a project to scan and convert a printed book to EPUB format

drobble · 06-05-2020, 02:44 PM

Hello,

I'm was checking the calibre forum to find an answer to some questions.
background:
I have a printed book (in German) with over 1000 pages. This book is not available as EPUB.
I started a small 'test' project and scanned 10 pages of the book.
Then I processed the images (jpg's) with tesseract to get txt files.
Each scanned page = one jpg = one txt file.

My question is now:
How can I in an 'automated' fashion convert these txt files, remember it will be iver 1000 pages/files, to one EPUB ebook?

Can I use a script and reference file (for the 1000 txt files) to produce that ebook with Calibre?

Any help is much appreciated
drobble

theducks · 06-05-2020, 03:49 PM

Make an HTML Index file to control the order

https://manual.calibre-ebook.com/faq...specific-order

BetterRed · 06-05-2020, 05:10 PM

@drobble - you will also find tips regarding scanning books and their conversion in the Workshop forum.

BR

retiredbiker · 06-05-2020, 08:51 PM

Rather than making 1000 files, you might consider doing it page by page, and putting the text of each page into Writer or Word. I use a GUI front-end to tesseract, OCRFeeder, that makes this easy. It also does a very good job of unwrapping lines, which is a nice leg up. You can load one or many images at a time, and recognise them one by one or all together, then just copy the text over to your book document. I tend to do about 20 pages per session.

I know it sounds dreary, but you have to proof it all anyway. I find that doing most of the proofing page by page, while I have the scanned image right in front of me, to be much less daunting than attacking the whole book later.

Then you can do some styling in the word processor as you build the book, like heading styles for chapters and basic styles to format the text. The result, as an .odt or .docx file, will convert to something a lot prettier than all that bare text, and most of the proofing and styling will be done.

And unless you have some other tools, how else will you get all those bare text lines unwrapped and enclosed in html tags?

retiredbiker · 06-05-2020, 09:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by theducks

Make an HTML Index file to control the order

https://manual.calibre-ebook.com/faq...specific-order

But OP will have text files...bare, wrapped text.

Sarmat89 · 06-05-2020, 11:01 PM

Don't use tesseract for making books. Use FineReader and correct each unsure character manually.

06-05-2020, 02:44 PM	#1
drobble Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jun 2020 Device: Google tablet	a project to scan and convert a printed book to EPUB format Hello, I'm was checking the calibre forum to find an answer to some questions. background: I have a printed book (in German) with over 1000 pages. This book is not available as EPUB. I started a small 'test' project and scanned 10 pages of the book. Then I processed the images (jpg's) with tesseract to get txt files. Each scanned page = one jpg = one txt file. My question is now: How can I in an 'automated' fashion convert these txt files, remember it will be iver 1000 pages/files, to one EPUB ebook? Can I use a script and reference file (for the 1000 txt files) to produce that ebook with Calibre? Any help is much appreciated drobble

06-05-2020, 08:51 PM	#4
retiredbiker Evangelist Posts: 450 Karma: 3886916 Join Date: May 2013 Location: Ontario, Canada Device: Kindle KB, Oasis, Pop_Os!, Kobo Forma	Rather than making 1000 files, you might consider doing it page by page, and putting the text of each page into Writer or Word. I use a GUI front-end to tesseract, OCRFeeder, that makes this easy. It also does a very good job of unwrapping lines, which is a nice leg up. You can load one or many images at a time, and recognise them one by one or all together, then just copy the text over to your book document. I tend to do about 20 pages per session. I know it sounds dreary, but you have to proof it all anyway. I find that doing most of the proofing page by page, while I have the scanned image right in front of me, to be much less daunting than attacking the whole book later. Then you can do some styling in the word processor as you build the book, like heading styles for chapters and basic styles to format the text. The result, as an .odt or .docx file, will convert to something a lot prettier than all that bare text, and most of the proofing and styling will be done. And unless you have some other tools, how else will you get all those bare text lines unwrapped and enclosed in html tags? Last edited by retiredbiker; 06-05-2020 at 09:11 PM.

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06-05-2020, 03:49 PM	#2
theducks Well trained by Cats Posts: 31,055 Karma: 60358908 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: The Central Coast of California Device: Kobo Libra2,Kobo Aura2v1, K4NT(Fixed: New Bat.), Galaxy Tab A	Make an HTML Index file to control the order https://manual.calibre-ebook.com/faq...specific-order

06-05-2020, 05:10 PM	#3
BetterRed null operator (he/him) Posts: 21,725 Karma: 29711016 Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Sydney Australia Device: none	@drobble - you will also find tips regarding scanning books and their conversion in the Workshop forum. BR

06-05-2020, 11:01 PM	#6
Sarmat89 Fanatic Posts: 518 Karma: 2268308 Join Date: Nov 2015 Device: none	Don't use tesseract for making books. Use FineReader and correct each unsure character manually.

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