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Old 01-19-2010, 04:17 AM   #1
kalugudong
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help on pdf to epub files

well i tried converting a big pdf file at around 400mb to an epub..it worked fine but the arrangement of the text files and pictures were ruined..is it supposed to be like that?or can i fix it?
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Old 01-19-2010, 01:07 PM   #2
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kalugudong View Post
well i tried converting a big pdf file at around 400mb to an epub..it worked fine but the arrangement of the text files and pictures were ruined..is it supposed to be like that?or can i fix it?
If you don't want the "arrangement of the text files and pictures " changed, you should probably leave it as a pdf. That's what a pdf is for - to keep the same arrangement on all devices. Epub is an e-book format, with flowable text, so the document can be read easily on different devices. That means the relationship of text and pictures has to change.
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Old 01-19-2010, 09:29 PM   #3
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Perhaps the original poster wanted something with pertinent images inserted in the relevant portions of the text? But got something drastically different? Obviously we cannot know exactly what the output was like, but it could have been one of those "why did I bother to convert it?" conversions.
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Old 01-19-2010, 10:42 PM   #4
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Yes...converting PDF to any other format is pretty hit and miss, even with the best conversions available so far. I have had the best luck saving PDF as HTML first, then going to ePub. But even that has issues with complex PDF layouts.
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Old 01-20-2010, 02:56 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kjk View Post
Yes...converting PDF to any other format is pretty hit and miss, even with the best conversions available so far. I have had the best luck saving PDF as HTML first, then going to ePub. But even that has issues with complex PDF layouts.
I haven't done much pdf conversion, but I thought pdf to html goes through epub as an intermediary first. Do you use some other program for pdf->html or do you process the html before going back to epub?
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Old 01-20-2010, 04:52 PM   #6
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I have to admit something...I purchased a cd of ebooks off ebay. I know, I'm bad. But I wanted to see if they would actually work on my nook. They are pdf, and when I viewed them in Calibre they had all these funky characters in the left margin at the start of almost every line. The spacing of the words was also way off. So I used Calibre to convert them to epub, and they didn't change a bit. Still unreadable. Is there anyway Calibre can make these files readable? I guess you get what you pay for.
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Old 01-20-2010, 05:24 PM   #7
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Originally Posted by Starson17 View Post
I haven't done much pdf conversion, but I thought pdf to html goes through epub as an intermediary first. Do you use some other program for pdf->html or do you process the html before going back to epub?
I don't think it does, but I'm not sure . My understanding is the flow goes:
PDF to HTML with CSS, then converts to XML and gets zipped up with the images and other crap into an ePub (which is a zip file of XML, images, and other crap )

I use Adobe Acrobat Pro to export PDF to HTML, then use Calibre to convert to ePub, then use Sigil to edit the ePub.

I've also tried exporting to HTML, and editing the HTML first, but now with Sigil I prefer messing directly with the ePub.

(I also just realized that Acrobat Pro should really have an Export to ePub option...given Adobe's interest in the format)
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Old 01-20-2010, 06:08 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kjk View Post
I use Adobe Acrobat Pro to export PDF to HTML, then use Calibre to convert to ePub, then use Sigil to edit the ePub.
That answered my question. I thought you were saying you used calibre to convert to html. Thanks.
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Old 01-20-2010, 07:19 PM   #9
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Hi Starson17,

You can get Calibre to generate HTML as a by-product of a PDF to EPUB conversion by switching on the Debug option
i.e. in [Convert] - [Debug] specify a directory on your local disk to receive the Debug output.

At the end of the conversion ignore the EPUB and go to your specified Debug directory. An HTML version of your PDF source will be in each of the 4 subdirectories, Input, Parsed, Processed, Structure. (I often use Input but sometimes Parsed has been more suitable.)

You can then pick the one you like best for further manual editing in your editor-of-choice before reimporting the tidyed-up HTML into Calibre for a proper conversion to EPUB.
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