All notes of ebook mistakenly link to the book's title page. What's best way to fix?

thymesnewroman · 02-04-2020, 05:09 PM

Hello there.

I have no experience with editing ebooks. I am really just a reader. but there's an ebook where all the links to the end-of-chapter notes just go to the book's cover. So I would like to fix it, especially because this book is heavily noted.

There isn't a separate endnotes file. The notes appear at the end of every
chapter, where the chapter is named index_split_006.xhtml, index_split_007.xhtml and so on. (This is in contrast to the print edition, which have footnotes, appearing at the bottom of the page).

In Sigil's preview, the text looks like:

Quote:

absolute power of the state.”14 This is incorrect

In Sigil's editor window, it looks like:

Code:

 absolute power of the state.”</span><a class="S-T1" href="../Text/index_split_000.xhtml#anchor22"><span class="S-T6">14</span></a> <span class="S-T1">This is incorrect

Note #14, at the end of chapter 1, looks like this in the Preview window:

Quote:

14 P. Lobstein, Einleitung in die Evangelische Dogmatik (Freiburg, 1897), 23.

And looks like this in the Editor window:

Code:

  <p class="P-P14"><span class="S-T1" id="anchor129"></span><a class="S-T1" href="../Text/index_split_000.xhtml#anchor60"><span class="S-T6">14</span></a> <span class="S-T1">P. Lobstein,</span> <span class="S-T5">Einleitung in die Evangelische Dogmatik</span> <span class="S-T1">(Freiburg, 1897), 23.</span> </p>

Note 15, in the body, looks like this in the Preview:

Quote:

and many others after him have taught us.15 Rome can

and like this in the Editor view:

Code:

 and many others after him have taught us.</span><a class="S-T1" href="../Text/index_split_000.xhtml#anchor23"><span class="S-T6">15</span></a> <span class="S-T1">Rome can

At the end of the chapter, Note #15 looks like this, in Preview window:

Quote:

15 Friedrich Schleiermacher, Die Christliche Sitte nach dem Grundsazen der evangelischen Kirche dargestellt (Berlin: G. Reimer, 1884), 5 [Introduction to Christian Ethics, trans. John Shelley (Nashville: Abingdon, 1989)]; Richard Rothe, Zur Dogmatik (Gotha: Perthes, 1869), 10; Alexander Schweizer, Die Glaubenslehre der evangelisch-reformirten Kirche (Zurich: Orell, Fussli, 1847), I, 23.

and like this in the Editor view:

Code:

<p class="P-P14"><span class="S-T1" id="anchor130"></span><a class="S-T1" href="../Text/index_split_000.xhtml#anchor61"><span class="S-T6">15</span></a> <span class="S-T1">Friedrich Schleiermacher,</span> <span class="S-T5">Die Christliche Sitte nach dem Grundsazen der evangelischen Kirche dargestellt</span> <span class="S-T1">(Berlin: G. Reimer, 1884), 5 [</span><span class="S-T5">Introduction to Christian Ethics</span><span class="S-T1">, trans. John Shelley (Nashville: Abingdon, 1989)]; Richard Rothe,</span> <span class="S-T5">Zur Dogmatik</span> <span class="S-T1">(Gotha: Perthes, 1869), 10; Alexander Schweizer,</span> <span class="S-T5">Die Glaubenslehre der evangelisch-reformirten Kirche</span> <span class="S-T1">(Zurich: Orell, Fussli, 1847), I, 23.</span> </p>

What's the best way to fix ALL the notes in this four-volume work? (Each volume is its own epub.) In the first volume alone, I'm guessing there's about 500 notes, scattered from index_split_004.xhtml through to index_split_025.xhtml.

exaltedwombat · 02-05-2020, 06:15 AM

The links you quote are to markers in the file "index_split_000.xhtml" but you say the footnotes are "scattered from index_split_004.xhtml through to index_split_025.xhtml".

Does the file "index_split_000.xhtml" exist? Maybe you need to search each chapter and change instances of "index_split_000.xhtml" to "index_split_004.xhtml" (or whatever THAT chapter's filename is).

Tex2002ans · 02-05-2020, 09:41 AM

What's the source format? I'm assuming you used Calibre to do a "something" -> EPUB conversion?

Somewhere along the line, you split your files poorly, and the links became broken.

Sometimes it's easier to go back to the original and make nothing gets broken in the first place.

