Support

The current Publishing Assistant documentation is maintained online at the links below. You can also access it from PA by going to the Help menu and then selecting User Manual. The ‘Online’ version is the preferred format, and the most up-to-date content.

6.1

7.0 PA 7.0 Beta - Introduction Videos

Job Specifications & UI Update

Many changes and new features in Publishing Assistant 7 are found within the updated job specifications interface.

Improvements to the organization and presentation of job specifications will make successful job setup simpler and more efficient, especially for new users.

Send/Receive

The new PA send/receive system makes it possible for users to collaborate on typesetting jobs, and for individual users synchronize work on multiple computers. A roles and permissions system keeps job assignments organized.

You can subscribe to the Typesetting Community of Practice Google group and receive notifications via e-mail. There a lot of people who are willing to help by sharing their knowledge and skills.

PA 7.0 - Frequently Asked Questions

What is new and what has changed in PA 7.0?

See the PA 7.0 release notes here.

Is PA 7 compatible with previous PA versions?

You can continue to use PA 6.1 while you try out PA 7.0. Jobs created with PA 7.0 are entirely independent of jobs created with previous versions. The content for PA 7 jobs is stored in a new 'PA7' folder. PA 7 cannot work directly with jobs created in previous PA versions. These jobs must be migrated if you want to work with them in PA 7.0.

Should I migrate a job currently in process to PA 7?

Publishing Assistant can attempt to migrate jobs created by versions 2.0 through 6.1. However, there is no assurance that migrated documents will be formatted identically to their original sources, due to the additions and changes made to job specifications and to the content of InDesign documents created by PA 7. There is always a possibility of some text reflow and other changes. For this reason it is recommended to complete any typesetting jobs in process in the PA version they were started with.

However, if you do wish to use PA 7 for an existing job, it is acceptable to use PA 7 to migrate the existing job without any documents and then create all documents again within PA 7.

Will existing changes file expressions work in PA 7?

PA 7.0 introduces some major changes to how hidden metadata needed for adjusting pages is stored within the InDesign documents. Instead of using character styles to hide metadata, documents created by PA 7.0 use InDesign 'conditional text' instead. This change means that it is possible that some regular expressions used in finalChanges.txt files may not continue to work as expected — if an expression depends in any way on matching previously used character style names like 'hiddenChapter' or 'hiddenNote'.

Can I use templates created in older version of PA with PA 7?

Templates created with previous versions of PA will not work as-is in PA 7. However, it is possible to migrate these templates. To do so, open previous PA 6 job which uses a template you want to migrate. Then migrate this job to PA 7 using the PA 7 job migration utility. The template will be migrated to an updated PA 7 compatible version through this process.

Do I need training and approval to work with PA 7?

All releases of Publishing Assistant prior to 7.0 have required individual approval for new users. This has included the requirement that a new user participate in a training process recognized by UBS or SIL, or be mentored by an experienced user.

With the upcoming full release of PA 7.0 (not in the Beta), the training requirement will be removed. Any registered Paratext user will be able to install PA and use it together with a registered and approved project. However, the category of a trained, supported, and 'approved' user will remain. Only 'approved' users will have the option to submit problem reports or to receive direct support from the PA team.

Report a Problem

Publishing Assistant has a feature which allows registered users to report a problem to the PA support and development team. Using this feature sends the data needed to reproduce the job and the problem document(s) on a supporter’ system. Other necessary information such as the versions of PA, InDesign, and Windows in use are included.

Make sure that the the InDesign book containing the files you are requesting help with is open in InDesign.
From the Publishing Assistant Menu button, select Help, then select Report a Problem. The Report a Problem dialog will open.
Enter your email address in the field at the top.
Click on the Add Documents button.
Select one or more documents to include in the backup. Hold down the SHIFT or CTRL keys to select multiple books.
Select whether all pictures, or only pictures in the select document should be included in the backup.
Click OK at the bottom of the document selection window.
Write a description of the problem you are having in the large empty box in the bottom half of the window. If possible, please include a list of the steps which are required to reproduce the problem.
Click Send at the bottom of the main “Report a Problem” dialog.

You will be asked to confirm whether it is OK to transmit the backup data directly to the UBS/SIL servers.