removing hard line endings

Mostly Math · 06-01-2010, 09:46 PM

I am sorry if this has already been answered somewhere else. I am using Calibre to convert pdf to epub and am unable to find an easy way to deal with the hard line endings. Removing them all manually is not really an option as the documents are about 500 pages long (and I don't know how to do it anyway)

. Any suggestions would be great.

tonyx3 · 06-01-2010, 10:32 PM

I'm not sure it's fully possible in calibre. There is the pdf line-unwrap option, but if it's not doing it for you, there's no way in calibre to manually edit them.

I did do it once for a problematic pdf by converting it to rtf, then opening it in office.

Using regex in the search and replace box there, you can find all VALID paragraph breaks, temporarily replace them with a placeholder code (12345 or something), then replace all remaining paragraph breaks with a space, then re-replace the placeholder with paragraph breaks.

It's been a while, but if I recall, I decided that valid paragraph breaks were those that were preceded by a period, question mark, exclamation point, or quotation mark.

You may end up with a few mistakes using this method, but by and large, it unwrapped the hard line endings from the pdf.

Afterwards, just add the rtf to calibre and continue your conversion process.

While you're busy editing the rtf, you can go ahead and make sure chapter headings are using the 'heading' style, too, so calibre will correctly find them.

jackie_w · 06-01-2010, 11:18 PM

Until Calibre gets its new PDF engine, you might like to take a look at a new utility called "pdfreflow" posted over in the PDF forum.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=83094

It converts your PDF to HTML and reflows the paragraphs as best it can from the info you input. You would then import the HTML to calibre for conversion to EPUB.

I have been pleasantly surprised with the results I've had so far, although it's not guaranteed to work with all PDFs.

06-01-2010, 09:46 PM	#1
Mostly Math Groupie Posts: 170 Karma: 1154013 Join Date: May 2010 Location: Toronto Device: Kobo (loaned out), KoboTouch (given away), KoboVox, KoboGlo, AuraHD	removing hard line endings I am sorry if this has already been answered somewhere else. I am using Calibre to convert pdf to epub and am unable to find an easy way to deal with the hard line endings. Removing them all manually is not really an option as the documents are about 500 pages long (and I don't know how to do it anyway) . Any suggestions would be great.

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06-01-2010, 10:32 PM	#2
tonyx3 Connoisseur Posts: 55 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: Nexus One	I'm not sure it's fully possible in calibre. There is the pdf line-unwrap option, but if it's not doing it for you, there's no way in calibre to manually edit them. I did do it once for a problematic pdf by converting it to rtf, then opening it in office. Using regex in the search and replace box there, you can find all VALID paragraph breaks, temporarily replace them with a placeholder code (12345 or something), then replace all remaining paragraph breaks with a space, then re-replace the placeholder with paragraph breaks. It's been a while, but if I recall, I decided that valid paragraph breaks were those that were preceded by a period, question mark, exclamation point, or quotation mark. You may end up with a few mistakes using this method, but by and large, it unwrapped the hard line endings from the pdf. Afterwards, just add the rtf to calibre and continue your conversion process. While you're busy editing the rtf, you can go ahead and make sure chapter headings are using the 'heading' style, too, so calibre will correctly find them.

06-01-2010, 11:18 PM	#3
jackie_w Grand Sorcerer Posts: 6,212 Karma: 16534894 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: UK Device: Kobo: KA1, ClaraHD, Forma, Libra2, Clara2E. PocketBook: TouchHD3	Until Calibre gets its new PDF engine, you might like to take a look at a new utility called "pdfreflow" posted over in the PDF forum. https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=83094 It converts your PDF to HTML and reflows the paragraphs as best it can from the info you input. You would then import the HTML to calibre for conversion to EPUB. I have been pleasantly surprised with the results I've had so far, although it's not guaranteed to work with all PDFs.

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