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Old 02-26-2009, 04:52 PM   #1
gfoster
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Calibre conversions for kindle

I just "inherited" an old Kindle 1 from someone who upgraded to a version 2. I've got a huge collection of ePub format books that I have been using Calibre with and loading on to my iPhone. Now I'd like to convert them to use them on the kindle.

I'm using the latest version of calibre (.141 I think it was, I just updated it today) and tried converting a handful of books before sending them to the device. Most converted "ok" (for some definitions of Ok) with one or two getting chopped up pretty badly. The ones that did convert "ok" had a huge left margin, about an inch and a half wide on the left side but were otherwise fine (full justification, well flowed, etc). I'd really like to get rid of that huge left margin if possible since it wastes about a third of my screen.

Any pointers on doing this? I'm using the from profile as "browser" and the to profile as "kindle" when I use the converter and am converting to mobi format. Any advice would sure be appreciated!

-- Gary F.
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Old 02-26-2009, 05:16 PM   #2
kovidgoyal
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Hmm have you tried the margin settings in the conversion dialog?
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Old 02-26-2009, 06:25 PM   #3
gfoster
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Yep, I sure have. I changed all the margins to 0 pts, and the conversion hung (well, it took long enough that I believed it was hung after 10 mins or so). I tried it again lowering all the margins to 1 pt and it converted just fine, but displayed exactly the same (about an inch to an inch and a half left margin). I've also tried running any2mobi from the command line as well.

Stanza (the mac desktop version) converts these same files just fine, although it messes up some of the metadata and mangles the title page. All in all, I prefer to keep everything in calibre and I'm quite sure there's potentially a PEBKAC problem here (Problem Exists Between Keyboard and Chair) but I can't seem to get it to convert correctly.

-- Gary F.
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Old 02-26-2009, 06:40 PM   #4
kovidgoyal
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open a ticket and attach one of these files to it
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Old 02-26-2009, 06:42 PM   #5
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Will do. Would multiple files help?

-- Gary F.
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Old 02-26-2009, 06:47 PM   #6
kovidgoyal
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two should be enough
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Old 02-26-2009, 07:04 PM   #7
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Ok, I put in a ticket (#1944) with three files and one sample .mobi conversion. Hope that helps!

-- Gary F.
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Old 03-02-2009, 10:33 AM   #8
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Ok, so I got an update on this that said it was a CSS issue, and that I could fix it via a CSS style sheet override. Not grokking CSS, can anyone give me an example of how to override this? I see where the CSS override goes, but I don't know what the CSS would look like in order to override the margins.

Alternatively, if someone wants to teach me to fish instead, how do I disassemble the .epub files to look at the CSS that's enclosed already so I can figure out how to override it myself?

Thanks!

-- Gary F.
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Old 03-02-2009, 12:48 PM   #9
kovidgoyal
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rename the .epub file to .zip and you will be able to open it using standard tools
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Old 03-02-2009, 04:47 PM   #10
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I had this same issue with .lit files.. I changed the format from .lit to epub then epub to mobi and it reads fine now on the kindle. Not sure why.. but that is how I worked around it. Hopefully this can be fixed and I won't have to do the extra conversion to get the books I have readable.

thanks for calibre! I love it!
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Old 02-02-2010, 09:00 PM   #11
jchrist
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Same problem

I have the same problem described in this thread.

The css used by my epub source book is quoted below. I've tried adding


* {
margin-left: 0px;
}


as the override css, and that didn't solve the problem either. What can I do to get rid of the wide left margin?

Thanks,
Jon

/* undo some of the default styling */

html, body, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, p, ol, ul, li, pre, code, address,
variable, form, fieldset, blockquote, a {
padding: 0;
margin: 0;
font-size: 100%;
}

table {
border-collapse: collapse;
border-spacing: 0;
}

td, th, caption {
font-weight: normal;
text-align: left !important;
}

img, fieldset {
border: 0;
}

ol {
padding-left: 0.75em;
list-style: decimal;
}

ul {
padding-left: 0.75em;
list-style: square;
}

q:before, q:after {
content:'';
}

/* don't show the toc */

.toc { display: none; }

/* p margin */

p {
margin: 10px;
}

/* inlines */

em {
font-style: italic;
font-family: "DejaVu Serif Italic", serif;
}

strong {
font-weight: bold;
font-family: "DejaVu Serif Bold", serif;
}

strong em, em strong, h1 em, h2 em, h3 em, h4 em {
font-weight: bold;
font-style: italic;
font-family: "DejaVu Serif Bold Italic", serif;
}

code strong em, code em strong {
font-weight: bold;
font-style: italic;
font-family: "DejaVu Sans Mono Bold Oblique", monospace;
}

code em, em code, pre em {
font-family: "DejaVu Sans Mono Oblique", monospace;
font-style: italic;
}

code strong, strong code, pre strong {
font-family: "DejaVu Sans Mono Bold", monospace;
font-weight: bold;
}

code {
font-family: "DejaVu Sans Mono", monospace;
}

pre {
white-space: pre-wrap;
font-family: "DejaVu Sans Mono", monospace;
font-size: 85%;
margin-left: 20px;
margin-bottom: 10px;
}

