Converting to EPUB without making a TOC - Page 2

kovidgoyal · 11-29-2012, 08:52 AM

You post is titled "Converting an epub without making a TOC". Make up your mind. Are you trying to create an epub without a TOC or one with a toc that points elsewhere?

calibre does not generate a contents list when creating epub files. If your epub has a toc as part of its main text, then that toc was present in the input document.

Do this

echo test > test.txt && ebook-convert test.txt .epub && ebook-viewer test.epub

You will see that the epub has no inline TOC, i.e. it has only two pages, the cover and a page with the single word test on it.

rrt · 11-29-2012, 09:07 AM

The trouble is, TOC means two things: for me, it originally meant the table of contents you see in the book (that is what I want to remove). But it also means the toc.ncx, which as you say, is mandated by the EPUB spec. So, I have already made up my mind, but because of this ambiguity, I fear I have not previously made myself clear.

Thanks for the information about TOC creation: indeed, the generated HTML from which the EPUB was generated contains a TOC, so it seems I just need to suppress that. If I remove it manually, I get the result I'm after. Hence, I shall chase the problem up the toolchain (the next step being in LaTeXML).

Thanks very much for your patient help!

rrt · 11-29-2012, 10:11 AM

Calibre, a Nook and FBReaderJ all open the book at the trivial table of contents, which is unhelpful.

As kovidgoyal pointed out, the problem was actually in the HTML I used to generate the EPUB. I have now modified my conversion script to remove the trivial TOC information from the HTML before calling ebook-convert; Calibre then generates the desired empty TOC, and the various readers open the book at the start of the story.

The only remaining task I have is to modify my script so that it only removes the TOC when it is trivial: obviously I do not want to remove non-trivial TOCs.

When I've done this I'll publish my script for other users of LaTeXML.

JSWolf · 11-29-2012, 09:24 PM

I have a Sony Reader PRS-650. The toc.ncx does NOTHING to the ePub when I am reading it. It has no effect where the ePub opens. When I first open the ePub, it opens at the first page which is the cover. The toc.ncx does not even display unless I decide to display it.

So what does toc.ncx do that you don't want it to do?

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11-29-2012, 08:52 AM	#16
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 45,195 Karma: 27110894 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	You post is titled "Converting an epub without making a TOC". Make up your mind. Are you trying to create an epub without a TOC or one with a toc that points elsewhere? calibre does not generate a contents list when creating epub files. If your epub has a toc as part of its main text, then that toc was present in the input document. Do this echo test > test.txt && ebook-convert test.txt .epub && ebook-viewer test.epub You will see that the epub has no inline TOC, i.e. it has only two pages, the cover and a page with the single word test on it.

11-29-2012, 09:07 AM	#17
rrt Member Posts: 10 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2012 Device: none	The trouble is, TOC means two things: for me, it originally meant the table of contents you see in the book (that is what I want to remove). But it also means the toc.ncx, which as you say, is mandated by the EPUB spec. So, I have already made up my mind, but because of this ambiguity, I fear I have not previously made myself clear. Thanks for the information about TOC creation: indeed, the generated HTML from which the EPUB was generated contains a TOC, so it seems I just need to suppress that. If I remove it manually, I get the result I'm after. Hence, I shall chase the problem up the toolchain (the next step being in LaTeXML). Thanks very much for your patient help!

11-29-2012, 10:11 AM	#18
rrt Member Posts: 10 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2012 Device: none	Calibre, a Nook and FBReaderJ all open the book at the trivial table of contents, which is unhelpful. As kovidgoyal pointed out, the problem was actually in the HTML I used to generate the EPUB. I have now modified my conversion script to remove the trivial TOC information from the HTML before calling ebook-convert; Calibre then generates the desired empty TOC, and the various readers open the book at the start of the story. The only remaining task I have is to modify my script so that it only removes the TOC when it is trivial: obviously I do not want to remove non-trivial TOCs. When I've done this I'll publish my script for other users of LaTeXML.

11-29-2012, 09:24 PM	#19
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 79,136 Karma: 144284184 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	I have a Sony Reader PRS-650. The toc.ncx does NOTHING to the ePub when I am reading it. It has no effect where the ePub opens. When I first open the ePub, it opens at the first page which is the cover. The toc.ncx does not even display unless I decide to display it. So what does toc.ncx do that you don't want it to do?

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