(From what I can tell in your example, the "anchor##" are all jumbled up anyway.)

But if you want to dig inside the innards...

Quote:

Originally Posted by thymesnewroman

There isn't a separate endnotes file. The notes appear at the end of every
chapter, where the chapter is named index_split_006.xhtml, index_split_007.xhtml and so on. (This is in contrast to the print edition, which have footnotes, appearing at the bottom of the page).

In your first example, you can see:

Code:

<a class="S-T1" href="../Text/index_split_000.xhtml#anchor22">

This is the source of your woes.

If you break this down into its basic components, it's saying:

<a> = a link.
href = "Where does this link go?"
Red = Go to the file named "index_split_000.xhtml" (this is probably your cover file).
Blue = In that file, look for an id "anchor22" and jump to it.

You can fix this multiple ways... but the easiest is probably:

1. You can adjust the filename.

If "index_split_000.xhtml" = your cover file, then you'll have to change that href to the correct filename.

Let's say you're in Chapter 3 footnotes, and Chapter 3 is "index_split_003.xhtml".

Easy, just change the 000 -> 003.

Code:

<a class="S-T1" href="../Text/index_split_003.xhtml#anchor22">

Clicking on that should keep you in Chapter 3, and SHOULD jump you to the correct footnote.

* * *

2. Ultimately, you would want to overhaul everything to become human-readable:

Code:

absolute power of the state.”<a href="../Text/Chapter01.xhtml#footnote14" id="note14">[14]</a> This is incorrect

[...]

<p class="footnote"><a href="../Text/Chapter01.xhtml#note14" id="footnote14">[14]</a> P. Lobstein, <i>Einleitung in die Evangelische Dogmatik</i> (Freiburg, 1897), 23.</p>

This would make reading and figuring out what's going wrong MUCH easier.

You can see how confusing it becomes when "index_split_003" = who-knows-what-chapter... and "anchor22" stands for footnote 14.

Quote:

Originally Posted by thymesnewroman

What's the best way to fix ALL the notes in this four-volume work? (Each volume is its own epub.) In the first volume alone, I'm guessing there's about 500 notes, scattered from index_split_004.xhtml through to index_split_025.xhtml.

As I said initially, it's probably easier to go back to the original document and make sure the links don't get broken in the first place.

BobC · 02-05-2020, 03:48 PM

The OP says that all notes are in the same file as where the footnote reference exists and that all the references take him back to the cover.

I'm betting that doing a replacement of all instances of

Code:

href=../Text/index_split_000.xhtml#anchor

with

Code:

href="#anchor

would solve the problem as you only need the anchor reference and not the filename if it is in the current file.

Just make sure you have a backup before performing a "replace all".

BobC

DNSB · 02-05-2020, 06:41 PM

It would have been nicer if the OP had not double posted this thread.

Edit: here and in the FootnoteLinker Sigil plugin thread.

thymesnewroman · 02-05-2020, 08:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tex2002ans

What's the source format? I'm assuming you used Calibre to do a "something" -> EPUB conversion?

Hello Tex,
I didn't use Calibre at all. I didn't do any modifications on the file. Perhaps the original person who created this epub took a "wrong turn" with the notes/linking/coding?

By the way, I was incorrect in my OP and my title in saying that they link to the cover page. In fact, they link to the title page.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tex2002ans

You can fix this multiple ways... but the easiest is probably:

1. You can adjust the filename.

If "index_split_000.xhtml" = your cover file, then you'll have to change that href to the correct filename.

Let's say you're in Chapter 3 footnotes, and Chapter 3 is "index_split_003.xhtml".

Easy, just change the 000 -> 003.

Code:

<a class="S-T1" href="../Text/index_split_003.xhtml#anchor22">

Clicking on that should keep you in Chapter 3, and SHOULD jump you to the correct footnote.

Chapter 1 is index_split_006.xhtml

index_split_001.xhtml is the Table of contents.
index_split_003.xhtml is Preface.
index_split_004.xhtml is the Acknowledgements.
index_split_005.xhtml says “Part 1”.
index_split_006.xhtml is Chapter 1.
index_split_007.xhtml is Chapter 2.
index_split_008.xhtml is Chapter 3.
And so on and so forth.

