ePub to Kindle via Calibre issue

fmoses · 11-28-2010, 06:16 PM

Hello,

I do not own a Kindle (or any other eReader yet, except an iPhone). I am interested in the Kindle but loading my own content is critical. I have a Mac and Pages now supports ePub on export and this makes creating ePubs of my content very easy. So, I had a Kindle DX White (not current generation) to play with for a few days to see how I could get content onto it. Not a happy story until I found Calibre. Then loading ePubs created in Pages, sent to Calibre, and converted on the fly when loading onto the Kindle worked remarkably well... except for one thing: the Kindle was not recognizing the words and was splitting words at ends of lines. All else worked, the TOC, cover graphics, etc... except for this. Unfortunately I discovered this just before I no longer had access to the Kindle. So, I am wondering if anyone else out there who has a Kindle has had success with creating ePubs in Pages and then converting them in Calibre and loading them onto the Kindle. This would be an acceptable solution to Kindle not reading the ePubs natively and I would likely buy a Kindle 3 if this was known to work properly. Perhaps my problem was unusual and if I had had more time I might have found out what was wrong. Any ideas out there?

I realize another solution is to skip the Kindle and just buy a Sony Reader. I have played with both in the store and like the Kindle a bit better I think. But, for the ePub support that might be the way I go. Thing is, I do want to buy content as well, and the Kindle Store has more of what I want than Sony does... so, there are advantages to Kindle for me as well.

Thanks in advance for any advice on the ePub conversion question I have.

ldolse · 11-29-2010, 06:31 AM

Without seeing the source document one can only guess at the cause. My guess would be that the document includes soft-hyphens. Some readers will split the words on a soft hyphen but forget to actually render it.

DoctorOhh · 11-29-2010, 06:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fmoses

Then loading ePubs created in Pages, sent to Calibre, and converted on the fly when loading onto the Kindle worked remarkably well... except for one thing: the Kindle was not recognizing the words and was splitting words at ends of lines.

Converting from epub to mobi is harder then converting from mobi to epub because mobi seem to be based off of an older base line of html then epub and thus is more limited in what it supports.

Quote:

Originally Posted by fmoses

But, for the ePub support that might be the way I go. Thing is, I do want to buy content as well, and the Kindle Store has more of what I want than Sony does... so, there are advantages to Kindle for me as well.

I went with Sony because removing DRM on 96% of the books you can buy on Amazon and converting them to epub is relatively easy and quick.

fmoses · 12-31-2010, 01:31 AM

I figured it out. It seems that if in Pages you just make the text full justified then everything works fine. It is just text that is left-justified that reads wrong and splits the words on the Kindle. Not sure why.

So, if you have a Mac and Pages and Calibre you can easily get beautifully formatted documents in using this procedure:

USING PAGES & CALIBRE:

1. In Pages create the document using Styles to set up the TOC where you want breaks (Heading 1, Heading 2, etc.) Use the Inspector to setup the TOC and which styles will be displayed in the TOC.

2. ***Make sure all paragraphs are full justified alignment. For some reason left-justified text shows up on the Kindle but words are split at end of lines. Full justification seems to fix this.

3. Export file as ePub.

4. Import into Calibre and convert to MOBI format.

5. Send to Kindle.

11-28-2010, 06:16 PM	#1
fmoses Junior Member Posts: 5 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2010 Device: none	ePub to Kindle via Calibre issue Hello, I do not own a Kindle (or any other eReader yet, except an iPhone). I am interested in the Kindle but loading my own content is critical. I have a Mac and Pages now supports ePub on export and this makes creating ePubs of my content very easy. So, I had a Kindle DX White (not current generation) to play with for a few days to see how I could get content onto it. Not a happy story until I found Calibre. Then loading ePubs created in Pages, sent to Calibre, and converted on the fly when loading onto the Kindle worked remarkably well... except for one thing: the Kindle was not recognizing the words and was splitting words at ends of lines. All else worked, the TOC, cover graphics, etc... except for this. Unfortunately I discovered this just before I no longer had access to the Kindle. So, I am wondering if anyone else out there who has a Kindle has had success with creating ePubs in Pages and then converting them in Calibre and loading them onto the Kindle. This would be an acceptable solution to Kindle not reading the ePubs natively and I would likely buy a Kindle 3 if this was known to work properly. Perhaps my problem was unusual and if I had had more time I might have found out what was wrong. Any ideas out there? I realize another solution is to skip the Kindle and just buy a Sony Reader. I have played with both in the store and like the Kindle a bit better I think. But, for the ePub support that might be the way I go. Thing is, I do want to buy content as well, and the Kindle Store has more of what I want than Sony does... so, there are advantages to Kindle for me as well. Thanks in advance for any advice on the ePub conversion question I have.

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11-29-2010, 06:31 AM	#2
ldolse Wizard Posts: 1,337 Karma: 123455 Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Malaysia Device: PRS-650, iPhone	Without seeing the source document one can only guess at the cause. My guess would be that the document includes soft-hyphens. Some readers will split the words on a soft hyphen but forget to actually render it.

12-31-2010, 01:31 AM	#4
fmoses Junior Member Posts: 5 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2010 Device: none	I figured it out. It seems that if in Pages you just make the text full justified then everything works fine. It is just text that is left-justified that reads wrong and splits the words on the Kindle. Not sure why. So, if you have a Mac and Pages and Calibre you can easily get beautifully formatted documents in using this procedure: USING PAGES & CALIBRE: 1. In Pages create the document using Styles to set up the TOC where you want breaks (Heading 1, Heading 2, etc.) Use the Inspector to setup the TOC and which styles will be displayed in the TOC. 2. ***Make sure all paragraphs are full justified alignment. For some reason left-justified text shows up on the Kindle but words are split at end of lines. Full justification seems to fix this. 3. Export file as ePub. 4. Import into Calibre and convert to MOBI format. 5. Send to Kindle.

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