Quote:
Originally Posted by vastav
If you are looking to do option #2, pdf2epub.com solution is a single step version of that (and better since you avoid the intermediate lossy conversion to RTF). The solution uses tags in PDF to drive the conversion process using similar flows as those used by RTF and HTML converters built into Acrobat.
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I am getting the best results by far using Acrobat as an intermediate step.
Over the last week I converted a couple pdf books to epub format and the biggest problem was getting the paragraph breaks to end up right. I initially tried a straight Calibre conversion but paragraph breaks were all over the place and incorrect -- even after fiddling for quite some time with the line un-wrapping value.
Then I read this thread and the suggestions by chaley and greenapple to use Acrobat were right on the money. I tried other suggestions such as Mobipocket Creator and the pdf2epub.com converter but both resulted in body text where paragraphs all ran together in one long block!
With Acrobat, converting either to RTF or HTML gave me an almost perfect result with the body text. I convert a pdf both ways in Acrobat, then import both rtf and html into Calibre and see which conversion to epub gives the best result in the body text. In one instance it was RTF and in the other it was HTML.
After deciding which gave the best base conversion (RTF or HTML) I then imported the file into MS Word to designate chapter headings and generate a TOC. (I find it easier to do in Word than in Sigil.) Then I import into Calibre, convert to ePub, and do last minute tidying up in Sigil. Sounds like a long process, and it is, but it's much less labor intensive and problematic than trying to clean up the bad paragraph breaks left by other conversion methods.
I realize not all have or can afford Acrobat, but if you look on eBay you can sometimes find older versions on sale for a good price. There may also be some free or cheaper pdf applications that can do as clean a job as Acrobat on pdf-to-rtf/html conversions. I already had Acrobat but never realized it could be so helpful in ebook conversions.
--Pat