Convert PDF to epub?

virtual_ink · 08-23-2011, 04:15 AM

I have a few books only available to me as PDFs (and Quark files - but I don't have Quark).

Any recommended tutorials for converting PDFs to epubs?

Toxaris · 08-23-2011, 05:30 AM

Converting PDF to ePUB is cumbersome to say the least. Your results are depending on the PDF of course. Sometimes Calibre gives reasonable results, as does some other tools. No tool gives a perfect conversion.

You could try to run the PDF through ABBYY, but that also would result in handwork.

Common issues:
- wrong OCR
- paragraphs at the wrong location or not at all
- totally wrong layout
- missing text
- headers and footers (including pagenumbers) throughout the text

mrmikel · 08-23-2011, 07:51 AM

You can add duplicated caption text to the list of possible errors.

Some people use Mobipocket Creator and feed its html output into Calibre or Sigil.

Whatever you do, plan on some work.

BTW these only work if the PDFs have actual text and are not just containers for scans of the page. PDFs containing just images will have to be OCRed and the resulting product, often a mess, cleaned up. Then you get to appreciate that a 2% error rate means an error on every page times the number of pages to correct.

Toxaris · 08-23-2011, 09:02 AM

Hmm, I have a less than 2% error rate with OCR, depending on the source. Sometimes even closer to 0,2%.

Jellby · 08-23-2011, 11:35 AM

An error of 2% means 1 error every 50... what? Every 50 characters? That's unacceptable. Every 50 pages? That's too good to be true. Every 50 lines? That could be.

Adjust · 08-23-2011, 07:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by virtual_ink

I have a few books only available to me as PDFs (and Quark files - but I don't have Quark).

Any recommended tutorials for converting PDFs to epubs?

For PDFs. I do a save as to a word file in acrobat 8+ any lower version and forget it, the result is terrible. And bring it back into InDesign and do a basic format applying styles etc.

You do have to look for words with hard hypens like- this and paragraphs which start with lowercase letters, but GREP search in ID will get almost all of them, and it doesn't take long to go through one by one.

Markzware make a Quark to ID converter which is a must, I use this to convert quark documents to ID.

http://markzware.com/products/q2id/

wannabee · 08-26-2011, 02:39 AM

I just double click quark files and they open in indesign with no plugin

Thasaidon · 08-30-2011, 07:15 AM

I have had reasonable results using Nitro PDF Viewer (freeware) to export the text in the pdf to a text file. I then coverted the file to html and then used Calibre to convert the html to epub.

Toxaris · 08-30-2011, 07:56 AM

Convert to a text file? How about the layout and characteristics like italic? You will lose those...

Adjust · 08-30-2011, 08:37 AM

Saving to a word file from Acrobat retains most of the formatting

Thasaidon · 08-30-2011, 08:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toxaris

Convert to a text file? How about the layout and characteristics like italic? You will lose those...

The text file produced by Nitro does retain most of the formatting layout (without using text boxes). I did not get one great splurge of unformatted text.

With regard to italic, I cannot remember if detected it as most of the items I converted contained little or no italic characters.

I anly use this method when other methods do not produce a satisfactory result

Try it out and see what you think. I have really found the free Nitro PDF reader to be very good and I use it in preference to the Adobe offereings.

DiapDealer · 08-30-2011, 09:30 AM

I crop with Adobe Acrobat, then export as html and proceed to regex the piss out of it. I've also had decent luck with PDFMasher, but then you need to add images and a lot of formatting back in (and it's still pretty experimental). I think it's always going to be a fairly hands on affair to convert PDF's.

08-23-2011, 04:15 AM	#1
virtual_ink Zealot Posts: 107 Karma: 1000 Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Melbourne, Australia Device: iPad2, Kindle	Convert PDF to epub? I have a few books only available to me as PDFs (and Quark files - but I don't have Quark). Any recommended tutorials for converting PDFs to epubs?

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08-23-2011, 05:30 AM	#2
Toxaris Wizard Posts: 4,520 Karma: 121692313 Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Heemskerk, NL Device: PRS-T1, Kobo Touch, Kobo Aura	Converting PDF to ePUB is cumbersome to say the least. Your results are depending on the PDF of course. Sometimes Calibre gives reasonable results, as does some other tools. No tool gives a perfect conversion. You could try to run the PDF through ABBYY, but that also would result in handwork. Common issues: - wrong OCR - paragraphs at the wrong location or not at all - totally wrong layout - missing text - headers and footers (including pagenumbers) throughout the text

08-23-2011, 07:51 AM	#3
mrmikel Color me gone Posts: 2,089 Karma: 1445295 Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Central Oregon Coast Device: PRS-300	You can add duplicated caption text to the list of possible errors. Some people use Mobipocket Creator and feed its html output into Calibre or Sigil. Whatever you do, plan on some work. BTW these only work if the PDFs have actual text and are not just containers for scans of the page. PDFs containing just images will have to be OCRed and the resulting product, often a mess, cleaned up. Then you get to appreciate that a 2% error rate means an error on every page times the number of pages to correct.

08-23-2011, 09:02 AM	#4
Toxaris Wizard Posts: 4,520 Karma: 121692313 Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Heemskerk, NL Device: PRS-T1, Kobo Touch, Kobo Aura	Hmm, I have a less than 2% error rate with OCR, depending on the source. Sometimes even closer to 0,2%.

08-23-2011, 11:35 AM	#5
Jellby frumious Bandersnatch Posts: 7,570 Karma: 20150435 Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Spaniard in Sweden Device: Cybook Orizon, Kobo Aura	An error of 2% means 1 error every 50... what? Every 50 characters? That's unacceptable. Every 50 pages? That's too good to be true. Every 50 lines? That could be.

08-26-2011, 02:39 AM	#7
wannabee Media Bloke Posts: 2,382 Karma: 113956855 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: NSW - Australia Device: iOS	I just double click quark files and they open in indesign with no plugin

08-30-2011, 07:15 AM	#8
Thasaidon Hedge Wizard Posts: 802 Karma: 19999999 Join Date: May 2011 Location: UK/Philippines Device: Kobo Touch, Nook Simple	I have had reasonable results using Nitro PDF Viewer (freeware) to export the text in the pdf to a text file. I then coverted the file to html and then used Calibre to convert the html to epub.

08-30-2011, 07:56 AM	#9
Toxaris Wizard Posts: 4,520 Karma: 121692313 Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Heemskerk, NL Device: PRS-T1, Kobo Touch, Kobo Aura	Convert to a text file? How about the layout and characteristics like italic? You will lose those...

08-30-2011, 08:37 AM	#10
Adjust Addict Posts: 351 Karma: 70000 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Australia Device: ADE, iPad	Saving to a word file from Acrobat retains most of the formatting

08-30-2011, 09:30 AM	#12
DiapDealer Grand Sorcerer Posts: 28,892 Karma: 207182180 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: Nexus 7, Kindle Fire HD	I crop with Adobe Acrobat, then export as html and proceed to regex the piss out of it. I've also had decent luck with PDFMasher, but then you need to add images and a lot of formatting back in (and it's still pretty experimental). I think it's always going to be a fairly hands on affair to convert PDF's.

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