Formatting when converting ePub to Mobi on ipad Kindle app

[jetmaster]

I created a document in Apple Pages and exported as an ePub. When opened in iBooks it looks perfect.

I then used claibre to convert the ePub to Mobi and then used the Amazon Send to Kindle App to put the mobi file on my iPad.

When I open the document on my Ipad Kindle app it is using the "publisher font" and it looks pretty good but there are some odd line breaks and spacing in places (unlike when opening the ePub in iBooks.)

Is there anything I can do to fix these formatting flaws in the Kindle app?

Thanks,

Jeff

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by jetmaster

I created a document in Apple Pages and exported as an ePub. When opened in iBooks it looks perfect.

I then used claibre to convert the ePub to Mobi and then used the Amazon Send to Kindle App to put the mobi file on my iPad.

When I open the document on my Ipad Kindle app it is using the "publisher font" and it looks pretty good but there are some odd line breaks and spacing in places (unlike when opening the ePub in iBooks.)

Is there anything I can do to fix these formatting flaws in the Kindle app?

Thanks,

Jeff

there is nothing you can do in the Kindle app but you may find that a different approach will work better. Instead of using Calibre to make the conversion try KindleGen or the Kindle Previewer to make the conversion. pay close attention to any errors you might see in the conversion.

Dale

[jetmaster]

Thank you Dale. I used Kindle Previewer instead of Calibre, and while it fixed odd line breaks there were other "anomalies" instead:

1- There was no TOC whereas there had been when converted in Calibre and in the iBooks version.

2- Block quote (a "style" in the original PAGES document were NOT indented properly using Kindle Previewer but were in iBooks and Calibre conversion. Actually, that was true on my iPad, but when I viewed it in the MAC Kindle App they were indented.

Do I have to do a conversion for every version of the Kindle App and Kindle hardware?

Thanks,

Jeff

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by jetmaster

Thank you Dale. I used Kindle Previewer instead of Calibre, and while it fixed odd line breaks there were other "anomalies" instead:

1- There was no TOC whereas there had been when converted in Calibre and in the iBooks version.

2- Block quote (a "style" in the original PAGES document were NOT indented properly using Kindle Previewer but were in iBooks and Calibre conversion. Actually, that was true on my iPad, but when I viewed it in the MAC Kindle App they were indented.

Do I have to do a conversion for every version of the Kindle App and Kindle hardware?

Thanks,

Jeff

For TOC you need to generate an inline TOC inside the document. ePub typically has a TOC that is in a separate file, However you can also generate one inline. Sigil can do this as can Word, Atlantis, and other word processors.

KF8 files geneated by Kindle should look fine. version 7 files (the old mobi format) do not understand styles at all. The Kindle translation can deal with some CSS styles by converting them to something that the mobi format can understand. Calibre can also do this and is better at some things but worse in others as you have noticed. It matters greatly how these things are generated in the source file. They may look the same to you but a program may treat them differently.

Dale

[jetmaster]

Apple's PAGES DOES create a TOC. And it appears in iBooks and the Calibre conversion to mobi.

How do I do a KF8 conversion from ePub?

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by jetmaster

Apple's PAGES DOES create a TOC. And it appears in iBooks and the Calibre conversion to mobi.

How do I do a KF8 conversion from ePub?

Is the Apple PAGES TOC part of the book? It must be a page in the book to get KindleGen or Kindle Previewer to use it. In the previewer if you set Kindle Fire as your preview you will generate a KF8 file. Note that in fact the latest Kindle Gen and Kindle previewer generates both a KF8 file and a regular mobi file inside the same document. The reader application determines which half will get used. In the mobi section of our site there are tools that can take the two halves apart if needed for you own use. Amazon builds both in the file for submission to their web site and then they custom deliver the correct half based on the users device.

Dale

[jetmaster]

I redid the PAGES document including a defined "section" with a TOC. Still no TOC using Previewer either converted for iPad or Kindle Fire.

As for the formatting, when I converted for Kindle Fire, the block quotes were perfectly formatted on the PREVIEWER screen, but when viewed in the iPad Kindle App they were incorrect. Is that because the iOS app reads the wrong half of the file as you noted above?

Finally, if I want to send the file to someone who has a regular Kindle (not Fire), how should I convert it so that the stylings will be correct? Or will they ever be?

Thanks so much for all your help.

Jeff

[DaleDe]

Are you saying the the page created in pages was removed? It must be a page in your document.

Dale

[jetmaster]

TOC IS now a page in the document...it is not in converted files

and what about the block quote stuff...see above

thansks

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by jetmaster

TOC IS now a page in the document...it is not in converted files

and what about the block quote stuff...see above

thansks

The Table of contents requires a Guide item. Whatever you are doing with Pages is not creating that, and you need to add it in the ePUB format. Calibre will "auto-create" a TOC for you if you have an NCX; that's why you're getting it there and not via KindleGen. I think the creation of Guide items are covered in the MOBI wiki here on MR.

Vis-a-vis the blockquote "stuff:" Without seeing your file or your coding, I'm only guessing, but Kindle for iOS is glitchy, as neither side particularly wants to accommodate the other. Kindle7 doesn't have blockquoting capability (indents from the right-hand-side) and it's entirely possible that due to how your book is coded, or not, that the iOS is reading the K7 version. If you didn't use fallback coding, it's likely. Sometimes, the iOS apps will display both K7 and K8 coding (this is common). If you can live with the blockquotes only being indented from one side, you may wish to keep it, rather than trying to work in code to fix it.

Hitch