[Conversion Output] KFX Output

[Anson]

]Hi everyone,

I'm a new Kindle user (just got the Paperwhite 12th Gen Signature Edition) and I'm currently migrating my library to the KFX format for the Enhanced Typesetting features.

While most conversions are successful, I'm encountering a persistent error with a subset of my Chinese novels:

"Conversion error: Kindle conversion has encountered an internal error while enabling Enhanced Typesetting on this book."

My Workflow:

1. Source: EPUB (originally Simplified Chinese).
2. Translation: Using the 'Chinese Text Conversion' plugin to convert from Simplified to Traditional Chinese.
3. Layout: Setting text direction from Horizontal to Vertical (vertical-rl) via the plugin's "Vertical" option.
4. Conversion: Using the KFX Output plugin with Kindle Previewer installed.

Observations:

1. Books that are only translated (Simplified to Traditional) but kept in Horizontal layout convert to KFX without any issues.
2. The error only triggers when I attempt to enable the Vertical layout for specific titles.
3. I have already tried fixing CSS errors (duplicate selectors/invalid properties) and ensuring the language metadata is set to zh-TW or zho, but the error persists.

Has anyone encountered this specific conflict between vertical Chinese layouts and KFX's Enhanced Typesetting? Are there any specific HTML/CSS requirements for vertical text that I might be missing?

Any help or guidance would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance.

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by Anson

]Has anyone encountered this specific conflict between vertical Chinese layouts and KFX's Enhanced Typesetting? Are there any specific HTML/CSS requirements for vertical text that I might be missing?

Any help or guidance would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance.

The Kindle Previewer does not support vertical Chinese. This plugin tricks it into sometimes working by setting the language to Japanese before conversion and then changing it back to Chinese in the resulting KFX book. That does not always work.

I can't promise anything but if you can provide an example of a book that fails in this way I may be able to tell what about it is triggering the Kindle Previewer to reject it.

[Anson]

Originally Posted by jhowell

The Kindle Previewer does not support vertical Chinese. This plugin tricks it into sometimes working by setting the language to Japanese before conversion and then changing it back to Chinese in the resulting KFX book. That does not always work.

I can't promise anything but if you can provide an example of a book that fails in this way I may be able to tell what about it is triggering the Kindle Previewer to reject it.

So the alternative way is to try converting the books into kfx first, then do the translation and vertical transition in the kfx? I will try that later and if the problem persists, I will send you the log of the conversation. Thanks.

[Anson]

Originally Posted by Anson

So the alternative way is to try converting the books into kfx first, then do the translation and vertical transition in the kfx? I will try that later and if the problem persists, I will send you the log of the conversation. Thanks.

Oh I just know KFX is not editable. So should I send you the log or send you the book but scramble the content of it?

[Anson]

Originally Posted by jhowell

The Kindle Previewer does not support vertical Chinese. This plugin tricks it into sometimes working by setting the language to Japanese before conversion and then changing it back to Chinese in the resulting KFX book. That does not always work.

I can't promise anything but if you can provide an example of a book that fails in this way I may be able to tell what about it is triggering the Kindle Previewer to reject it.

It worked! I change the language in the metafile to Japanese and it can now be converted to KFX, thanks!

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by Anson

It worked! I change the language in the metafile to Japanese and it can now be converted to KFX, thanks!

Great. I'm glad you found a way to make it work.

[Elaine T]

This morning I could convert to KFX using the Calibre plug in. This evening I can't. I get 67% through and everything stalls, while 'terminal' windows for the kindle previewer multiply on my taskbar. I usually eventually get an error about the book not being set up for enhanced typesetting. Since everything I convert is fanfiction, most often from Ao3 I have no idea what has changed.
of course, as I was trying again to get exact info for this plea for help, I got something different this time - attached below, it was long.



I have tried downloading the most up to date version of the previewer from Amazon. It gets stuck on install. Error screenshot included below. I tried uninstalling the old one. It got stuck, too. So far without an error message.

