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Old 09-21-2010, 02:04 AM   #1
lutwey
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calibre(kindle 3) pdf to mobi problem.

when i try to convert pdf mobi the resulting file is almost unreadable.

basically every sentence is split on the middle. the first part that sits on top would go on til the middle then there be a huge blank space . the second part of the sentence would start as if its another paragraph. totally weird.

the structure looks something like this

xxxxxx xxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxx xxxxx

xxxxxxxx xxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxx.

the entire book looks like that.
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Old 09-21-2010, 02:42 AM   #2
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I am having the same problem... any solutions?
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Old 09-21-2010, 04:02 AM   #3
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Absoutely the same problem here and it happens with all the pdf's I try to convert to .mobi.


Hope someone has an idea how to solve that problem.
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Old 09-21-2010, 04:18 AM   #4
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Have you tried playing with the line-wrap facility in the PDF conversion options.

The real solution is to avoid using PDF as the source format if at all possible.
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Old 09-21-2010, 04:21 AM   #5
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Well, using other formats as input is not a real solution...

But I will try the line-wrap facility, maybe it helps, thanks for the idea!
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Old 09-21-2010, 05:52 AM   #6
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There is also the option under Preferences->Conversion->Common Options to Pre-Process the file. Not sure if that helps with PDF files or not
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Old 09-21-2010, 06:22 AM   #7
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Preprocess does very little for pdf aside from some more aggressive chapter detection patterns.

I haven't seen this sort of problem with any pdfs, aside from multi-column pdfs, which aren't supported at this time. The line wrapping is set under the pdf input options, current default is .45, you can set this lower to make the unwrapping more aggressive.

You could also open a bug with the pdf's, but depending on the cause it may not be addressed until the new pdf engine is ready. In any event it could be useful to open bugs so that the pdfs are used as test cases against the new engine.
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Old 09-21-2010, 07:34 AM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lutwey View Post
basically every sentence is split on the middle. the first part that sits on top would go on til the middle then there be a huge blank space . the second part of the sentence would start as if its another paragraph. totally weird.
It's not that weird, this happens often when you have a garbage source PDF that you are trying to convert to a reflowable format.

Quote:
Originally Posted by DannyBookworm View Post
Well, using other formats as input is not a real solution...

But I will try the line-wrap facility, maybe it helps, thanks for the idea!
There are many PDF files out there that are pure evil garbage, created from ugly source files. Personally I avoid PDFs unless I'm going to read them as PDFs.

PDF is not a friendly format to convert because for the most part they are designed to fit a fixed size screen. When you try to convert it to a reflowable format bad things happen.

Other options:

1. Mobipocket Creator, (free) import the PDF and it will make a HTML file version available. Add the html to calibre and try converting again. Sometimes the html from this source works better sometimes it doesn't.
2. Adobe Acrobat, export as html or RTF and add that format to calibre and try again.
3. Buy (or pirate) your books in another format and convert that format to Mobi. Often you can go back to the store and download a different format of a book you already purchased from them.
4. If these were created by you then go to the original source and save/export in any format that is not PDF and convert that document.
5. Read PDF files in their native format and don't try to convert them.

Good Luck

Last edited by DoctorOhh; 09-21-2010 at 07:36 AM.
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Old 09-21-2010, 12:30 PM   #9
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Thanks, dwanthny.. and others for your suggestions. I will go back and try to export my file as html or rtf and try the conversion again.
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Old 09-21-2010, 05:29 PM   #10
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im using a mac so mobi creator is a no go for me. how was ur experience w/ it chilean?
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Old 09-22-2010, 04:49 PM   #11
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any updates?
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Old 09-22-2010, 06:36 PM   #12
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I've found that the best way to convert PDFs is to open them in your favourite PDF viewer, export the PDF to HTML, then import the HTML to Calibre and convert that to mobi.

Adobe acrobat is best as you can use preflight filters to trim off the page numbers and other stuff which ruins the mobi conversion, as wellas deleting all the pointless pages (publisher info etc). I'll post a detailed tutorial for getting high quality book conversions tomorrow.

Last edited by Blahah; 09-22-2010 at 06:38 PM.
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Old 09-22-2010, 10:51 PM   #13
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thanks blahah. ill wait for it.
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Old 09-23-2010, 12:53 AM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lutwey View Post
any updates?
Sorry Lutwey, I haven't had the chance to play with it much the last couple days.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Blahah View Post
I've found that the best way to convert PDFs is to open them in your favourite PDF viewer, export the PDF to HTML, then import the HTML to Calibre and convert that to mobi.

Adobe acrobat is best as you can use preflight filters to trim off the page numbers and other stuff which ruins the mobi conversion, as wellas deleting all the pointless pages (publisher info etc). I'll post a detailed tutorial for getting high quality book conversions tomorrow.
OOOOh now I will wait for this tutorial. Thanks Blahah!
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Old 09-23-2010, 01:56 AM   #15
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email the pdf file to your kindle email with "convert" in the subject field.

Amazon do a reasonable job of fixing line wraps & its a free service on wi-fi option
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