force table of contents option

cybmole · 12-19-2010, 09:06 AM

with calibre's own epub viewer it seems to work fine - each chapter is in a TOC and is now clickable.

but when I view the mobi file with calibre viewer, or send the same file from calibre to Kindle, or place it in Kindle for PC, the table of contacts option is greyed out and the kindle 5 way switch does not navigate between chapters.

what am I doing wrong please?

jackie_w · 12-19-2010, 11:06 AM

If your EPUB's TOC is good, then when you do an EPUB to MOBI try the following settings:

Code:

Convert - StructureDetection - Detect chapters: /
Convert - TOC - Level 1/2/3 TOCs: all blank
Convert - TOC - Force use of auto-generated TOC: unchecked

I'm not sure whether the first two items are essential but I believe the third one is.

cybmole · 12-19-2010, 11:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jackie_w

If your EPUB's TOC is good, then when you do an EPUB to MOBI try the following settings:

Code:

Convert - StructureDetection - Detect chapters: /
Convert - TOC - Level 1/2/3 TOCs: all blank
Convert - TOC - Force use of auto-generated TOC: unchecked

I'm not sure whether the first two items are essential but I believe the third one is.

with those settings ( well actually with the long default rexex in detect chapters, I get a .mobi TOC with just 1 entry - prologue.

2nd try- set chapter detection to single slash / & rerun conversion .... same result.

NB in epub each chapter has its own xhtml, except that chapters 1 & 2 are merged. the prologue has it's own xhtml file

janvanmaar · 12-19-2010, 11:49 AM

Try to check the option "Do not add detected chapters to the Table of Content" (and make sure that the input format is set to EPUB and the output to MOBI)

DMSmillie · 12-19-2010, 11:52 AM

Are the items you want included in the TOC coded as headings (h1,, h2, etc) or something else in the original HTML?

cybmole · 12-19-2010, 01:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DMSmillie

Are the items you want included in the TOC coded as headings (h1,, h2, etc) or something else in the original HTML?

here's a sample chapter heading

Code:

<body class="calibre4">
  <div class="calibre2">
    <h1 class="calibre7" id="heading_id_2"></h1>
  </div>

  <div class="calibre2">
    <h3 class="calibre5" id="heading_id_3">CHAPTER THREE</h3>
    <hr class="spacing" />

cybmole · 12-19-2010, 02:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by janvanmaar

Try to check the option "Do not add detected chapters to the Table of Content" (and make sure that the input format is set to EPUB and the output to MOBI)

don't see how telling it NOT to add chapters will help - but testing anyway....

no - I still get just 1 TOC entry - Prologue

is this being troublesome because each book chapter is in a separate HTML file, or is that normal ? i.e. is the calibre conversion only considering the 1st - prologue - file as a TOC candidate ?

jackie_w · 12-19-2010, 02:15 PM

Are you able to post an example of a epub with good TOC which fails to retain the TOC correctly when converting to mobi? If so, I would be happy to take a closer look.

jackie_w · 12-19-2010, 02:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cybmole

is this being troublesome because each book chapter is in a separate HTML file, or is that normal ? i.e. is the calibre conversion only considering the 1st - prologue - file as a TOC candidate ?

It's normal for calibre to break up the html into chapter pieces inside the epub.

cybmole · 12-19-2010, 02:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jackie_w

Are you able to post an example of a epub with good TOC which fails to retain the TOC correctly when converting to mobi? If so, I would be happy to take a closer look.

last time I posted an ebook I was advised that doing so breaks forum rules.- so does posting a link

i'd be happy to email a copy of the problem title.

tell you what, I'll (temporarily ) attach it, you grab it, then tell me to remove the attachment & that way neither of us should get into too much hot water

jackie_w · 12-19-2010, 02:29 PM

Downloaded it

janvanmaar · 12-19-2010, 03:35 PM

Quote:

don't see how telling it NOT to add chapters will help

That option tells Calibre not to add *autogenerated* chapters. Thus I hoped by supressing the autogenerated chapters, the original TOC could be preserved...

I can't understand why you have this problem, perhaps it could be connected somehow to the empty h1 tags. But if preserving the EPUB TOC does not work from some reason in this special case, you can still try creating a new TOC - tell Calibre to use h3 tags instead of the default h1+h2 in the Structure detection.

jackie_w · 12-19-2010, 03:55 PM

The settings to get this particular EPUB converted to MOBI with correct TOC are:

Code:

Convert - StructureDetection - Detect chapters: //h:h3
Convert - TOC - Level 1 TOCs: //h:h3
Convert - TOC - Force use of auto-generated TOC: checked

This works because the Chapter headings in the source epub are tagged as <h3>.

I think (but I'm not sure) that the original problem may arise from the fact that the source epub was created with Sigil and calibre is being used to convert it. I think (but again, not sure) the problem may be to do with how the constituent parts inside the epub are arranged by Sigil, which is slightly different to how calibre arranges the parts.

I think if the source epub had been created by calibre then my original settings in the earlier post would have worked. The settings in this post have gone back to first principles.

If you want to get to the bottom of the original problem then I think it would be best to raise a ticket here and attach a misbehaving epub. Kovid may then be able to give you a better idea of whether there are steps you can take to make sure that Sigil epubs convert perfectly to calibre mobis every time.

