Weird formatting residue from WORD

jgawne · 12-04-2012, 01:44 PM

I am nearly insane from days of bashing at an issue of formatting. Seems the author somehow changed something in his WORD formatting midway through his manuscript, then changed it again a second time near the end. The changes affect font and line spacing. Looks fine in word, but when you go to sigil epub it shows up. fix it in Sigil and then when you convert to mobi it comes back.

Sadly, there are bold and italic parts that are intregal to the book, so I can't just wipe all formatting.

I have stared at the codes for hours until my eyes are blurry. I think I have gotten the font issue solved by brute force, but the spacing is a total mystery. I had found that part of the WORD file had "add 10 points below every paragraph" and took that out. Minor difference but it still jumps from one line to two, or none, almost at random.

I just don't want to give up (matter of pride). I have tried all manner of conversions, reconversions, manual code editing in sigil, etc. I even downloaded open office thinking maybe it worked like Word Perfect (in that it actually let you see the format codes with out any hassle) but no luck.

does anyone have any suggestions as to what to try? I am normally not back with html coding, but I just cannot find where this code is lurking.

theducks · 12-04-2012, 09:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jgawne

I am nearly insane from days of bashing at an issue of formatting. Seems the author somehow changed something in his WORD formatting midway through his manuscript, then changed it again a second time near the end. The changes affect font and line spacing. Looks fine in word, but when you go to sigil epub it shows up. fix it in Sigil and then when you convert to mobi it comes back.

Sadly, there are bold and italic parts that are intregal to the book, so I can't just wipe all formatting.

I have stared at the codes for hours until my eyes are blurry. I think I have gotten the font issue solved by brute force, but the spacing is a total mystery. I had found that part of the WORD file had "add 10 points below every paragraph" and took that out. Minor difference but it still jumps from one line to two, or none, almost at random.

I just don't want to give up (matter of pride). I have tried all manner of conversions, reconversions, manual code editing in sigil, etc. I even downloaded open office thinking maybe it worked like Word Perfect (in that it actually let you see the format codes with out any hassle) but no luck.

does anyone have any suggestions as to what to try? I am normally not back with html coding, but I just cannot find where this code is lurking.

Never Trust Sigils (or Calibre's) viewer. There are known quirks .

You found one of them.

ADE and the device target should be your final checks for proper rendering.

Hitch · 12-05-2012, 02:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jgawne

I am nearly insane from days of bashing at an issue of formatting. Seems the author somehow changed something in his WORD formatting midway through his manuscript, then changed it again a second time near the end. The changes affect font and line spacing. Looks fine in word, but when you go to sigil epub it shows up. fix it in Sigil and then when you convert to mobi it comes back.

Sadly, there are bold and italic parts that are intregal to the book, so I can't just wipe all formatting.

I have stared at the codes for hours until my eyes are blurry. I think I have gotten the font issue solved by brute force, but the spacing is a total mystery. I had found that part of the WORD file had "add 10 points below every paragraph" and took that out. Minor difference but it still jumps from one line to two, or none, almost at random.

I just don't want to give up (matter of pride). I have tried all manner of conversions, reconversions, manual code editing in sigil, etc. I even downloaded open office thinking maybe it worked like Word Perfect (in that it actually let you see the format codes with out any hassle) but no luck.

does anyone have any suggestions as to what to try? I am normally not back with html coding, but I just cannot find where this code is lurking.

For one thing, it's in the CSS, pure and simple. The space below will be in the paragraph styling in the CSS; font kerning or spacing will be in any SPANS you find in the code. You can't fix this in Word, not easily. You could try Bookcreator to tag the italics and the bold, and then clear the formatting, then restore the font characteristics (italic and bold) but honestly--this sort of cruft is absolutely normal, and it gets fixed in the coding. There's nothing unusual about this, and you have to look at the top of the html file to see the CSS, in Sigil. That's the fast & easy way--and then regex out the extraneous spans. I can virtually (pun intended) guarantee that they are there.

Hitch

Toxaris · 12-05-2012, 02:40 AM

You could try my macro for the export. It will ignore the styles set in Word, but will retain the formatting like bold and italic. If you want to take a style with you, that is possible. Be warned that it will not create a stylesheet for you, but will give the corresponding paragraphs that stylename.
If you do not enter userstyles, all paragraphs are resetted to normal paragraphs.

jgawne · 12-05-2012, 10:07 AM

Oh, I've stared at the CSS trying to figure out where this lurks, and spent hours removing spans and tweeking the codes. I am almost ready to give up, but I was trying some supposed style cleaners.

