MobileRead Forums
Register Guidelines E-Books Today's Posts Search

Go Back   MobileRead Forums > E-Book Software > Calibre > Conversion
Reload this Page AZW3 ("fixed layout" [?]) to PDF taking forever

Notices

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old 01-22-2023, 06:06 AM   #1
Jacques Q.
Zealot
Jacques Q. once ate a cherry pie in a record 7 seconds.Jacques Q. once ate a cherry pie in a record 7 seconds.Jacques Q. once ate a cherry pie in a record 7 seconds.Jacques Q. once ate a cherry pie in a record 7 seconds.Jacques Q. once ate a cherry pie in a record 7 seconds.Jacques Q. once ate a cherry pie in a record 7 seconds.Jacques Q. once ate a cherry pie in a record 7 seconds.Jacques Q. once ate a cherry pie in a record 7 seconds.Jacques Q. once ate a cherry pie in a record 7 seconds.Jacques Q. once ate a cherry pie in a record 7 seconds.Jacques Q. once ate a cherry pie in a record 7 seconds.
 
Posts: 109
Karma: 1544
Join Date: Jul 2020
Location: Paris
Device: quite a few Kindles...
AZW3 ("fixed layout" [?]) to PDF taking forever
Hello.
I've been trying to convert to PDF an AZW3 file that is of what I think is called "fixed layout" variety (although not a textbook) : thousands of weird frames on each page, Calibre only being able to show 1/4 of a page at a time... (I thought PDF would be more feasible than EPub - which I had tried before, with no success -, since "fixed layout" strongly suggests something smelling like PDF and I thought it would be some kind of going back to something looking very much like the "original" file.)
It ran for some 12 hours, stayed at 67% for approximately 9 hours and then "jumped up" to 68% (whaow). I would gladly have waited the 16 days it would have taken to complete the task at this rate, except it used between 90 and 99% of CPU all the time, making it impossible to use the computer for anything else. So I just stopped it, since I couldn't even come ask for help on this forum while it was running...
Does anyone have a suggestion on how to handle that issue - if it can be handled at all ?
Thanks in advance.
Jacques Q. is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-22-2023, 07:26 AM   #2
Quoth
Still reading
Quoth ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Quoth ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Quoth ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Quoth ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Quoth ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Quoth ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Quoth ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Quoth ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Quoth ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Quoth ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Quoth ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
Quoth's Avatar
 
Posts: 14,054
Karma: 105092227
Join Date: Jun 2017
Location: Ireland
Device: All 4 Kinds: epub eink, Kindle, android eink, NxtPaper
Forget about converting PDFs without extracting content, either in MS Word/LO Writer, Acrobat or OCR of the images.

Make a wordprocessor file with text, make a docx copy (if LO Writer), import the docx to Calibre, make an epub2 from docx. Then azw3 from the epub2.
Quoth is offline   Reply With Quote
Advert
Old 01-22-2023, 09:23 AM   #3
Jacques Q.
Zealot
Jacques Q. once ate a cherry pie in a record 7 seconds.Jacques Q. once ate a cherry pie in a record 7 seconds.Jacques Q. once ate a cherry pie in a record 7 seconds.Jacques Q. once ate a cherry pie in a record 7 seconds.Jacques Q. once ate a cherry pie in a record 7 seconds.Jacques Q. once ate a cherry pie in a record 7 seconds.Jacques Q. once ate a cherry pie in a record 7 seconds.Jacques Q. once ate a cherry pie in a record 7 seconds.Jacques Q. once ate a cherry pie in a record 7 seconds.Jacques Q. once ate a cherry pie in a record 7 seconds.Jacques Q. once ate a cherry pie in a record 7 seconds.
 
Posts: 109
Karma: 1544
Join Date: Jul 2020
Location: Paris
Device: quite a few Kindles...
Thanks, but I'm not sure we're talking about the same thing : I don't want to convert to AZW3 from PDF, but to convert from AZW3 to PDF. So I don't think the method you suggest would apply, if I understood it correctly.
Jacques Q. is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-22-2023, 09:27 AM   #4
kovidgoyal
creator of calibre
kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
kovidgoyal's Avatar
 
Posts: 45,359
Karma: 27182818
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Mumbai, India
Device: Various
fixed layout books are not supported in calibre so conversion will take very long (depending on the type of markup the book uses internally) and result in output ranging for decent to unuseable.
kovidgoyal is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-22-2023, 09:32 AM   #5
georgemk
Addict
georgemk ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.georgemk ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.georgemk ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.georgemk ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.georgemk ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.georgemk ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.georgemk ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.georgemk ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.georgemk ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.georgemk ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.georgemk ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
Posts: 243
Karma: 291844
Join Date: Oct 2019
Device: Kobo Nia
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jacques Q. View Post
but to convert from AZW3 to PDF. So I don't think the method you suggest would apply, if I understood it correctly.
Would the Kindle Unpack plug-in be of help here as one of it's features is
"Extract PDFs from DRM-free Print Replica ebooks (AZW4); and add to the calibre library."

