calibre epbub viewer & pdf viewer(s)

rjwse@aol.com · 07-25-2025, 10:56 AM

Here's a tip in case anyone might have need of this. The calibre main screen lets you open the epub editor with T, the epub viewer with V, but calibre does not have a built in pdf viewer. I have assigned ctrl-e to open pdf viewer evince and ctrl-o to open pdf viewer okular. There is no special reasons to have two different pdf readers but I occasionally try to detect if there are any differences. One thing I noticed is that if you use calibre's main screen to Polish book and add Soft hyphens those soft hyphens will make it hard to search a pdf.

theducks · 07-25-2025, 12:47 PM

Preferences: Behavior: The right side selects which formats use Calibre viewer.
If there is no tick, The handling drops to the OS (default for that format)
So in fact you only need 1 Shortcut key.
For all else, there is the Open With PLUGIN (by Kiwidude

): Add as many custom viewer choices as you wish

BetterRed · 07-25-2025, 07:38 PM

I use calibre's built-in Open With, which means I can have as many viewers/players as I want for every format I have.

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BR

Quoth · 07-31-2025, 05:05 AM

Soft hyphens break ebooks (azw3, KFX, epub) and should never be used in PDFs.

Especially if you want search to work.

P.S. I like Okular, but at install time it certainly needs a load of defaults changed for each format.

rjwse@aol.com · 07-31-2025, 07:30 AM

Quote:

Soft hyphens break ebooks (azw3, KFX, epub) and should never be used in PDFs.

Especially if you want search to work.

P.S. I like Okular, but at install time it certainly needs a load of defaults changed for each format.

Fer sher. I noticed inability to search in pdf if there are soft hyphens. However, pdf format is my upload to amazon for paper books. I do this to proofread each and every page. Also, in a printed book it seems to me that using soft hyphens makes it all look better. In calibre there is 'fuzzy search' so that you can look for words broken with invisible soft hyphens while in the text editor. So far as I know nobody has that in a pdf reader.

Quoth · 08-06-2025, 12:33 PM

For a printed book or a PDF the soft hyphens are absolutely redundant. Use real hyphenation on a copy of the source that's for PDF export.

Because the page size and margins is known!

Never put soft hyphens in anything for publishing as an ebook (only own use re-flowable if you must) and absolutely never ever in any form of fixed layout. Maybe acceptable on a web page, I'm undecided.

07-25-2025, 10:56 AM	#1
rjwse@aol.com Addict Posts: 329 Karma: 2228060 Join Date: Dec 2013 Location: LaVernia, Texas Device: kindle epub readers on android	calibre epbub viewer & pdf viewer(s) Here's a tip in case anyone might have need of this. The calibre main screen lets you open the epub editor with T, the epub viewer with V, but calibre does not have a built in pdf viewer. I have assigned ctrl-e to open pdf viewer evince and ctrl-o to open pdf viewer okular. There is no special reasons to have two different pdf readers but I occasionally try to detect if there are any differences. One thing I noticed is that if you use calibre's main screen to Polish book and add Soft hyphens those soft hyphens will make it hard to search a pdf. Attached Thumbnails

07-25-2025, 07:38 PM	#3
BetterRed null operator (he/him) Posts: 21,772 Karma: 30237628 Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Sydney Australia Device: none	I use calibre's built-in Open With, which means I can have as many viewers/players as I want for every format I have. BR

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07-25-2025, 12:47 PM	#2
theducks Well trained by Cats Posts: 31,094 Karma: 60358908 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: The Central Coast of California Device: Kobo Libra2,Kobo Aura2v1, K4NT(Fixed: New Bat.), Galaxy Tab A	Preferences: Behavior: The right side selects which formats use Calibre viewer. If there is no tick, The handling drops to the OS (default for that format) So in fact you only need 1 Shortcut key. For all else, there is the Open With PLUGIN (by Kiwidude ): Add as many custom viewer choices as you wish

07-31-2025, 05:05 AM	#4
Quoth Still reading Posts: 14,230 Karma: 105299897 Join Date: Jun 2017 Location: Ireland Device: All 4 Kinds: epub eink, Kindle, android eink, NxtPaper	Soft hyphens break ebooks (azw3, KFX, epub) and should never be used in PDFs. Especially if you want search to work. P.S. I like Okular, but at install time it certainly needs a load of defaults changed for each format.

08-06-2025, 12:33 PM	#6
Quoth Still reading Posts: 14,230 Karma: 105299897 Join Date: Jun 2017 Location: Ireland Device: All 4 Kinds: epub eink, Kindle, android eink, NxtPaper	For a printed book or a PDF the soft hyphens are absolutely redundant. Use real hyphenation on a copy of the source that's for PDF export. Because the page size and margins is known! Never put soft hyphens in anything for publishing as an ebook (only own use re-flowable if you must) and absolutely never ever in any form of fixed layout. Maybe acceptable on a web page, I'm undecided.

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