Re-merge files split by Calibre conversion?

[Siavahda]

Apologies, because this has must have been asked before, but I couldn't find it mentioned anywhere - probably not using the right search terms.

I've been given an EPUB that's gone through Calibre conversion at some point, and many of the files have been split - the chapter number in one file, body of the text in the next.

Is there any way to mass re-merge these files? I've always done it manually, one pair of split files at a time, which is time-consuming and painful, since I have hand damage. Finally occurred to me to ask if there was another way!

Maybe some instruction I can give during another conversion...?

[kovidgoyal]

click edit book, shift click to select all the files you want merged, right click and select merge selected text files.

[Siavahda]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

click edit book, shift click to select all the files you want merged, right click and select merge selected text files.

Each chapter has been split in two. If I merge them ALL together, I'll have dozens of chapters in one file. Instead of each chapter being its own file.

I need something that merges each pair back with its pair, not with all the other split files.

Right now, it looks like this

part1_split_1
part1_split_2
part2_split_1
part2_split_2
part3_split_1
part3_split_2

and so on.

If I merge all those together, I'll just have one file called part1_split_1, when what I should have is part1, part2, part3.

(Sorry for over-explaining, I don't know many of the technical terms so I'm never sure if I'm explaining properly.)

[kovidgoyal]

merge them all together and then use splitting tool to automatically re split them based on heading tags or whatever other criteria you need.

[Siavahda]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

merge them all together and then use splitting tool to automatically re split them based on heading tags or whatever other criteria you need.

I will try that, thank you!

[Siavahda]

Well, that worked on the files that were initially split, but because the same tags were used elsewhere in the book, now parts that weren't split before, are now split.

Can't overstate how much of a mess this ebook is.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Siavahda

Well, that worked on the files that were initially split, but because the same tags were used elsewhere in the book, now parts that weren't split before, are now split.

Can't overstate how much of a mess this ebook is.

I've had plenty of really messy books from 10-15 years ago. And plenty which I had to split or merge manually, as there was no way to do it automatically with correct results. Plus all the other smart formatting decisions, like the author deciding that the best way to end a chapter was to insert a ton of empty paragraphs after the last sentence. And every chapter had a different number of empty paragraphs, so you couldn't even use mass search & replace to delete them.

Oh, happy days.

[Siavahda]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

I've had plenty of really messy books from 10-15 years ago. And plenty which I had to split or merge manually, as there was no way to do it automatically with correct results. Plus all the other smart formatting decisions, like the author deciding that the best way to end a chapter was to insert a ton of empty paragraphs after the last sentence. And every chapter had a different number of empty paragraphs, so you couldn't even use mass search & replace to delete them.

Oh, happy days.

You, sir, entirely understand the struggle 😂

[PeterT]

I can't help but think you should get in touch with the Author, Publisher or Retailer you obtained the book from and express concerns over the formatting of the material.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by PeterT

I can't help but think you should get in touch with the Author, Publisher or Retailer you obtained the book from and express concerns over the formatting of the material.

Depends. It may not be a recently published book; many self-published books were quite messy and poorly formatted 15 years ago, as their authors didn't really have any idea how to format ebooks properly, and several programs currently used for book creating didn't exist yet. It would have been no use to complain about it then, as they obviously didn't know how to do a better job. It was much simpler and faster to fix the books myself.

And if the book was published a decade or more ago, it would be pretty strange to start complaining about it now.

[JSWolf]

I know what the problem is. Whoever did the conversion did not or does not know how to use calibre.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I know what the problem is. Whoever did the conversion did not or does not know how to use calibre.

They presumably converted with default settings, which would split the headings in some books.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

They presumably converted with default settings, which would split the headings in some books.

I've done that before way back when. But I've gone back and sorted it properly so that didn't happen.