epub to rtf = "quotes" to ?quotes? Why?

[Vortex]

Whenever I convert an epub to rtf it changes all the "text in quotation marks" to ?text in question marks? Why's it doing that and how can I stop it?
Thanks.

[BetterRed]

@Vortex - I frequently convert EPUB to RTF and it doesn't happen to me, I just did one to check - still working A-OK.

Have a look at what's in Conversion->Search and Replace settings (mine are empty), also Conversion->Look and Feel settings mine are factory defaults

BR

[Vortex]

Same here.
My reading device is a CF18 Toughbook (old laptop) using ubook as the reader software, I'm converting epub's to rtf's for ubook.
The odd thing I've just noticed is if I view the rtf in wordpad there is no change to the "quotes", it only shows like that in ubook. If I make a rtf in wordpad and paste text with "quotes" into it and view it in ubook there is no change, it's only when Calibre makes the conversion from epub...

[BetterRed]

@Vortex - My guess is that the ubook reader doesn't do smart quotes in whatever font its using eg - “hello world”

So, try unchecking Look and Feel->Smarten punctuation and checking Look and Feel->UnSmarten punctuation

I think that will output straight quotes eg - "hello world"

BR

[Vortex]

Ah! that did the trick, you're a star, thanks. :-)

Any idea why the cover picture isn't being displayed in the RTF? This happens if I have "Use cover from source file" checked under Metadata or not.
Also is there a way to get the chapter links in the front of the book to work in the RTF like they do in html?

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by Vortex

Ah! that did the trick, you're a star, thanks. :-)

Any idea why the cover picture isn't being displayed in the RTF? This happens if I have "Use cover from source file" checked under Metadata or not.
Also is there a way to get the chapter links in the front of the book to work in the RTF like they do in html?

@Vortex - Covers are not something I worry about too much - if they're in the RTF I remove them. However, if you have Remove first image checked In Conversion-->Structure Detection try turning it off

Likewise I don't bother with chapter links at the front of the book (Table of Contents), I prefer Word's Document Map sidebar. But maybe you can generate a TOC in the RTF using the Conversion->Table of Contents settings - about which I know nothing.

My use of RTF is as the ship that transits me to DOCX - a means to an end not an end in itself.

BR

[Vortex]

I tried those already, made no difference.

The first page where the cover pic should be is blank but the second page has the pic of the publishers logo...

Even if I tick-> "Force use of auto-generated Table of Contents" I still dont get one,

[BetterRed]

@Vortex - Looking at some of the RTFs in my work pipeline I see that they don't actually have covers, some have an image inserted at the start of the book, in some it's within the title page. But the image that's designated as the cover in the EPUB doesn't show up at the front of the RTF.

As I said I don't want covers, title images or TOCs in RTF, I just tried the obvious things in conversion - no luck with either.

Maybe Covers and TOCs are not applicable to RTF output. I don't regard it as an ebook format (a'la EPUB, PDF, Mobi etc) I regard it instead as a document format.

Might be an idea to create a new thread with a new title - Put Cover & TOC into RTF Output.

cheers BR

[kovidgoyal]

IIRC RTF output has no support for either ToC or covers, though since I didn't write the RTF plugin I cant be sure.

[readx]

If it is the µBook-Reader you are using, why not just use the mobi format?
Rename the file to .prc and it will display in µBook with covers.

[Vortex]

That's useful to know about the .mobi to .prc, but unfortunately it also looses the cover and TOC...

Seems odd not to have the cover in rtf or html as it's not difficult, it's displaying all the other images so what the big deal with the cover? Is there a way to get the covers to display in html (zip) output?

@BetterRed - I've been reading rtf and html ebooks for years with question marks instead of quotes, no covers or TOC, etc, just thought it would be nice to figure out how to fix these niggles for once.

[BetterRed]

@Vortex - if I convert an EPUB to MOBI then I see the cover in the Mobipocket Reader. And if the EPUB has a TOC with links I see that too. Maybe you'll need to use the Edit TOC tool on the EPUB to get a 'well formed ' TOC.

I don't have the Amazon Reader program installed, it might argued that its a 'better reference' than Mobipocket Reader. However I would be cautious on relying on µBook-Reader as a reference - even though its the target.

E.G. If the XChange PDF reader I use, was not showing a PDF as I think it should, then I would use Acrobat Reader as a reference reader. If the same problem existed in Acrobat then I'd be suspicious of the PDF, but if it was OK in Acrobat but not in XChange then I'd head for Tracker's XChange forum.

BR

[user_none]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

IIRC RTF output has no support for either ToC or covers ...

That is correct. The best that could be done is an inline toc like txt allows and dumping the cover image to the start of the book. That said, RTF is such a poor format I don't see any reason to spend the time adding it. Honestly you're better off using something else.

[Vortex]

OK, thanks, but why no cover when you convert an epub to zip (html)?

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by Vortex

OK, thanks, but why no cover when you convert an epub to zip (html)?

@Vortex - Probably same reason as RTF, HTML Output plug-in author did not consider it worth the effort.

I downloaded µBook reader and gave it a PRC, I saw no cover nor any TOC, and even worse it also displayed lots of 'rubbish' see attachment. The same PRC looks fine in Mobipocket Reader. Also see https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...35&postcount=9

It seems to me that all of your problems lie with the µBook reader. You're either going to have to use another reader or put up with µBook's idiosyncratic rendering of anything but plain text. Given µBook hasn't been updated since Oct 2010, it also seems to me that its unlikely that it'll ever be fixed.

Sorry to say this, but I think you're

BR