toc works in Previewer, but not after publishing

[DigitalNomad]

The "Go to Table of Contents" works fine in Kindle Previewer. After i publish the same file to KDP, the resulting "demo" file's "Go to Table of Contents" is greeted out on the device and generates a "table of contents not defined" error in Previewer. Any suggestions?

I write the doc in Word, save as Web Filtered, then generate an opf and prc with Mobipocket creator. Since I have ie9, I then edit the .opf to include the guides and ncx. Open the opf in Kindle Previewer and everything works fine.

If I publish the resulting .mobi file, or if I Email it to my device, the "Go to Table of Contents" stops working.

Oddly, I published a completely functioning book in July. It worked fine on upload, but now when I mail the same file, the "Go to Table of Contents" doesn't function. Is there a difference between Kindle Previewer's generation and the KDP site's generation.

Thanks for any input,

Stu

[Oldpilot]

I can't reverse-engineer that process, but I can tell you what I do:

Rather than use Word's save as / export to html, I run the document through word2cleanhtml.com which has a free and rather good service online. Alas, it doesn't give you the html template that you will need, so you will have to do some research on how to open and close an html file, and preferably on incorporating a style sheet.

I then open the html in Sigil, a free and rather good software that has its own forum here. I use that to build an epub, which I upload to the KDP and also to Barnes & Noble and the other epub retailers.

(Not that there's anything wrong with MPC! But I haven't used it for years.)

[Tugger]

I used to use Mobipocket.

I suspect you are creating a toc using Word. Stop doing that, remove that toc from your document.

Instead you create the TOC within Mobipocket. Suppose your chapter headings are Heading 2 in Word. Simply put h2 on the Mobipocket toc page. If you have two levels of heading it can support that too. For example h2 on the first line and h3 on the second line.

The toc is placed right at the start, after the cover. Not ideal, but it works.

I no longer use Mobipocket but it served me well for a while. I did not enjoy having to make the ncx file by hand when a book has 30 chapters.

[mncowboy]

If you use styles for everything in the Word document, the generated toc works just fine for me.
The workflow I use is Word->filtered web page->Sigil->Kindle Previewer and it creates a mobi file with all the proper navigation.
In your case double check the location of your inline toc, and make sure the guide item truly matches this in your opf file.
Bob

[DigitalNomad]

Well, THAT was frustrating!

Originally Posted by mncowboy

... and make sure the guide item truly matches this in your opf file.
Bob

It did match... however, this comment lead me to the issue. In my .opf file, my guide pointed to filename.html%23toc instead of filename.html#toc. I have no idea how it got the code for the # symbol, though I'm guessing user error.

Thank you all for the replies. Problem resolved.

[mncowboy]

Glad you found it!
Bob

[SusanM]

I really like word2cleanhtml. Nice online service.