Please help. Thanks

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by Elaine T

This morning I could convert to KFX using the Calibre plug in. This evening I can't. I get 67% through and everything stalls, while 'terminal' windows for the kindle previewer multiply on my taskbar. I usually eventually get an error about the book not being set up for enhanced typesetting. Since everything I convert is fanfiction, most often from Ao3 I have no idea what has changed.of course, as I was trying again to get exact info for this plea for help, I got something different this time - attached below, it was long.

Your log shows the Kindle Previewer failing to convert the book without any specific error message. That can happen for some books that contain formatting that the Previewer does not handle properly.

I recommend trying again after updating to the latest Previewer version (see below). If that does not work then try converting a book that is known to work, such as this one, in order to see whether the problem is specific to the book you are trying to convert. If the problem is with that book then see the section "Dealing with Conversion Errors" in the first post of this thread for potential workarounds. If it fails for all books then there is something going wrong on your PC.

Originally Posted by Elaine T

I have tried downloading the most up to date version of the previewer from Amazon. It gets stuck on install. Error screenshot included below. I tried uninstalling the old one. It got stuck, too. So far without an error message.

I also tried to install the newly released Previewer version 3.105 and encountered the same problem. I was able to work around it by renaming the %localappdata%\Amazon\Kindle Previewer 3 folder to some else, installing the new version, and then rebooting.

[Elaine T]

Thanks for the advice. Last evening after posting my plea for help, I did try converting another fic. It also failed. And one that had converted successfully before failed on a repeat. Confirmed it was just the kfx conversion that was the problem by trying - successfully - to convert the failed fics to Azw3.
So I dug out my Revo Uninstaller that is supposed to uninstall everything properly when they are misbehaving like that, and used it to get rid of the Previewer program. Then shut down for the night.

This morning i re-downloaded the previewer, and got no errors on installation. Tried a conversion and it worked.
Still have no idea what was going wrong, exactly but it's working now.

[Elaine T]

Yesterday I downloaded and installed the latest Kindle Previewer and shutdown for the night. This morning I can't convert to KFX the error message is... I was going to attach it, but I don't see way to do so this morning? So sorry for the giant cutnpaste:

Spoiler:

calibre, version 9.11.0 (win32, embedded-python: True)
Conversion error: Failed: Convert book 1 of 1 (JournalExport)