So I changed the in-text code (versus the note-at-end-of-chapter code) in chapter 1 (which is index_split_006.xhtml) from

Code:

<a class="S-T1" href="../Text/index_split_000.xhtml#anchor22"><span class="S-T6">14</span></a>

To

Code:

<a class="S-T1" href="../Text/index_split_006.xhtml#anchor22"><span class="S-T6">14</span></a>

But now, nothing happens (whereas it used to jump to the title page).

Quote:

Originally Posted by BobC

The OP says that all notes are in the same file as where the footnote reference exists and that all the references take him back to the cover.

I'm betting that doing a replacement of all instances of

Code:

href=../Text/index_split_000.xhtml#anchor

with

Code:

href="#anchor

would solve the problem as you only need the anchor reference and not the filename if it is in the current file.

Hi Bob. I did as you suggest. In Sigil, I made the Find&Replace look through all HTML files, and it says “Zero replacements made”.
Please see screenshot. https://i.imgur.com/v6cvshT.png

Quote:

Originally Posted by DNSB

It would have been nicer if the OP had not double posted this thread.

Edit: here and in the FootnoteLinker Sigil plugin thread.

Hi David,
The FootnoteLinker creator suggested I post here.

DiapDealer · 02-05-2020, 09:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thymesnewroman

Hi David,
The FootnoteLinker creator suggested I post here.

You're good. The first place you posted turned out to be the wrong place. This is the right one.

thymesnewroman · 02-05-2020, 11:06 PM

hi exaltedwombat,
yes, index_split_000.xhtml is the Title Page.

BetterRed · 02-06-2020, 01:31 AM

My guess is that the OPs book started life as a footnoted PDF that someone read into MS Word, used its convert footnotes to endnotes tool, then saved to Filtered HTML, and tossed that into calibre's conversion engine. One of my acolytes had a similar problem when they did that.

This despite me telling them countless times: "You should save as DOCX and toss that into calibre's conversion hurdy-gurdy."
"But I saw this Youtube video that said you had to use Filtered HTML."
"When was the video published?"
"How would I know?"

This won't help the OP unless they can lay their hands on the PDF.

BR

exaltedwombat · 02-06-2020, 04:09 AM

Ok. Try doing what I said then. In one of the files with endnotes change one instance of "index_split_000.xhtml" to "index_split_xxx.xhtml" where xxx is the number for THAT file. If that footnote starts working, do a search/replace for the other instances in that file. Then the next, using THAT file's name.

exaltedwombat · 02-06-2020, 11:50 AM

...and I see you've tried that.

But I also see a screenshot where you searched for href=..Text/ etc. i.e. without the double quotes between = and ..

So I'm wondering if you made some similar misprint when replacing the string manually?

thymesnewroman · 02-07-2020, 02:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BetterRed

This won't help the OP unless they can lay their hands on the PDF.

Hello BetterRed,
Thank you for your reply.

1. I didn't know having a PDF is one way to fix problems with an ePub.
2. I assume we're talking about the text-based PDF (searchable PDF) versus the image based PDF, yes?
3. I might be able to get my hands on the PDF from an educational institution I'm associated with.

thymesnewroman · 02-07-2020, 03:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by exaltedwombat

...and I see you've tried that.

But I also see a screenshot where you searched for href=..Text/ etc. i.e. without the double quotes between = and ..

So I'm wondering if you made some similar misprint when replacing the string manually?

Hi exaltedwombat,

In the screenshot, the text in the "Find" search field was:

Code:

href=../Text/index_split_000.xhtml#anchor

If I understand what you wrote, you suggest I have the double quote mark as in...:

Code:

href="../Text/index_split_000.xhtml#anchor

I blame BobC.

(I was simply copy-pasting what he had suggested.)
Anyway, I did add the double quote mark and it found and replaced about 2,500 instances of that. I then saved the file in Sigil and then double-clicked the new epub to get it to open up in Calibre's ebook reader. Sadly, clicking on the linked numbers in the body don't bring me anywhere.

exaltedwombat · 02-07-2020, 04:51 AM

It's going to be easier to clear this up if you make the code of an entire chapter available to us.

BetterRed · 02-07-2020, 05:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thymesnewroman

Hello BetterRed,
Thank you for your reply.

1. I didn't know having a PDF is one way to fix problems with an ePub.
2. I assume we're talking about the text-based PDF (searchable PDF) versus the image based PDF, yes?
3. I might be able to get my hands on the PDF from an educational institution I'm associated with.

A PDF wont fix problems in the messy epub you have. But they can be used to create a new epub without creating the mess in the first instance.

