Introduction: Pressbooks Quick Guide

This section offers a quick guide to Pressbooks, including a series of short video introductions to key topics, short powerpoint guides, Pressbooks webinar recordings from BCcampus, a list of post-secondary institutions in the U.S. and Canada with their own Pressbooks catalogs, and frequently asked questions about Pressbooks.

Table of Contents: Pressbooks Quick Guide

• Pressbooks Quick Guide
  • How to Get Your Book into Pressbooks
  • Pressbooks Video Tutorial Series
  • Pressbooks Training Webinar PowerPoint Slides
  • Pressbooks Webinar Recordings – BCcampus
  • Administrators, Developers, Technical Support
  • Pressbooks Catalogs
  • OpenStax Textbooks in Pressbooks
  • Pressbooks FAQs – BCcampus Open Education Answer Guide

How to Get Your Book Into Pressbooks

Even if you’ve already started writing your book, it’s easy to import into Pressbooks.

1. Ways to Get Your Book Into Pressbooks

No matter where your manuscript is now–in your head, in another software or even fully produced as an ebook–there’s a way to get it into Pressbooks so you can revise, write or complete it. Here are the basics:

• No matter what stage your book is in, you can copy and paste the text manually into the Pressbooks interface. This may be the best method. While it takes a little more effort up front, it will preserve the formatting that will translate into an ebook (line breaks, bulleted lists, bold, italics, headings and subheads), while stripping out formatting that won’t.
• You can also write and format your book directly in Pressbooks, which is arguably simplest.
• Pressbooks will also import text from Word documents (though some reformatting and cleanup may be needed with this method). We recommend using this for books with many chapters.
• Want to go blog to book? Import your blog files from WordPress.
• If your book is already in EPUB form, you can still get it into the platform–Pressbooks will convert it back to editable form.

2. What to Do Next

Once you’ve imported your book, whether manually by cutting and pasting or instantly through one of the other import methods, make sure all the elements have transmitted correctly.

To do so:

• Go into your Dashboard and click on Organize Text. Check that every chapter and section imported in their original hierarchy and that none are missing.
• Next, go into each chapter. Highlight each type of text–headings, paragraphs and subheadings, and apply a style in the Visual Text Editor’s formatting menu.
• Finally, export a copy and review the output on your ereader or a simulator such as Kindle Previewer. If you see any funky formatting, go back into the chapters using the Text Editor and delete anything causing bad markup. (Learn more about markup here and here.)

These two steps will ensure that your book outputs elegantly and that there are no formatting inconsistencies.

Pressbooks Video Tutorial Series

The below list of videos are from the BCcampus OpenEd Pressbooks Video Tutorial Series. These videos are also embedded throughout this guide.

The first two videos are for information purposes. UH OER will provide you with a book in our Pressbooks repository.

Outline of videos:

Getting Started with Pressbooks

• Create a Pressbooks Account
• Create a Book in Pressbooks
• The Pressbooks Dashboard

• Add, Organize, and Delete Parts and Chapters

Accounts and Users

• Reset Your Password
• Change Your Password
• Add and Manage Users

The Pressbooks Editor

• Insert an External Link

• Insert an Internal Link

• Insert Internal Links with Anchor Tags

• Create a Table

• Create a Glossary

Images

• Add and Format Images

• Accessible Images

• Media Attributions

Files, Multimedia, and Plugins

• Make Files Available for Download

• Embed Media

• Plugins

Import Pressbooks Content

• Clone a Book

• Search and Import

• Import a Pressbooks XML File

Import Non-Pressbooks Content

• Import a Word Document

• Import a Web Page

• Copy and Paste

Metadata, Licenses, and Attribution

• Automatic Pages and Content

• Book Info

• Add and Manage Contributors

• Provide Attribution

Manage Your Book’s Appearance

• Themes
• Theme Options
• Custom Styles

Publish Your Book

• Hide Chapters in Webbook and/or Export Files

• Export Files

• Make the Webbook Public/Private

Pressbooks Training Webinar PowerPoint Slides

Pressbooks Webinar Recordings

Below are recordings from past BCcampus Pressbooks Training webinars. (These webinars were discontinued on October 10, 2018.)

Introduction

Intermediate 1: How to import/export files

Intermediate 2: Layout and styling tips

Intermediate 3: Finding, citing, attributing OER

Intermediate 4: Embedding and adding multimedia: beyond the basics

Administrators, Developers, Technical Support

For administrators managing their organization’s Pressbooks instance, individuals who provide technical support, and developers who build and fix Pressbooks features, see below for support communities and resources:

• The Pressbooks Network Manager’s Guide: This guide details how to use the many Pressbooks features that are specific to and controlled by site administrators.
• GitHub for Pressbooks: GitHub is an online development community where individuals work together to build software. GitHub for Pressbooks is a branch dedicated to improving the Pressbooks platform.
• Pressbooks Discourse: This forum is a place for developers and administrators of Pressbooks Open Source software to discuss questions and issues related to the configuration and maintenance of Pressbooks networks, as well as to propose and refine feature ideas for Pressbooks core and plugin development.

