11. Using FTP server in Sophie Author

Sophie Author can export books as Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) documents for viewing in browsers. The exported version of the book has all of the Sophie features, but HTML versions cannot be edited is Sophie. In addition, exported book can be automatically uploaded to a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) server, optimized for iOS or Android devices. Exporting to the FTP server can add the book to an iPad Sophie Reader library.

Connecting to FTP Server

Turn to the Server tab in the left flap in Sophie Author. It looks like this:

The top palette is the list of known Sophie Servers; the three top buttons add a new server, edit the address of an existing, and delete a server from the list. To add a FTP Server, click the + icon to add a server. In "Server kind" dropdown, select "FTP server". In "Server url" field enter the address of the desired ftp server in the following format: "ftp://address-of-the-server". If you would like your books to be accessible via the iPad app, enter a URL to an http server that lists the FTP server content in the "Default Http server for viewing" field. Otherwise, you may leave this field blank.

When you've successfully connected, the server should be added to the list of servers, as ftp://address-of-the-server is in the example above. The blue and red icon next to the server name means that the server is not connected. To connect, select the server, and click the Connect button at the bottom of the top palette or just double click on the server you want to connect to. You'll then be prompted for a username and password for an account on that FTP Server:

When you successfully connect, you'll see this:

If it is not working, you'll see a message saying that the connection failed; check that you entered the address correctly and try again.

When you've successfully connected to a FTP Server, the icon before the server name in the server palette will become green and you will be able to save books on that server.

Uploading books to FTP Server

Once you're logged in to a FTP Server, you can save books to the server. This is easy to do: just select File > Save on Server. You'll see a dialogue box that looks like this:

In the dialog are listed the different Sophie and FTP servers that you've added. Choose the one that you want to save the book to. You will be asked for "Book author", "Book title" and "Web server". These are needed for the iPad application library. If you do not intent to use one, you can leave these with default values.

Choose export version dialog allows you to save a version optimized for a specific device.

Choose which fonts to export dialog allows you to include fonts that you've used in your book. That guarantees proper displaying of your book, but make sure that licence of fonts you use permits embedding.

You'll then see confirmation that your book was successfully exported or if there were problems.

Please remember to save the book in Sophie, because exported versions are not editable.

Uploading new versions of a book to FTP Server

Once uploaded, the book can be edited in Sophie and updated on the server. You will only need to open the original .book.s2 or .pack.s2 file, edit it, and then re-export on the same server. Sophie will ask you whether you would like to update the existing version on the server, or create a copy. If you just want your book updated, select "Overwrite". Otherwise, make a copy.