problem converting PDF to epub

[Herbstwind]

Hi guys,

I am new in this Forum. This week on friday I want to buy my first ebook-reader (Kobo) when it comes hopefully out in Germany. For that reason I already installed Calibre to get myself used to the programme. I have a Mac and I downloaded Calibre 0.7.2.8 because obviously this is the latest version that works on my computer (my OS is "Tiger"). I have some PDF files that I want to read with my reader and I tried to transfer them to epub. In two cases - the most important PDFs for me - Calibre does not convert the files! Not at all! Nothing happens! I should add maybe that these files are quite big, around 3MB. But I also managed to convert other files of that size.

I hope somebody of you can give me some advice to solve this problem.

Thanks in advance!

[theducks]

Moderator Notice
This is a conversion question. Moved.

[itimpi]

First thing is that PDF files tend to convert very badly.

When you try and convert the PDF files what actually happens? Does the conversion job even start? If so how long did you give it (some conversions take a long time). Also what type of content is in the PDF? If it is graphics or scanned images of text this is unlikely to convert well.

[ldolse]

My guess is the PDFs are image based, check the sticky:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=118605

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by Herbstwind

In two cases - the most important PDFs for me - Calibre does not convert the files! Not at all! Nothing happens!

Since "Nothing happens" isn't accurate we need more information. When you run a conversion job a job will run. You can see the job details of the running job by clicking on "Jobs" in the lower right corner of calibre. Check out the details while it is running to see what is happening. Let it run until it stops, any error will be at the end.

If you can't interpret the job log post it here (wrapped by spoiler tags, eye with red X in toolbar if too long.)

[Herbstwind]

Thanks for answering so fast!
When I say "nothing happens" I mean it literally like that. When I click on the conversion details there is no progress on the bar visible. Not at all. I kept it running for a few hours already, no error during this time. But I will try it again and then post the log here as suggested by dwanthny!

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by Herbstwind

When I say "nothing happens" I mean it literally like that. When I click on the conversion details there is no progress on the bar visible. Not at all. I kept it running for a few hours already, no error during this time. But I will try it again and then post the log here as suggested by dwanthny!

The progress bar does not always reflect actual progress, but it usually has something on it. Did you select the "bar" for that job and look at the job details? It could be the job hung, but folks have reported some conversions taking up to 24 hours to complete. Personally I have had a couple of conversions take 6 hours to complete.

As ldolse pointed you PDF is the worst format to use as a source format. You might want to see if the source of this book has it available in another format.

Good Luck

[Herbstwind]

hi dwanthny!
Unfortunately it is only available as PDF. But here the job details after roughly 20 minutes (I don't understand a single word but maybe you can make sense of it):


Konvertiere Buch 1 von 1 (Arabic Simplified 1)
Resolved conversion options
calibre version: 0.7.28
{'asciiize': False,
'author_sort': None,
'authors': None,
'base_font_size': 0.0,
'book_producer': None,
'change_justification': u'original',
'chapter': u"//*[((name()='h1' or name()='h2') and re:test(., 'chapter|book|section|part|prologue|epilogue\\s+', 'i')) or @class = 'chapter']",
'chapter_mark': u'pagebreak',
'comments': None,
'cover': '/tmp/calibre_0.7.28_tmp_Z5PZS3/calibre_0.7.28_2kE0HK.jpeg',
'debug_pipeline': None,
'disable_font_rescaling': False,
'dont_split_on_page_breaks': False,
'extra_css': None,
'extract_to': None,
'flow_size': 260,
'font_size_mapping': None,
'footer_regex': u'(?i)(?<=<hr>)((\\s*<a name=\\d+></a>((<img.+?>)*<br>\\s*)?\\d+<br>\\s*.*?\\s*)|(\\s* <a name=\\d+></a>((<img.+?>)*<br>\\s*)?.*?<br>\\s*\\d+))(?=<br>)' ,
'header_regex': u'(?i)(?<=<hr>)((\\s*<a name=\\d+></a>((<img.+?>)*<br>\\s*)?\\d+<br>\\s*.*?\\s*)|(\\s* <a name=\\d+></a>((<img.+?>)*<br>\\s*)?.*?<br>\\s*\\d+))(?=<br>)' ,
'html_unwrap_factor': 0.40000000000000002,
'input_encoding': None,
'input_profile': <calibre.customize.profiles.InputProfile object at 0x6748930>,
'insert_blank_line': False,
'insert_metadata': False,
'isbn': None,
'keep_ligatures': False,
'language': None,
'level1_toc': None,
'level2_toc': None,
'level3_toc': None,
'line_height': 0.0,
'linearize_tables': False,
'margin_bottom': 5.0,
'margin_left': 5.0,
'margin_right': 5.0,
'margin_top': 5.0,
'max_toc_links': 50,
'new_pdf_engine': False,
'no_chapters_in_toc': False,
'no_default_epub_cover': False,
'no_images': False,
'no_inline_navbars': False,
'no_svg_cover': False,
'output_profile': <calibre.customize.profiles.KoboReaderOutput object at 0x6748c50>,
'page_breaks_before': u"//*[name()='h1' or name()='h2']",
'prefer_metadata_cover': False,
'preprocess_html': False,
'preserve_cover_aspect_ratio': False,
'pretty_print': True,
'pubdate': None,
'publisher': None,
'rating': None,
'read_metadata_from_opf': '/tmp/calibre_0.7.28_tmp_Z5PZS3/calibre_0.7.28_DHqoPX.opf',
'remove_first_image': False,
'remove_footer': False,
'remove_header': False,
'remove_paragraph_spacing': False,
'remove_paragraph_spacing_indent_size': 1.5,
'series': None,
'series_index': None,
'smarten_punctuation': False,
'tags': None,
'timestamp': None,
'title': None,
'title_sort': None,
'toc_filter': None,
'toc_threshold': 6,
'unwrap_factor': 0.45000000000000001,
'use_auto_toc': False,
'verbose': 2}

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by Herbstwind

Unfortunately it is only available as PDF. But here the job details after roughly 20 minutes (I don't understand a single word but maybe you can make sense of it)

It appears to be progressing normally.

After an hour does it still show

'unwrap_factor': 0.45000000000000001,
'use_auto_toc': False,
'verbose': 2}

as the last lines? After 2 hours?

I would set it to convert prior to going to bed and check the progress when I got up.

Good Luck.

[ldolse]

Your Calibre version is ancient, it would help to upgrade.

It's possible you also have a bad header/footer regex - see if how fast it converts if you delete those patterns. Most of the patterns in that regex are built into the modern version of Calibre anyway.

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by ldolse

Your Calibre version is ancient, it would help to upgrade.

As the OP indicates in the first post that version is the newest version that will run on his/her OS.

Per the Calibre download page:

Note

1. If you are using OS X Tiger or a PowerPC Mac, the last version of calibre that will work on your machine is 0.7.28, available here .