech support personnel all around the world! Here's another update for you from John Wood, with the Tech Advance Help Desk!

When you've finished with a translation project, the next step is usually to print it. BTT-Writer has the ability to produce a PDF, but it's not always what we're looking for in terms of format.

Behold! USFM Converter!

The Wycliffe Associates IT team has responded to this need with a special tool: the BTT USFM Converter. USFM stands for Unified Standard Format Markers, and it's a system for writing Scripture that preserves verse and chapter marks in a plain text format. BTT-Writer uses a form of USFM, although it breaks the text into chunks that are not supported by the USFM standard.

One of the export options from BTT-Writer is Export to USFM File. This pulls all of the pieces of a BTT-Writer project into a single USFM file. However, this file doesn't look much like what we expect a Bible to look like.

The USFM Converter takes this USFM file and turns it into either an HTML file (like a web page) or a docx file, like those used by Microsoft Word. The advantage of this format is, that although USFM Converter can provide a lot of the formatting options that we want, a word processor can change the format even further, to make the output exactly what the local leadership wants.

Formatting in a Word Processor

We don't have the space or the expertise to explain all of the different format options available in a modern word processor, but there are tutorials and resources on the Internet that you can find to help you, and if you're not an English speaker, you may find some resources in your language.

Here's an example of the format bar in LibreOffice, a free office software program that can be freely downloaded and used.

Starting at the left, we can make text Bold, Italic, Underlined. The next option changes the text color. We'll skip the next box for now, but after that we can set the font, or typeface. Then, we set the size of the font, measured in points. After that are four buttons for aligning the text to the left, the center, the right, or justified (flat text on both sides) right and left.

The next option allows us to make a list with dots in front of each item, and the option after that is for a list with numbers by the items. The last three icons move the text further to the right, to the left, or change the spacing between lines.

Of course, some of these options aren't useful for a Bible, but there are many others that are. USFM Converter is able to set the text in multiple columns, but LibreOffice is able to offer column options that are much more precise. You can change the paper size to a variety of different sizes, even sizes that are special to a special paper in your country.

The fifth option in the format bar is very useful. In the screenshot, it says "Default Paragraph". This is called a paragraph style. A style is a set of formats that are applied in the same way to every element (in this case, a paragraph) that has that style.

When you change the contents of a style, the changes are automatically applied to every place in the document that uses that style. In addition, you can make styles that are based upon other styles, so changing one style can potentially change several other styles. (You could, for example, base several paragraph styles upon one style, and change the font size in that style to change all of the font sizes.)

Again, this newsletter is not a good place for complete training in how to use styles, but there is a lot of material on the Internet that teaches this. LibreOffice has documentation online (and for download) at https://documentation.libreoffice.org/en/english-documentation/

At least some of the documentation is also available in Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, German, French, Dutch, and several other languages.

Specific formatting questions ("How do I do this one thing?") can be asked of the Help Desk or in one of our chat forums (as linked below).

Next Time: We will look at rescuing a project from a broken BTT-Writer or device.

We're still working on a way for people to contact us in WhatsApp. We do have several regional groups in WhatsApp. If you don't currently have one for your region, you can create a group in WhatsApp and invite the other workers in your area to join it.

We prefer Telegram because it's more secure. You can join our group on Telegram using this link: https://t.me/joinchat/Gkxa1q-oHBEYEjPQ.

You can join us on Discord using this link:

https://discord.gg/WscT5aC

If the link has expired (Discord links are usually only good for 7 days) please email the Help Desk and ask for a new one.

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