epub mailed as png to Amazon will be converted

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by barryem

I'd like to suggest that this thread be deleted. It seems to be misleading a lot of people.

We don't delete threads unless they're spam or contain extremely offensive material. The truth about the subject has been determined (and the thread-title is no longer misleading) and it's here for people to read and discover for themselves (if they take the time to read--and we seem to have a lot of readers around here. ). There's no reason to delete it.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by Nate the great

renaming epub to zip also works.

that has worked for years

Then that should be the preferred way to do it, since an epub is a zip file

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by barryem

I'd like to suggest that this thread be deleted. It seems to be misleading a lot of people.

Sending an epub to your Kindle after renaming it to .png via Amazon does convert it and it's readable on the Kindle. Copying it from your computer with a .png extension doesn't work. I saw this the other day on The Ebook Reader Blog, article at this link:
http://blog.the-ebook-reader.com/201...o-your-kindle/

I tried it. It failed. Someone in the comments suggested that the comma in the file name might have prevented it from working. I removed the comment, emailed it again and it worked.

When I saw this today on The Digital Reader it also implied that you could simply copy the renamed file to the Kindle. I tried that and it didn't work. I hadn't really expected it to but I thought it was worth trying. He linked to this thread which is as misleading as the article although a few of you do try to straighten things out.

Leaving this thread in place is going to cause a lot of people a lot of frustration and I really hope someone with god-like powers here will remove it and then replace it with an announcement about how it really works.

Barry

"implied"?

Let m go fix the post.

[coplate]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

Then that should be the preferred way to do it, since an epub is a zip file

epub is a zip file with an html file in it, so my guess is it is just opening the zip and converting the html?

Can anyone confirm if the table of contents keeps working, when you click on a chapter or not?

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Nate the great

renaming epub to zip also works.

that has worked for years

I've read elsewhere (but haven't personally verified) that the "renaming an ePub to ZIP" method only works if the ePub (ie the ZIP file) contains fewer than about 25 source files. If there are more than that, the conversion will apparently fail.

As I say, this is something I haven't personally tested.

[odamizu]

This is a neat trick! Thanks DBX!

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I'd bet there are several extensions that will produce the same result.

I tried it with .txt and it worked.

Originally Posted by coplate

... Can anyone confirm if the table of contents keeps working, when you click on a chapter or not?

Yes, TOC worked for me on the one book I tried.

One drawback: If you email the epub with a .png or .txt, etc. extension, the title will be the filename and the author will be your email address; whereas, if you convert the epub through KindleGen (or Calibre) first then email the resulting .mobi, the Kindle will pick up the title and author from the OPF. However, if you use the Send-to-Kindle app, the app allows you to input the title and author before sending.

[AlanHK]

Originally Posted by odamizu

One drawback: If you email the epub with a .png or .txt, etc. extension, the title will be the filename and the author will be your email address; whereas, if you convert the epub through KindleGen (or Calibre) first then email the resulting .mobi, the Kindle will pick up the title and author from the OPF. However, if you use the Send-to-Kindle app, the app allows you to input the title and author before sending.

This suggests that when Amazon gets this "png" file it is recognised as a zipped collection of HTML and css. It is ignoring the metadata in the OPF (title, author, cover image tag). It is not really converting epub. There would be ways to test that I guess. Is everything in the right order (though I suppose that's the ncx)? Are all the chapters in the "Goto" list? Does it get the cover? How about if the cover is not named something like "cover.jpg"?

Anyway, to convert ePub I use the Sigil Kindlegen plugin that makes an azw and copy it to the Kindle via USB. No email, no Amazon. Everything works.

[salamanderjuice]

Originally Posted by AlanHK

This suggests that when Amazon gets this "png" file it is recognised as a zipped collection of HTML and css. It is ignoring the metadata in the OPF (title, author, cover image tag). It is not really converting epub. There would be ways to test that I guess. Is everything in the right order (though I suppose that's the ncx)? Are all the chapters in the "Goto" list?

Anyway, to convert ePub I use the Sigil Kindlegen plugin that makes an azw and copy it to the Kindle via USB. No email, no Amazon. Everything works.

It converts it to AZW3. Everything "works" as you'd expect from an AZW3 it just doesn't include the metadata or page numbers.Everything is in the proper order.

As I mentioned in my previous post it does an extremely good job sans those things. Kindlegen v2.9 converted ePubs will not have properly functioning Japanese word highlighting, emailing it will. This is irrelevant to most people but is handy to me and suggests they are doing something different.

It is converting it, it probably just ignores the opf and writes it's own.

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by salamanderjuice

Kindlegen v2.9 converted ePubs will not have properly functioning Japanese word highlighting, emailing it will. This is irrelevant to most people but is handy to me and suggests they are doing something different.

I suspect something in the AZW3 metadata (EXTH) is affecting how the books are handled by the kindle.

If you are interested in finding out what is happening I suggest processing a sample book both ways and then using kindleunpack to convert the resulting AZW3 files from your kindle into text and comparing them to see what is different.

[odamizu]

Originally Posted by AlanHK

This suggests that when Amazon gets this "png" file it is recognised as a zipped collection of HTML and css. It is ignoring the metadata in the OPF (title, author, cover image tag). It is not really converting epub. There would be ways to test that I guess. Is everything in the right order (though I suppose that's the ncx)? Are all the chapters in the "Goto" list? Does it get the cover? How about if the cover is not named something like "cover.jpg"?

Anyway, to convert ePub I use the Sigil Kindlegen plugin that makes an azw and copy it to the Kindle via USB. No email, no Amazon. Everything works.

Originally Posted by salamanderjuice

It converts it to AZW3. Everything "works" as you'd expect from an AZW3 it just doesn't include the metadata or page numbers.Everything is in the proper order.

I concur. I'm definitely getting an AZW3.

[AlanHK]

Originally Posted by salamanderjuice

It converts it to AZW3. Everything "works" as you'd expect from an AZW3 it just doesn't include the metadata or page numbers.Everything is in the proper order.

The question is not what is it converting TO, but what FROM.
Since you say it is missing metadata that is in the epub, mostly the opf, I guess, then it is not treating it as an ePub, but a zipfile of HTML, etc.

I am keeping my Kindle permanently airplane, so I can't test this myself.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by AlanHK

I am keeping my Kindle permanently airplane, so I can't test this myself.

You could do, should you wish to do so.

Email the book to your Kindle's email address, then go to "Manage Your Kindle" and select "Transfer via USB" to get the resulting KF8 file, which you can then sideload to your Kindle.

[AlanHK]

Originally Posted by HarryT

You could do, should you wish to do so.

Good to know; thanks.

[shalym]

Originally Posted by HarryT

You could do, should you wish to do so.

Email the book to your Kindle's email address, then go to "Manage Your Kindle" and select "Transfer via USB" to get the resulting KF8 file, which you can then sideload to your Kindle.

Actually, that doesn't work. The option to transfer via USB isn't available for documents.

Shari

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by shalym

Actually, that doesn't work. The option to transfer via USB isn't available for documents.

Shari

Really? In that case, my apologies for the wrong information.