Toxaris, more than happy to try your macro, but I don't know where it is.

Toxaris · 12-05-2012, 02:20 PM

A search on this forum with the words 'word macro' would give you as a first hit:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...ght=word+macro

Hitch · 12-05-2012, 06:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jgawne

Oh, I've stared at the CSS trying to figure out where this lurks, and spent hours removing spans and tweeking the codes. I am almost ready to give up, but I was trying some supposed style cleaners.

Toxaris, more than happy to try your macro, but I don't know where it is.

Ok, let's start at the top:

Is every paragraph in the file the same style? For example, are they all MsoNormal, as is usual, or have you reset them all to plain p styling?
Have you cleared out every span?
Have you searched the CSS for the font(s) that are showing up?

Can you copy and paste a small section of the html from wherever you have a change-up that you can't explain, along with the CSS?

Hitch

jgawne · 12-07-2012, 09:30 AM

Thanks for the help. I 'think' I somehow figure a way around this. I had put it into a (print) indesign book, and tried the new 'export to epub." Worked like a charm. I bet there are a lot of extraneous codes floating around in it, but it seems to work now.

I know, I really should go and do massive removal of uneeded codes, but for now I am so sick of the thing that I figure it can wait until later.

jjm6383 · 12-08-2012, 02:55 AM

There is a webpage http://wordoff.org/ that will strip all Word formatting out of a document, leaving only the , , , , and tags.

I've used it for some very badly formated documents.

12-04-2012, 01:44 PM	#1
jgawne Member Posts: 20 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2012 Device: kindle	Weird formatting residue from WORD I am nearly insane from days of bashing at an issue of formatting. Seems the author somehow changed something in his WORD formatting midway through his manuscript, then changed it again a second time near the end. The changes affect font and line spacing. Looks fine in word, but when you go to sigil epub it shows up. fix it in Sigil and then when you convert to mobi it comes back. Sadly, there are bold and italic parts that are intregal to the book, so I can't just wipe all formatting. I have stared at the codes for hours until my eyes are blurry. I think I have gotten the font issue solved by brute force, but the spacing is a total mystery. I had found that part of the WORD file had "add 10 points below every paragraph" and took that out. Minor difference but it still jumps from one line to two, or none, almost at random. I just don't want to give up (matter of pride). I have tried all manner of conversions, reconversions, manual code editing in sigil, etc. I even downloaded open office thinking maybe it worked like Word Perfect (in that it actually let you see the format codes with out any hassle) but no luck. does anyone have any suggestions as to what to try? I am normally not back with html coding, but I just cannot find where this code is lurking.

12-08-2012, 02:55 AM	#9
jjm6383 Enthusiast Posts: 33 Karma: 50 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Texas Device: Pandigital Nova, Aluratek Libre Pro, Dell Axim x51v	There is a webpage http://wordoff.org/ that will strip all Word formatting out of a document, leaving only the <em>, <strong>, <i>, <b>, and <p> tags. I've used it for some very badly formated documents.

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12-05-2012, 02:40 AM	#4
Toxaris Wizard Posts: 4,520 Karma: 121692313 Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Heemskerk, NL Device: PRS-T1, Kobo Touch, Kobo Aura	You could try my macro for the export. It will ignore the styles set in Word, but will retain the formatting like bold and italic. If you want to take a style with you, that is possible. Be warned that it will not create a stylesheet for you, but will give the corresponding paragraphs that stylename. If you do not enter userstyles, all paragraphs are resetted to normal paragraphs.

12-05-2012, 10:07 AM	#5
jgawne Member Posts: 20 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2012 Device: kindle	Oh, I've stared at the CSS trying to figure out where this lurks, and spent hours removing spans and tweeking the codes. I am almost ready to give up, but I was trying some supposed style cleaners. Toxaris, more than happy to try your macro, but I don't know where it is.

12-05-2012, 02:20 PM	#6
Toxaris Wizard Posts: 4,520 Karma: 121692313 Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Heemskerk, NL Device: PRS-T1, Kobo Touch, Kobo Aura	A search on this forum with the words 'word macro' would give you as a first hit: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...ght=word+macro

12-07-2012, 09:30 AM	#8
jgawne Member Posts: 20 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2012 Device: kindle	Thanks for the help. I 'think' I somehow figure a way around this. I had put it into a (print) indesign book, and tried the new 'export to epub." Worked like a charm. I bet there are a lot of extraneous codes floating around in it, but it seems to work now. I know, I really should go and do massive removal of uneeded codes, but for now I am so sick of the thing that I figure it can wait until later.

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