Problem Converting Epub to PDF

[maiki]

newest version of Calibre.

Before I discuss the problem--I saw another thread where someone discussed a problem they had converting an Epub to PDF, and the only responses he or she received was a question: "Why do you want to convert an Epub to PDF"?

Therefore, I will write here in advance--please do not answer my question with that kind of question back. I will not reply to any such questions about why I want to convert the book. I would very much appreciate if anyone could help with the following problem though.

---------

The book--purchased from Kobo, an Epub with no DRM.

I tried to convert it with the default settings.

The resulting PDF was just the book cover, followed by blank pages. Nothing else at all. What happened? I tried a few times, always with that same result. Is there a setting I could change, to make it work?

Just to see if another book would work, I tried converting the Quickstart Guide (Epub) that comes with Calibre to PDF.

It worked--that book converted to PDF. One defect though. The Table of Contents, which was clickable in Epub (click on the link in TOC to bring you to that chapter), did not work in the converted PDF. One could see the TOC as part of the book, but not click on something in it to bring you to that page. Couldn't the info in the Epub regarding TOC links be transmitted to the converted PDF?

Please reply about both books, if you can. Thank you.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by maiki

newest version of Calibre.

Before I discuss the problem--I saw another thread where someone discussed a problem they had converting an Epub to PDF, and the only responses he or she received was a question: "Why do you want to convert an Epub to PDF"?

Therefore, I will write here in advance--please do not answer my question with that kind of question back. I will not reply to any such questions about why I want to convert the book. I would very much appreciate if anyone could help with the following problem though.

---------

The book--purchased from Kobo, an Epub with no DRM.

I tried to convert it with the default settings.

The resulting PDF was just the book cover, followed by blank pages. Nothing else at all. What happened? I tried a few times, always with that same result. Is there a setting I could change, to make it work?

Just to see if another book would work, I tried converting the Quickstart Guide (Epub) that comes with Calibre to PDF.

It worked--that book converted to PDF. One defect though. The Table of Contents, which was clickable in Epub (click on the link in TOC to bring you to that chapter), did not work in the converted PDF. One could see the TOC as part of the book, but not click on something in it to bring you to that page. Couldn't the info in the Epub regarding TOC links be transmitted to the converted PDF?

Please reply about both books, if you can. Thank you.

Moderator Notice
Don't tell respondents what they can/can not do in a reply

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by maiki

Before I discuss the problem--I saw another thread where someone discussed a problem they had converting an Epub to PDF, and the only responses he or she received was a question: "Why do you want to convert an Epub to PDF"?

Therefore, I will write here in advance--please do not answer my question with that kind of question back. I will not reply to any such questions about why I want to convert the book. I would very much appreciate if anyone could help with the following problem though.

You have shown both ignorance and rudeness right off the top. Do you always ask for help by first being rude to those who may help you?

The responses you refer to were quite appropriate for that person because they were using an iPad to read their books and leaving the books as ePubs and possibly using a different reader would serve that user better than fighting trying to change their ePubs to PDFs.

Can you view the ePub in calibre's viewer?

You may want to contact the person in this thread to see if they had any success.

[forcheville]

Originally Posted by theducks

Don't tell respondents what they can/can not do in a reply

Moderator: Not sure what you mean here.

OP: If you start with a .doc or .rtf the word-processor that comes with Open Office does a good job of converting to .pdf and retains clickable TOCs as well or better than any other program.

[maiki]

Originally Posted by forcheville

Moderator: Not sure what you mean here.

OP: If you start with a .doc or .rtf the word-processor that comes with Open Office does a good job of converting to .pdf and retains clickable TOCs as well or better than any other program.

Thanks for the info, forcheville. (In fact, the only response that had any info. I will remember that for converting a doc into pdf. )

However, I was trying to convert an epub to pdf, not a doc. Very specifically, using the program called Calibre to do so, which I thought this forum was about, to provide support for that program. (Do support people from Calibre participate in this forum at all?)

I agree with your first sentence, not understanding what the moderator meant. Of course I cannot tell anyone what to do, what to write or not write. I am not a moderator. However, in reading another thread, where a poster also asked for technical support with the program Calibre in converting from Epub to doc (although a different problem than mine), not one of the responses addressed his question, but just asked him why he wanted to do the conversion? I didn't want the same thing to happen with this thread, I hoped to have actual help with the problem, so I politely stated that in advance. I was not rude about it at all. Yet, I received rude responses, calling me rude, and not helping with the question at all. (So, I guess my preface didn't help.

Well, I hope someone reads who is familar with the program Calibre that this forum is supposed to be about, who can help with the problem I described. I would appreciate that very much. Thank you.

[maiki]

Originally Posted by dwanthny

Can you view the ePub in calibre's viewer?

You may want to contact the person in this thread to see if they had any success.

I just noticed this.

Yes, both Epubs I mentioned look fine in Calibre's viewer.

I will check out the thread you linked to, thanks.

Edit--I just looked at that thread. Yes, very similar problem he had, with a book purchased from the same vendor. (Interesting too, that the only person responding to him asked him why he wanted to convert, rather than helping with the problem.) As I just responded there though, Kobo does not use a proprietary form of epub, but a standard one. You can see that described on their web site. That is why I bought from them, as so many e-book sellers sell books that will only work on their own devices and apps. The Kobo e-book I have opens and reads fine with different epub readers, including Calibre. But the Calibre converter would not convert it correctly to PDF. (As said, I also tried to convert Calibre's own quickstart guide (an epub) to pdf, as an experiment, and it basically worked, but missing the TOC info.)

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by maiki

I just noticed this.

Yes, both Epubs I mentioned look fine in Calibre's viewer.

I will check out the thread you linked to, thanks.

Edit--I just looked at that thread. Yes, very similar problem he had, with a book purchased from the same vendor. (Interesting too, that the only person responding to him asked him why he wanted to convert, rather than helping with the problem.) As I just responded there though, Kobo does not use a proprietary form of epub, but a standard one. You can see that described on their web site. That is why I bought from them, as so many e-book sellers sell books that will only work on their own devices and apps. The Kobo e-book I have opens and reads fine with different epub readers, including Calibre. But the Calibre converter would not convert it correctly to PDF. (As said, I also tried to convert Calibre's own quickstart guide (an epub) to pdf, as an experiment, and it basically worked, but missing the TOC info.)

I made a comment about the kepub format in the other thread, but I wanted to comment about something here.

You make a big thing about the fact that the only reply in the other was about why the OP wanted to do this. That question lead to a solution: a suggestion of another way to do this. Knowing why someone is doing something can help us to think ways to do it. It also helps us to know how important it is. There is also the curiosity factor: I can't think of a good reason to do this, so I am curious about why you want to. I don't know about others here, but piquing my curiosity is always a good way to get help from me.

Another thing that can help is telling us what the book is. Maybe one of us have a copy already and can do some experiments to see what happens and why. Or if it a free book, then we can all grab it