PDF to Mobi/Epub: How to Achieve Better Result With Mobipocket Creator

sinan · 01-26-2012, 04:18 AM

Last week I was experimenting with Mobipocket Creator for better conversion results and better styling from PDF to PRC, I found out that if you crop out page numbers and headers before converting it with mobipocket creator, you will get better accuracy and better styling.

Also, I would like note, mobipocket creator has problem of removing page number with roman numerals. By cropping you will make sure, that issue is also resolved.

For cropping pdfs, there is a simple and free software called Briss to crop pdf files. Portable version is also available. [Watch screencast on how to use it.]
1. Run Briss
2. Load the file
3. Cancel the warning, if you don't know what to do.
4. On the cropping screen, all the odd pages will be superimposed into a singe look, so do the even pages, and blue rectangle with small dark squares at the corners will appear on each pages. Drag these squares to set the margins of the cropping for better result. You can preview it by clicking action on the menu bar >> Preview
5. Once you set the margins, click action >> Crop PDF

Briss is not stable enough, sometimes gives error and may not let you crop but, from my experience, you can always preview it. So if you can't crop directly, just preview and save as preview file.

datadog · 02-09-2012, 05:45 AM

Hi all,

Step 3 - This is for separating pages for a different method of cropping - for example some PDFs have a cover page as the first page so key in "1" so you can set the first page to not be cropped at all and keep its original size.

Also using Briss means that PDFs can be now be converted to readable epubs. Here is a quick tutorial:

1. Crop the PDF with Briss
2. Convert the cropped PDF to a HTML using Mobipocket creator.
3. Drop the html into calibre and convert to an epub
(Move the html out of the my publications folder and into an empty folder before converting if you don't want any images added to the epub)
4. Use Sigil to create a TOC and fix spelling mistakes and any other issues.

Also you can add "open with" plugins to calibre such as "open with sigil" and "open with briss" this can make the conversion process easier.

Maybe we should add a "pdf to epub" howto to the wiki as these types of questions are asked quite frequently.

01-26-2012, 04:18 AM	#1
sinan Enthusiast Posts: 23 Karma: 66956 Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Conn. USA Device: Kindle 3, Kindle PW	PDF to Mobi/Epub: How to Achieve Better Result With Mobipocket Creator Last week I was experimenting with Mobipocket Creator for better conversion results and better styling from PDF to PRC, I found out that if you crop out page numbers and headers before converting it with mobipocket creator, you will get better accuracy and better styling. Also, I would like note, mobipocket creator has problem of removing page number with roman numerals. By cropping you will make sure, that issue is also resolved. For cropping pdfs, there is a simple and free software called Briss to crop pdf files. Portable version is also available. [Watch screencast on how to use it.] 1. Run Briss 2. Load the file 3. Cancel the warning, if you don't know what to do. 4. On the cropping screen, all the odd pages will be superimposed into a singe look, so do the even pages, and blue rectangle with small dark squares at the corners will appear on each pages. Drag these squares to set the margins of the cropping for better result. You can preview it by clicking action on the menu bar >> Preview 5. Once you set the margins, click action >> Crop PDF Briss is not stable enough, sometimes gives error and may not let you crop but, from my experience, you can always preview it. So if you can't crop directly, just preview and save as preview file. Last edited by sinan; 01-26-2012 at 04:21 AM.

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
EPUB to MOBI - result is outrageous	sebdea	Conversion	2	05-25-2011 01:03 PM
MobiPocket Creator -> PDF to MOBI -> Gray Font on Kindle 3	SunLight	Kindle Formats	3	01-04-2011 02:46 PM
MobiPocket Creator -> PDF to MOBI -> Gray Font on Kindle	SunLight	Amazon Kindle	3	01-02-2011 01:52 PM
Using MobiPocket Creator to convert PDF to PRC	Bilbo1967	Kindle Formats	15	08-16-2010 07:16 AM
Mobipocket creator, PDF	Skar90	Software	7	10-10-2009 12:33 PM

02-09-2012, 05:45 AM	#2
datadog Junior Member Posts: 4 Karma: 548 Join Date: Oct 2009 Device: none	Hi all, Step 3 - This is for separating pages for a different method of cropping - for example some PDFs have a cover page as the first page so key in "1" so you can set the first page to not be cropped at all and keep its original size. Also using Briss means that PDFs can be now be converted to readable epubs. Here is a quick tutorial: 1. Crop the PDF with Briss 2. Convert the cropped PDF to a HTML using Mobipocket creator. 3. Drop the html into calibre and convert to an epub (Move the html out of the my publications folder and into an empty folder before converting if you don't want any images added to the epub) 4. Use Sigil to create a TOC and fix spelling mistakes and any other issues. Also you can add "open with" plugins to calibre such as "open with sigil" and "open with briss" this can make the conversion process easier. Maybe we should add a "pdf to epub" howto to the wiki as these types of questions are asked quite frequently.

Advert