Poor formatting for Kindle Paperwhite

apgm · 09-11-2013, 07:53 AM

I am new to Calibre and wanted to transfer a few books we already had in digital format to my Paperwhite. The books are in lib, txt and pdf format. I have converted them to mobi as recommended for Paperwhite, but when I load them onto the kindle they are full of extra line spaces which makes them difficult to read comfortably. Am I doing something wrong or do some files just not convert properly?

meeera · 09-11-2013, 08:19 AM

Which ones had problems? Txt should convert ok if not prettily, but PDFs are pretty much always a mess. You can fiddle with the line unwrap factor when converting, to try to improve the PDF output (the Calibre manual covers this), but it's never going to be super nice.

I'm not familiar with lib, sorry. Googling suggests that .lib files are static libraries in Windows, which doesn't help.

apgm · 09-11-2013, 09:36 AM

Sorry about that typo - it should have read .lit files. They all have shown the problem. I know .pdf may be a lost cause, but wondered what setting alterations I may make for the other two so that line spaces only come at the end of each paragraph rather than every line or even mid-sentence!

itimpi · 09-11-2013, 10:56 AM

You might try enabling the heuristics conversion option. It tries to guess at suitable settings for some of the conversion options by examining the input file.

daveps · 09-13-2013, 04:47 AM

Lit is also a rubbish format for conversions. I have no idea where you got your books from but would suggest trying to get them in mobi, ePub or html, mobi will require no conversion for the paperwhite.

mbovenka · 09-13-2013, 05:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by daveps

Lit is also a rubbish format for conversions. I have no idea where you got your books from but would suggest trying to get them in mobi, ePub or html, mobi will require no conversion for the paperwhite.

LIT is actually (within its limitations) pretty good for conversions. I think Calibre even prefers it as a conversion source over MOBI, when converting to something else.

I think the bad conversions probably were the PDFs. LIT converts cleanly in my experience.

kovidgoyal · 09-13-2013, 05:58 AM

LITs in general are fine. However, there are some lits that are just wrappers around plain TXT files, and these do not convert well.

mbovenka · 09-13-2013, 06:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

LITs in general are fine. However, there are some lits that are just wrappers around plain TXT files, and these do not convert well.

OK, I didn't know that.

daveps · 09-13-2013, 08:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

LITs in general are fine. However, there are some lits that are just wrappers around plain TXT files, and these do not convert well.

I think these are the LITs I have experienced which perhaps lead to my jaded view of them

09-11-2013, 07:53 AM	#1
apgm Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2013 Device: Kindle Paperwhite	Poor formatting for Kindle Paperwhite I am new to Calibre and wanted to transfer a few books we already had in digital format to my Paperwhite. The books are in lib, txt and pdf format. I have converted them to mobi as recommended for Paperwhite, but when I load them onto the kindle they are full of extra line spaces which makes them difficult to read comfortably. Am I doing something wrong or do some files just not convert properly?

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09-11-2013, 08:19 AM	#2
meeera Grand Sorcerer Posts: 5,862 Karma: 68407974 Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: Australia Device: Kobo Libra 2, iPadMini4, iPad4, MBP; support other Kobo/Kindles	Which ones had problems? Txt should convert ok if not prettily, but PDFs are pretty much always a mess. You can fiddle with the line unwrap factor when converting, to try to improve the PDF output (the Calibre manual covers this), but it's never going to be super nice. I'm not familiar with lib, sorry. Googling suggests that .lib files are static libraries in Windows, which doesn't help.

09-11-2013, 09:36 AM	#3
apgm Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2013 Device: Kindle Paperwhite	Sorry about that typo - it should have read .lit files. They all have shown the problem. I know .pdf may be a lost cause, but wondered what setting alterations I may make for the other two so that line spaces only come at the end of each paragraph rather than every line or even mid-sentence!

09-11-2013, 10:56 AM	#4
itimpi Wizard Posts: 4,553 Karma: 950151 Join Date: Nov 2008 Device: Sony PRS-950, iphone/ipad (Marvin/iBooks/QuickReader)	You might try enabling the heuristics conversion option. It tries to guess at suitable settings for some of the conversion options by examining the input file.

09-13-2013, 04:47 AM	#5
daveps Member Posts: 17 Karma: 494330 Join Date: Feb 2010 Device: Kindle 3	Lit is also a rubbish format for conversions. I have no idea where you got your books from but would suggest trying to get them in mobi, ePub or html, mobi will require no conversion for the paperwhite.

09-13-2013, 05:58 AM	#7
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 45,604 Karma: 28548974 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	LITs in general are fine. However, there are some lits that are just wrappers around plain TXT files, and these do not convert well.