epub ncx to mobi nav points is losing items upon conversion

[bfollowell]

I have an epub that I am attempting to convert to mobi. The basic conversion is going well but the ncx isn't converting as well as it usually does. The epub's toc is all on one level and includes links for the cover, titlepage, etc, etc. as well as the individual parts and chapters. However, the only thing making it through the conversion process and setting up nav points in the mobi are the chapters. Everything else is getting left out altogether. I'd really like all of the epub's original ncx items to be converted to nav points in my mobi. This usually works fine and I'm not really sure what is different about this file.

Any ideas or any questions I can answer that might help make my problem more clear? I am currently using v.0.8.4

Thanks.

- Byron

[ldolse]

Did you read this sticky post: Chapter Detection/Table of Contents Tutorial

Sounds like you enabled 'force use of auto-generated table of contents'

[bfollowell]

Originally Posted by ldolse

Did you read this sticky post: Chapter Detection/Table of Contents Tutorial

Sounds like you enabled 'force use of auto-generated table of contents'

Nope, that isn't it. My inline toc looks perfectly. I don't have any of the toc related checkboxes checked except for Do Not add Table of Contents to Book back on the mobi output tab. The mobi comes through with the epubs inline toc perfectly. It's the epubs ncx file, which is normally converted to nav points in the mobi that is losing information.

Thanks for the suggestion and keep 'em coming, but this isn't it. Honestly, I haven't changed and of my procedures or any of Calibre's settings since this was working before so I suspect that it's something about how this epub's ncx file is made but I'm not sure what is different. I think I'm going to have to compare it to others I've used in the past to try and figure it out.

- Byron

[ldolse]

Originally Posted by bfollowell

Nope, that isn't it. My inline toc looks perfectly. I don't have any of the toc related checkboxes checked except for Do Not add Table of Contents to Book back on the mobi output tab. The mobi comes through with the epubs inline toc perfectly. It's the epubs ncx file, which is normally converted to nav points in the mobi that is losing information.

Thanks for the suggestion and keep 'em coming, but this isn't it. Honestly, I haven't changed and of my procedures or any of Calibre's settings since this was working before so I suspect that it's something about how this epub's ncx file is made but I'm not sure what is different. I think I'm going to have to compare it to others I've used in the past to try and figure it out.

- Byron

Are you sure your ePub has a good NCX then? Have you checked in in ADE (the ncx contents will show up on the left side)? If the ePub ncx is good then the ePub ncx should convert perfectly to the mobi ncx. The only two things I can think of is either your ePub has a crap ncx, which means you could fix it up in Sigil, or you're running into a bug. I might be missing something though, someone else may have an idea.

[bfollowell]

Originally Posted by ldolse

Are you sure your ePub has a good NCX then? Have you checked in in ADE (the ncx contents will show up on the left side)? If the ePub ncx is good then the ePub ncx should convert perfectly to the mobi ncx. The only two things I can think of is either your ePub has a crap ncx, which means you could fix it up in Sigil, or you're running into a bug. I might be missing something though, someone else may have an idea.

Actually, no I'm not 100% certain that I have a good ncx. I mean, yes, it works in ADE just fine, but that doesn't always mean it's written well. A sloppy ncx will sometimes still work in ADE or on a reader but may cause problems during a conversion. I'm just not as familiar with ncx issues as I am with other issues. I'll consider this a learning opportunity and dig into it to see if see anything glaring. If I don't I'll try reverting to an older version of Calibre to see if maybe it's a new bug. I'll post what I find, if anything.

If anyone else has any ideas for something I should check or try, please let me know.

Thanks.

- Byron

[ldolse]

Originally Posted by bfollowell

Actually, no I'm not 100% certain that I have a good ncx. I mean, yes, it works in ADE just fine, but that doesn't always mean it's written well. A sloppy ncx will sometimes still work in ADE or on a reader but may cause problems during a conversion. I'm just not as familiar with ncx issues as I am with other issues. I'll consider this a learning opportunity and dig into it to see if see anything glaring. If I don't I'll try reverting to an older version of Calibre to see if maybe it's a new bug. I'll post what I find, if anything.

If anyone else has any ideas for something I should check or try, please let me know.

Thanks.

- Byron

You could try seeing if Sigil will re-build an ncx for you - however if for example it's an indesign ePub Sigil won't be able to do that. That said Sigil might still be a good test to see if the ncx loads into Sigil's TOC editor. As of 4.2 Sigil retains the ncx rather than tossing it, so it's worth a shot.

[bfollowell]

Originally Posted by ldolse

You could try seeing if Sigil will re-build an ncx for you - however if for example it's an indesign ePub Sigil won't be able to do that. That said Sigil might still be a good test to see if the ncx loads into Sigil's TOC editor. As of 4.2 Sigil retains the ncx rather than tossing it, so it's worth a shot.

