Convert PDF to EPUB in Text not pictures.

looloo · 09-26-2012, 06:20 PM

How come when I convert my PDFs into EPUBs the pages turn into a full page picture? How do I convert it so that the words are text. I want to highlight the text. If it's converted into pictures I can't highlight anything. Anybody know? Thanks

Toxaris · 09-27-2012, 03:34 AM

You need to perform OCR on the pdf first. This pdf only contains images and cannot be converted in a normal way. Actually, pdf conversion is almost never a good idea.

Ti-Ron · 09-27-2012, 08:42 AM

From my (little) experience, converting from PDF to ePub (and vice versa) is a PITA. Even with Caliber, stuff are getting funky, in a bad way.

Maybe you could copy/past all you PDF into Word and do a ePub from there?

Building it by hand via Sigil would be longuer but more efficient, I think!
Good luck!

looloo · 09-27-2012, 10:16 AM

Yea, but I can only find this file in PDF format. What's this OCR thing you mentioned and how to I apply it to my PDF file? Thanks

Man Eating Duck · 09-27-2012, 10:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by looloo

Yea, but I can only find this file in PDF format. What's this OCR thing you mentioned and how to I apply it to my PDF file? Thanks

OCR stands for Optical Character Recognition, and is basically performed by a program which "reads" the image and translates it to editable text. You need specialised software for this. The full version of Acrobat can do basic OCR which it then overlays in your document, and specialised tools like FineReader are more advanced and will give you some approximation to layout like tables, indents and the like. I'm not aware of any good free tools, my limited experience with them indicate that they have a way to go yet.

No matter which software you use you will have to correct a great many misreads. Depending on the quality of your images, error percentages will usually vary from about 80%-98%. The software will also have to guess semantic layout, like what text is headings and whether a paragraph crosses a page boundary or is really *two* paragraphs (this is not always clear even to a human reader).

As Ti-Ron states it is generally a lost cause to convert PDFs to a meaningful format. Read them as is, or prepare to do a significant amount of work after conversion if quality is important to you.

Good luck!

Toxaris · 09-27-2012, 11:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ti-Ron

From my (little) experience, converting from PDF to ePub (and vice versa) is a PITA. Even with Caliber, stuff are getting funky, in a bad way.

Maybe you could copy/past all you PDF into Word and do a ePub from there?

Building it by hand via Sigil would be longuer but more efficient, I think!
Good luck!

Doing it like that will not work, since the PDF is basically a collection of images in this case.

curiousgeorge · 10-03-2012, 10:58 AM

plus its a bad idea to OCR because if its an unusual serif font it will interpret another character which will than spit out crap from OCR. OCR turns what is an image into searchable text. I have seen lately where people take an image based PDF and export them all out to images and write one html file with all the images. Yes this works, BUT its a crap way to making an epub and I hate it.

09-26-2012, 06:20 PM	#1
looloo Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2012 Device: iPad	Convert PDF to EPUB in Text not pictures. How come when I convert my PDFs into EPUBs the pages turn into a full page picture? How do I convert it so that the words are text. I want to highlight the text. If it's converted into pictures I can't highlight anything. Anybody know? Thanks

09-27-2012, 03:34 AM	#2
Toxaris Wizard Posts: 2,095 Karma: 927511 Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Heemskerk, NL Device: PRS-300, PRS-T1	You need to perform OCR on the pdf first. This pdf only contains images and cannot be converted in a normal way. Actually, pdf conversion is almost never a good idea. __________________ Creator and maintainer of the e-Book Tools Word add-in. Creator and maintainer of the Clean HTML macro for MS Word.

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
Show Printable Version Email this Page	Search this Thread: Advanced Search

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
How to convert pdf to an ebook with pictures for Kindle?	arash84	Workshop	0	08-12-2012 08:06 PM
Pictures from PDF to EPub or LRF	eugentango	Recipes	6	06-12-2012 11:10 PM
Pdf to MOBI as pictures not as text	Rikkaruohimus	Conversion	4	01-28-2012 08:54 AM

09-27-2012, 08:42 AM	#3
Ti-Ron Connoisseur Posts: 79 Karma: 1023042 Join Date: Nov 2011 Device: Kobo Touch, iPad	From my (little) experience, converting from PDF to ePub (and vice versa) is a PITA. Even with Caliber, stuff are getting funky, in a bad way. Maybe you could copy/past all you PDF into Word and do a ePub from there? Building it by hand via Sigil would be longuer but more efficient, I think! Good luck!

09-27-2012, 10:16 AM	#4
looloo Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2012 Device: iPad	Yea, but I can only find this file in PDF format. What's this OCR thing you mentioned and how to I apply it to my PDF file? Thanks

10-03-2012, 10:58 AM	#7
curiousgeorge Connoisseur Posts: 53 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2012 Location: Nashville, Tn Device: ipad, Kindle Fire	plus its a bad idea to OCR because if its an unusual serif font it will interpret another character which will than spit out crap from OCR. OCR turns what is an image into searchable text. I have seen lately where people take an image based PDF and export them all out to images and write one html file with all the images. Yes this works, BUT its a crap way to making an epub and I hate it.


Advertisement Enthusiast