/* headings */

h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6 {
margin-left: 10px;
text-align: left !important;
page-break-inside: avoid;
page-break-after: avoid;
font-weight: bold;
display: block;
}

h1 {
margin-top: 0.75em;
margin-bottom: 0.50em;
font-size: 1.5em;
}

h2 {
margin-top: 0.75em;
margin-bottom: 0.30em;
font-size: 1.3em;
}

h3 {
font-size: 1.1em;
margin-top: 0.50em;
margin-bottom: 0.50em;
}

h4 {
font-size: 1em;
margin-top: 0.30em;
margin-bottom: 0.30em;
font-style: italic;
}

h5 {
font-size: 1em;
font-style: italic;
}

h6 {
font-size: 1em;
font-style: italic;
}

/* images */

img {
max-width: 100%;
margin-left: auto;
margin-right: auto;
}

.mediaobject {
width: 99%;
}

.figure-contents {
page-break-after: avoid;
page-break-inside: avoid;
padding-bottom: 0.10em;
text-align: center;
}

.figure {
background: #F5F5F5;
page-break-inside: avoid;
padding: 5px;
text-align: center;
}

.figure .title {
page-break-before: avoid;
margin: 0;
text-align: center;
font-weight: normal;
font-style: italic;
font-family: "DejaVu Serif Italic", serif;
}

/* sidebars */

.sidebar {
border: solid black 2px;
background-color: #F5F5F5;
margin: 10px 5px 10px 5px;
}

.sidebar > * {
padding-left: 5px;
padding-right: 5px;
}

/* blocks */

.title {
font-family: sans-serif;
font-weight: bold;
}

.author h3 {
font-family: sans-serif;
font-size: 1em;
margin-left: 15px;
}

.editor h3 {
font-family: sans-serif;
font-size: 1em;
margin-left: 15px;
}

.editor h4 {
font-style: normal;
font-weight: normal;
}

.affiliation {
margin-left: 20px;
font-size: smaller;
}

.blockquote {
margin: 10px;
}

/* lists */

dt {
margin-left: 0.50em;
}

dd {
margin-left: 1em;
}

ul, ol {
margin-left: 1.25em;
}

.simplelist {
margin-left: 1.5em;
}

/* examples */

.example .title {
font-weight: normal;
font-style: italic;
font-family: "DejaVu Serif Italic", serif;
page-break-after: avoid;
}

.example {
background-color: #F5F5F5;
}

/* notes, tips, warnings */

.tip, .note {
width: 95%;
text-align: left !important;
margin: 10px;
page-break-inside: avoid;
border: dashed black 1px;
background-color: #F5F5F5;
}

.warning, .caution {
width: 95%;
text-align: left !important;
margin: 10px;
page-break-inside: avoid;
border: double black 4px;
background-color: #F5F5F5;
}

dd .note, dd, .tip, dd .warning, dd .caution {
margin: 0.50em 0 0.50em 1.25em;
}

.tip > *, .warning > *, .note > *, .caution > * {
padding-left: 5px;
padding-right: 5px;
}

.note h3, .warning h3, .tip h3, .caution h3 {
text-align: left !important;
page-break-after: avoid;
}

/* tables */

.table th, .informaltable th {
background-color: #F5F5F5;
border: black 1px solid;
font-weight: bold;
font-family: sans-serif;
font-size: smaller;
padding: 0.25em;
margin: 0;
}

.table td, .informaltable td {
border: black 1px solid;
padding: 0.25em;
margin: 0;
border-spacing: 0;
font-size: smaller;
}

.table .title {
font-size: medium;
font-weight: normal;
font-style: italic;
font-family: "DejaVu Serif Italic", serif;
page-break-after: avoid;
margin-bottom: 0.50em;
margin-left: 0;
}

.table code, .informaltable code {
font-size: x-small;
}

.table, .informaltable {
margin-top: 0.75em;
max-width: 100%;
margin-left: 10px;
}