It does. Loads into Sigil I mean. Sigil is my main editing tool and I use it hand-in-hand with Calibre. It will attempt to rebuild the ncx if I click on that option but it only does that based on the header tags and this is a typical retail epub ncx that was likely built manually and doesn't rely on the header tags. I'm certain I could rebuild the ncx and that it would then work with the conversion but it wouldn't have all the links I want from the original.

I'll wait until I can look through the ncx and play with it by hand. I'll likely play with an older epub that I know worked fine before and then compare its ncx to this one. I'll probably try converting one of these again to try and figure out if something has changed since an older version of Calibre.

Thanks again for the advice.

- Byron

[bfollowell]

I just don't get it. I've looked at the ncx that is giving me fits and another that I've verified works and formats perfectly and I see hardly any difference between them. The only difference I can see is in the fact that the ncx that doesn't work has classes setup for the various navpoint elements. The ncx that works doesn't have these. I removed them all thinking they really shouldn't be needed anyway but when I do that and convert, no mobi ncx is created at all.

This just gets more and more confusing.

I've attached a sample of the problem ncx below.

- Byron

    <navMap>
        <navPoint class="cover" id="cvi" playOrder="1">
            <navLabel><text>Cover</text></navLabel>
            <content src="Text/Perr_9780307795847_epub_cvi_r1.htm"/>
        </navPoint>
        <navPoint class="titlepage" id="tp" playOrder="2">
            <navLabel><text>Title Page</text></navLabel>
            <content src="Text/Perr_9780307795847_epub_tp_r1.htm"/>
        </navPoint>
        <navPoint class="copyright" id="cop" playOrder="3">
            <navLabel><text>Copyright</text></navLabel>
            <content src="Text/Perr_9780307795847_epub_cop_r1.htm"/>
        </navPoint>
        <navPoint class="other" id="ded" playOrder="4">
            <navLabel><text>Dedication</text></navLabel>
            <content src="Text/Perr_9780307795847_epub_ded_r1.htm"/>
        </navPoint>
        <navPoint class="other" id="ack" playOrder="5">
            <navLabel><text>Acknowledgments</text></navLabel>
            <content src="Text/Perr_9780307795847_epub_ack_r1.htm"/>
        </navPoint>
        <navPoint class="other" id="col2" playOrder="6">
            <navLabel><text>Dramatis Personae</text></navLabel>
            <content src="Text/Perr_9780307795847_epub_col2_r1.htm"/>
        </navPoint>
        <navPoint class="other" id="epi" playOrder="7">
            <navLabel><text>Epigraph</text></navLabel>
            <content src="Text/Perr_9780307795847_epub_epi_r1.htm"/>
        </navPoint>
        <navPoint class="other" id="toc" playOrder="8">
            <navLabel><text>Contents</text></navLabel>
            <content src="Text/Perr_9780307795847_epub_toc_r1.htm"/>
        </navPoint>
        <navPoint class="part" id="p01" playOrder="9">
            <navLabel><text>Part One - Construction</text></navLabel>
            <content src="Text/Perr_9780307795847_epub_p01_r1.htm"/>
        </navPoint>
        <navPoint class="chapter" id="c01" playOrder="10">
            <navLabel><text>Chapter 1</text></navLabel>
            <content src="Text/Perr_9780307795847_epub_c01_r1.htm"/>
        </navPoint>
    </navMap>

[bfollowell]

OK, here's something else I've tried. The version I'm using at home is v.0.8.4 and that's the one that the particular epub's ncx isn't converting well on. Others do, just not this one. I have v.0.8.13 portable on a flashdrive that I use whenever I'm away and it converts perfectly on it. For now, I'm chalking it up to some problem with v.0.8.4. I'm going to update my home install and see what happens.

Thanks.

- Byron

[atjnjk]

Maybe you should try to rename the missing files to shorter ones, e.g., "Perr_9780307795847_epub_cop_r1.htm" to "cop.htm".

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by bfollowell

I have v.0.8.13 portable on a flashdrive that I use whenever I'm away and it converts perfectly on it. For now, I'm chalking it up to some problem with v.0.8.4. I'm going to update my home install and see what happens.

FYI .

Release: 0.8.13 [05 Aug, 2011]

New Features

• MOBI Output: Generate navpoints for items at every level in the TOC, not just the deepest level

[bfollowell]

Originally Posted by dwanthny

FYI .

There you go. Thanks.

- Byron

[ldolse]

I'm not sure if that bug fix would apply because it looks like that ncx is already a single level. Don't really have a clue why it's not working... The newer release may fix it anyway though, worth a shot.

[bfollowell]

Yep, it fixed the issue but, like you said, I'd already modified this one down to one level by hand anyway. I'm not sure why it would've made any difference but it definitely did.

All of my versions are updated to v.0.8.20 so I should be good to go now.

Thanks again to everyone.

- Byron