Convert book 1 of 1 (JournalExport)
Conversion options changed from defaults:
keep_ligatures: True
show_kpr_logs: True
filter_css: ',background-color,background,color'
unwrap_lines: False
cde_type_ebok: True
delete_blank_paragraphs: False
embed_font_family: 'Bookerly'
format_scene_breaks: False
quality_report: True
embed_all_fonts: True
approximate_pages: True
dehyphenate: False
cover: 'C:\\Users\\Elaine\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\calibre-p6b2ibh9\\n9fb1uw7.jpeg'
renumber_headings: False
level1_toc: ' //h:h1'
level2_toc: ' //h:h2'
level3_toc: ' //h:h3'
remove_paragraph_spacing: True
search_replace: '[["Jin Zixun", "J\\u012bn Zix\\u016bn"], ["Jin Guangyao", "J\\u012bn Gu\\u0101ngy\\u00e1o"], ["Jin GuangShan", "J\\u012bn Gu\\u0101ngsh\\u00e0n"], ["Jin Guangshan", "J\\u012bn Gu\\u0101ngsh\\u00e0n"], ["LianFang-zun", "Li\\u01cenf\\u0101ng-z\\u016bn"], ["JingYi", "J\\u01d0ngy\\u00ed"], ["Jingyi", "J\\u01d0ngy\\u00ed"], ["Lan Yuan", "L\\u00e1n Yu\\u00e0n"], ["Lanling Jin", "L\\u00e1nl\\u00edng J\\u012bn"], ["LanLing Jin", "L\\u00e1nl\\u00edng J\\u012bn"], ["Lan Zhan", "L\\u00e1n Zh\\u00e0n"], ["Lanshi", "L\\u00e1nsh\\u00ec"], ["Lan,", "L\\u00e1n,"], ["Lan ", "L\\u00e1n "], ["Liebing", "Li\\u00e8b\\u012bng"], ["Burial Mounds", "Lu\\u00e0nz\\u00e0ng G\\u01ceng"], ["Luanzang Hill", "Lu\\u00e0nz\\u00e0ng G\\u01ceng"], ["Meng Yao", "M\\u00e8ng Y\\u00e1o"], ["MingJue", "M\\u00edngju\\u00e9"], ["Mingjue", "M\\u00edngju\\u00e9"], ["Minshan", "M\\u01d0nsh\\u00e0n"], ["Mo Xuanyu", "M\\u00f2 Xu\\u00e1ny\\u01d4"], ["Mo XuanYu", "M\\u00f2 Xu\\u00e1ny\\u01d4"], ["Xuanyu", "Xu\\u00e1ny\\u01d4"], ["Nie", "Ni\\u00e8"], ["Nie Huiasang", "Ni\\u00e8 Hu\\u00e1is\\u0101ng"], ["Qiren", "Q\\u01d0r\\u00e9n"], ["QiRen", "Q\\u01d0r\\u00e9n"], ["Qin Su", "Q\\u00edn S\\u00f9"], ["Qinghe Nie", "Q\\u012bngh\\u00e9 Ni\\u00e8"], ["Qishan Wen", "Q\\u00edsh\\u0101n W\\u0113n"], ["Chifeng-Zun", "Ch\\u00ecf\\u0113ng-z\\u016bn"], ["Jin Rulan", "J\\u012bn R\\u00fal\\u00e1n"], ["Sandu", "S\\u0101nd\\u00fa"], ["SizHui", "S\\u012bzhu\\u012b"], ["Sizhui", "S\\u012bzhu\\u012b"], ["Song Lan", "S\\u00f2ng L\\u00e1n"], ["Song Zichen", "S\\u00f2ng Z\\u01d0ch\\u0113n"], ["Jiang Cheng", "Ji\\u0101ng Ch\\u00e9ng"], ["Su She", "S\\u016b Sh\\u00e8"], ["<br/>\\\\n<br/>\\\\n<br/>", " "], ["Wanyin", "W\\u01ceny\\u00edn"], ["Wei Changze", "W\\u00e8i Ch\\u00e1ngz\\u00e9"], ["WangJi", "W\\u00e0ngj\\u012b"], ["Wangji", "W\\u00e0ngj\\u012b"], ["Wei Ying", "W\\u00e8i Y\\u012bng"], ["Wei WuXian", "W\\u00e8i W\\u00faxi\\u00e0n"], ["Wei Wuxian", "W\\u00e8i W\\u00faxi\\u00e0n"], ["Wei", "W\\u00e8i"], ["Wen Qing", "W\\u0113n Q\\u00edng"], ["Wen Ning", "W\\u0113n N\\u00edng"], ["Wen Qionglin", "W\\u0113n Qi\\u00f3ngl\\u00edn"], ["Wen Yuan", "W\\u0113n Yu\\u00e0n"], ["Wuxian", "W\\u00faxi\\u00e0n"], ["WuXian", "W\\u00faxi\\u00e0n"], ["Xichen", "X\\u012bch\\u00e9n"], ["XiChen", "X\\u012bch\\u00e9n"], ["XuanYu", "Xu\\u00e1ny\\u01d4"], ["Xue Yang", "Xu\\u0113 Y\\u00e1ng"], ["Xue Chengmei", "Xu\\u0113 Ch\\u00e9ngm\\u011bi"], ["Xiao XingChen", "Xi\\u01ceo X\\u012bngch\\u00e9n"], ["Xiao Xingchen", "Xi\\u01ceo X\\u012bngch\\u00e9n"], ["Yiling Laozu", "Y\\u00edl\\u00edng L\\u01ceoz\\u01d4"], ["Yiling-Laozu", "Y\\u00edl\\u00edng L\\u01ceoz\\u01d4"], ["Yunmeng", "Y\\u00fanm\\u00e8ng"], ["YiLing", "Y\\u00edl\\u00edng"], ["Yiling", "Y\\u00edl\\u00edng"], ["YunMeng Jiang", "Y\\u00fanm\\u00e8ng Ji\\u0101ng"], ["Yunmeng Jiang", "Y\\u00fanm\\u00e8ng Ji\\u0101ng"], ["Yanli", "Y\\u00e0nl\\u00ed"], ["Yashi", "Y\\u01cesh\\u00ec"], ["Zewu-jun", "Z\\u00e9w\\u00fa-j\\u016bn"], ["Zewu-Jun", "Z\\u00e9w\\u00fa-j\\u016bn"], ["Zangse