PDF conversion problems.

[trisha.moore]

No original books were hurt at all. Calibre makes copies. It never damages originals.

Truth sir, although:
My library is over 30g, as I understood the process calibre would do nothing but database my files in an orderly fashion and change the naming format/add metadata- like itunes does (is supposed to)-when I added them to the library. In the name of saving space I didn't think it was necessary to keep 2 copies of everything in 2 different places. Obviously it was out of pure stupidity that I didn't open every single file before chucked the unorganized, poorly named files. Like I said I wasn't converting anything, just adding to the library so I didn't think it was detrimental. Now I have a wonderfully organized database of subPar reading!

In Preferences->Behaviour, make sure you can unset the 'Use internal viewer for' pdf, the when you try to view a pdf from calibre it will open your default pdf viewer - which should show it properly.

I tried that. As to which viewer I'm using, they don't view well in any viewer, I wish it were only a problem of the viewer I were using!

@Starson17, while I appreciate the anecdote, telling me that none of your files are harmed doesn't really have any bearing on my situation when I'm talking about how mine are disfunctioning lol I'm happy for you, sincerely, mine are still all messed up! I've read countless problems on boards everywhere about PDF's in Calibre, I"m not making this problem up.

@Manichean, I could send you two files? I'm not into posting things :/ My most recent tragedy is a good example, while still readable you can immediately see that the file has been hugely altered.

Perhaps I'm simply completely wrong about the function of calibre. Perhaps it isn't a databasing tool at all, but a conversion tool. I still don't understand why I would want to let a program perform a pdf to crappily formatted pdf conversion before I asked it to do the pdf > mobi conversion I actually want... As many before me have said, including in this post, mobipocket does not do this. It takes the pdf I give it, as is, and converts. Too bad it doesn't database well.

Is there a pure ebook databaser out there? Something that will simply alter metadata and organize in folders, but never, ever, touch my actual files?

[Manichean]

Originally Posted by trisha.moore

Perhaps I'm simply completely wrong about the function of calibre. Perhaps it isn't a databasing tool at all, but a conversion tool. I still don't understand why I would want to let a program perform a pdf to crappily formatted pdf conversion before I asked it to do the pdf > mobi conversion I actually want...

It's a database and a conversion tool. What I can't understand, though, is how Calibre seems to have performed a PDF->PDF conversion. You're absolutely, positively sure that the only thing you did to the files was adding them to the Calibre database and then viewing them, and that they opened in some kind of PDF viewer like, say, the Adobe Reader or the Foxit Reader?

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by trisha.moore

Unfortunately, this is far from the truth. I tried it several times. Raw pdf is perfect, no problems. Go to calibre and add to library> open pdf from library> hardly legible. Calibre is changing everything about my files.

The only thing that can cause this illusion is if you are reading these PDFs with calibre's internal viewer. If you go to preferences - behavior and uncheck PDF in the Use internal viewer list then these PDFs will open in whatever viewer you use to view PDFs.

If you use the internal viewer to view the PDF files the first thing calibre's viewer does is convert the PDF to a temp html/epub file for viewing. This can cause the PDF to look like junk. The actual PDF file is not touched.

One other thought comes to mind if in Preferences - Adding books - Automerge books checked with ignore duplicate formats selected. Then you add a grunch of books, the first pdf added called xyz is added and every subsequent pdf that matches this will be ignored. So if the first xyz pdf was crap and the second xyz pdf was great you get the crap book in your library.

Originally Posted by trisha.moore

It's too bad I didn't notice this until after I imported almost all of my 800 or so book library, which is now decimated. I've definitely closed the book on Calibre until this is resolved, as 80% or more of my books are trashed.

Saying that calibre trashed your PDF files on import to calibre doesn't make it so. Calibre has over a million users and you are the first person to make this claim.

Originally Posted by trisha.moore

I didn't think it was necessary to keep 2 copies of everything in 2 different places.

Not necessary but having a backup is always a smart move.

Originally Posted by trisha.moore

I've read countless problems on boards everywhere about PDF's in Calibre, I"m not making this problem up.

There are countless problems using PDFs as source files in calibre, that is why this sticky post exists. I don't think you're making anything up, but you have not read any thread or post that outlines PDF problems similar to what you are experiencing.

Originally Posted by trisha.moore

@Manichean, I could send you two files? I'm not into posting things :/ My most recent tragedy is a good example, while still readable you can immediately see that the file has been hugely altered.

This is a good idea. Open up a ticket to report this bug in calibre's tracker and attach these two files to the ticket. Find out how to create a ticket here.

Originally Posted by trisha.moore

Perhaps I'm simply completely wrong about the function of calibre. Perhaps it isn't a databasing tool at all, but a conversion tool.

It does both.

Originally Posted by trisha.moore

I still don't understand why I would want to let a program perform a pdf to crappily formatted pdf conversion before I asked it to do the pdf > mobi conversion I actually want...

Not only would you not want a program to do that as hard as I try I can't get calibre to do what you describe.

Originally Posted by trisha.moore

As many before me have said, including in this post, mobipocket does not do this. It takes the pdf I give it, as is, and converts.

The only books that calibre alters on import are html to adjust for the various encoding. Source books imported as html should be retained until the copy in calibre is reviewed. On import calibre doesn't alter any other books at all.

Originally Posted by trisha.moore

Is there a pure ebook databaser out there? Something that will simply alter metadata and organize in folders, but never, ever, touch my actual files?

Maybe, look into this product.

[ldolse]

Based on her responses either she's using Calibre's viewer to view pdfs, or she did a pdf->pdf conversion. I can't think of any other possibility (edit, saw Dwanthy's import theory, also valid).

Based on her insistence that it's any pdf viewer that shows them messed up the only explanation I can see is that she somehow did a pdf->pdf bulk conversion... Definitely a bad idea, and Calibre wouldn't do this by default, you'd need to go out of your way to configure a conversion like that. If the original files are deleted/gone there's nothing to be done.

Manichean's open question -- being absolutely certain you opened the correct file in the correct viewer -- is the only avenue left. The steps to do this, to be clear, are to find the book in Calibre's library view. Right-click the book, select 'Open Containing Folder'. Then right-click the file with the .pdf file extension, select 'Open With' (this may require holding down the shift key while right clicking), and choose a real PDF viewer, such as Adobe's own Acrobat viewer.

There other simpler ways to get the file open generally speaking, but they all rely on correct configuration of Calibre/your operating system. Following those steps should reduce confusion.

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by trisha.moore

@Starson17,... I've read countless problems on boards everywhere about PDF's in Calibre, I"m not making this problem up.

We don't think you're making up your problem. However, we know that the problem can't have occurred in quite the way you think it did. I've read nearly every post here for more than a year and not one has reported the problem you are seeing. We'd all like to help you, but it's hard to know what happened. It sounds sort of like you did a global pdf->pdf conversion, but you say you didn't.

Can you tell us if you had the automerge option on in Preferences|Adding Books when you added the books? This could have caused Calibre to keep the first copy of each author/title/format it saw. If those first copies were bad, later good copies would not have overwritten them. This also sounds unlikely as the cause, as you seem to be saying that your books are damaged, not that you are seeing bad copies you had previously.

Based on the reported symptoms it still sounds to me like you are viewing the pdfs in the Calibre viewer. That can make good pdfs look bad. I'd review Idolse's step by step procedure to be absolutely certain your pdf's are really damaged.