Pressbooks Catalogs

Several post-secondary institutions in Canada and the U.S. have established their own instances of Pressbooks and, many, host a catalogue of open textbooks and other OER within that instance. Several of these are listed below alphabetically by province or state.

CANADA

Alberta

• Athabasca University: Faculty of Health Disciplines
• University of Alberta: Open Publishing at UAL

British Columbia

• BCcampus: BC Open Textbooks and BC Faculty Pressbooks
• Kwantlen Polytechnic University: Open Education
• Thompson Rivers University Pressbooks
• Trinity Western University

Nova Scotia

• Dalhousie University Libraries Digital Editions

Ontario

• Carleton University Pressbooks publishing system
• eCampusOntario: Open Library Publishing Platform
• Ryerson University Pressbooks
• University of Toronto Open E-Text
• York University Pressbooks

Prince Edward Island

• University of PEI: Pressbooks at the Robertson Library

Quebec

• Rebus Press

Saskatchewan

• University of Saskatchewan: OpenPress.USask.ca

UNITED STATES

California

• UC Berkeley Open Book Publishing

Hawaiʻi

• University of Hawai’i Pressbooks

Indiana

• Indiana University Pressbooks

Iowa

• University of Iowa Pressbooks

Massachusetts

• University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries

Minnesota

• Minnesota Libraries Publishing Project

New Hampshire

• Pressbooks @ Granite State College

New York

• Open SUNY Milne Publishing

Ohio

• Cleveland State University: Pressbooks @MSL (Michael Schwartz Library)
• The Ohio State University Pressbooks

Oregon

• Open Oregon Educational Resources
• Oregon State University Open Textbooks

Texas

• University of Houston Open Educational Resources
• University of Texas at Arlington: Mavs Open Press

Washington

• University of Washington Libraries: Pressbooks Publishing Platform
• Whatcom Community College: Open Textbook Collection

Wisconsin

• University of Wisconsin Pressbooks

OpenStax Textbooks in Pressbooks

Each of the 33 OpenStax textbooks in the B.C. Open Textbook Collection has a Pressbooks copy.

The OpenStax collection contains a total of 59 books. Missing from the BCcampus Pressbooks collection are AP (Advanced Placement) books, translations, and first editions for which second editions have been released.

Links to Pressbooks copies can be found in the B.C. Open Textbook Collection by locating the record page for a specific OpenStax textbook and clicking on the “Editable” label under Get This Book on the right-hand side of the textbook’s web page. A second click to “Editable: Pressbooks copy” completes the task. Use the keyword “OpenStax” to reveal all OpenStax textbooks posted in the B.C. Open Textbook Collection.

Custom copies

B.C. and Yukon instructors and staff who have created accounts on the free BCcampus self-serve instance of Pressbooks (and anyone with a Pressbooks account) can create personal copies of these OpenStax books by following instructions found in Add Content.

Because the OpenStax importing process wasn’t perfect and resulted in formatting errors, directions by each copy recommend that the online Pressbooks version of these books not be used in the classroom. Instead, students and instructors are encouraged to link to the original OpenStax online version provided on the record page.

Restrictions

Copyright, licensing, ISBNs, citing information, and redistribution instructions are listed at the bottom of the home page for each OpenStax Pressbooks copy. While textbook content is openly licensed, the OpenStax and OpenStax CNX names, logos, and book covers are not and may not be reproduced without the prior and express written consent of Rice University. For this reason, textbook covers are not posted in the Pressbooks copies.

Pressbooks FAQs — BCcampus Open Education Answer Guide

• What is Pressbooks?
• Does it cost money to use Pressbooks?
• How do I set up an account in Pressbooks?
• How do I add other users to a book in Pressbooks?
• How do I gain access to an unpublished book in Pressbooks?
• How do I import an open textbook in Pressbooks?
• Can a Google Doc file be imported into Pressbooks?
• Will Pressbooks support books written in a variety of languages?
• How do I link or hyperlink material in a book created in Pressbooks?
• How do I add equations and formulas to a book created in Pressbooks?
• Where is the word count for a book in Pressbooks?
• What are the differences between digital and print PDF files?
• How do I delete a book from my Pressbooks account?
• Where can I find more help with Pressbooks?