Sanren", "C\\u00e1ngs\\u00e8 S\\u00e0nr\\u00e9n"], ["XiongZhang", "Xiongzhang"], ["A-Yuan", "A-Yu\\u00e0n"], ["XiChen", "X\\u012bch\\u00e9n"], ["Wen Ruohan", "W\\u0113n Ru\\u00f2h\\u00e1n"], ["Wen ", "W\\u0113n "], ["Zidian", "Z\\u01d0di\\u00e0n"], ["Shuoyue", "Shu\\u00f2yu\\u00e8"], ["Lianfang-Zun", "Li\\u01cenf\\u0101ng-z\\u016bn"], ["Allright", "All right"], ["allright", "all right"], ["Baixue", "B\\u00e1ixu\\u011b"], ["Bichen", "B\\u00ecch\\u00e9n"], ["Baoshan Sanren", "B\\u00e0osh\\u0101n S\\u00e0nr\\u00e9n"], ["Cangse Sanren", "C\\u00e1ngs\\u00e8 S\\u00e0nr\\u00e9n"], ["Cangse-sanren", "C\\u00e1ngs\\u00e8 S\\u00e0nr\\u00e9n"], ["Chifeng-zun", "Ch\\u00ecf\\u0113ng-z\\u016bn"], ["ChenQing", "Ch\\u00e9nq\\u00edng"], ["A-Qing", "\\u0100-Q\\u00ecng"], ["<p>\\u00a0</p>", ""], ["\\"</p>\\\\n<p><br/>", "\\"</p>\\\\n<p>"], ["<br />\\\\n<br />", "</p>\\\\n<p>"], ["Ahiru", "Duck"], ["Jiang FengMian", "Ji\\u0101ng F\\u0113ngmi\\u00e1n"], ["Jiang Fengmian", "Ji\\u0101ng F\\u0113ngmi\\u00e1n"], [" free reign", "free rein"], ["Gusu", "G\\u016bs\\u016b"], ["Gusu Lan", "G\\u016bs\\u016b L\\u00e1n"], ["Hanguang-jun", "H\\u00e1ngu\\u0101ng-j\\u016bn"], ["HuanGuang-Jun", "H\\u00e1ngu\\u0101ng-j\\u016bn"], ["Hanshi", "H\\u00e1nsh\\u00ec"], ["HuaiSang", "Hu\\u00e1is\\u0101ng"], ["Huaisang", "Hu\\u00e1is\\u0101ng"], ["<p><em> ", "<p>"], ["Jiang Cheng", "Ji\\u0101ng Ch\\u00e9ng"], ["Jiang", "Ji\\u0101ng"], ["S\\u012bzhu\\u012b", "S\\u012bzhu\\u012b"], ["Jin Ling", "J\\u012bn L\\u00edng"], ["Jin Zixuan", "J\\u012bn Z\\u01d0xu\\u0101n"], ["Jin ZiXuan", "J\\u012bn Z\\u01d0xu\\u0101n"], ["Jin GuangYao", "J\\u012bn Gu\\u0101ngy\\u00e1o"], [" Wei ", "W\\u00e8i"], [" Wei,", "W\\u00e8i,"], [" Wei.", "W\\u00e8i."]]'
insert_blank_line: True
verbose: 2
chapter_mark: 'rule'
output_profile: 'kindle_pw3'
unsmarten_punctuation: True
italicize_common_cases: False
read_metadata_from_opf: 'C:\\Users\\Elaine\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\calibre-p6b2ibh9\\w70p7qad.opf'
transform_css_rules: '[{"action": "remove", "action_data": "", "match_type": "*", "property": "adobe-hyphenate:", "query": ""}]'
Resolved conversion options
calibre version: 9.11.0
{'add_alt_text_to_img': False,
'approximate_pages': True,
'asciiize': False,
'author_sort': None,
'authors': None,
'base_font_size': 0.0,
'book_producer': None,
'cde_type_ebok': True,
'change_justification': 'original',
'chapter': "//*[((name()='h1' or name()='h2') and re:test(., "
"'\\s*((chapter|book|section|part)\\s+)|((prolog|p rologue|epilogue)(\\s+|$))', "
"'i')) or @class = 'chapter']",
'chapter_mark': 'rule',
'comments': None,
'cover': 'C:\\Users\\Elaine\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\calibre-p6b2ibh9\\n9fb1uw7.jpeg',
'debug_pipeline': None,
'dehyphenate': False,
'delete_blank_paragraphs': False,
'disable_font_rescaling': False,
'duplicate_links_in_toc': False,
'embed_all_fonts': True,
'embed_font_family': 'Bookerly',
'enable_heuristics': False,
'enable_timeout': False,
'expand_css': False,
'extra_css': None,
'filter_css': ',background-color,background,color',
'fix_indents': True,
'font_size_mapping': None,
'format_scene_breaks': False,
'formatting_type': 'auto',
'html_unwrap_factor': 0.4,
'input_encoding': None,
'input_profile': <calibre.customize.profiles.InputProfile object at 0x000001E8DEA3D010>,
'insert_blank_line': True,
'insert_blank_line_size': 0.5,
'insert_metadata': False,
'isbn': None,
'italicize_common_cases': False,
'keep_ligatures': True,
'language': None,
'level1_toc': ' //h:h1',
'level2_toc': ' //h:h2',
'level3_toc': ' //h:h3',
'line_height': 0.0,
'linearize_tables': False,
