Question about .pdf docs on Kindle

[s7whitecoral]

I wanted to ask you how your kindle is handling .pdf ebooks...I have all my ebooks in .pdf and I'm curious to know if the Kindle can properly read the format or is it all messed up? It's pretty much the main reason I'm holding off on buying another ereader since my eBookwise can't properly even read converted .pdf books (I've tried converting them to .doc, .txt but nada...I've had no luck with it)

[Keloff]

Hi Coral

The Kindle basically zooms out the PDF to fit exactly on the screen. PDF is intended for *exact* layouts, so doesn't work well when you want text to reflow to fit a different display.

Using Calibre I was easily able to view PDF documents in AZW format without glaring formatting errors. I presume Stanza will work as nicely.

Of course, the conversion's success may depend on the content of the PDF -- for instance, are the many images or graphics in it?

[s7whitecoral]

no, they're just ebooks - so it's just words..no images

[lilman]

My pdf text experience on the DX has been hit or miss. For techdocs that I read for work, I copy them straight over to the DX without going through any program and they read well. For some docs that I've made myself (like ms word docs that I've converted to pdf) sometimes the text comes out small and greyed out. I'm not sure how to fix these docs to make them appear better on the DX, but I haven't put any time into it since I use my DX primarily for manga.

[=X=]

There are several ways I've handled PDF -> <MOBI/LRF/ePUB>

Convert to a Reflowable format (30min-2hr)
The best tool to convert PDF to MOBI is called MobiCreator, it's a free software own by MobiPocket. This software converts PDF to MOBI. You can also use MobiReader that automatically converts PDF->MOBI by adding the PDF to the MOBI library. MobiCreator does a better job but is slightly harder to use.

Calibre can convert a PDF to MOBI, it has gotten better but I still like mobicreator better.

TRIM the PDF (time spent 1min)
You can try soPDF this tool trims the PDF margins, since most PDF have a 2" margin this reduces the PDF and preservers the format of the PDF. This method works great if the PDF is a book since most PDF books are about 6"x9". If the PDF are made for Paper 8.5x11" this tool does not work well.

Convert to Image (10min)
This is the least desireble feature, it converts the PDF to an image then optimizes the image for the screen size.

This way the text is reserved but the size is exploded.

PaperCrop is the best of these tools and even reflows the text.



My approach is to first use soPDF, PaperCrop, then MobiCreator.

They all have their pro/cons but my approach is to use the solution that is quickest with acceptable reading results. MobiCreator always yeilds the best results but it is time consuming for the types of PDFs I read, for plain text based PDF MobiCreator might be the best solution for you.

=X=

[Ea]

Originally Posted by Keloff

The Kindle basically zooms out the PDF to fit exactly on the screen. PDF is intended for *exact* layouts, so doesn't work well when you want text to reflow to fit a different display.

Or a bit more precisely, it zooms to fit width

Originally Posted by =X=

Convert to a Reflowable format (30min-2hr)
The best tool to convert PDF to MOBI is called MobiCreator, it's a free software own by MobiPocket. This software converts PDF to MOBI. You can also use MobiReader that automatically converts PDF->MOBI by adding the PDF to the MOBI library. MobiCreator does a better job but is slightly harder to use.

Calibre can convert a PDF to MOBI, it has gotten better but I still like mobicreator better.

The best free tool. And yes, I would agree about Mobipocket - it does appear a little better. I've been using ABBYY Finereader, which I think is somewhat better ABBYY PDF Transformer can do the same, cheaper - but it's still not exactly cheap though.

@s7whitecoral: You could try to convert some files in Mobipocket creator - for example - and then view them in Mobipocket Reader on your computer. Then you'll see how the result could be before you buy. Likewise you could try to convert in Calibre, or some of the other suggestions here.

[s7whitecoral]

Thanks for all the great tips you guyz...You've been a huge help

[angelad]

Overall, I'd say DX pdf viewing is much more enjoyable than with previous versions. Although I still get a few stinkers here and there.

[Ritana]

Hello All

Could anyone help to me with using calibre, please?

I bought an Amazon Kindle2 two days ago but I can't upload my pdf files in azw format to the device. (contrary the .mobi format works fine)

When I attempt to do this the calibre break the process right away due to 'my device doesn't support this format...'
Further, I can't save the PDF file in azw either, the converting process seems to finish without any error messages but when the container folder is appering it still empty... the program doesn't save anything into it!

I use the calibre on Ubuntu Linux.

Originally Posted by lilman

...sometimes the text comes out small and greyed out. I'm not sure how to fix these docs to make them appear better on the DX...

I've encountered the small greyed out text in PDFs on both my Sonys and the K DXG. Someone said in another post that Adobe DE has a problem with certain fonts like Times New Roman. The PDFs look fine when viewed on the PC with Acrobat, but look as you described on a ereader. So you might try changing the font before converting it to a PDF to see if that helps.