RTF to Mobi to Kindle: Table Border and Formatting are lost

Starko · 11-17-2010, 04:09 AM

When i convert and RTF to Mobi at least two things happen:
1. Table border becomes invisible in Calibre viewer and on Kindle. I converted Mobi file to ePUB and can see that there is no border size information in the ePub version.
2. Bold and Italic text formatting inside the only table cell does not show in Kindle 3 (Calibre viewer displays text well). I converted Mobi file to ePUB and can see that there is bold and italic formatting but for some reason Kindle ignores it.

Of course it could be that Kalibre does not parse and display properly formatted Mobi files well. But on the other hand i know that Kalibre does support table border and it can display Italic and Bold within table cells. It would be great if Calibre provided mobi format that Kalibre does display correctly.

I am using Calibre v0.7.28

In case someone is interested in solving this mystery - attached is the test_table.rtf.

janvanmaar · 11-17-2010, 05:30 AM

Indeed, I noticed both of these issues before also.
The first issue is not mobi specific - it was the same for epub or pdf output as far as I can remember. Not sure whether Calibre does this as a feature or it is a bug.
The second issue is probably a problem of the Kindle software. You will probably soon find many other strange problems with the Kindle software, at least it was the case for me.

kovidgoyal · 11-17-2010, 10:43 AM

The RTF input plugin has no support for converting RTF border styles. While implementing that support is fairly easy, I don't really care about RTF, so it is unlikely to get done.

You should save your RTF as HTML and convert that.

kovidgoyal · 11-17-2010, 11:30 AM

actually this turned out to be so easy to fix that I fixed it. But note taht the MOBI format doesn't really support table styling so table border styles will stil not get converted. Conversion to EPUB will work fine though.

Starko · 11-17-2010, 05:07 PM

Kovid, thanks for such a quick response!
I am glad it was that easy. Does it mean that the next Calibre version will convert that attached RTF file into MOBI with the table border AND the italic&bold text?

I am not sure what you mean by table border styles, all i know that i converted a HTML (EPUB) to MOBI with

Code:

<table border="1">

and it displayed very well in Kindle

Once again - thanks!

kovidgoyal · 11-17-2010, 07:42 PM

no, I meant that conversion will preserve border styles for RTF->EPUB. For RTF->MOBI there's not going to be any change, because MOBI only supports a single border style (the border=1 attribute you are talking about). Whereas EPUB and RTF have multiple different types of borders, like dashes, ridged, dottted, different thicknesses etc.

Starko · 11-18-2010, 05:14 PM

we can't have all, can we?

anyway, a border without styles is better than no border.

kovidgoyal · 11-19-2010, 12:17 PM

the problem is that rtf specifies borders at the level of table cells, bot tables. There is no way to do that in MOBI.

Starko · 11-21-2010, 03:18 AM

that's true - never thought of it... that's really a problem... i guess next time i have to convert an RTF with tables to Mobi i will first convert it to EPUB and then manually format tables.

dmkelner · 12-16-2010, 08:30 PM

I have legitimate tabular data in my epub file. In my CSS I have defined styles for both the cells and the tables. The borders and shading are not displaying when I convert the epub to mobi. How can I get the borders to show? They are just 1px solid black. Thanks.

kovidgoyal · 12-16-2010, 10:19 PM

MOBI does not support css styling for tables

dmkelner · 12-17-2010, 12:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Starko

I am not sure what you mean by table border styles, all i know that i converted a HTML (EPUB) to MOBI with

Code:

<table border="1">

and it displayed very well in Kindle

Did you use inline CSS in your epub file or a stylesheet? I've been unable to see the table borders and Calibre says it is not supported. Your help would be appreciated! Thanks!

Starko · 12-20-2010, 05:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dmkelner

Did you use inline CSS in your epub file or a stylesheet? I've been unable to see the table borders and Calibre says it is not supported. Your help would be appreciated! Thanks!

When i wrote that html file, I did not use any CSS for table formatting - just good old HTML

Code:

<table border="1">

11-17-2010, 05:07 PM	#5
Starko Zealot Posts: 123 Karma: 998177 Join Date: Aug 2010 Device: Kindle 3	Kovid, thanks for such a quick response! I am glad it was that easy. Does it mean that the next Calibre version will convert that attached RTF file into MOBI with the table border AND the italic&bold text? I am not sure what you mean by table border styles, all i know that i converted a HTML (EPUB) to MOBI with Code: <table border="1"> and it displayed very well in Kindle Once again - thanks! Last edited by Starko; 11-17-2010 at 05:11 PM.

12-16-2010, 08:30 PM	#10
dmkelner Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2010 Device: kindle	Borders not showing I have legitimate tabular data in my epub file. In my CSS I have defined styles for both the cells and the tables. The borders and shading are not displaying when I convert the epub to mobi. How can I get the borders to show? They are just 1px solid black. Thanks.

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11-17-2010, 05:30 AM	#2
janvanmaar Addict Posts: 219 Karma: 404 Join Date: Nov 2010 Device: Kindle 3G, Samsung SIII	Indeed, I noticed both of these issues before also. The first issue is not mobi specific - it was the same for epub or pdf output as far as I can remember. Not sure whether Calibre does this as a feature or it is a bug. The second issue is probably a problem of the Kindle software. You will probably soon find many other strange problems with the Kindle software, at least it was the case for me.

11-17-2010, 10:43 AM	#3
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,844 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	The RTF input plugin has no support for converting RTF border styles. While implementing that support is fairly easy, I don't really care about RTF, so it is unlikely to get done. You should save your RTF as HTML and convert that.

11-17-2010, 11:30 AM	#4
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,844 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	actually this turned out to be so easy to fix that I fixed it. But note taht the MOBI format doesn't really support table styling so table border styles will stil not get converted. Conversion to EPUB will work fine though.

11-17-2010, 07:42 PM	#6
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,844 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	no, I meant that conversion will preserve border styles for RTF->EPUB. For RTF->MOBI there's not going to be any change, because MOBI only supports a single border style (the border=1 attribute you are talking about). Whereas EPUB and RTF have multiple different types of borders, like dashes, ridged, dottted, different thicknesses etc.

11-18-2010, 05:14 PM	#7
Starko Zealot Posts: 123 Karma: 998177 Join Date: Aug 2010 Device: Kindle 3	we can't have all, can we? anyway, a border without styles is better than no border.

11-19-2010, 12:17 PM	#8
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,844 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	the problem is that rtf specifies borders at the level of table cells, bot tables. There is no way to do that in MOBI.

11-21-2010, 03:18 AM	#9
Starko Zealot Posts: 123 Karma: 998177 Join Date: Aug 2010 Device: Kindle 3	that's true - never thought of it... that's really a problem... i guess next time i have to convert an RTF with tables to Mobi i will first convert it to EPUB and then manually format tables.

12-16-2010, 10:19 PM	#11
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,844 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	MOBI does not support css styling for tables

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