Supported Version
The latest version of odt2braille can be downloaded here:
In order to install odt2braille, OpenOffice.org version 3.2 or later is required. Before installing, first remove any older versions.
NEW! Mac users can try out this Mac OS beta version. It does not have the print functionality yet, currently it is only possible to save as Braille. This version is only tested on Mac OS Leopard (run on an Intel processor). Please let us know if it works on your system too!.
WARNING!: Because in version 0.1.1 preferences are stored in a different place, templates and documents created with older versions will loose their saved preferenced when you open them with this new version of odt2braille.
NOTE: Internet Explorer has the annoying habit to save an OpenOffice.org extension as a .zip file, instead of an .oxt file. After downloading, just rename the .zip back to .oxt.
TIP: If you get an error saying "Could not create Java implementation loader", try LibreOfficePortable.
Other Downloads
- It is strongly recommended that you also download and install the odt2braille 6 dot and odt2braille 8 dot fonts.
- This CSS stylesheets enables you to view PEF files in an internet browser. Just place the .css and .pef files in the same folder and open the .pef file in your browser.
- AccessODF is a really useful complement to odt2braille. The tool enables users to evaluate and repair accessibility issues. It is available as an extension for Writer.
All Releases
Snapshots
You want to try out new features but you can't wait for a new release? Then download the latest new snapshots here. Attention, some of these new features are not tested thoroughly and may therefore contain bugs.
| Version | Status | Date | Platform | Download |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1.1-p1-SNAPSHOT | Beta | 11/10/2013 | Windows | |
| Mac OS (32 bit) | ||||
| Mac OS (64 bit) | ||||
| Linux (32 bit) | ||||
| Linux (64 bit) |
Release Notes
Version 0.1.1
Changes/Updates:
- Free naming of sections (preliminary pages, volumes, ...)
- Headings upto level 10
- Mathematical formulas are placed inline instead of in block
- Braille settings are now available from Format menu
- Braille settings are not stored in custom properties like before
- Default printer setting is saved
New features:
- New embossers:
- Braillo (270, 440SW, 440SWSF)
- Cidat (Impacto 600, Impacto Texto, Portathiel Blue)
- Enabling Technologies (Bookmaker, Braille Express 100, Braille Express 150, BraillePlace, ET, Juliet Classic, Juliet Pro, Juliet Pro 60, Marathon, Romeo 25, Romeo Attache, Romeo Attache Pro, Romeo Pro 50, Romeo Pro LE Narrow, Romeo Pro LE Wide, Thomas, Thomas Pro)
- Index (Basic-D V4, Everest-D V4, Braille Box)
- Mountbatten (LS, Pro, Writer+)
- ViewPlus (Cub, Cub Jr., Elite 150, Elite 200, EmFuse, Emprint SpotDot, Max)
- Generic embosser
- New user preferences:
- Automatic splitting into volumes
- Extended document structure & volume management settings
- Borders on headings, tables & textboxes
- Tables: invert reading order, repeat headings, ...
- Footnotes & endnotes
- Pictures
- Hyphenation: minimum length of splitted parts
- Page numbers in Roman capitals
- Ignore hard page breaks in paragraphs or follow print
Translation tables:
- New: Serbian, Kurdish, Ethiopic, Swedish (8 dot), Icelandic (8 dot), Farsi
- Improved: Czech, French, Norwegian, Romanian, Russian, ...
A lot of bug fixes
Localisation:
- Czech
- Arabic
- Polish
Version 0.1.0
Changes/Updates:
- Improved handling of notes (note references with special number formats)
- odt2braille fonts: updated (version 1.2)
New features:
- New embossers:
- Index Basic-S V2
- Index 4X4 Pro V2
- Index 4X4 Pro V3
- Index 4Waves Pro V3
- New user preferences:
- Volume info / transcription info:
- Use paragraph style
- Paragraphs / headings:
- Keep with next
- Don't split
- Orphan control
- Lists:
- Don't split list
- Don't split items
- Tables:
- Don't split rows
- Volume info / transcription info:
- New embossing options:
- Number of copies
- Magazine style
- Z-Folding
Translation tables:
- Woluwe math improved
Fixed bugs:
- Some list numbering bugs
- Page numbering bug
- Custom paper format
Localisation:
- Swedish
Version 0.0.3
Changes/Updates:
- The Braille preview window has been improved. You can now switch view between dots and text.
