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IDProjectCategoryView StatusLast Update
0017678ScribusGeneralpublic2025-11-08 17:12
ReporterDavidGDFC Assigned To 
PrioritynormalSeveritymajorReproducibilitysometimes
Status newResolutionopen 
PlatformWindows 11 
Product Version1.6.4 
Summary0017678: A link to an image is broken if I move my Scribus document to a different folder
DescriptionHi,

The other day I was unable to reproduce this bug, but it's happened to me again just now, so here I am.

In an image frame, I click on 'Get Image' and I add a particular image located in a folder whose parent folder is different from the parent folder of the folder where I keep my Scribus document. In short, both my Scribus document and the image are in completely different folders.

Things work fine so far, but if I move my Scribus document to a different folder (let's say to a subfolder of the folder where it used to be) and then I open it in Scribus, the programme can't find the image, which is in same folder as it's been all the time.

If I double-click on the image frame to see what happened, it shows that Scribus is trying to find the image in the wrong folder. The image is here:

C:\David\multimedia[...]

And yet Scribus is trying to find it:

C:\Users\David\multimedia[...]

Therefore, it's added something to the path.
Tags#waiting
PatchNo

Activities

JLuc

2025-11-08 00:48

developer   ~0053177

Last edited: 2025-11-08 08:59

This is the way Scribus is meant to be : the user has to manage the links of the main file toward the images.
One has to be very carefull to this when one is not used to it yet.
So as to make that behaviour more comfortable, the convention is to store all images inside a single "images" subfolder.

The "Fichiers > Rassembler pour la sortie" main menu command is all it requires so as to copy all used images into that "images" subfolder.
Later, in case you wish to move the .sla main file, ALSO move the images subfolder along with it.

ale

2025-11-08 08:26

manager   ~0053178

Scribus does not support (yet) moving the .sla file to a different location.

You can go for "File > Collect for output" or use the image search in "Manage images".

There is a proposal somewhere for a "project mode", where the user would be forced to only link to images that are in the folder containing the .sla (or in its sub folders).
But from what I read in here https://bugs.scribus.net/view.php?id=17063 it might not be needed at all, and if you keep all the images in the same tree as the .sla it might just work.

The same https://bugs.scribus.net/view.php?id=17063 ticket might explain why you see this "strange" behavior.

If you're still convinced that Scribus uses the wrong paths, please post the details on:

- where the .sla file and the image original were.
- where the .sla file and the images are at the end.

If you don't want to disclose the real path, please reproduce the bug with folder names that you can share and post those paths.

DavidGDFC

2025-11-08 09:17

reporter   ~0053179

Hi,

Thanks for the replies. I'd expect Scribus not to be able to find the image in these two situations:

1. I have moved the image.
2. The image is in a subfolder of the folder where I keep my Scribus document, and then I move my Scribus document somewhere else.

In this case:

1. The image stays where it was before it was linked.
2. The image and my Scribus document are saved in completely different folders (they don't share the same parent folder).
3. Scribus is adding a new parent folder to the link of the image.

DavidGDFC

2025-11-08 09:31

reporter   ~0053180

I'm trying now to reproduce this issue with folders I can share, but I've been unsuccesful so far. I've noticed the issue twice in the last week so far.

I just think that Scribus shouldn't mind if I move my document to a different folder, as long as the image stays where it used to be. Again, if the path was relative, this would be a different matter, but in my case scenario the Scribus document and the image are saved in completely different places.

I'm just learning how to use Scribus and, in the future, I'll make sure I keep all my images in a subfolder of the folder where I keep my Scribus document.

DavidGDFC

2025-11-08 09:42

reporter   ~0053181

OK, I was finally able to reproduce it:

Document:

C:\documents\tests\November\Friday\Scribus document.sla

Image:

C:\image\project\pictures\2025-10-03 - 21.30.32 - Primark.jpg

Now this is the key: if I move my document to the previous folder, there's no issue:

C:\documents\tests\November\Scribus document.sla

But if I move the document to a subfolder, then it can't find the image:

C:\documents\tests\November\Friday\1\Scribus document.sla

Scribus is trying to find it here, which is a made-up folder, a mixture between the document path and the image path:

C:\documents\image\project\pictures

DavidGDFC

2025-11-08 09:46

reporter   ~0053182

I'm using Scribus 1.6.4 for Windows, by the way.

utnik

2025-11-08 17:12

updater   ~0053187

hi david
this is exactly what i would expect. scribus stores a path like '../../../../image/project/pictures 2025 - 10.30.32 - Primark.jpg'. the first four steps are to go down to the node shared by the .sla file and by the .jpg file. when you mave the .sla file one step up to your '1' folder, the path goes still down its four steps. but this time it lands at 'c:/documents' instead of 'c:/'. (which is now fife steps down from the .sla file…)

no bug at all. just a misunderstanding of how relative paths work.

Issue History

Date Modified Username Field Change
2025-11-07 23:57 DavidGDFC New Issue
2025-11-08 00:48 JLuc Note Added: 0053177
2025-11-08 00:49 JLuc Note Edited: 0053177
2025-11-08 08:26 ale Note Added: 0053178
2025-11-08 08:26 ale Tag Attached: #waiting
2025-11-08 08:59 JLuc Note Edited: 0053177
2025-11-08 09:17 DavidGDFC Note Added: 0053179
2025-11-08 09:31 DavidGDFC Note Added: 0053180
2025-11-08 09:42 DavidGDFC Note Added: 0053181
2025-11-08 09:46 DavidGDFC Note Added: 0053182
2025-11-08 17:12 utnik Note Added: 0053187