How do you import an EPS file in Inkscape?

Question

I'm using Inkscape, and I'm trying to import an EPS file to use it as a vector and eventually save it as an SVG.

This link here mentions several methods:

http://www.inkscapeforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=797

But the responses aren't rated since it's a forum, so I thought I'd ask here to find the best answer. I'd prefer not to have to use some website to convert the file to a PDF first.

Either way, when I import an EPS into Inkscape, or use the website to convert it to a PDF, in both cases the resulting file loses all colour and gradients, and the EPS file gets cut off on the right side.

It looks like ps2pdf is clipping the file incorrectly, and Inkscape is eliminating the colour.

I have these version installed in Ubuntu Lucid Linux:

Inskape     0.47.0-2ubuntu2
Ghostscript 8.71.dfsg.1-0ubuntu5.3

Answer 1

This link: importing-eps-files-into-inkscape contains a very detailed tutorial on how to do this and it worked perfectly for me. It is based on instructions found at inkscapeforum.com, specifically this quote from eelke:

Inkscape's PS and EPS import now uses Ghostscript instead of pstoedit. If you need to open files of these types, install Ghostscript and make sure the directory with the ps2pdf utility from Ghostscript installation is in your PATH. On importing a file, you will see a preferences dialog, similar to PDF import; for multipage PS files, this dialog allows you to select which page to open.

It works only when you put both links; "bin"and "lib" from Ghostscript in : exc. C:\Program Files\gs\gs8.70\lib;C:\Program Files\gs\gs8.70\bin Start -> Control Panel -> System -> Advanced; Click on Environment Variables, under System Variables, find PATH (or make it in the new..), and click on it. In the Edit windows

That is the gist of the solution. The tutorial in the link at the top of this answer shows how to do this step-by-step with pictures.

Answer 2

Yeah - its broken pretty much. Just ran into this.

Try importing it into Scribus. Then export it as something else and reimport in Inkscape. PDF works much better if you can get it to that. You can also use 'epstopdf' command...

Answer 3

It seems like a known issue: http://www.inkscapeforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=797
Workaround: convert to PDF using http://convert.neevia.com/

Good luck :-)

Answer 4

I am using Inkscape 1.2 on Ubuntu 22.04 and simply opened a test.eps file using Right Click -> Open With -> Inkscape. It asked me to determine page orientation from text direction. I opted for "All". Then another option dialog appeared, where I opted for "All" and "Internal Import". Thats all.

After editing the test.eps file, I saved it as test.svg format.

This method is for GUI based import.

Answer 5

So open Inkscape software. And I simply drag and drop my desired eps file in this software, and for this purpose, I will go to my desired folder and pick the eps file and drop it in Inkscape. You can see it shows me a message box for importing this file, so click on the ok button of this dialog box.