Does Calibre try to preserve print-edition page numbers when converting KFX to EPUB

dannydav709 · 08-23-2025, 03:39 PM

As the title says. What is the current status regarding the preservation of print-edition page numbers when converting an original/official KFX file that contains those page numbers, into EPUB. What about vise versa, an original EPUB that contains print-edition page numbers, when converted to KFX?

If not calibre, is there other software that can accomplish this?

JSWolf · Yesterday, 04:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dannydav709

As the title says. What is the current status regarding the preservation of print-edition page numbers when converting an original/official KFX file that contains those page numbers, into EPUB. What about vise versa, an original EPUB that contains print-edition page numbers, when converted to KFX?

If not calibre, is there other software that can accomplish this?

There is no other software to convert KFX to ePub.

enuddleyarbl · Yesterday, 09:10 AM

I'm almost completely clueless about this, but my general thoughts on page numbers in ebooks is that, in an absolute sense, they don't exist. In something like a PDF, yes, there will be absolute pages. But, a KFX/EPUB/etc.., pages will be a product of fonts, font sizes, margins, headers, footers, etc.. Unless all of those are fixed in the CSS/HTML of the book, they'll be changeable in an ereader. So, page numbers will change.

Now, if the ebook has set up page numbers to match a physical book with ids and parts of the spine (? my ignorance is really showing here ?), I'm pretty sure Calibre doesn't rip those things out. So, I'd think page numbers in that sense will continue to exist.

jhowell · Yesterday, 11:23 AM

Page numbers are usually preserved going to and from KFX format. However there are bugs that can result in their loss in some cases, for example as described here.

enuddleyarbl · Yesterday, 11:49 AM

I just used the Quality Check plugin to search my library for the term "page-list" and it found a few books that have it. It's actually in the nav file of the book and is under:

Code:

<nav epub:type="page-list">

I don't know if that's created by Calibre's conversion routines or if the author created it and it came over directly during the conversion. I assume that would be used as a means of jumping directly to a location that corresponded to a specific page of the specific edition of a source book (most probably a printed book).

DNSB · Yesterday, 04:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by enuddleyarbl

I don't know if that's created by Calibre's conversion routines or if the author created it and it came over directly during the conversion. I assume that would be used as a means of jumping directly to a location that corresponded to a specific page of the specific edition of a source book (most probably a printed book).

calibre does not create the page-list since it would need the information from the specific print edition. Neither the ePub3 standard page-list nor the older Adobe pagemap are added by calibre. Most implementations survive an ePub-ePub conversion. I seem to remember that KindleUnpack could create an Adobe pagemap from the .apnx page number file associated with a Kindle ebook but I've never tested to see if it can create an ePub3 page-list.

08-23-2025, 03:39 PM	#1
dannydav709 Member Posts: 10 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2022 Device: Kindle PW5	Does Calibre try to preserve print-edition page numbers when converting KFX to EPUB As the title says. What is the current status regarding the preservation of print-edition page numbers when converting an original/official KFX file that contains those page numbers, into EPUB. What about vise versa, an original EPUB that contains print-edition page numbers, when converted to KFX? If not calibre, is there other software that can accomplish this?

Yesterday, 11:49 AM	#5
enuddleyarbl Guru Posts: 784 Karma: 1538394 Join Date: Sep 2013 Device: Kobo Sage	I just used the Quality Check plugin to search my library for the term "page-list" and it found a few books that have it. It's actually in the nav file of the book and is under: Code: <nav epub:type="page-list"> I don't know if that's created by Calibre's conversion routines or if the author created it and it came over directly during the conversion. I assume that would be used as a means of jumping directly to a location that corresponded to a specific page of the specific edition of a source book (most probably a printed book).

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Yesterday, 09:10 AM	#3
enuddleyarbl Guru Posts: 784 Karma: 1538394 Join Date: Sep 2013 Device: Kobo Sage	I'm almost completely clueless about this, but my general thoughts on page numbers in ebooks is that, in an absolute sense, they don't exist. In something like a PDF, yes, there will be absolute pages. But, a KFX/EPUB/etc.., pages will be a product of fonts, font sizes, margins, headers, footers, etc.. Unless all of those are fixed in the CSS/HTML of the book, they'll be changeable in an ereader. So, page numbers will change. Now, if the ebook has set up page numbers to match a physical book with ids and parts of the spine (? my ignorance is really showing here ?), I'm pretty sure Calibre doesn't rip those things out. So, I'd think page numbers in that sense will continue to exist.

Yesterday, 11:23 AM	#4
jhowell Grand Sorcerer Posts: 7,111 Karma: 92190133 Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Charlottesville, VA Device: Kindles	Page numbers are usually preserved going to and from KFX format. However there are bugs that can result in their loss in some cases, for example as described here.