How to enable importing and exporting different file formats in Ubuntu or OpenSuse or SLES with AbiWord

Etherpad Lite depends on AbiWord to import and export different file formats such as PDF, ODF and MS Word.

Installation instructions for AbiWord on Ubuntu are here, the simplest method is probably by command line. Copy and paste then execute the following, line by line:

echo "deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/abiword-stable/ppa/ubuntu `lsb_release -c -s` main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/abiword-stable.list
sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys 2382D57E
sudo aptitude update
sudo aptitude install abiword

The abiword executable should now be installed to /usr/bin/abiword but you can confirm this by running which abiword. Make a note of the path.

Now you need to configure Etherpad Lite to your AbiWord installation. Open {path to etherpad}settings.json in a text editor. If you want to use VIM from the command line, assuming Etherpad Lite is installed to /usr/local/etherpad-lite, run sudo vim /usr/local/etherpad-lite.

Find the line that says:

"abiword" : null,

and change it to:

"abiword" : "/usr/bin/abiword",

Use the path to AbiWord noted above. To do this in VIM:

1. Press i to enter INSERT mode
2. Find the 'abiword' configuration and change it
3. Save and close by pressing <escape> then :wq then <enter>

Restart the Etherpad Lite service by running sudo restart etherpad-lite.