New features:
- Support for 8-dot Braille
- Dedicated odt2braille fonts (6-dot and 8-dot)
- Split exported Braille (BRF/PEF/BRA) into multiple files (one for each volume)
- New embosser: Index Basic "Blue-Bar"
- Speed optimalisations
- New user preferences:
- Paragraph styles
- Character styles
- Right justification
- More table of contents settings
- Begin headings on a new Braille page
- Left/right margin for centered headings
- Keep empty paragraphs
Translation tables:
- New: Indian languages (Assamese, Bengali, Khasi, Manipuri, Munda, Old Newari, Santali, Awadhi, Bihari, Braj Bashha, Gondi, Konkani, Kurukh, Marathi, Marwari, Nepali, Pali, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Gujarati, Panjabi, Kannada, Malayalam, Oriya, Dravidian, Tamil, Telugu)
- New: Greek within Spanish/Catalan text
- Improved: Icelandic, Polish, Slovene, Dutch, French, Woluwe math
Fixed bugs:
- Footnotes in lists were not rendered
- A paragraph that was split over a print page was split in braille, even if no separator line was rendered
- PEF output is now validated after export
- Table of contents bug fixes
- Some other small bug fixes
Localisation:
- Italian
Version 0.0.2
Changes/Updates:
- The single "Braille" menu is replaced with items in the "File" menu and the "Insert" menu.
New features:
- The document can contain every unicode character.
- The list of special symbols can be fully customized.
- Hyphenation dictionaries for automatic breaking of words (supported languages are: German, Dutch, US-English, UK-English, Spanish, French, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Swedish, Turkish, Irish, Hungarian, Croatian, Czech and Icelandic)
- Export to BRA file format (.bra). Choose between old and new Spanish Braille.
- Preview the Braille output before embossing.
- Print page range information on the title page.
Translation tables:
- New: Catalan, Danish (grade 2), Portuguese (grade 2)
- Improved: Spanish, ...
Fixed bugs:
- Hyperlink bug fix (hyperlinks were sometimes not rendered)
- Bug 3043068: error when trying to install the extension on Windows XP
- Other small bug fixes
Localisation:
- French
- Catalan
- Spanish
- Portuguese (Portugal)
- Portuguese (Brazil)
- Slovenian
- German
- Norwegian (Bokmål)
Version 0.0.1
Features:
- Translate OpenOffice.org Writer documents in various languages to Braille. Supported languages are: Arabic, Bulgarian, Tibetan, Welsh, Czech, Danish, Esperanto, Spanish, Estonian, Finnish, Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Modern Hebrew, Hindi, Croatian, Hungarian, Armenian, Icelandic, Italian, Lithuanian, Latvian, Maltese, Norwegian, Polish, Portugese, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Slovene, Swedish, Turkish, Vietnamese, German, Greek, Koine Greek, English, French, Dutch and Chinese.
- Contracted or uncontracted Braille.
- Support for multi-language documents.
- Export the Braille document to a computer file (.brf or .pef) or emboss the document on a variety of Braille printers. Supported printers are: the Interpoint 55 from Interpoint NV, the Everest V2, Basic V2, Everest V3 and Basic-D V3 from Index Braille, and the Braillo 200, 400S and 400SR from Braillo Norway AS.
- The Braille-output is highly configurable through user preferences.
- Adjust the Braille layout of most common document units: paragraphs, headings, lists, tables, table of contents.
- Other units are processed as well, but are not configurable: textboxes, captions, image (descriptions), footnotes, endnoted, bibliographies, ...
- Determine how pages are numbered.
- Translate formula's into Braille math (Nemeth, UK maths, Marburg or Woluwe math).
- Automatic generation of some preliminary pages: a title page, a list of special symbols, a transcriber's notes page and a table of contents.
- Split Braille documents into multiple volumes.
- Transcribe according to formal Braille rules (BANA, ...).
- Save Braille settings.
- Insert Braille characters directly with the 6 key entry mode (keys S, D, F, J, K and L).
- Users are notified in time of structure problems that could lead to unwanted artifacts in the Braille output.
Localization:
- English
- Dutch