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Originally Posted by Quoth
I just noticed that downloading a file direct to preview on a Kindle after upload processing is gone. You either preview on the Internet Web page or they suggest download of the Kindle Previewer (which has no Linux version?) and they offer an HTML download.
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That's right. The Kindle Previewer is Windows and Mac only. The command line interface can be made to run under Wine but not the GUI, so it can perform conversions but not do actual previewing under Linux.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Quoth
Except the ‘HTML Download’ is Zip file.
Previewing inside it after download revealed what looked a bit like an epub, so I renamed the <downloaded name>.zip file to <downloaded name>.epub and it opens fine in Calibre's standalone ebook viewer on Linux.
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The file is structured like an EPUB but if you uploaded a Word document for your book then the resulting file will be missing several required items needed to meet the EPUB standard, so I would call it EPUBish. Changing the extension to .epub allows it to be opened in the calibre viewer, however attempting to open it in the calibre editor will fail.
Amazon's instructions for dealing with the downloaded preview file are incomplete to the point of being wrong:
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Downloadable Preview Options
To view your book directly on your Kindle or by using the Kindle Previewer, follow the instructions below. For the best viewing experience, we recommend using Kindle Previewer. Download Kindle Previewer
- Download your converted book file: HTML
- To preview on your computer, download Kindle Previewer and open your book in the tool.
- To preview on your Kindle, send your book file to your Send-to-Kindle email address. If trying to view MOBI or other files, you can export those formats using Kindle Previewer. Learn more
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From this description you might believe that you can just open the downloaded preview zip file in Kindle Previewer or email it to a Kindle. That is not true. The Previewer will refuse to open a zip file and emailing it will send each HTML and image file contained within the zip to the Kindle as a separate book.
You need to click the "Learn More" link in order to get proper instructions:
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To send a different file such as MOBI to your device:- Download the HTML of your converted book in the Preview on your Kindle device dropdown.
- This will download a .ZIP file to your computer, rename this .ZIP file to a .EPUB. Follow these instructions on how to rename your file for Mac or Windows.
- Open the .EPUB file on the Kindle Previewer. The Kindle Previewer will start converting your file, once it finishes you will be able to preview your book.
- On the Kindle Previewer menu, click File > Export and save this file as type: Books(.mobi) - to sideload on older Kindle devices (*.mobi).
- Once the export is completed you will get an export successful alert.
- You can also send the mobi exported to your Send-to-Kindle-e-mail address to view on your Kindle. Learn more about sending files to Kindle via email.
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So you actually need to rename the zip file to .epub (as you discovered) and convert to MOBI using the Previewer before emailing.
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Originally Posted by Quoth
Obviously this is a recent change and how reliable is the idea of simple rename of .zip to .epub and using an epub viewer rather than Kindle Previewer?
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Not very reliable in my opinion.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Quoth
Does this also suggest rename of .epub to .zip and ‘Send to Kindle’ via email will work to get an azw3/KF8 version on later Kindles?
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That won't work, as I mentioned above.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Quoth
The .zip download renamed to .epub loaded fine into the Calibre Editor and passed Book Check and Epub Check.
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I believe that this only worked for you because you started with a properly formatted EPUB as the source. I am curious how the downloaded zip file differs from the original EPUB that you uploaded. (I tried uploading an EPUB and got back an identical file as the preview zip.)