/* Syntax highlighting */
code.boolean {
color: rgb(0,0,128); /* navy */
}
code.character {
color: rgb(128,128,0); /* olive */
}
code.comment {
color: rgb(0,0,255); /* blue */
}
code.conditional {
color: rgb(50,205,50); /* limegreen */
}
code.constant {
color: rgb(255,140,0); /* darkorange */
}
code.debug {
color: rgb(139,0,0); /* darkred */
}
code.define {
color: rgb(184,134,11); /* darkgoldenrod */
}
code.delimiter {
color: rgb(105,105,105); /* dimgray */
}
code.error {
color: rgb(255,0,0); /* red */
}
code.exception {
color: rgb(250,128,11); /* salmon */
}
code.float {
color: rgb(70,130,180); /* steelblue */
}
code.function {
color: rgb(0,128,0); /* green */
}
code.identifier {
color: rgb(65,105,225); /* royalblue */
}
code.ignore {
color: rgb(128,128,128); /* gray */
}
code.include {
color: rgb(128,0,128); /* purple */
}
code.keyword {
color: rgb(160,82,45); /* sienna */
}
code.label {
color: rgb(255,20,147); /* deeppink */
}
code.macro {
color: rgb(255,69,0); /* orangered */
}
code.number {
color: rgb(165,42,42); /* brown */
}
code.operator {
color: black; /* black */
}
code.preCondit {
color: rgb(0,128,128); /* teal */
}
code.preProc {
color: rgb(255,0,255); /* fuscia */
}
code.repeat {
color: rgb(75,0,130); /* indigo */
}
code.special {
color: rgb(139,69,19); /* saddlebrown */
}
code.specialchar {
color: rgb(255,0,255); /* magenta */
}
code.specialcomment {
color: rgb(46,139,87); /* seagreen */
}
code.statement {
color: rgb(34,139,34); /* forestgreen */
}
code.storageclass {
color: rgb(221,160,221); /* plum */
}
code.string {
color: rgb(139,0,0); /* darkred */
}
code.structure {
color: rgb(210,106,30); /* chocolate */
}
code.tag {
color: rgb(0,139,139); /* darkcyan */
}
code.todo {
color: black; /* black */
}
code.type {
color: rgb(123,104,238); /* mediumslateblue */
}
code.typedef {
color: rgb(0,100,0); /* darkgreen */
}
code.underlined {
text-decoration: underline; /* guess what */
}

/* fonts (keep at bottom) */

@font-face {
font-family: "DejaVu Serif";
font-style: normal;
font-weight: normal;
src: url(DejaVuSerif.otf);
}

@font-face {
font-family: "DejaVu Serif Bold";
font-weight: bold;
font-style: normal;
src: url(DejaVuSerif-Bold.otf);
}

@font-face {
font-family: "DejaVu Serif Italic";
font-weight: normal;
font-style: italic;
src: url(DejaVuSerif-Italic.otf);
}

@font-face {
font-family: "DejaVu Serif Bold Italic";
font-weight: bold;
font-style: italic;
src: url(DejaVuSerif-BoldItalic.otf);
}

@font-face {
font-family: "DejaVu Sans Mono";
font-weight: normal;
font-style: normal;
src: url(DejaVuSansMono.otf);
}

@font-face {
font-family: "DejaVu Sans Mono Bold";
font-weight: bold;
font-style: normal;
src: url(DejaVuSansMono-Bold.otf);
}

@font-face {
font-family: "DejaVu Sans Mono Oblique";
font-weight: normal;
font-style: italic;
src: url(DejaVuSansMono-Oblique.otf);
}

@font-face {
font-family: "DejaVu Sans Mono Bold Oblique";
font-weight: bold;
font-style: italic;
src: url(DejaVuSansMono-BoldOblique.otf);
}

/* keep this body statement last */

body {
font-family: "DejaVu Serif", serif;
}
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Old 12-29-2010, 12:00 AM   #12
ehw
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This problem still exists with the most recent version of calibre and the new kindle. The CSS you need to override is actually the internal calibre styles, not anything you'd normally be changing. The following CSS and the "Default Output Profile" gives good results for my 6" Graphite Kindle:

.calibre1 {
margin-left: 0pt;
}
.calibre2 {
margin-left: 0pt;
}
.calibre3 {
margin-left: 0pt;
}
.calibre4 {
margin-left: 0pt;
}
.calibre5 {
margin-left: 0pt;
}
.calibre6 {
margin-left: 0pt;
}
.calibre7 {
margin-left: 0pt;
}
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Old 12-29-2010, 03:39 AM   #13
MrTissues
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ehw View Post
This problem still exists with the most recent version of calibre and the new kindle. The CSS you need to override is actually the internal calibre styles, not anything you'd normally be changing. The following CSS and the "Default Output Profile" gives good results for my 6" Graphite Kindle:

.calibre1 {
margin-left: 0pt;
}
.calibre2 {
margin-left: 0pt;
}
.calibre3 {
margin-left: 0pt;
}
.calibre4 {
margin-left: 0pt;
}
.calibre5 {
margin-left: 0pt;
}
.calibre6 {
margin-left: 0pt;
}
.calibre7 {
margin-left: 0pt;
}
Actually the latest version has an option to ignore margins. It is in the conversion settings. Until that was implemented I used that same CSS you posted.
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