PDF to Kindle, but not only contents!

zamana · 06-17-2013, 09:56 AM

This weekend I decided to face the whole procedure to convert a PDF to read as an e-Book on my Kindle PW.

I followed the formula:

PDF -> MobiPocket -> HTML -> Sigil -> EPUB -> Calibre -> AZW3 -> Kindle PW.

Very easy if you're only interested in read the book, if you're only interested in the contents of the book. BUT, if you want the formatation, the design, the presentation, the table of contents, parts and chapters' division, footnotes with proper links and so on, it's another story...

So, my question: is there any [easy] way beyond the HARD WORK that you need to put on the Sigil phase in order to have an e-Book from a PDF properly formatted? By "properly formatted" I mean the way that the book is presented in the PDF version.

Thanks.
Regards.

hawhill · 06-17-2013, 10:33 AM

I guess that would be to use a sophisticated OCR engine to process the PDF. They do PDFs nowadays, too, besides scans. And the CR rate is excellent, is mostly their layout recognition that is going to help here. You can go to document formats from there, e.g. MS Office.

HarryT · 06-17-2013, 11:06 AM

Agreed - a decent OCR program like Abbyy FineReader is the only way to do it.

geekyworld · 06-17-2013, 11:18 AM

I don't know how to retain the formatting but retaining the links (table of contents, footnotes, all internal and external links) is easy:

PDF > Mobipocket Creator > Build Mobi > Copy to KPW > Enjoy!

crich70 · 06-17-2013, 02:23 PM

PDF to epub works well and then it's just a matter of running it through sigil (for fixing the TOC) and calibre (to convert to mobi format).

thomass · 06-17-2013, 03:00 PM

Instead of Sigil you may use MsWord (with macros) . On outline view you can easily determine chapters. And you can also use the other ordinary tools of MsWord to format the text. (pagebreak, etc also possible)

PDF -> MobiPocket -> HTML -> MsWord (with macros)-> filtered HTML-> zipped filtered HTML -> Calibre (Toc according to h1,h2,h3) -> AZW3 -> Kindle PW.

Alternativley this way also possible though not used myself :

PDF -> MobiPocket -> HTML -> MsWord-> DOCX -> Calibre (Toc according to h1,h2,h3) -> AZW3 -> Kindle PW.

06-17-2013, 09:56 AM	#1
zamana Zealot Posts: 127 Karma: 52836 Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: São Paulo / Brazil Device: Kindles: Touch, PW1, Voyage	PDF to Kindle, but not only contents! This weekend I decided to face the whole procedure to convert a PDF to read as an e-Book on my Kindle PW. I followed the formula: PDF -> MobiPocket -> HTML -> Sigil -> EPUB -> Calibre -> AZW3 -> Kindle PW. Very easy if you're only interested in read the book, if you're only interested in the contents of the book. BUT, if you want the formatation, the design, the presentation, the table of contents, parts and chapters' division, footnotes with proper links and so on, it's another story... So, my question: is there any [easy] way beyond the HARD WORK that you need to put on the Sigil phase in order to have an e-Book from a PDF properly formatted? By "properly formatted" I mean the way that the book is presented in the PDF version. Thanks. Regards.

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06-17-2013, 10:33 AM	#2
hawhill Wizard Posts: 1,379 Karma: 2155307 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Goettingen, Germany Device: Kindle Paperwhite, Kobo Mini	I guess that would be to use a sophisticated OCR engine to process the PDF. They do PDFs nowadays, too, besides scans. And the CR rate is excellent, is mostly their layout recognition that is going to help here. You can go to document formats from there, e.g. MS Office.

06-17-2013, 11:06 AM	#3
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383043 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	Agreed - a decent OCR program like Abbyy FineReader is the only way to do it.

06-17-2013, 11:18 AM	#4
geekyworld Enthusiast Posts: 32 Karma: 31582 Join Date: Apr 2013 Device: kindle	I don't know how to retain the formatting but retaining the links (table of contents, footnotes, all internal and external links) is easy: PDF > Mobipocket Creator > Build Mobi > Copy to KPW > Enjoy!

06-17-2013, 02:23 PM	#5
crich70 Grand Sorcerer Posts: 11,305 Karma: 43993832 Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Monroe Wisconsin Device: K3, Kindle Paperwhite, Calibre, and Mobipocket for Pc (netbook)	PDF to epub works well and then it's just a matter of running it through sigil (for fixing the TOC) and calibre (to convert to mobi format).

06-17-2013, 03:00 PM	#6
thomass Wizard Posts: 1,669 Karma: 2300001 Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Türkiye Device: Kindle 5.3.7	Instead of Sigil you may use MsWord (with macros) . On outline view you can easily determine chapters. And you can also use the other ordinary tools of MsWord to format the text. (pagebreak, etc also possible) PDF -> MobiPocket -> HTML -> MsWord (with macros)-> filtered HTML-> zipped filtered HTML -> Calibre (Toc according to h1,h2,h3) -> AZW3 -> Kindle PW. Alternativley this way also possible though not used myself : PDF -> MobiPocket -> HTML -> MsWord-> DOCX -> Calibre (Toc according to h1,h2,h3) -> AZW3 -> Kindle PW.

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