Book opens on wrong page

[phyllisj9]

Thanks I do get confused since I'm always going back and forth between the two formats. I'll take a look at this documentation. But it seems to be working with the guide modifications I mentioned above. Thanks, Phyllis

[tlrowley]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I provided a working example in post #5 above. Did it not work for you?

It didn't work for me, Harry, and I'd love to know why. I've been able to sort out most of my formatting quirks with Sigil and Calibre, but I've never been able to get the starting position correct. If I use kindlegen (indirectly by dragging the epub onto a kindle-preview window), the start position is set correctly, but never when I use calibre. I'm using 8.13, and I'm sure it's user error There must be something I'm overlooking.

I reach a saturation level when I fight with things like this, but every so often I take up the fight.

[DiapDealer]

but never when I use calibre. I'm using 8.13, and I'm sure it's user error There must be something I'm overlooking.

With calibre, you need to make sure the "start" reference type is included in the guide section of the opf file in your epub before converting. That has only been implemented in calibre since 0.8.11, btw.

<reference type="start" title="Start here" href="../some/file/in/your/epub.html" />

[tlrowley]

So, after a couple of weeks (since 8.11) of beating my head agains the wall, your solution worked for me, DD, and I would swear that it's something I've tried before. I've now successfully added the correct "start" position to three books.

I swear I tried that before...

/muttering under breath.....

Thanks, DD, for this and for so much else

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by tlrowley

So, after a couple of weeks (since 8.11) of beating my head agains the wall, your solution worked for me, DD, and I would swear that it's something I've tried before. I've now successfully added the correct "start" position to three books.

You might have tried it before, because I'll be honest... I'm not sure it actually works 100% of the time either. Maybe it's weird windows line termination (cr vs lf) or something, but sometimes, it seems to me that with some books, the start point just wants to fights me when converting with calibre.

[tlrowley]

I figured it out - I got bitten by the original epub being created/saved when I did an epub->epub conversion - I didn't realize that it was going to become the source file for any epub conversions and I was editing the newer epub file. I didn't figure this out until I had deleted an entire section from the epub file, but when I did the epub->mobi conversion, the section reappeared

[DiapDealer]

I didn't realize that it was going to become the source file for any epub conversions and I was editing the newer epub file. I didn't figure this out until I had deleted an entire section from the epub file, but when I did the epub->mobi conversion, the section reappeared

Yeah, that new feature (ORIGINAL_EPUB) has tripped a few people up. I think it's a good idea in the long run, though. I just get in the habit of deleting that ORIGINAL_* format from my library—immediately after I've verified that my conversion worked like I wanted it too.

[AlexBell]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

With calibre, you need to make sure the "start" reference type is included in the guide section of the opf file in your epub before converting. That has only been implemented in calibre since 0.8.11, btw.

<reference type="start" title="Start here" href="../some/file/in/your/epub.html" />

Thanks, DiapDealer

I've tried
<guide>
<reference type="other.start" title="Start here" href="Coverpage.html" />
</guide>

in the content.opf file of an ePub file that I'm working on now - the 'other.start' is because the Flightcrew ePubchecker said that 'start' is not an acceptable reference type in the OPF standards.

When I convert the book to mobi with the latest version of calibre it still doesn't open at the cover page.

What am I doing wrong?

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by AlexBell

Thanks, DiapDealer

I've tried
<guide>
<reference type="other.start" title="Start here" href="Coverpage.html" />
</guide>

in the content.opf file of an ePub file that I'm working on now - the 'other.start' is because the Flightcrew ePubchecker said that 'start' is not an acceptable reference type in the OPF standards.

When I convert the book to mobi with the latest version of calibre it still doesn't open at the cover page.

What am I doing wrong?

"other.start" won't work with calibre. It has to be type "start" for calibre to work it's magic. I just use the Tweak ePub feature of calibre to add the "start" reference to the OPF before I convert the epub to mobi, then I use it again after to remove the "start" reference if I need the epub to be fully compliant.

[AlexBell]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

"other.start" won't work with calibre. It has to be type "start" for calibre to work it's magic. I just use the Tweak ePub feature of calibre to add the "start" reference to the OPF before I convert the epub to mobi, then I use it again after to remove the "start" reference if I need the epub to be fully compliant.

Thanks, DiapDealer.

I've just tested

<guide>
<reference type=".start" title="Start here" href="Coverpage.html" />
</guide>

on two ePub to mobi conversions, and both mobi versions open on the front page.

I guess only time will tell whether Amazon will object to having mobi versions which open on the cover page sold through them.