Pressbooks Overview
2 The Admin Interface
Once an account and book have been created in Pressbooks, the Dashboard or Dashboard page is where the account holder is directed after logging in. The account holder is also automatically assigned as the Administrator and has access to all functions listed on the Dashboard. Lesser roles, such as Editor, Author, Contributor, and Subscriber, do not see/access all of these tools. (See Provide Access to Others.)
The Dashboard is also where an author will spend most of their time writing and where links to various tools and functions can be found. This chapter provides an overview of the Dashboard.
IMPORTANT: If you have been assigned a user role other than Administrator, you will not have access to the “Users” or “Settings” panels.
My Catalogue
The My Catalogue link in the top red toolbar allows you to create a new book, clone a book, and see and select all books in your Pressbooks Catalogue. (See Add a New Book and Clone a Book.) You can also locate the Dashboard for a specific book as follows:
- Scroll over “My Catalogue.”
- Select the arrow by a book.
- Select “Dashboard” to access the edit view.
- Select “Visit Book” to access the webbook or reader view.
On a book’s Dashboard, various tools are listed in the left-hand column Dashboard menu, the parts and chapters of the book are in the middle, and users who have access to the book are shown in a Users box on the far right.
Appearance
Themes
Pressbooks core has created 21 themes, each with different styles (font, headings, etc.) and features. These can be viewed and activated from navigating to the Appearance tab in the Dashboard menu and clicking “Themes.” Scrolling over a specific theme option reveals a Theme details box that, when clicked, describes the theme.
For more information, see Theme Options in the Pressbooks User Guide.
Recommended PDF Theme Options
While most of the theme options are completely up to your preference, we recommend the following settings to ensure your PDF displays well:
- Page size: US Letter
- Paragraph separation: Skip lines between paragraphs
Media
The Media tab is where all media for a book—images, videos, audio—are uploaded. Click “Add New” to upload media content or click “Library” to see and manage media you have uploaded previously. Media in the Library can be embedded or linked to in the content of your book. (See Images and Files and Media Attributions.) It has the following options:
- Library
- Add New
| For more information, see Media: Images & Best Practices and Image Editing in the Pressbooks User Guide. |
Users
The Users tab is where a book Administrator can add other people to their book. (See Provide Access to Others.) It has the following options:
- All Users
- Add New
- Your Profile
Tools
- Import: Pulls content into Pressbooks from various file types. (See Add Content.)
- Search & Replace: Allows importing of content–an entire book or individual chapters—from books in any Pressbooks instance. (See Search and Import a Pressbooks File.)
See Search and Replace and Search and Replace in the Pressbooks User Guide