Calibre Conversion Tutorial

[AlexBell]

Originally Posted by ilovejedd

TOC level means exactly that. Calibre allows you to create up to 3 levels, at least in ePUB. I'm not sure about the other formats.

Thanks for your help and clear explanation. But if I only have one level ..?

That is, if have I one book, and one set of preface/chapters/colophon within that book is the first level of TOC the title of the TOC and second level the chapters? Or does first and second level not apply?

Regards, Alex

[AlexBell]

Originally Posted by ilovejedd

The http://calibre.kovidgoyal.net/user_m...onversion.html link you mentioned in your first post is the placeholder for the manual. It's been there for a while (even before the 0.6 betas were released) and Kovid has mentioned he's working on it. He probably just has too many other things going on at the same time.

Yes, I understand that, and am awed by the amount of work which has already been done and by the power and complexity of the program.

But there must be some people who know how to convert a valid HTML file with CSS to a valid ebook, manage all the complexities, and get it right.

Can I make a deal with those who know? If you can jot some notes down as you go through your next book conversion and get those notes to me I'll write them up in detail and post it on the forum. People can then review it, and the final corrected version could go up as a sticky. That would be my contribution to the Calibre community.

Regards, Alex

[slantybard]

Alex, from your steps, it looks like you are doing most of the basic stuff as you should. I have two suggestions:

1. You mentioned that you set the input and output profiles to sony. This is only partly correct. You should set the input profile to "default input profile" and the output profile should be "sony..." See if that works for you. If not, I want you to try...

2. I have attached an ePub file that has already been converted to the sony profile. It definitely works on a sony reader and doesn't need coverting. It is a free ePub that is does not have copyright issues. Simply add it to your calibre library and send it to your reader without converting it. It should be 5 pages or so long. This test will tell us if there is a problem with your reader or if it is a problem with calibre/python.

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by AlexBell

Thanks for your help and clear explanation. But if I only have one level ..?

That is, if have I one book, and one set of preface/chapters/colophon within that book is the first level of TOC the title of the TOC and second level the chapters? Or does first and second level not apply?

...

Originally Posted by ilovejedd

Of course, that's only personal preference. If you want to create a flat TOC (all level 1), then that's up to you.

Just leave the textbox for level2- and level3-toc empty or if converting by command-line, just don't use these two options. By default, Calibre only makes a level1-toc, anyway.

Originally Posted by AlexBell

But there must be some people who know how to convert a valid HTML file with CSS to a valid ebook, manage all the complexities, and get it right.

Actually, this bit is hard. That's why most people use third-party tools such as Calibre to convert from HTML/CSS to ePUB, etc. Theoretically, you should be able to create an ePUB file using just a text editor and a zip utility, but how many people do you know actually do that? Most of the "complexities" are handled by the conversion tool so for the most part, you wouldn't have to. I find trying to work within html2epub's boundaries to be much easier than creating the ebook by hand and having to figure all these readers'/devices' (not so) little idiosyncracies.

[kacir]

Originally Posted by ForceMd

I have received my first couple of books that are not compatable with the reader (some HTML books which I tried converting to ePub) and I was attempting to convert the books with Calibre so that they can be read on my 505. I however, have yet to be successful at converting any books properly.

Just convert the books into rtf file.
Then export the rtf file, and format is to your liking in any program - OpenOffice.org Writer, Word or even Wordpad that is part of standard Windows installation.
Then load the resulting rtf file into your reader.

I even format html files into rtf files using a few search and replace macros in a Vim text editor.
Send me a provate message if you are interested.