Re-Convert books?

TheSmitty · 03-03-2025, 10:29 AM

So I have been using Calibre and the various plug-in tools to pull my purchases from my Amazon account and convert them to EPUB for many years. This helped with the great D&T removal crisis of '25 because I already had almost all my book in Calibre.

Anyway, I have noticed a few times over the years that books I had as epubs in my calibre when I loaded them on my Kobo had various formatting issues. Things like margins changing mid chapters to be much wider than they were the paragraph before, various font issues etc. In those times, I usually said screw it and set the Kobo aside and continued on with a Kindle.

I realize the plugin tools and even Calibre itself are always being updated and improved. I am wondering if at some point I should delete all the converted epubs in my Calibre library and then reconvert all the AZW3 into epubs again after making sure Calibre and all the plug-ins are up to date?

PS - and trying to consider going fully Kobo if I cannot properly liberate any future Kindle purchases.

JSWolf · 03-03-2025, 10:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheSmitty

So I have been using Calibre and the various plug-in tools to pull my purchases from my Amazon account and convert them to EPUB for many years. This helped with the great D&T removal crisis of '25 because I already had almost all my book in Calibre.

Anyway, I have noticed a few times over the years that books I had as epubs in my calibre when I loaded them on my Kobo had various formatting issues. Things like margins changing mid chapters to be much wider than they were the paragraph before, various font issues etc. In those times, I usually said screw it and set the Kobo aside and continued on with a Kindle.

I realize the plugin tools and even Calibre itself are always being updated and improved. I am wondering if at some point I should delete all the converted epubs in my Calibre library and then reconvert all the AZW3 into epubs again after making sure Calibre and all the plug-ins are up to date?

PS - and trying to consider going fully Kobo if I cannot properly liberate any future Kindle purchases.

If the source of these funky eBooks is FK8 (azw3), install the Kindleunpack plugin and use that to shift from KF8 to ePub. Then take the ePub and load it into the editor. Use epubcheck (an editor plugin) along with the calibre editor error checker to check for any errors fix all of the errors and then you are good to go.

Sirtel · 03-03-2025, 11:08 AM

Conversion really has not changed all that much, so I doubt just reconverting would help, unless you changed the conversion settings. You could always try with a few known culprits first.

While I do use conversion instead of Kindle Unpack (I prefer it this way), I have several customized settings AND I edit any formatting issues manually in the calibre editor.

I don't check for errors. Converting fixes some of them and I've found that very few of my converted and edited books actually need error checking. So I don't bother.

theducks · 03-03-2025, 12:23 PM

GIGO (and there seem to be a LOT of self pub that really need a pros touch)

Funky margins are best fixed using the editor after careful review of EACH USE CASE.

and not a wholesale Nuke-em'

Margins could be used to convey a part of the story (where a Blockquote might have been sufficient), but until you preview that case...

Seriously, Learn the editor (and CSS).
A conversion, can introduce unwanted changes where a simple CSS edit is all that gets changed. Just what the user wants...De Funked

03-03-2025, 10:29 AM	#1
TheSmitty Addict Posts: 316 Karma: 1181422 Join Date: Dec 2017 Location: DFW, TX area Device: Kindle Colorsoft, Libra Colour, Voyage, iPad Pro 11, iPad Mini 7	Re-Convert books? So I have been using Calibre and the various plug-in tools to pull my purchases from my Amazon account and convert them to EPUB for many years. This helped with the great D&T removal crisis of '25 because I already had almost all my book in Calibre. Anyway, I have noticed a few times over the years that books I had as epubs in my calibre when I loaded them on my Kobo had various formatting issues. Things like margins changing mid chapters to be much wider than they were the paragraph before, various font issues etc. In those times, I usually said screw it and set the Kobo aside and continued on with a Kindle. I realize the plugin tools and even Calibre itself are always being updated and improved. I am wondering if at some point I should delete all the converted epubs in my Calibre library and then reconvert all the AZW3 into epubs again after making sure Calibre and all the plug-ins are up to date? PS - and trying to consider going fully Kobo if I cannot properly liberate any future Kindle purchases.

03-03-2025, 11:08 AM	#3
Sirtel Grand Sorcerer Posts: 13,432 Karma: 239219453 Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: Estonia Device: Kobo Sage & Libra 2	Conversion really has not changed all that much, so I doubt just reconverting would help, unless you changed the conversion settings. You could always try with a few known culprits first. While I do use conversion instead of Kindle Unpack (I prefer it this way), I have several customized settings AND I edit any formatting issues manually in the calibre editor. I don't check for errors. Converting fixes some of them and I've found that very few of my converted and edited books actually need error checking. So I don't bother. Last edited by Sirtel; 03-03-2025 at 11:11 AM.

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03-03-2025, 12:23 PM	#4
theducks Well trained by Cats Posts: 31,029 Karma: 60358908 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: The Central Coast of California Device: Kobo Libra2,Kobo Aura2v1, K4NT(Fixed: New Bat.), Galaxy Tab A	GIGO (and there seem to be a LOT of self pub that really need a pros touch) Funky margins are best fixed using the editor after careful review of EACH USE CASE. and not a wholesale Nuke-em' Margins could be used to convey a part of the story (where a Blockquote might have been sufficient), but until you preview that case... Seriously, Learn the editor (and CSS). A conversion, can introduce unwanted changes where a simple CSS edit is all that gets changed. Just what the user wants...De Funked

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