I'll keep looking, purely as a technical exercise for myself. If I come up with anything revolutionary I'll post here.

janvanmaar · 12-19-2010, 04:11 PM

Just a tiny detail - as far as I know, the middle line is redundant (it should work exactly the same without it):

Quote:

Convert - StructureDetection - Detect chapters: //h:h3
Convert - TOC - Level 1 TOCs: //h:h3
Convert - TOC - Force use of auto-generated TOC: checked

If your suspicion about Sigil-Calibre inconsistency is right then it would certainly be worth opening either a Calibre or a Sigil ticket...

jackie_w · 12-19-2010, 04:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by janvanmaar

Just a tiny detail - as far as I know, the middle line is redundant (it should work exactly the same without it):

You're probably correct as it's a single-level TOC.

Quote:

Originally Posted by janvanmaar

If your suspicion about Sigil-Calibre inconsistency is right then it would certainly be worth opening either a Calibre or a Sigil ticket...

I don't use Sigil myself. I wouldn't want to imply that either Sigil or calibre has a bug. I do think they do things slightly differently and, personally, I prefer not to mix the two.

12-19-2010, 09:06 AM	#1
cybmole Wizard Posts: 3,720 Karma: 1759970 Join Date: Sep 2010 Device: none	force table of contents option with calibre's own epub viewer it seems to work fine - each chapter is in a TOC and is now clickable. but when I view the mobi file with calibre viewer, or send the same file from calibre to Kindle, or place it in Kindle for PC, the table of contacts option is greyed out and the kindle 5 way switch does not navigate between chapters. what am I doing wrong please? Last edited by cybmole; 12-19-2010 at 09:17 AM.

12-19-2010, 11:06 AM	#2
jackie_w Grand Sorcerer Posts: 6,251 Karma: 16539642 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: UK Device: ClaraHD, Forma, Libra2, Clara2E, LibraCol, PBTouchHD3	If your EPUB's TOC is good, then when you do an EPUB to MOBI try the following settings: Code: Convert - StructureDetection - Detect chapters: / Convert - TOC - Level 1/2/3 TOCs: all blank Convert - TOC - Force use of auto-generated TOC: unchecked I'm not sure whether the first two items are essential but I believe the third one is.

12-19-2010, 03:55 PM	#13
jackie_w Grand Sorcerer Posts: 6,251 Karma: 16539642 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: UK Device: ClaraHD, Forma, Libra2, Clara2E, LibraCol, PBTouchHD3	The settings to get this particular EPUB converted to MOBI with correct TOC are: Code: Convert - StructureDetection - Detect chapters: //h:h3 Convert - TOC - Level 1 TOCs: //h:h3 Convert - TOC - Force use of auto-generated TOC: checked This works because the Chapter headings in the source epub are tagged as <h3>. I think (but I'm not sure) that the original problem may arise from the fact that the source epub was created with Sigil and calibre is being used to convert it. I think (but again, not sure) the problem may be to do with how the constituent parts inside the epub are arranged by Sigil, which is slightly different to how calibre arranges the parts. I think if the source epub had been created by calibre then my original settings in the earlier post would have worked. The settings in this post have gone back to first principles. If you want to get to the bottom of the original problem then I think it would be best to raise a ticket here and attach a misbehaving epub. Kovid may then be able to give you a better idea of whether there are steps you can take to make sure that Sigil epubs convert perfectly to calibre mobis every time. I'll keep looking, purely as a technical exercise for myself. If I come up with anything revolutionary I'll post here. Last edited by jackie_w; 12-19-2010 at 05:40 PM. Reason: strikethrough stuff probably wrong

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Table of Contents	peterinnes	Sigil	1	09-29-2010 03:03 AM
Help with my Table of Contents	Skylinefranc	Calibre	0	03-19-2010 12:55 AM
How to: table of contents	wizzofoz	Sigil	1	10-08-2009 08:22 AM
only the table of contents	wang960	Sony Reader	3	08-29-2008 12:45 PM
Creator Table of Contents	Nate the great	Kindle Formats	5	07-10-2008 05:55 AM

12-19-2010, 11:49 AM	#4
janvanmaar Addict Posts: 219 Karma: 404 Join Date: Nov 2010 Device: Kindle 3G, Samsung SIII	Try to check the option "Do not add detected chapters to the Table of Content" (and make sure that the input format is set to EPUB and the output to MOBI)

12-19-2010, 11:52 AM	#5
DMSmillie Enquiring Mind Posts: 562 Karma: 42350 Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: London, UK Device: Kindle 3 (WiFi)	Are the items you want included in the TOC coded as headings (h1,, h2, etc) or something else in the original HTML?

12-19-2010, 02:15 PM	#8
jackie_w Grand Sorcerer Posts: 6,251 Karma: 16539642 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: UK Device: ClaraHD, Forma, Libra2, Clara2E, LibraCol, PBTouchHD3	Are you able to post an example of a epub with good TOC which fails to retain the TOC correctly when converting to mobi? If so, I would be happy to take a closer look.

12-19-2010, 02:29 PM	#11
jackie_w Grand Sorcerer Posts: 6,251 Karma: 16539642 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: UK Device: ClaraHD, Forma, Libra2, Clara2E, LibraCol, PBTouchHD3	Downloaded it

Advert

Advert