TOC Disappears after adding metadata..Help!

CanonFan · 05-16-2011, 09:56 PM

Hi All,

I'm new to creating epub files. In fact, I'm working on my first one. I created my book file in InDesign comprised of individual chapter files so that my TOC would be set up accordingly. I exported to epub, opened my file in Adobe Digital Editions. Great. I then opened my epub file in Sigil in order to add metadata. Now, when I open my validated epub in any reader, my TOC is gone and I just have something that says "start".

What am I doing wrong?

Thanks in advance,
Kris

theducks · 05-17-2011, 12:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CanonFan

Hi All,

I'm new to creating epub files. In fact, I'm working on my first one. I created my book file in InDesign comprised of individual chapter files so that my TOC would be set up accordingly. I exported to epub, opened my file in Adobe Digital Editions. Great. I then opened my epub file in Sigil in order to add metadata. Now, when I open my validated epub in any reader, my TOC is gone and I just have something that says "start".

What am I doing wrong?

Thanks in advance,
Kris

This is normal for Sigil .3.x which uses only h1,h2,h3 for TOC
Sigil .4 will make this optional (and put the whole edit burden on them if they choose this option)

jttraverse · 05-19-2011, 12:38 AM

I've had this same issue enough times to be frustrated by it. I'm not sure what ".4 will make this optional" means since it sounds like editing the metadata will make it optional to destroy the TOC, which I don't think was what you meant. But I cannot understand why Sigil would erase an existing TOC with no warning, especially when the TOS is working according to what rules I've seen.
But I've also had some experience when I simply opened a file in Sigil to add an image, and then found that it had wiped the TOC. I didn't edit metadata, just inserted an image...ug..
Love Sigil, but I think an update or quick patch to stop this issue would be very helpful until .4 comes out.
-JTT

Toxaris · 05-19-2011, 01:42 PM

This is the way Sigil works in 0.3.4. It is by design. When you save an epub in Sigil 0.3.4 (or below), the opf and ncx is recreated. These files contain, besides other things, the TOC and the metadata. This was the only way the validity of the file could be garantueed. You could use the TOC editor in those versions to see what would be in the TOC. The original would be gone.

In Sigil 0.4 this is changed. By default the opf and ncx files are kept and not overwritten. That is great if you just want to edit an epub and want to keep the structure intact (including TOC). However, if you do more than that and the TOC will change, you have two choices. Edit the ncx of opf yourself to make it correspond to the rest of the epub or recreate TOC. That will change/recreate the ncx and opf again.

So basically, you have the choice. It is not a bug, it is by deliberate design.

jttraverse · 05-20-2011, 12:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toxaris

...In Sigil 0.4 this is changed. By default the opf and ncx files are kept and not overwritten. That is great if you just want to edit an epub and want to keep the structure intact (including TOC). However, if you do more than that and the TOC will change, you have two choices. Edit the ncx of opf yourself to make it correspond to the rest of the epub or recreate TOC. That will change/recreate the ncx and opf again.

So basically, you have the choice. It is not a bug, it is by deliberate design.

That will be great since for me I often only need to edit a page or add something that shouldn't change the TOC.

That said, if I do have a TOC already and want to keep it, wouldn't it seem more reasonable to have Sigil use the existing TOC and give the option to wipe/recreate it only if the user wants that? In my experience, once a TOC is built and working, I'd much rather keep and tweak it, or be able to simply add to it, before I'd ever want to just wipe it and start over. So even if something required a change to the TOC, the option to edit or add to the existing TOC seems like a more prudent option than being forced to start from scratch. But I usually keep a copy of the toc.ncx and after I've saved things I simply unzip the epub file and replace the empty Sigil one with my original. It works...no worries.
-JTT

Valloric · 05-23-2011, 05:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jttraverse

That said, if I do have a TOC already and want to keep it, wouldn't it seem more reasonable to have Sigil use the existing TOC and give the option to wipe/recreate it only if the user wants that?

This is exactly how 0.4.0 works.

05-16-2011, 09:56 PM	#1
CanonFan Junior Member Posts: 1 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2011 Device: none	TOC Disappears after adding metadata..Help! Hi All, I'm new to creating epub files. In fact, I'm working on my first one. I created my book file in InDesign comprised of individual chapter files so that my TOC would be set up accordingly. I exported to epub, opened my file in Adobe Digital Editions. Great. I then opened my epub file in Sigil in order to add metadata. Now, when I open my validated epub in any reader, my TOC is gone and I just have something that says "start". What am I doing wrong? Thanks in advance, Kris

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05-19-2011, 12:38 AM	#3
jttraverse Enthusiast Posts: 35 Karma: 2000 Join Date: Dec 2010 Device: none	I've had this same issue enough times to be frustrated by it. I'm not sure what ".4 will make this optional" means since it sounds like editing the metadata will make it optional to destroy the TOC, which I don't think was what you meant. But I cannot understand why Sigil would erase an existing TOC with no warning, especially when the TOS is working according to what rules I've seen. But I've also had some experience when I simply opened a file in Sigil to add an image, and then found that it had wiped the TOC. I didn't edit metadata, just inserted an image...ug.. Love Sigil, but I think an update or quick patch to stop this issue would be very helpful until .4 comes out. -JTT

05-19-2011, 01:42 PM	#4
Toxaris Wizard Posts: 4,520 Karma: 121692313 Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Heemskerk, NL Device: PRS-T1, Kobo Touch, Kobo Aura	This is the way Sigil works in 0.3.4. It is by design. When you save an epub in Sigil 0.3.4 (or below), the opf and ncx is recreated. These files contain, besides other things, the TOC and the metadata. This was the only way the validity of the file could be garantueed. You could use the TOC editor in those versions to see what would be in the TOC. The original would be gone. In Sigil 0.4 this is changed. By default the opf and ncx files are kept and not overwritten. That is great if you just want to edit an epub and want to keep the structure intact (including TOC). However, if you do more than that and the TOC will change, you have two choices. Edit the ncx of opf yourself to make it correspond to the rest of the epub or recreate TOC. That will change/recreate the ncx and opf again. So basically, you have the choice. It is not a bug, it is by deliberate design.

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