For some users with different European languages the default language on macOS can affect how the mathematics is applied in CircularFLO. e.g. for audio timings or CSS scaling.
With the maths used in CircularFLO and EPUB we need to be sure we are using a decimal point (.) rather than a comma (,) as the separator for decimal numbers.
The first 30 seconds of this YouTube video demonstrate how to change this.
When saving / exporting MP3 audio for use with CircularFLO read aloud highlighting, you should choose the Constant Bit Rate (CBR) option.
To save file size it is possible to compress audio using Variable Bit Rate (VBR) however this has been shown to cause problems when calculating the timings that are used with read aloud text highlighting / media overlays.
Please choose 'Constant Bit Rate' as an export setting when saving audio. If you are having timing problems with previously saved tracks we recommend opening audio tracks in Adobe Audition and reexporting as CBR.
More info is available here on the Lifewire site.
The CBR option sheen exporting from Audacity
The CBR option shown when exporting from Adobe Audition
CircularFLO uses Kindle Previewer to convert to the reflowable and fixed-layout files suitable for Kindle.
However, if you not seeing a Kindle file, you may need to help with the setting up and install of Kindle Previewer.
1. Open Terminal (Finder > Go menu > Utilities > Terminal)
2. Copy and Paste in the following line and hit Return
If you then see a lot of instructions in the Terminal Window then Kindle Previewer is installed and ready.
If you see “command not found” then proceed to next step.
In order to reset the default path you can follow the steps below to
1. Open Terminal (Finder > Go menu > Utilities > Terminal)
2. Copy and Paste in the following line and hit Return
More info on this step here
3. Copy and Paste in the following line and hit Return
If you then see a lot of instructions in the Terminal Window then Kindle Previewer is installed and ready.
If you see “command not found” then proceed to next step.
The Kindle Previewer command line tool expects to be installed in a folder at this hidden folder location /usr/local/bin/
If you are still having trouble running Kindle Previewer, you may need to check the existence or create this folder.
To get to the folder location use the Finder Go menu > Go to Folder and paste in the following location
There should be a folder named bin in the folder local in your usr folder. If there is not, please create an empty folder named bin in this location.
After creating this default folder, please Reinstall Kindle Previewer to write the correct file into this folder.
To reinstall Kindle Previewer move the Kindle Previewer app on your Mac to the trash and then download the latest Kindle Previewer Mac app from Amazon and follow the steps to re-install Kindle Previewer.
Finally, test the install has been effective by using the How to test that Kindle Previewer is installed and ready step above.
If you need any further help on this particularly fiddly subject please contact us.
One of the great strengths of developing apps for macOS is the ability to communicate with the entire Mac and all it's installed applications.
Circular Software desktop apps all run alongside Adobe InDesign but also may need to talk to the Finder, Safari, Adobe Photoshop or Acrobat and lots of other helper applications to run effectively.
In later versions of macOS (from 2018's macOS 10.14 Mojave and onwards) Apple makes the user aware, and asks their permission, when first running any newly installed application.
When you first launch your Circular Software application will need to be grant permission to talk to and control other applications by clicking OK to any alerts like this.
It is important that you do allow these communications if you want to continue to use our software. If you do not allow them, processes will be disrupted and you may see alerts such as:
If you have accidentally disallowed events and want to reset them, check the security and privacy tab of the Mac System Preferences.
Pro tip: For experienced macOS users, you can also reset these choices with a terminal command. Once reset, the user is once again asked to allow the control of other applications on launch.
$ tccutil reset AppleEvents
More info here.
In order to check that your EPUB is complete and ready for submission to retailers we can pass any EPUB created using CircularFLO to the EPUB validation tool Pagina EPUB-Checker. If present on your Mac and the option to in the Preferences Panel (Coming Soon!) then CircularFLO will use this tool to validate your EPUBs as they are created..
This validation tool uses Java which is no longer bundled with macOS and so to use this tool we require a one time installation of Java. This is freely available from here and this is the same page that Apple also direct users to in order to get Java installed.
If experiencing issues with CircularFLO's account, license or purchasing information the quickest and simplest approach may be to reset CircularFLO to the 'factory settings' - as if it has been freshly installed.
Please note this will remove any purchase information, see the article below on resetting purchase information if you have remaining credits you wish to preserve before resetting CircularFLO…
To reset CircularFLO we need to delete the entire Circular Software folder in the user application support folder. Once the Circular Software folder is deleted, relaunching CircularFLO will remake a fresh folder.
The Circular Software folder can be found quickly using the CircularFLO Help menu > Open Application Support Folder
Tip: In Finder, by Command clicking on the name of a folder in the top bar of the Finder window, you can select the Application Support folder to reveal the folder selected inside it's parent folder ready for deletion.
