Question about PDF conversion settings?

[Dullahir]

Hello, I have a question about PDF conversion settings with Calibre.

I've read that it's a real bitch to convert from PDF into Epub. And that's true, it is, with Calibre.

On a hunch, I tried to convert a PDF document into Epub with Hamster after learning that Hamster got it's sourcecode or whatever from Calibre, but not with all of the settings. So I thought that simpler settings may change the output somehow.

The first epub document pictured is from Calibre, the other is from Hamstersoft.

Why is it so easy to convert from Hamster to PDF? How can I duplicate the settings on Calibre? I much prefer Calibre, and would love to continue to use that for PDF conversions, since I really want to change the book covers.

Edit: In the screenshots, the document on the foreground is Hamster, the one behind it is Calibre, I apologize, I was unaware of the screenshot error.

[Dullahir]

Granted, it is far from perfect as it has a ligature problem as well when converting, in some books.

[itimpi]

The one you show from Calibre looks like the value of the 'line wrap' factor is too high so that lines are split into paragraphs when they should not be.

I find that for many PDF's (particularly fiction ones) enabling the heuristics option gives good results. Amongst other things this often gives a better value for the line wrap than the default.

[Dullahir]

Ah, thank you for your response. I believe that a problem was also the Line Height was set too high, 120.00%. So I disabled that.

Also, any idea about what to do regarding the ligatures not showing up with Calibre?

When reading 'Magic to the Bone' by Devon Monk,

"It was the morning of my twenty-fifth birthday, and al I wanted was a decent cup
of coffee, a hot breakfast, and a couple hours away from the stink of used magic
that seeped through the wal s of my apartment building every time it rained.
My current fortune of ten bucks wasn’t going to get me that hot breakfast, but it
was going to buy a good dark Kenya roast and maybe a muffin down at Get
Mugged. What more could a girl ask for?"

In the file, the ligatures that are not double-l's seem to be smushed together, as if they are trying to take up the exact same letter space, even though the letters themselves are readable.

The loss of ligatures is a bit of a problem, unfortunately, as the main character is called 'Allie'. Reading her name as 'Al ie' is getting very annoying.

[Dullahir]

Temporarily solution for missing double-l's, although it'll be an even bigger bitch to do. Convert to .txt, then open the output with wordpad, search and replace all instances of 'l ' with 'll ' (extra space included because without it if two words in a sentence are 'still' and 'there', it will read them as 'stillthere'.' Well, I have 7,738 Files in 4 Folders to manipulate. This'll suck, since this is my only free day this month. Oh well, thanks for the help.

[Dullahir]

Damnit.. That didn't work either. Yeah, it worked for ligatures, but if a word ended with 'L' that wasn't a ligature.. it adds an extra 'L' to it.

"It was the morning of my twenty-fifth birthday, and allI wanted was a decent cup of coffee, a hot breakfast, and a couple hours away from the stink of used magic that seeped through the walls of my apartment building every time it rained.
My current fortune of ten bucks wasn’t going to get me that hot breakfast, but it was going to buy a good dark Kenya roast and maybe a muffin down at Get Mugged. What more could a girllask for?
I took a quick shower, pulled on jeans, a black tank top, and boots. I brushed my dark hair back and tucked it behind my ears, hoping for the short, wet, sexy look. I didn’t bother with makeup. Being six foot talland the daughter of one of the most notorious businessmen in town got me enough attention. So did my pale green eyes, athletic build, and the family knack for coercion"

Damnit.. This problem was supposed to have been fixed..

[Dullahir]

By the way, does anyone know why some ligatures are read on some books, but not on others? Like, what is the variable that determines whether or not a ligature can be properly produced within an output document? I heard that 'Font type' was a potential solution which turned out to be a crock.

Could converting from a pdf that was created with a Calibre version that was pre-ligature fix be a factor? Seems like a long-shot, but in my line of work, 'longshots' can be a perfect ally.

I just don't understand why it's so bloody impossible to add a cover to a PDF file with Calibre.. I mean, Kovid said that they didn't have book covers or something, but I was staring at many book covers on my PDF books, so I have no idea what that meant.

[BetterRed]

Thanks for the 'tip' about the Hampster Soft converter

I'm reconciled to the fact that there'll never be a 'one size fits all' solution for PDF conversions. I've been using Mobicreator as my first choice for PDF conversion; converting its PRC into EPUB.

I just a converted a couple of PDF's to EPUB with the Hampster Converter - the results look better than I got with MobiCreator or Calibre using 'factory settings'.

It could become my 1st choice PDF converter.

BR

[Dullahir]

You're welcome, although I wasn't sure if you were serious about that or not.

I also am VERY fond of MobiCreator. However, there is one slight problem with that converter. Monotony.

There is no way to 'Import by folder', and I have literally 10k pdf documents to convert, and I'd rather not have to import them one by one. Do you know if there is a convert similar to mobicreator that will allow batch conversion?

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by Dullahir

You're welcome, although I wasn't sure if you were serious about that or not.

I also am VERY fond of MobiCreator. However, there is one slight problem with that converter. Monotony.

There is no way to 'Import by folder', and I have literally 10k pdf documents to convert, and I'd rather not have to import them one by one. Do you know if there is a convert similar to mobicreator that will allow batch conversion?

Folders no, but Hamster will allow you to select multiple files - not sure if there's a limit - give it 10, it that works then give it 20, if that works then give it 40...

I tossed a couple of 'hard documents' files at Hamster - the output was not good enough, nor is Mobicreator or Calibre. I don't bother trying to convert 'hard documents'.

BR