Formatting changes while converting

[zakman]

I import EPUBs to Calibre before converting them to AZW3 and side-loading them to my Kindle. I prefer to read single-spaced text, so I often have to convert a given book to DOCX, change the formatting in Word, and convert back to AZW3.

Is there a way to do this automatically (the formatting change to single-spaced) as part of the conversion process? Is this what the "Transform Styles" tab is for under Bulk Convert->Look & Feel?

[Sirtel]

You can edit the epub directly in the Calibre editor, there's no need to convert to anything else for that.

As the css and the html can be coded in hundreds of different ways, there is no sure-fire way that always works other than to edit a book manually.

[JSWolf]

I agree with @Sirtel. The best way to do it is to edit the HTML/CSS as needed to get the look you want.

[jhowell]

I would think that double spaced EPUBs would be fairly rare. Are you perhaps referring to spacing used between paragraphs? If so then the "Remove spacing between paragraphs" conversion option under Look & feel / Layout may be helpful.

[Quoth]

Also simply delete all lines with a line height in CSS as it's not needed and stops the spacing being changed on Kobo or Kindle!

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Also simply delete all lines with a line height in CSS as it's not needed and stops the spacing being changed on Kobo or Kindle!

There's a patch to force user line spacing on a Kobo. But yeah, I usually delete line-height from the css.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by jhowell

I would think that double spaced EPUBs would be fairly rare. Are you perhaps referring to spacing used between paragraphs? If so then the "Remove spacing between paragraphs" conversion option under Look & feel / Layout may be helpful.

As I've never used that option, how does it handle section breaks where it's just space?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Also simply delete all lines with a line height in CSS as it's not needed and stops the spacing being changed on Kobo or Kindle!

I drop the line height and I drop any paragraph spaces. It's very easy to do.

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

As I've never used that option, how does it handle section breaks where it's just space?

I don't know.

[zakman]

Thanks to all who responded, the line-height fix was exactly what I was looking for.

[zakman]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I drop the line height and I drop any paragraph spaces. It's very easy to do.

Any suggestions for dealing with books that use multiple spaces as section separators (instead of something like three asterisks or another appropriate separator?)

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by zakman

Any suggestions for dealing with books that use multiple spaces as section separators (instead of something like three asterisks or another appropriate separator?)

Generally, I replace them with 3 bolded asterisks. Since the code used is generally the same throughout the book, it's relatively easy to copy/paste the original code into the find and my replacement code into the replace field and then do a replace all.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by zakman

Any suggestions for dealing with books that use multiple spaces as section separators (instead of something like three asterisks or another appropriate separator?)

This is what I use. It puts a space, a centered 20% long line, and another space. It's very easy to use. And it looks better (IMHO) then three asterisks. I find the asterisks looks kind of cheap. Just like left justified, sans-serif body font, and paragraph spaces.

body {
  widows: 1;
  orphans: 1;
  margin-top: 0;
  margin-right: 0;
  margin-bottom: 0;
  margin-left: 0;
  text-align: justify;
}
hr {
  margin-top: 1em;
  margin-right: 40%;
  margin-bottom: 0.9em;
  margin-left: 40%;
  border-top: 2px solid;
}
p {
  margin-top: 0;
  margin-bottom: 0;
  text-indent: 1.2em;
}
.noindent {
  text-indent: 0;
}

<p>Normally being pelted by a chocolate Easter egg wouldn’t be a big deal, but these weren’t chocolate. They’d made that mistake only once.</p>
<hr/>
<p class="noindent">A few years earlier, when the village of Three Pines first decided to have an egg hunt on Easter Sunday, there’d been great excitement. The villagers met at Olivier’s Bistro and over drinks and Brie they divvied
up bags of chocolate eggs to be hidden the next day. ‘Ooohs’ and ‘Aaaaahs’ tinged with envy filled the air. Would that they
were children again. But their pleasure would surely come from seeing the faces of the village children. Besides, the kids
might not find them all, especially those hidden behind Olivier’s bar.</p>