PDF file: sometimes blank, sometimes not

vulcan_girl · 11-30-2010, 02:35 PM

I posted this in the PDF forum and it was suggested that I bring it over here. I've also added/corrected some information since I originally posted.

I have a pdf file that's an omnibus, about 750 pages, approximately 3.5 MB. I can open and read it with Acrobat Reader with no problem. I can copy the text and paste it into a Word or text file, but all the text is run together with no spacing. I can save the file as text, but again, it's all run together with no spacing.

I cannot load and read it using the Calibre viewer. The conversion to epub failed after about 20 hours.
I cannot see anything when I open it in ADE or just load the pdf directly onto my Sony 650. It's just 750 blank pages. Can anyone shed any light on this?

Manichean · 11-30-2010, 05:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vulcan_girl

I cannot load and read it using the Calibre viewer. The conversion to epub failed after about 20 hours.

It would be helpful to have the error message from the conversion output, if available. (If it's a job, click on job details and paste the text.)

vulcan_girl · 11-30-2010, 06:11 PM

Unfortunately, the job details list cleared when I closed Calibre. It took about 20 hours to attempting the conversion then I got a failure message.

ldolse · 11-30-2010, 06:19 PM

Some pdfs are just screwed up. You might not like this option, but if it's really important to you to convert it it might be easier to extract all the pages as images and convert from images to rtf/doc/html using an OCR tool like ABBYY.

You could also try optimizing it in Acrobat Pro for an older PDF format - it's possible it's using some weird features that optimization would fix. I've had some luck with friends in similar positions with unfriendly pdfs.

vulcan_girl · 11-30-2010, 06:32 PM

Thanks, Idolse, I figured that there's something wonky with the file, and I honestly don't even care anymore. There was really only one book in the omnibus I wanted, and I can wait to read it.

bluemantis · 12-01-2010, 09:59 AM

Help! This just happened to me as well! Same thing, put two pdfs on my Sony prs650 through calibre. When I try to open them it just has a little exclamation mark saying "invalid page." I thought this thing was supposed to be able to read pdfs!?! That's why I got it, so I could zoom around without staring at a computer screen all day!!!

11-30-2010, 02:35 PM	#1
vulcan_girl Groupie Posts: 156 Karma: 1010345 Join Date: Jun 2009 Device: PRS 350	PDF file: sometimes blank, sometimes not I posted this in the PDF forum and it was suggested that I bring it over here. I've also added/corrected some information since I originally posted. I have a pdf file that's an omnibus, about 750 pages, approximately 3.5 MB. I can open and read it with Acrobat Reader with no problem. I can copy the text and paste it into a Word or text file, but all the text is run together with no spacing. I can save the file as text, but again, it's all run together with no spacing. I cannot load and read it using the Calibre viewer. The conversion to epub failed after about 20 hours. I cannot see anything when I open it in ADE or just load the pdf directly onto my Sony 650. It's just 750 blank pages. Can anyone shed any light on this?

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11-30-2010, 06:11 PM	#3
vulcan_girl Groupie Posts: 156 Karma: 1010345 Join Date: Jun 2009 Device: PRS 350	Unfortunately, the job details list cleared when I closed Calibre. It took about 20 hours to attempting the conversion then I got a failure message.

11-30-2010, 06:19 PM	#4
ldolse Wizard Posts: 1,337 Karma: 123455 Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Malaysia Device: PRS-650, iPhone	Some pdfs are just screwed up. You might not like this option, but if it's really important to you to convert it it might be easier to extract all the pages as images and convert from images to rtf/doc/html using an OCR tool like ABBYY. You could also try optimizing it in Acrobat Pro for an older PDF format - it's possible it's using some weird features that optimization would fix. I've had some luck with friends in similar positions with unfriendly pdfs.

11-30-2010, 06:32 PM	#5
vulcan_girl Groupie Posts: 156 Karma: 1010345 Join Date: Jun 2009 Device: PRS 350	Thanks, Idolse, I figured that there's something wonky with the file, and I honestly don't even care anymore. There was really only one book in the omnibus I wanted, and I can wait to read it.

12-01-2010, 09:59 AM	#6
bluemantis Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Canada Device: Sony PRS650	Help! This just happened to me as well! Same thing, put two pdfs on my Sony prs650 through calibre. When I try to open them it just has a little exclamation mark saying "invalid page." I thought this thing was supposed to be able to read pdfs!?! That's why I got it, so I could zoom around without staring at a computer screen all day!!!

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