Editing a PDF for the Kindle

jangell2 · 02-26-2011, 02:57 PM

Samsung only provided the manual for my camera as a pdf. I tried using Calibre to convert it and it sucks. What's the best program to edit the pdf with so that either it's ready for the kindle or for a better calibre conversion?

Two things that I see in the pdf that might be problems for Callibre is that the pdf is in landscape mode and it's got two columns per page.

montalex · 02-26-2011, 03:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jangell2

Samsung only provided the manual for my camera as a pdf. I tried using Calibre to convert it and it sucks. What's the best program to edit the pdf with so that either it's ready for the kindle or for a better calibre conversion?

Two things that I see in the pdf that might be problems for Callibre is that the pdf is in landscape mode and it's got two columns per page.

My advice: don't even try to convert the pdf. It will make you miserable, unless you want to spend hours correcting errors. The best thing to do is to trim the margins with a pdf utility like Acrobat Pro, then view it in landscape mode in Kindle or in Duokan. Duokan has a built-in margin trimmer.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=105316

If you must make yourself miserable, you can try ABBYY FineReader, which can read your pdf, put two columns in one, etc. It is a great program.

jangell2 · 02-26-2011, 03:29 PM

I tried your advice. After looking at the file in AP, it didn't appear to need trimming, so I loaded the pdf onto my kindle. I can view in in landscape mode but the text is faint and every page in the manual needs just a bit more than the kindle can display. So the bottom of a page in the manual is displayed all by its self.

I just tried adjusting the contrast and that helps, but the text is too small. I can view it at 150% and others, but means a lot of scrolling. Sheesh. I think printing this thing is the solution.

I do not want to spend hours, so I won't do the manual conversion. This thing even has 3 columns at times.

FF2 · 02-26-2011, 04:11 PM

I used pdfscissors to cut a 2 column recipe book into 1-column. It makes it a bit easier in portrait mode but font size could still be an issue.

jangell2 · 02-26-2011, 09:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FF2

I used pdfscissors to cut a 2 column recipe book into 1-column. It makes it a bit easier in portrait mode but font size could still be an issue.

From the name (a great one) I'd guess this program automatically cuts down the middle between columns?

This particular PDF is in landscape format and each page is one page. There can be 1, 2, 3 colums and there can be images spanning most of the page. It's rather free form, so pdfscissors wouldn't work for me.

Even if I was a wiz at editing the pdf, I'm sure it would have been a nightmare. I've just finished printing it, double-sided.

I gotta google pdfscissors.

montalex · 02-26-2011, 09:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jangell2

From the name (a great one) I'd guess this program automatically cuts down the middle between columns?

This particular PDF is in landscape format and each page is one page. There can be 1, 2, 3 colums and there can be images spanning most of the page. It's rather free form, so pdfscissors wouldn't work for me.

Even if I was a wiz at editing the pdf, I'm sure it would have been a nightmare. I've just finished printing it, double-sided.

I gotta google pdfscissors.

ABBYY FineReader is great for dealing with multiple column conversion. It uses OCR to read the text, and you wind up with full page column width. I save as html and then convert to mobi with Calibre. This works pretty well, and is not too time consuming for short texts.

FF2 · 02-26-2011, 10:26 PM

PDFscissors allows you to select the columns using a "select top left, bottom right" approach, two or 3 times for each column on a page. But if the number of columns per page varies then, no, it will not work. It is actually a java online app so you could try it. How it works, select col 1, select col 2, select col x.... and then do the cutting. So basically it grabs col 1, moves to col 2, grabs it, then 3 and then moves to the next page. So c1 is page one, c2 is page 2, c3 is page 3, and then c1 from page 2 becomes the new page 4, etc....

jangell2 · 02-26-2011, 11:11 PM

Some of this manual is 2 and 3 columns. There are some pages where there is basically one column and it spans the entire landscape oriented page. The entire document is over 100 pages.

Would pdfscissors or abbyfine reader handle this?

02-26-2011, 02:57 PM	#1
jangell2 Addict Posts: 296 Karma: 1618384 Join Date: Aug 2010 Device: Kindle	Editing a PDF for the Kindle Samsung only provided the manual for my camera as a pdf. I tried using Calibre to convert it and it sucks. What's the best program to edit the pdf with so that either it's ready for the kindle or for a better calibre conversion? Two things that I see in the pdf that might be problems for Callibre is that the pdf is in landscape mode and it's got two columns per page.

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02-26-2011, 03:29 PM	#3
jangell2 Addict Posts: 296 Karma: 1618384 Join Date: Aug 2010 Device: Kindle	I tried your advice. After looking at the file in AP, it didn't appear to need trimming, so I loaded the pdf onto my kindle. I can view in in landscape mode but the text is faint and every page in the manual needs just a bit more than the kindle can display. So the bottom of a page in the manual is displayed all by its self. I just tried adjusting the contrast and that helps, but the text is too small. I can view it at 150% and others, but means a lot of scrolling. Sheesh. I think printing this thing is the solution. I do not want to spend hours, so I won't do the manual conversion. This thing even has 3 columns at times.

02-26-2011, 04:11 PM	#4
FF2 Wizard Posts: 1,105 Karma: 1025784 Join Date: Oct 2010 Device: WiFi Kindle3	I used pdfscissors to cut a 2 column recipe book into 1-column. It makes it a bit easier in portrait mode but font size could still be an issue.

02-26-2011, 10:26 PM	#7
FF2 Wizard Posts: 1,105 Karma: 1025784 Join Date: Oct 2010 Device: WiFi Kindle3	PDFscissors allows you to select the columns using a "select top left, bottom right" approach, two or 3 times for each column on a page. But if the number of columns per page varies then, no, it will not work. It is actually a java online app so you could try it. How it works, select col 1, select col 2, select col x.... and then do the cutting. So basically it grabs col 1, moves to col 2, grabs it, then 3 and then moves to the next page. So c1 is page one, c2 is page 2, c3 is page 3, and then c1 from page 2 becomes the new page 4, etc....

02-26-2011, 11:11 PM	#8
jangell2 Addict Posts: 296 Karma: 1618384 Join Date: Aug 2010 Device: Kindle	Some of this manual is 2 and 3 columns. There are some pages where there is basically one column and it spans the entire landscape oriented page. The entire document is over 100 pages. Would pdfscissors or abbyfine reader handle this?

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