Dealing with bad formatting: "broken" lines inside paragraphs?

MelBr · 08-25-2013, 04:58 PM

Hi all,

A lot of TXT files that I find on Archive.org (for example), have broken paragraphs and are formatted for 74 character displays. When converting such files to epub, I always end up with bad formatting and the text just doesn't 'flow'.

is there an easy way to fix this when importing/converting such files? I've gone through options in Heuristic Processing panel but I'm not sure which checkbox needs to be checked.

Thanks!

Adoby · 08-25-2013, 06:02 PM

Try to adjust the "Line un-wrap factor. It decides when a line is assumed to be a part of an ongoing paragraph. Try for instance 0.5 or 0.7.

And start by trying to have everything checked. And test. Uncheck things that you think cause trouble. Expect to do some experimenting, and perhaps even manual editing in sigil if you want perfect results and not just usable.

Rizla · 08-25-2013, 06:08 PM

Probably the .txt files contain unwanted carriage returns / new-lines. You need to edit them out using some kind of search and replace feature (i.e. regex). A lot of people do it in MS Word.

BetterRed · 08-25-2013, 06:36 PM

Fix the text file. I'd use Notepad++ on Windows, TextWrangler on Mac and SciTE on Linux. And I'd save the following as macro so I have it next time.

replace all double new lines (end of paragraph) with say '###'
replace all single new lines with space
replace all double space with space
replace the '###' with new line

You can eyeball check by enabling word wrap in the the text editor, and widening narrowing the window size to ensure the text flows

The file should now be good for conversion

BR

MelBr · 08-25-2013, 06:50 PM

THANK YOU guys! Will try ll these solutions to see what works the best for me. Thanks again.

Yes, soft wrapping just doesn't work well with these hard-formatted txt files. (I even found a bunch of Epub files that are also messed up because they were OCRed from PDFs etc)

DoctorOhh · 08-26-2013, 12:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MelBr

A lot of TXT files that I find on Archive.org (for example), have broken paragraphs and are formatted for 74 character displays. When converting such files to epub, I always end up with bad formatting and the text just doesn't 'flow'.

is there an easy way to fix this when importing/converting such files? I've gone through options in Heuristic Processing panel but I'm not sure which checkbox needs to be checked.

During conversion look at the options in the Text Input area and instead of auto for Paragraph style select one of the other options and try until you get the proper fit. Read this section of the manual for insight into the various options.

08-25-2013, 04:58 PM	#1
MelBr Zealot Posts: 105 Karma: 414068 Join Date: Feb 2013 Device: iPad Pro, Kobo Aura One	Dealing with bad formatting: "broken" lines inside paragraphs? Hi all, A lot of TXT files that I find on Archive.org (for example), have broken paragraphs and are formatted for 74 character displays. When converting such files to epub, I always end up with bad formatting and the text just doesn't 'flow'. is there an easy way to fix this when importing/converting such files? I've gone through options in Heuristic Processing panel but I'm not sure which checkbox needs to be checked. Thanks!

08-25-2013, 06:36 PM	#4
BetterRed null operator (he/him) Posts: 21,715 Karma: 29711016 Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Sydney Australia Device: none	Fix the text file. I'd use Notepad++ on Windows, TextWrangler on Mac and SciTE on Linux. And I'd save the following as macro so I have it next time. replace all double new lines (end of paragraph) with say '###' replace all single new lines with space replace all double space with space replace the '###' with new line You can eyeball check by enabling word wrap in the the text editor, and widening narrowing the window size to ensure the text flows The file should now be good for conversion BR

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08-25-2013, 06:02 PM	#2
Adoby Handy Elephant Posts: 1,737 Karma: 26785684 Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Southern Sweden, far out in the quiet woods Device: Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra	Try to adjust the "Line un-wrap factor. It decides when a line is assumed to be a part of an ongoing paragraph. Try for instance 0.5 or 0.7. And start by trying to have everything checked. And test. Uncheck things that you think cause trouble. Expect to do some experimenting, and perhaps even manual editing in sigil if you want perfect results and not just usable.

08-25-2013, 06:08 PM	#3
Rizla Member Retired Posts: 3,183 Karma: 11721895 Join Date: Nov 2010 Device: Nook STR (rooted) & Sony T2	Probably the .txt files contain unwanted carriage returns / new-lines. You need to edit them out using some kind of search and replace feature (i.e. regex). A lot of people do it in MS Word.

08-25-2013, 06:50 PM	#5
MelBr Zealot Posts: 105 Karma: 414068 Join Date: Feb 2013 Device: iPad Pro, Kobo Aura One	THANK YOU guys! Will try ll these solutions to see what works the best for me. Thanks again. Yes, soft wrapping just doesn't work well with these hard-formatted txt files. (I even found a bunch of Epub files that are also messed up because they were OCRed from PDFs etc)

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