[Conversion Plugin] KFX Input

[Sunshine82]

Thank you for all your hard work, jhowell. I am also having problems using the KFX Input plugin -- or troubleshooting using the other listed suggestions, for that matter. I am still unable to either read or convert ebooks using Calibre that I have purchased from Amazon.

I am using Calibre version 6.11 and KFX Input plugin version 1.51.0. I ran Calibre in debug mode; would it help to share the log? The first line I noticed in the log says: "Blacklisting the DeDRM plugin as it is too old and causes crashes..."

Any support you can provide for further troubleshooting this issue would be greatly appreciated.

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by Sunshine82

Thank you for all your hard work, jhowell. I am also having problems using the KFX Input plugin -- or troubleshooting using the other listed suggestions, for that matter. I am still unable to either read or convert ebooks using Calibre that I have purchased from Amazon.

I am using Calibre version 6.11 and KFX Input plugin version 1.51.0. I ran Calibre in debug mode; would it help to share the log? The first line I noticed in the log says: "Blacklisting the DeDRM plugin as it is too old and causes crashes..."

Any support you can provide for further troubleshooting this issue would be greatly appreciated.

The blacklisting message indicates that you are using an outdated version of the DeDRM plugin. The latest is available from NoDRM’s GitHub.

Note that KFX DRM can only be removed in a few very specific situations. See the DRM Concerns section in the first post of this thread for details. In most cases you are better off avoiding KFX when possible.

[Sunshine82]

Is there a difference in either the conversion process or results between the KFX Input plugin and the DeDRM plugin? Do both plugins suffer the same limitations?

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Sunshine82

Is there a difference in either the conversion process or results between the KFX Input plugin and the DeDRM plugin? Do both plugins suffer the same limitations?

The KFX input plugin is for importing KFX/KFX-ZIP/KPF files without DRM to allow them to be converted to other formats. The DeDRM plugin is for removing DRM from several formats including an older KFX version.

See the first message in this thread for more on just what the KFX input plugin does and does not do including the DRM Concerns spoiler.

Also see the Amazon and DRM changes thread for more discussion on recent Amazon changes. Basically for any books published after 03-Jan-2023, forget using K4PC or K4Mac to download them in a form usable for calibre. Download & Transfer via USB is the preferred method at this time. Of course, Amazon also fixed the bug which allowed loaned books to be downloaded using D&T.

[tomsem]

Is there any way to take the Print Replica output of Kindle Create (KPF) and get it to open on Scribe?

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by tomsem

Is there any way to take the Print Replica output of Kindle Create (KPF) and get it to open on Scribe?

You can convert KPF to KFX using the command line interface of the KFX Output plugin. The result will probably work on a Scribe. I don’t have one so I cannot test it.

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by jhowell

You can convert KPF to KFX using the command line interface of the KFX Output plugin. The result will probably work on a Scribe. I don’t have one so I cannot test it.

Thanks, that seems to 'mostly' work (some clipping) but I'll take up any issues on the KFX Output thread.

[tomsem]

For some reason, I was curious to know if there were any utilities to convert PDF to FXL ePub. Calibre does not support it. I found a shell script that orchestrated a conversion using Poppet and ImageMagick, but no thanks, too much.

Then I realized KFX Input would convert from Print Replica to ePub. And yes, you can convert PDF --> Print Replica with Send to Kindle and from there to ePub FXL
with the plugin. It looks fine!

But: FXL is a poor stand in for PDF, functionally. E.g., you cannot select or highlight text. So Comics, children's books maybe. But not textbooks or that sort of thing (KF8 fixed layout is the same). And not accessible to screen readers. There's a W3 draft spec to address this:

https://w3c.github.io/epub-specs/epub33/fxl-a11y/

Still, there may be use cases for it. I wonder if it is possible to tweak the plugin to take PDF directly and convert to ePub?

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by tomsem

For some reason, I was curious to know if there were any utilities to convert PDF to FXL ePub. Calibre does not support it. I found a shell script that orchestrated a conversion using Poppet and ImageMagick, but no thanks, too much.

Then I realized KFX Input would convert from Print Replica to ePub. And yes, you can convert PDF --> Print Replica with Send to Kindle and from there to ePub FXL with the plugin. It looks fine!

There are two major types of fixed layout EPUB.

The fixed layout EPUB format produced by Adobe InDesign positions each individual word on the page and depends on the font characteristics being known precisely for it to work. It is equivalent to a PDF produced from a Word document, but with much less reader support than PDF.

The fixed layout EPUB produced by the KFX Input plugin from a print replica book is much more like a PDF produced from scanning book pages into OCR software. Instead of the words being rendered on the page in a particular font it contains rasterized page images with an invisible overlay of text. That allows text selection and dictionary lookup but results in a large file that does not look great when zoomed in.

