LyXProblem Exporting accurately to RTF

Information and discussion about LyX, a WYSIWYM editor, available for Linux, Windows and Mac OS X systems.
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hardyb
Posts: 15
Joined: Mon Feb 03, 2014 4:48 pm

Problem Exporting accurately to RTF

Post by hardyb »

I still cannot find a way to export to MS Word.

I am trying to export to RTF using the advice here http://wiki.lyx.org/Tips/ExportingRichT ... X2rtf#toc1

But the document comes out single column with no images when the pdf is produced two column with images.

I thought I should experiment with the converter options in the preferences dialog but the save / apply button is never enabled when you change the flags.

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scottkosty
Site Moderator
Posts: 542
Joined: Sat Sep 01, 2012 6:38 am

Problem Exporting accurately to RTF

Post by scottkosty »

hardyb wrote:I still cannot find a way to export to MS Word.
Consider pandoc: https://github.com/jgm/pandoc/
e.g. convert from LaTeX (pdflatex).

I am trying to export to RTF using the advice here http://wiki.lyx.org/Tips/ExportingRichT ... X2rtf#toc1

But the document comes out single column with no images when the pdf is produced two column with images.
hardyb wrote: I thought I should experiment with the converter options in the preferences dialog but the save / apply button is never enabled when you change the flags.
I find this dialog a little confusing myself. Did you click on "Modify" after you edited the converter? After that, Save/Apply should be enabled. By the way, when reporting problems like this, it's usually helpful if you state exactly what you did (e.g. I went to Tools > Preference, I clicked on the Coverter text field, I added "blah", and then I couldn't see how to click on save).
hardyb
Posts: 15
Joined: Mon Feb 03, 2014 4:48 pm

Re: Problem Exporting accurately to RTF

Post by hardyb »

Thank you for your pointer to the Modify button. Some reason I didn't spot that. Does seem a little against the usual idiom/pattern though.

Regarding pandoc. I tried the two stage conversion using Adobe Acrobat 7.0 Prof. It was roughly like the PDF but there were still quite a few errors and I think the errors annoyed my reviewers who wanted it in Word, but to edit out all the issues would be too time consuming. But I am now so much into using Lyx that it may be hard / time consuming to switch to Word on its own or some other document editor which produces Word Better.

Does any one have any thoughts which presence/absence of options may be causing the single column and no images?
scottkosty
Site Moderator
Posts: 542
Joined: Sat Sep 01, 2012 6:38 am

Re: Problem Exporting accurately to RTF

Post by scottkosty »

One last thing to try -- export to XHTML (for this you should use the latest version of LyX possible, preferably LyX 2.1 beta 1) and then import that into Word. If there are specific features of export to XHTML missing, you can post an example and an enhancement request at http://www.lyx.org/trac
hardyb
Posts: 15
Joined: Mon Feb 03, 2014 4:48 pm

Re: Problem Exporting accurately to RTF

Post by hardyb »

Thank you, I appreciate it.

My version is old. However, as a rule I like to control all the parameters so not keen to change version find an unexpected impact and find no backwards path.

Do you know if there is a way to install a later version in parallel? And be certain of achieving this?
scottkosty
Site Moderator
Posts: 542
Joined: Sat Sep 01, 2012 6:38 am

Problem Exporting accurately to RTF

Post by scottkosty »

hardyb wrote:Thank you, I appreciate it.

My version is old. However, as a rule I like to control all the parameters so not keen to change version find an unexpected impact and find no backwards path.

Do you know if there is a way to install a later version in parallel? And be certain of achieving this?
On Ubuntu (and Linux in general), yes. This is very easy. I have LyX 2.1 beta 1 installed alongside 2.0.7 and 2.0.4. Each has separate folders for ~/.lyx. For information, see http://wiki.lyx.org/LyX/LyXOnUbuntu#toc3

I do not know for other platforms. I'm sure it's possible, but I'm not sure what the default is. You are right to be hesitant.
dajare
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Feb 21, 2016 12:32 pm

Problem Exporting accurately to RTF

Post by dajare »

This is an old thread, but I am exploring LyX, and found that the RTF export did not work. Getting a document out of LyX in decent shape for other systems would enhance the feasability of using LyX for everyday work, so it was dismaying that the RTF export does not work for me (Mac OSX at the moment) out of the box.

Image

Fortunately, there is another option. The "OpenDocument(tex4ht)" export from LyX produces a decent ODT file. LibreOffice can handle that nicely, and its "Save as..." can then be used to export to DOC, DOCX, and RTF. The best formatting of these three was, in fact, RTF, which came nicely into MS Word (better than DOC or DOCX).

This means having a LibreOffice (or OpenOffice) suite installed, but for those interested in this scenario it would not be a hardship.
scottkosty
Site Moderator
Posts: 542
Joined: Sat Sep 01, 2012 6:38 am

Problem Exporting accurately to RTF

Post by scottkosty »

dajare wrote:This is an old thread, but I am exploring LyX, and found that the RTF export did not work. Getting a document out of LyX in decent shape for other systems would enhance the feasability of using LyX for everyday work, so it was dismaying that the RTF export does not work for me (Mac OSX at the moment) out of the box.
The error signals that it is latex2rtf that gives the error. This is an external command that is not part of LyX. LyX is just using it externally. If you want to file a bug report, file it with them and maybe they can improve things.
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