Formatting help request!

[nusilver]

All, I did a search and didn't find what I needed, so apologies if this question has already been answered.

So my problem is this:

when converting a txt file that I very meticulously formatted, I can keep everything looking the way it's supposed to, except the table of contents, which becomes jumbled together into a paragraph made up of chapter titles and page numbers.

If i change the text justifiction to "left," the table of contents magically displays in the way I want it to (more or less), but the lines of my actual paragraphs don't display properly and look like this:

"All, I did a search and didn't find what I needed,
so
apologies if this question has already been answered."

Is there a way to keep my table of contents displaying correctly AND keep the text in the actual paragraphs flowing properly?

That's my main problem. I'm converting to mobi to read on a kindle, by the way.

If anyone can also tell me how to create a link from a chapter title in the table of contents to the appropriate chapter in the book, I'd really appreciate that as well, but it's not as important.

[Manichean]

I don't understand... Text files don't support links or page numbers or anything, so, out ouf curiosity, what exactly does that TOC contain?
As for recreating it in Calibre, if you combine preprocessing the source and some XPath magic in the structure detection setting, you should be able to get Calibre to create a metadata TOC.

[nusilver]

Originally Posted by Manichean

I don't understand... Text files don't support links or page numbers or anything, so, out ouf curiosity, what exactly does that TOC contain?
As for recreating it in Calibre, if you combine preprocessing the source and some XPath magic in the structure detection setting, you should be able to get Calibre to create a metadata TOC.

Well, I have no experience with XPath (and every time I try to use the wizards, I have no idea what to do), so when I say the TOC has chapter titles and page numbers, I mean exactly that. The point is to preserve the table of contents the way it existed on the printed page - the page numbers would be pointless other than for posterity.

As for text files not supporting links or anything, I'm open to converting to something else if it's going to ultimately preserve my formatting by the time it gets to mobi.

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by nusilver

when I say the TOC has chapter titles and page numbers, I mean exactly that. The point is to preserve the table of contents the way it existed on the printed page - the page numbers would be pointless other than for posterity.

Text files have two ordinary forms - one in which each paragraph is followed by one or more returns, and one in which every 80 characters or so (the width of a page) has a return. Which is yours?

If it's the latter, then there's no good way for Calibre or any other converter to tell the difference between a TOC, where you want a return on each line and regular text, where you don't. Usually, some search and replacing will solve the problem in a text editor.

[Manichean]

Originally Posted by nusilver

Well, I have no experience with XPath (and every time I try to use the wizards, I have no idea what to do), so when I say the TOC has chapter titles and page numbers, I mean exactly that. The point is to preserve the table of contents the way it existed on the printed page - the page numbers would be pointless other than for posterity.

That last point is what I don't understand. Doesn't that make the whole TOC kind of pointless?
As for the XPath, you open the wizard, identify what a chapter heading looks like and create the appropriate XPath expression to describe it. Unfortunately, I can't help you any more than linking to this, because I've never used XPath myself.

[Jabby]

Originally Posted by nusilver

That's my main problem. I'm converting to mobi to read on a kindle, by the way.

If anyone can also tell me how to create a link from a chapter title in the table of contents to the appropriate chapter in the book, I'd really appreciate that as well, but it's not as important.

I had somewhat the same problem. I ended up setting up the following work flow:

Import my files into Open Office. Setting up my headings that I wanted to index and not worrying about page breaks. Save the resultant file as an ODT (Open Office file ext).

Add the above file to your Calibre library and convert the file to an epub.

Read your epub into into Sigil and set up your TOC and page breaks.

Take your edited epub back into Calibre and convert into mobi.

This sounds a lot harder than it is and it work. Although, I would find a small text file to practice on since things don't always work the way we expect.

Hope this helps.

Regards - John

[nusilver]

Originally Posted by Jabby

I had somewhat the same problem. I ended up setting up the following work flow:

Import my files into Open Office. Setting up my headings that I wanted to index and not worrying about page breaks. Save the resultant file as an ODT (Open Office file ext).

Add the above file to your Calibre library and convert the file to an epub.

Read your epub into into Sigil and set up your TOC and page breaks.

Take your edited epub back into Calibre and convert into mobi.

This sounds a lot harder than it is and it work. Although, I would find a small text file to practice on since things don't always work the way we expect.

Hope this helps.

Regards - John

Thanks for your responses, everyone! Jabby, your workflow sounds promising and I'll give it a shot. As it turns out, I discovered Houghton Mifflin is planning on publishing this particular book in ebook format later this year, so other than the fact that I will have to pay again for a book I already own, I may just wait and buy it if Jabby's workflow doesn't get things done for me.