'margin_bottom': 5.0,
'margin_left': 5.0,
'margin_right': 5.0,
'margin_top': 5.0,
'markdown_extensions': 'footnotes, tables, toc',
'markup_chapter_headings': True,
'max_toc_links': 50,
'minimum_line_height': 120.0,
'no_chapters_in_toc': False,
'no_inline_navbars': False,
'number_of_pages_field': '(auto)',
'output_profile': <calibre.customize.profiles.KindlePaperWhite3Outpu t object at 0x000001E8DEA3FA10>,
'page_breaks_before': "//*[name()='h1' or name()='h2']",
'paragraph_type': 'auto',
'prefer_metadata_cover': False,
'preserve_spaces': False,
'pretty_print': True,
'pubdate': None,
'publisher': None,
'quality_report': True,
'rating': None,
'read_metadata_from_opf': 'C:\\Users\\Elaine\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\calibre-p6b2ibh9\\w70p7qad.opf',
'remove_fake_margins': True,
'remove_first_image': False,
'remove_paragraph_spacing': True,
'remove_paragraph_spacing_indent_size': 1.5,
'renumber_headings': False,
'replace_scene_breaks': '',
'series': None,
'series_index': None,
'show_kpr_logs': True,
'smarten_punctuation': False,
'sr1_replace': None,
'sr1_search': None,
'sr2_replace': None,
'sr2_search': None,
'sr3_replace': None,
'sr3_search': None,
'start_reading_at': None,
'subset_embedded_fonts': False,
'tags': None,
'timestamp': None,
'title': None,
'title_sort': None,
'toc_filter': None,
'toc_threshold': 6,
'transform_css_rules': '[{"action": "remove", "action_data": "", '
'"match_type": "*", "property": "adobe-hyphenate:", '
'"query": ""}]',
'transform_html_rules': '[]',
'txt_in_remove_indents': False,
'unsmarten_punctuation': True,
'unwrap_lines': False,
'use_auto_toc': False,
'verbose': 2}
InputFormatPlugin: TXT Input running
on C:\Users\Elaine\AppData\Local\Temp\calibre-p6b2ibh9\kuag5ps1.txt
Reading text from file...
Detected input encoding as ascii with a confidence of 100%
Auto detected paragraph type as single
Auto detected formatting as markdown
Running text through markdown conversion...
Language not specified
Creator not specified
Building file list...
Found files...
HTMLFile:0:a:'C:\\Users\\Elaine\\AppData\\Local\\T emp\\calibre-p6b2ibh9\\kbuv55tf_plumber\\index.html'
Normalizing filename cases
Rewriting HTML links
Parsing index.html ...
Forcing index.html into XHTML namespace
Merging user specified metadata...
Detecting structure...
Auto generated TOC with 0 entries.
Flattening CSS and remapping font sizes...
Filtering CSS properties: , background, background-color, color
Embedding font: Bookerly
Source base font size is 12.00000pt
Removing fake margins...
Found 1255 items of level: p_1
Found 2 items of level: p_3
Ignoring level p_3
p_1 left margin stats: Counter({'0': 1255})
p_1 right margin stats: Counter({'0': 1255})
Cleaning up manifest...
Trimming unused files from manifest...
Creating KFX Output...
Software versions: KFX Output 2.19.0, calibre 9.11, Windows-11-10.0.26200-SP0
KFX Output plugin help is available at https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=272407
For best results in converting to KFX it is recommended that the 'Margins' settings in the 'Page setup' tab of the conversion dialog be set to either '0.0 pt' or 'Unchanged'
Splitting markup on page breaks and flow limits, if any...
This EPUB file has no Table of Contents. Creating a default TOC
Successfully converted input format to EPUB
Converting C:\Users\Elaine\AppData\Local\Temp\calibre-p6b2ibh9\1np7iab7.epub
Converting C:\Users\Elaine\AppData\Local\Temp\calibre-p6b2ibh9\1np7iab7.epub to KPF
Preparing book C:\Users\Elaine\AppData\Local\Temp\calibre-p6b2ibh9\1np7iab7.epub for conversion
Launching Kindle Previewer 3 (unknown_40783360) - CLI