The full path to Circular Software Application Support folder is your User Folder > Library > Application Support >Circular Software. Please note this is your USER folder Library which is different to your Macintosh HD Library.
To get this folder from the Mac Finder go to Finder Go menu > Go to Folder… and paste in ~/Library/Application Support/Circular Software
Once the Circular Software folder is deleted, relaunching CircularFLO will remake a fresh folder.
If experiencing issues with GreenLight's account or license information the quickest and simplest approach may be to reset GreenLight to the 'factory settings' - as if it has been freshly installed.
To reset GreenLight we need to delete the entire Circular Software folder in the user application support folder. Once the Circular Software folder is deleted, relaunching GreenLight will remake a fresh folder.
The full path to Circular Software Application Support folder is your User Folder > Library > Application Support >Circular Software. Please note this is your USER folder Library which is different to your Macintosh HD Library.
To get this folder from the Mac Finder go to Finder Go menu > Go to Folder… and paste in ~/Library/Application Support/Circular Software
Once the Circular Software folder is deleted, relaunching CircularFLO will remake a fresh folder.
Please do not email large files.
Often the quickest way for us to look int oa problem is to recreate it. So, if you are able, please zip and send your open InDesign files along with any relevant other files (e.g. audio files, EPUB or PDF) to us via wetransfer.com use the email help@circularsoftware.com for reference.
Alternatively if you are a Dropbox user please use this link.
Packaging the fonts is always helpful if you are able to do so but typically we don't require large image links unless we have asked for them.
If your files are over 2GB then transferbigfiles.com is another free alternative.
On the rare occasions when the Circular Software processing has been interrupted then the ‘run log’ file is very useful. It will show us where in the process things have stopped.
The run log is a small text file named ‘run_log.log’ and it can be shown from the Circular Software desktop apps Help menu.
If you are experiencing a problem and have a run log to share, please attach to an email to our support team with a short description of the problem and a screenshot of any messages shown.
To email a run log open in the Mac Console application please choose to attach to an email from File menu > Mail
The full path to the run log is your User Folder > Library > Application Support > [then the name of your app so CircularFLO / GreenLight / MasterPlan]. Please note this is your USER folder Library which is different to your Macintosh HD Library.
The run log does not contain any personal information.
The EPUB3 files that CircularFLO produces can be validated automatically as part of the process. We use the free tool pagina EPUB-Checker to do this.
As the creation process with CircularFLO is automatic it is rare that an EPUB will not validate but if it does then you will be alerted and the report will be shown in EPUB-Checker.
The most common issue is a broken hyperlink. Check the report to see if a ‘required elements missing’ error is caused by hyperlinks pointing to badly formatted URL or a non-existent page.
Even if the issue is not a missing or broken link, there is usually a simple reason but unfortunately the simple reason might be hidden in a scary looking report!
This site helps to decipher what the report means.
If you are having trouble understanding a EPUB check report then please feel free to send the EPUB and the report to us.
CircularFLO is intended to be easy to use for all InDesign users including those who prefer clicks to code.
However for those curious enough to look into the code, who wish to add more or we recommend ePub Zip-Unzip 64 3.0 available free from here which we recommend as the best way to be sure we open up and repack the EPUB correctly on the Mac.
Once downloaded, drag an EPUB onto the tool to unzip it properly. Drag a folder onto the same tool to rezip it up to an EPUB.
If you have amended the code it is recommended to validate the EPUB again.
There is a choice in the Output options at the top of the CircularFLO Preferences Panel. Check the Export Amazon ready file is set to 'yes' to export to an Amazon format.
Kindle Previewer 3 is required to convert to Amazon ebook files. If Kindle Previewer is not installed on the Mac when the CircularFLO Preferences Panel is added to a document, this option is set to no.
CircularFLO can output two ebooks in one export, one is an EPUB3 and another is an Amazon ready files to upload to Amazon KDP. We create a separate file for Amazon which is our recommended approach rather than supplying the same EPUB file to Amazon. There are differences and aspects of EPUB that are not supported in Amazon the ebook file formats so our Amazon output is tailored specially to the Amazon format.
The Amazon fixed-layout format is not a sophisticated as the fixed layout EPUB3 and does not support the addition of audio, video, animation or read aloud text highlighting so, if any of these CircularFLO Pro features have been added to a book, CircularFLO only produces the EPUB file and does not produce an Amazon file.
If you would like to produce an Amazon file of a book that contains these features, then we recommend saving as a separate file and either deleting or merging any layers that containing audio, video, animation or read aloud information and run CircularFLO again. You will not be charged more than once to make the same ebook.
