How to convert from epub to pdf and maintain original pagination format?

[zenorb]

Hi

Thanks for the fantastic application. How do I convert an epub document to pdf and keep the original pagination format?

The default Generic e-ink profile appears to be for a Kindle and converts a 337 page document to 1049 pages with very large text.

Using the Generic e-ink large is not much better as it converts the original 337 page document to 804 pages.

I'd like to convert some epub documents to pdf but keep the original pagination format.

Anyone know how?

I've spent a few hours playing with the options in Page Setup but have found no intuitive simple answer.

Any help appreciated please.

Regards
z

[donB006]

Making the pdf exactly match the original page numbering would be more complicated than making the number of pages closer to the original. To make a pdf closer to the original try converting with different base font sizes in the Look and Feel tab. Adjusting the page size of the pdf will also affect pagination. These adjustments would get the pdf closer to the number of original pages. The program used to create the pdf would also affect the number of pages. If this technique doesn't produce a desired pdf then forcing a new page in the pdf when the epub says the original page has turned might be possible except that is beyond my experience.
.

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by zenorb

Hi

Thanks for the fantastic application. How do I convert an epub document to pdf and keep the original pagination format?

The default Generic e-ink profile appears to be for a Kindle and converts a 337 page document to 1049 pages with very large text.

Using the Generic e-ink large is not much better as it converts the original 337 page document to 804 pages.

I'd like to convert some epub documents to pdf but keep the original pagination format.

Anyone know how?

I've spent a few hours playing with the options in Page Setup but have found no intuitive simple answer.

Any help appreciated please.

Regards
z

Use the print option of the Calibre book viewer. Set the printer to a printer driver program that creates a PDF document instead of outputting to an actual printer. I use the free version of PDF Creator for this.

[DiapDealer]

Unless they're fixed-layout epubs, the originals have no "pagination format." They're reflowable documents.

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Unless they're fixed-layout epubs, the originals have no "pagination format." They're reflowable documents.

If you're addressing my response all I can say is I've never to my knowledge had an ePUB that was not reflow(able). Therefor the method I suggested has been used (by me) only on reflow(able) ebooks. It outputs a document in PDF format that matches exactly the pagination that appears in the viewer.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by alansplace

If you're addressing my response all I can say is I've never to my knowledge had an ePUB that was not reflow(able). Therefor the method I suggested has been used (by me) only on reflow(able) ebooks. It outputs a document in PDF format that matches exactly the pagination that appears in the viewer.

Sorry for any confusion. No, I was addressing the very first post, not yours:

How do I convert an epub document to pdf and keep the original pagination format?

Probably just a semantic distinction... but I just don't think of normal ePubs as having any kind of particular "pagination format" (unlike certain fixed-format/layout ePubs). As you mentioned, they're reflowable and will "paginate" differently on different readers/viewers because of that. Basically... I don't quite understand the original question.

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Sorry for any confusion. No, I was addressing the very first post, not yours:

Probably just a semantic distinction... but I just don't think of normal ePubs as having any kind of particular "pagination format" (unlike certain fixed-format/layout ePubs). As you mentioned, they're reflowable and will "paginate" differently on different readers/viewers because of that. Basically... I don't quite understand the original question.

Me too. I interpreted it to mean how it appears to the OP in the reader being used. So I suggested using the Calibre viewer and creating a PDF from that (with the aid of PDF Creator). I assumed that if the OP loaded it into the Calibre viewer it'd be obvious how the output would look and if that didn't satisfy then I'd get more questions. That's of course, dependent on the OP coming back to look for any responses. Any reader that allows output to a printer should work as long as the OS being used supports PDF Creator (or some other product that does the same job).

[donB006]

I am issuing a retraction for my comment here:

when the epub says the original page has turned

After reading more about original pagination I believe the original pagination is not reflected in the epub and those page numbers are actually a "pseudo page number" calculated from the epub.

Now I think getting close to the original pagination is all that would be possible.

[zenorb]

Hi All

Thanks so much for the helpful input. Apologies for any ambiguity. Yes I just want the documents looking the same as the original whether actual page numbers are shown or not. As a new and inexperienced user I was surprised and disappointed with the unwieldy results I was getting with a huge increase in both text size and pages. Just unexpected.

[dwig]

Originally Posted by donB006

...
Now I think getting close to the original pagination is all that would be possible.

The is no such thing as the "original pagination" in a standard ePub. Anything and everything you see refering to "pages" in your ePub reader is a fabrication created by the particular ePub reader (device or software) that you are using. They don't exist in the ePub itself.

The common "page" created in the mind of ePub readers is an artificial concept based on a certain amount of data (commonly 1024 bytes I believe) that was chosen to create a total number of "pages" similar to the number of real pages that would exist in a commonly sized and formatted printed book. Since there is an extremely wide range of paper sizes, margin widths, font metrics, ... there is no way for this approximation to be particularly close to any particular printed book.

Creating a PDF with a quantity of pages that approximates the faux "page" count your ePub reader invents for itself is a matter of setting the page size, margin widths, and font metrics (point size, ...) in the PDF creation app, generally by trial-and-terror, until the page count is in the range you desire.

[theducks]

It is time for the Academic world to come into the 21st century and come up with a replacement for the flawed, cite system they have been using for centuries.

Flawed, as it required that the EXACT, SAME volume be in possession of the researcher. Even copies made by medieval scribes were not perfect replicas of the original.

The current system of Anchors will work within the current document (under your control), but any new (ISO?) system needs to be independent of displaying system properties so a clear reference can be conveyed between diverse systems.

[maiki]

Originally Posted by alansplace

Use the print option of the Calibre book viewer. Set the printer to a printer driver program that creates a PDF document instead of outputting to an actual printer. I use the free version of PDF Creator for this.

If one prints an Epub to PDF (instead of converting to PDF), will Table of Contents links, etc., be preserved?

Thanks in advance.

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by maiki

If one prints an Epub to PDF (instead of converting to PDF), will Table of Contents links, etc., be preserved?

IIRC the answer is no. I don't believe TOC or links are preserved in any successful conversion to pdf.

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by maiki

If one prints an Epub to PDF (instead of converting to PDF), will Table of Contents links, etc., be preserved?

Thanks in advance.

You'll have a TOC but the links won't work.

[DirtyApe]

All,

Open your book in whatever format using Calibre or similar program and then print the book to PDF. Your book will print out as a PDF in an identical format as the file you are printing from.

Hope this helps!