Originally Posted by tomsem

FBut: FXL is a poor stand in for PDF, functionally. E.g., you cannot select or highlight text. So Comics, children's books maybe. But not textbooks or that sort of thing (KF8 fixed layout is the same). And not accessible to screen readers. There's a W3 draft spec to address this:

https://w3c.github.io/epub-specs/epub33/fxl-a11y/

Fixed layout EPUB is a solution looking for a problem. PDF is almost always a better format to use.

Originally Posted by tomsem

Still, there may be use cases for it. I wonder if it is possible to tweak the plugin to take PDF directly and convert to ePub?

No it is not possible. Conversion of EPUB to KFX is performed by the command line interface that is built into Amazon's Kindle Previewer software. However that will not convert PDF to KFX. PDF to KFX conversion can be done using Amazon's Kindle Create software but that only has a GUI interface and cannot be invoked by the plugin.

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by jhowell

There are two major types of fixed layout EPUB.

The fixed layout EPUB format produced by Adobe InDesign positions each individual word on the page and depends on the font characteristics being known precisely for it to work. It is equivalent to a PDF produced from a Word document, but with much less reader support than PDF.

The fixed layout EPUB produced by the KFX Input plugin from a print replica book is much more like a PDF produced from scanning book pages into OCR software. Instead of the words being rendered on the page in a particular font it contains rasterized page images with an invisible overlay of text. That allows text selection and dictionary lookup but results in a large file that does not look great when zoomed in.



Fixed layout EPUB is a solution looking for a problem. PDF is almost always a better format to use.



No it is not possible. Conversion of EPUB to KFX is performed by the command line interface that is built into Amazon's Kindle Previewer software. However that will not convert PDF to KFX. PDF to KFX conversion can be done using Amazon's Kindle Create software but that only has a GUI interface and cannot be invoked by the plugin.

Thanks!

It's not clear why FXL had to be crap, or why the limitations have not been addressed after all this time. IIRC it was supposed to replace PDF for digital reading and using the same open standards (XHTML/CSS/SVG etc) was supposed to confer some advantage.

The accessibility requirements should have been there from the beginning.

[Ma'am-I-Am]

I...I think I did it. It's not 100% perfect, but it's the best I've done on my own.
Convert PDF to docx. Adobe will do this online for free.
Open docx in Word and check it over.
Save as html.
Add the html file to Calibre. It will show as a zip file.
Convert from zip to epub.

I used a small file (2 short stories) that had chapter title images and a colored "sign up here" banner. The TOC also became inline instead of the usual view. I think that had to do with a setting, though.

Let me know if it works for a more complicated book!

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by Ma'am-I-Am

I...I think I did it. It's not 100% perfect, but it's the best I've done on my own.
Convert PDF to docx. Adobe will do this online for free.
Open docx in Word and check it over.
Save as html.
Add the html file to Calibre. It will show as a zip file.
Convert from zip to epub.

I used a small file (2 short stories) that had chapter title images and a colored "sign up here" banner. The TOC also became inline instead of the usual view. I think that had to do with a setting, though.

Let me know if it works for a more complicated book!

Is it any better than opening the PDF in Word, saving as DOCX, and getting calibre to convert that to EPUB.

That's how I convert 10-20 PDF publications a week - many of which contain graphs and tables.

The attached image shows a PDF and an EPUB side by side.

BR

[Ma'am-I-Am]

For the book I used, yes. Just converting docx to epub had words all strung together. Kindoflikethis. I'm pretty sure that PDF was converted from epub. I avoid PDF unless there's no other option, so I have nothing to work with - just stuff like recycling posters and price lists. Word wanted to parse those, so I gave up. If it works for you, great! Fewer steps is always easier. But if it turns out funny, try the other way.

Any tips on settings/conversion options, etc.?

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by Ma'am-I-Am

. . .

Any tips on settings/conversion options, etc.?

I tend to leave options that control conversion etc at factory settings, I never apply 'book' specific options. If I can't get a presentable EPUB from a PDF using Word and calibre I leave it be. If they're fixed-layout PDFs I don't even bother trying. Most of the PDF's I do convert are produced by technical writers/documentation professionals using Word or LO Writer.

I used to use the long defunct MobiPocket Creator tool, but it won't install on Windows 10, and I'm not minded to unravel the msi. But it was never as good as PDF->Word (docx)->calibre (epub) is today.

If you're dealing with OCR scans and you have a recent edition of MS Word I suggest you have a look at the Epub Tools add-on for Word ==>> https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=213372. It has a range of features that help deal with the vagaries of OCR scans - including a more than decent dialogue checker. And it can produce a well formed EPUB, including mapping of Word Styles to HTML CSS.

BR

[Ma'am-I-Am]

I'll definitely take a look at that.
I sometimes download scanned-to-PDF books at archive.org. They are usually huge and take a relatively long time to load. Is there a fix for those things, i.e reduce file size and load quicker?