What is the best output for PDF file?

superstitious · 10-04-2009, 01:05 AM

I have a lot of pdf formatted books I like to convert to something else. I have come to like fb2, mobi, and epub. So far PDF to ePub looks the best with some weird letters. But I really like the fb2 format. I tried converting it first to epub then fb2 and it doesnt look right with indentation on every line and line skipping here and there. I also did the same with mobi to fb2 and the result is pretty much the same with pdf-epub-fb2. Is this the nature of PDF? That it doesnt matter which format it is converted to, it always is not going to look right? What is the best output for you guys? Thanks for your help. BTW, I am converting books to use on my Astak Pocket Pro.

Elfwreck · 10-04-2009, 01:49 AM

It's going to depend on how the PDF was made. The problems you're seeing aren't with the conversion program or the new filetype; they're formatting issues from the original PDF that aren't obvious.

For example: pretty much anything that converts from PDF will keep the original page breaks as paragraph breaks. These would have to be removed manually, or with some kind of script that knows how to detect which of them are real paragraph breaks, like the end of a chapter.

Untagged PDFs will often put a paragraph break after every line of text. (Tags can be added with Acrobat Professional; I'm not sure what else will add them, or if other programs that convert the file will auto-tag as they go.)

One of the common complaints about PDFs is that you can't know how well it'll convert or even edit, unless you know what program made it and what settings were used. PDFs made directly from Word documents tend to convert back to other formats fairly easily. PDFs made from InDesign, which a lot of professional ones are, are more touchy. PDFs made from other kinds of publishing software are often nightmarish to convert.

The best advice is probably to figure out what kind of errors you're consistently getting, and see if someone's written a program or script to address those problems.

superstitious · 10-04-2009, 07:11 PM

I agree. I think the problem is how it is made. However, I was able to find the thread about fixing the odd line here somewhere and increase my unwrap factor in the pdf input to 0.45 and it seems to work really well. Thanks for your help.

10-04-2009, 01:05 AM	#1
superstitious Addict Posts: 206 Karma: 7270 Join Date: Aug 2009 Device: K3 wifi	What is the best output for PDF file? I have a lot of pdf formatted books I like to convert to something else. I have come to like fb2, mobi, and epub. So far PDF to ePub looks the best with some weird letters. But I really like the fb2 format. I tried converting it first to epub then fb2 and it doesnt look right with indentation on every line and line skipping here and there. I also did the same with mobi to fb2 and the result is pretty much the same with pdf-epub-fb2. Is this the nature of PDF? That it doesnt matter which format it is converted to, it always is not going to look right? What is the best output for you guys? Thanks for your help. BTW, I am converting books to use on my Astak Pocket Pro.

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10-04-2009, 01:49 AM	#2
Elfwreck Grand Sorcerer Posts: 5,185 Karma: 25133758 Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: SF Bay Area, California, USA Device: Pocketbook Touch HD3 (Past: Kobo Mini, PEZ, PRS-505, Clié)	It's going to depend on how the PDF was made. The problems you're seeing aren't with the conversion program or the new filetype; they're formatting issues from the original PDF that aren't obvious. For example: pretty much anything that converts from PDF will keep the original page breaks as paragraph breaks. These would have to be removed manually, or with some kind of script that knows how to detect which of them are real paragraph breaks, like the end of a chapter. Untagged PDFs will often put a paragraph break after every line of text. (Tags can be added with Acrobat Professional; I'm not sure what else will add them, or if other programs that convert the file will auto-tag as they go.) One of the common complaints about PDFs is that you can't know how well it'll convert or even edit, unless you know what program made it and what settings were used. PDFs made directly from Word documents tend to convert back to other formats fairly easily. PDFs made from InDesign, which a lot of professional ones are, are more touchy. PDFs made from other kinds of publishing software are often nightmarish to convert. The best advice is probably to figure out what kind of errors you're consistently getting, and see if someone's written a program or script to address those problems.

10-04-2009, 07:11 PM	#3
superstitious Addict Posts: 206 Karma: 7270 Join Date: Aug 2009 Device: K3 wifi	I agree. I think the problem is how it is made. However, I was able to find the thread about fixing the odd line here somewhere and increase my unwrap factor in the pdf input to 0.45 and it seems to work really well. Thanks for your help.

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