[JSWolf]

@Elaine T, please wrap your code in spoiler tags or code tags. It's too large otherwise.

[Elaine T]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

@Elaine T, please wrap your code in spoiler tags or code tags. It's too large otherwise.

I would if I could see the way to do it. Last time I had a query it was there, this morning it isn't.

Ok, this is very weird. I went up to my last post to edit it when I saw that THIS reply has all the icons for attachments, links, spoilers, whathaveyou. And that post (still) does not have them. Just the ones for text, image, and bold, italic, underline. screenshot attached. I am not html fluent at all as I don't need it consistently enough to learn, I copy what others say works. how does one do code tags when the icons to do it aren't there? I'll save those instructions where I can (hopefully) remember to use them next time that happens. Or how to get those icons to appear when as with that post they don't?

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by Elaine T

Yesterday I downloaded and installed the latest Kindle Previewer and shutdown for the night. This morning I can't convert to KFX the error message is...

Your log shows that it failed when the Kindle Previewer was launched. Perhaps something went wrong when you updated it.

I recommend uninstalling the Previewer, reboot, and then installing it again.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Elaine T

I would if I could see the way to do it. Last time I had a query it was there, this morning it isn't.

Ok, this is very weird. I went up to my last post to edit it when I saw that THIS reply has all the icons for attachments, links, spoilers, whathaveyou. And that post (still) does not have them. Just the ones for text, image, and bold, italic, underline. screenshot attached. I am not html fluent at all as I don't need it consistently enough to learn, I copy what others say works. how does one do code tags when the icons to do it aren't there? I'll save those instructions where I can (hopefully) remember to use them next time that happens. Or how to get those icons to appear when as with that post they don't?

Advanced mode in the editor (you can make that your default in your forum profile), not a 'quick reply or the regular editor.