Plug-in thread is here https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=171529
georgemk is offline   Reply With Quote
Advert
Old 01-22-2023, 09:57 AM   #6
Quoth
Still reading
Quoth ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Quoth ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Quoth ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Quoth ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Quoth ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Quoth ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Quoth ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Quoth ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Quoth ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Quoth ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Quoth ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
Quoth's Avatar
 
Posts: 14,054
Karma: 105092227
Join Date: Jun 2017
Location: Ireland
Device: All 4 Kinds: epub eink, Kindle, android eink, NxtPaper
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jacques Q. View Post
Thanks, but I'm not sure we're talking about the same thing : I don't want to convert to AZW3 from PDF, but to convert from AZW3 to PDF. So I don't think the method you suggest would apply, if I understood it correctly.
I misunderstood.
AZW fixed layout sometimes isn't convertible. If it's HTML based you can edit or use Kindle unpack. If it's a wrapper on a PDF, it's difficult.

In any case Fixed Layout Kindle ebooks usually can't be converted by Calibre and usually can't be read on Kindle eInk. So I make sure I only buy Kindle ebooks that are eink kindle compatible, which is why I deregistered all but eink from my account.
Quoth is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-22-2023, 11:00 AM   #7
Jacques Q.
Zealot
Jacques Q. once ate a cherry pie in a record 7 seconds.Jacques Q. once ate a cherry pie in a record 7 seconds.Jacques Q. once ate a cherry pie in a record 7 seconds.Jacques Q. once ate a cherry pie in a record 7 seconds.Jacques Q. once ate a cherry pie in a record 7 seconds.Jacques Q. once ate a cherry pie in a record 7 seconds.Jacques Q. once ate a cherry pie in a record 7 seconds.Jacques Q. once ate a cherry pie in a record 7 seconds.Jacques Q. once ate a cherry pie in a record 7 seconds.Jacques Q. once ate a cherry pie in a record 7 seconds.Jacques Q. once ate a cherry pie in a record 7 seconds.
 
Posts: 109
Karma: 1544
Join Date: Jul 2020
Location: Paris
Device: quite a few Kindles...
Quote:
Originally Posted by georgemk View Post
Would the Kindle Unpack plug-in be of help here as one of it's features is
"Extract PDFs from DRM-free Print Replica ebooks (AZW4); and add to the calibre library."

Plug-in thread is here https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=171529
Thanks. I tried but it's not an AZW4, "just" a very weird AZW3, so it doesn't seem to do any good.
Jacques Q. is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-22-2023, 02:47 PM   #8
Jacques Q.
Zealot
Jacques Q. once ate a cherry pie in a record 7 seconds.Jacques Q. once ate a cherry pie in a record 7 seconds.Jacques Q. once ate a cherry pie in a record 7 seconds.Jacques Q. once ate a cherry pie in a record 7 seconds.Jacques Q. once ate a cherry pie in a record 7 seconds.Jacques Q. once ate a cherry pie in a record 7 seconds.Jacques Q. once ate a cherry pie in a record 7 seconds.Jacques Q. once ate a cherry pie in a record 7 seconds.Jacques Q. once ate a cherry pie in a record 7 seconds.Jacques Q. once ate a cherry pie in a record 7 seconds.Jacques Q. once ate a cherry pie in a record 7 seconds.
 
Posts: 109
Karma: 1544
Join Date: Jul 2020
Location: Paris
Device: quite a few Kindles...
Well, in another (short) thread not really dealing with this, I found an option that never occurred to me, ie open AZW3 file (all bad with only 1/4 of a page showing, etc., never mind) and "print as" -> PDF, which did the job in an excellent way in "just" a couple of hours (while the "convert" tool seemed unable to proceed at an acceptable speed after 12 hours).
I think maybe Kovid should, after a bit of testing with several files, advertise that option somewhere, because just like some medications that are meant for a disease actually prove useful for another, this, meant as just a printing tool, happens to have solved that issue, and it may help a lot of people. I am quite hopeful it would also work for EPubs with fixed layout, and possibly even for AZW4 files.
Meanwhile, I am glad I found a way out...
Jacques Q. is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-22-2023, 09:18 PM   #9
kovidgoyal
creator of calibre
kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.kovidgoyal ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
kovidgoyal's Avatar
 
Posts: 45,359
Karma: 27182818
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Mumbai, India
Device: Various
The print to pdf as uses conversion, just without all the normalizing/processing a conversion does.
kovidgoyal is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

« Previous Thread | Next Thread »

Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
[Windows] Viewer for fixed-layout AZW3? ownedbycats Reading and Management 4 01-04-2023 09:07 AM
Converting fixed-layout AZW3 tomsem Conversion 2 12-17-2022 02:05 PM
"Fixed" versus "Liquid" layout GrannyGrump Feedback 5 04-02-2018 07:55 AM
Extra "<p>" tags when converting to AZW3 from pdf MrTanquery Conversion 1 12-18-2012 03:12 PM
Fixed Layout Sample ".mobi" file with package(html, css, opf, ncx files). Sushil Kindle Fire 1 01-13-2012 07:16 AM


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 04:50 PM.

Contact Us - FAQ - Guidelines - Privacy - Top

MobileRead.com is a privately owned, operated and funded community.