A lot has changed w.r.t. getting from a PDF to an EPUB over the decade or so I've been doing it. Books I wouldn't have even thought of converting in 2012 can be a walk park using recently developed tools. Scanned PDFs are still a PITA, but few if any modern text book PDFs are scanned images.

If you can get a searchable PDF you can try reading it to MS Word itself, or convert it to DOCX via Acrobat - recent versions of both do a pretty good job. MS word will barf on large PDFs, but I think Acrobat can convert larger ones.

Once you get the book into Word you can then use its foot/end note tools (IIRC there are also a couple of foot/chapter/endnote add-on tools) to get the notes into a layout suitable for conversion of the DOCX to EPUB - the easiest way to do that is via calibre.

BR

02-05-2020, 03:48 PM	#4
BobC Guru Posts: 691 Karma: 3026110 Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Lancashire, U.K. Device: BeBook 1, BeBook Pure, Kobo Glo, (and HD),Energy Sistem EReader Pro +	The OP says that all notes are in the same file as where the footnote reference exists and that all the references take him back to the cover. I'm betting that doing a replacement of all instances of Code: href=../Text/index_split_000.xhtml#anchor with Code: href="#anchor would solve the problem as you only need the anchor reference and not the filename if it is in the current file. Just make sure you have a backup before performing a "replace all". BobC Last edited by BobC; 02-05-2020 at 03:55 PM.

02-05-2020, 06:41 PM	#5
DNSB Bibliophagist Posts: 45,906 Karma: 168959602 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Vancouver Device: Kobo Sage, Libra Colour, Lenovo M8 FHD, Paperwhite 4, Tolino epos	It would have been nicer if the OP had not double posted this thread. Edit: here and in the FootnoteLinker Sigil plugin thread. Last edited by DNSB; 02-05-2020 at 06:47 PM.

02-06-2020, 01:31 AM	#9
BetterRed null operator (he/him) Posts: 21,705 Karma: 29711016 Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Sydney Australia Device: none	My guess is that the OPs book started life as a footnoted PDF that someone read into MS Word, used its convert footnotes to endnotes tool, then saved to Filtered HTML, and tossed that into calibre's conversion engine. One of my acolytes had a similar problem when they did that. This despite me telling them countless times: "You should save as DOCX and toss that into calibre's conversion hurdy-gurdy." "But I saw this Youtube video that said you had to use Filtered HTML." "When was the video published?" "How would I know?" This won't help the OP unless they can lay their hands on the PDF. BR Last edited by BetterRed; 02-06-2020 at 02:56 AM.

02-06-2020, 04:09 AM	#10
exaltedwombat Guru Posts: 878 Karma: 2457540 Join Date: Nov 2011 Device: none	Ok. Try doing what I said then. In one of the files with endnotes change one instance of "index_split_000.xhtml" to "index_split_xxx.xhtml" where xxx is the number for THAT file. If that footnote starts working, do a search/replace for the other instances in that file. Then the next, using THAT file's name. Last edited by exaltedwombat; 02-06-2020 at 05:02 AM.

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02-05-2020, 06:15 AM	#2
exaltedwombat Guru Posts: 878 Karma: 2457540 Join Date: Nov 2011 Device: none	The links you quote are to markers in the file "index_split_000.xhtml" but you say the footnotes are "scattered from index_split_004.xhtml through to index_split_025.xhtml". Does the file "index_split_000.xhtml" exist? Maybe you need to search each chapter and change instances of "index_split_000.xhtml" to "index_split_004.xhtml" (or whatever THAT chapter's filename is).

02-05-2020, 11:06 PM	#8
thymesnewroman Enthusiast Posts: 30 Karma: 2077248 Join Date: Feb 2020 Device: Forma	hi exaltedwombat, yes, index_split_000.xhtml is the Title Page.

02-06-2020, 11:50 AM	#11
exaltedwombat Guru Posts: 878 Karma: 2457540 Join Date: Nov 2011 Device: none	...and I see you've tried that. But I also see a screenshot where you searched for href=..Text/ etc. i.e. without the double quotes between = and .. So I'm wondering if you made some similar misprint when replacing the string manually?

02-07-2020, 04:51 AM	#14
exaltedwombat Guru Posts: 878 Karma: 2457540 Join Date: Nov 2011 Device: none	It's going to be easier to clear this up if you make the code of an entire chapter available to us.

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