MS Word 2010 to EPUB conversion

[gertblij]

I have edited a file in Word 2010. Looks great.

Couple of pictures, including book cover in the front. Word generated TOC based on Headings 1 and 2. Indented first line paragrahs, except for first paragraph of a chapter. All text left and right justified.

From this forum I picked up that the best way to get the file into Calibre is to save it as html. And that is where I get stuck. (All action is "save as" in Word, Add Book in Calibre. Convert to EPUB in Calibre)

When I use the straight save as html version I retain the paragraph formatting in the EPUB, but all the pictures are gone.
When I use the save as html filtered option, all the pictures are there, but I loose the paragraph formatting.

Any suggestions for a way to keep all the pictures and the indented and not indented paragraph formats?

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by gertblij

When I use the straight save as html version I retain the paragraph formatting in the EPUB, but all the pictures are gone.

That sounds like an error in Word. There's no reason it should lose images. Still, I would not use the straight html save option.

When I use the save as html filtered option, all the pictures are there, but I loose the paragraph formatting.

It sounds to me like you've defined the paragraph formatting oddly in Word. I retain paragraph formatting when saving as filtered html. Indenting, centering, etc. all save fine.

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by gertblij

When I use the straight save as html version I retain the paragraph formatting in the EPUB, but all the pictures are gone.

Just a guess, this may be Word saving the images in the Windows image format (wim) and calibre can't convert those.

Originally Posted by gertblij

Any suggestions for a way to keep all the pictures and the indented and not indented paragraph formats?

I would suggest doing what Starson17 suggested and reviewing how you format the document.

You can also try using another application.

Atlantis Word processor can save directly as a epub (ebook). The free, open source Open Office or its spin off under its new name Libre Office can save in ODT which calibre will convert well. There is also a plugin to save directly as a epub, this plugin is still being developed but works great within its current limits and there are plans to extend and improve it.

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by dwanthny

Just a guess, this may be Word saving the images in the Windows image format (wim) and calibre can't convert those.

I read his post as saying that the images were missing from the saved html, but on rereading it, I suspect you are right. However, I'm not sure why Word would save images in one format for the normal html and in another format for the filtered html, but who knows with Microsoft.

[gertblij]

Thanks for all the advise, but it's not all there and before I try the other word processor option (big effort), how does one explain the following:

I saved the document from Word 2010 in PDF format. The PDF renders perfectly, e.g. all the pics are there, the TOC works perfect, all paragraphs first lines are indented, except the paragraphs imediately following an (original) Heading 1 or 2, which are left aligned. IOW exactly like the Word layout.

But when I then add this PDF file to Calibre and convert it to EPUB, everything comes accross ok except that the paragraphs imediately following the headers are now indented as well iso left aligned.

Could this be a Calibre conversion problem?

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by gertblij

I saved the document from Word 2010 in PDF format. The PDF renders perfectly,

PDF is based on Postscript, which is a printer language, and Word is designed to create printable documents. It's expected that the PDF will look correct, just as you expect Word to print correctly.

when I then add this PDF file to Calibre and convert it to EPUB, everything comes accross ok except that the paragraphs imediately following the headers are now indented as well iso left aligned.
Could this be a Calibre conversion problem?

Yes. PDF is a horrible ebook format and it's hard to get anything useful out of that format once a book is in it.

[gertblij]

Originally Posted by Starson17

PDF is based on Postscript, which is a printer language, and Word is designed to create printable documents. It's expected that the PDF will look correct, just as you expect Word to print correctly.


Yes. PDF is a horrible ebook format and it's hard to get anything useful out of that format once a book is in it.

Thanks Starson17. I appreciate your prompt responses. However, they are not very helpful. I am not a techie like you and am dependent on software to work. 100,000 reasons why it won't work doen't solve my problem.

Calibre offers "PDF to other formats" conversion. I love it. However, I apreciate that there are meny technical reasons that E does not equal MC2, but then say so. Just say, "please expect the output to be different from the input" and I'll stop trying/wasting time. That simple.

BTW, I have stopeed trying and consider this thread as closed.

Thanks for all the effort.

PS
Up front apologies if frustration shows. But I am tired (physically) and frustrated from spending many hours trying to get somewhere without moving one inch/cm

[EowynCarter]

Why not use Openoffice to open the .doc, then open office's ePub plugin ?

[frabjous]

Originally Posted by Starson17

Yes. PDF is a horrible ebook format and it's hard to get anything useful out of that format once a book is in it.

I do wish people would stop saying this.

PDF is far and away the best ebook format. Because it's an output format, It's just a lousy format to convert from, and a lousy format for distributing. If you create your own PDF with your own desired settings, nothing else comes close to comparing in quality, however.

Word would not be my software of choice, but if you set the page size, font size and margins correctly and export to PDF you can get a very nice looking PDF from Word for reading on a portable device: at least as good as any other format.

But no, don't convert the PDF to ePub after making it. If you really need an ePub, you'll need to use other means.

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by gertblij

When I use the save as html filtered option, all the pictures are there, but I loose the paragraph formatting.

Any suggestions for a way to keep all the pictures and the indented and not indented paragraph formats?

I have a much older version of Word but html-filtered has always worked for me.

If you are able to post a small piece of your badly-behaving html perhaps one of us will be able to spot something and offer advice.

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by frabjous

PDF is far and away the best ebook format.

Each to their own. PDF produces great output, but I don't consider it to be an ebook format. It's too page oriented, not tolerant of different screen sizes, won't flow well, etc. However, if you output to your desired screen size, and can read that output on your screen, I agree that it's nice to look at.

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by Starson17

Each to their own. PDF produces great output, but I don't consider it to be an ebook format. It's too page oriented, not tolerant of different screen sizes, won't flow well, etc. However, if you output to your desired screen size, and can read that output on your screen, I agree that it's nice to look at.

I agree, PDF might be a great ebook format for a computer, but unless you actually create the PDF for the exact size ereader you have in the exact font size you wish to read it is a very bad ereader format. Even then it lacks the real time flexibility I would expect of any good ebook.

[frabjous]

The only point I was making was about ones you create yourself for your own device. (Though I'd love it if retailers would sell a variety of PDFs formatted for different screens, or let you customize when you download rather like feedbooks does.)

But under those conditions, it's still better than anything else. You can use whatever fonts you want, whatever font sizes you want, and true typographical quality like ligatures, pair kerning, margin kerning, paragraph-centric whitespace control, typographical feathering, etc., impossible with any other format.

I don't think we're disagreeing about anything except whether one ought to say "PDF is not an eBook format". I'd qualify that as "PDF is not a one-size fits-all source eBook format".

[gertblij]

Originally Posted by EowynCarter

Why not use Openoffice to open the .doc, then open office's ePub plugin ?

Thanks Eowyn (Hope that is your real name. I think it is absolutely beautiful).

I tried that, but the epub plugin crashed ugly :-(. Having said that, I went to the OOo epub plugin thread in this forum (link somewhere in this thread) and reported the problem. Luke, the developer of the plugin is great. He asked me for the file concerned and said he would fix the problem in the next release. Great passion. Absolutely love it.

Obviously I sent him the file and am now waiting. Quite sure it will be solved :-)