Ugh! Frustrating!!

[Dullahir]

Great advice! And duly-noted. By the way, I prefer .pdf for PC viewing because I am able to view the thumbnails in the folder, the covers, I mean. I am not sure you can do that with any other format in a regular folder.

[PeterT]

Originally Posted by Dullahir

Great advice! And duly-noted. By the way, I prefer .pdf for PC viewing because I am able to view the thumbnails in the folder, the covers, I mean. I am not sure you can do that with any other format in a regular folder.

But why not just stay in calibre and use it's viewer! You even have the option of a cover viewer.

[Sabardeyn]

You're welcome. As for the PDF->MOBI conversion, as far as I know one of the internal MOBI file variants offered is to do exactly what you want. Basically it wraps the PDF in a MOBI container and the hardware handles the rest automatically. But I agree with Adoby that under normal circumstances you do not want to use PDF as a source document. The resulting output really is a nightmare in any other format.

IMO PDF serves only two purposes with regards to ebooks: art books and paper equivalency. You cannot adequately explain works of art through verbal or textual communication. You need imagery. Although I refer to art, these could be architectural blueprints, mechanical schematics or any other form of graphic communication.

The other matter, paper equivalency, becomes an issue when the layout and/or the exact placement of information is mandatory. Generally this is a matter of proper citation over distance. Legal documents illustrate this point as it is easy to misunderstand a particular clause. So lawyer1 can tell lawyer2: "Yes, but per clause 3, para 7, line 22, your client is..." and both lawyers can read the exact same passage to determine what the client is, or is not, obligated to.

Note that PDF might have legitimate uses in other circumstances and I'm not arguing that point.

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by PeterT

But why not just stay in calibre and use it's viewer! You even have the option of a cover viewer.

Calibre's viewer is essentially a ePub viewer and all files that are not ePub will get a quick and dirty (read this as incomplete) conversion before being presented by the viewer. Since PDF files are known to often be bad sources for conversion to other formats it is best not to use calibre's viewer to view pdf books.

But PeterT I agree with you, for @Dullahir there is no reason not to use calibre to open the pdf in the viewer app of his/her choice. Just go to Preferences - Behavior and uncheck the box next to PDF in the Use internal viewer for list.

Certainly using calibre to search and find the PDF book you wish to view is nicer than poking around the thumbnails in your folder.

[mbovenka]

Originally Posted by Sabardeyn

You're welcome. As for the PDF->MOBI conversion, as far as I know one of the internal MOBI file variants offered is to do exactly what you want. Basically it wraps the PDF in a MOBI container and the hardware handles the rest automatically.

Yep, that's AZW4/Print Replica. But I don't know how you would create such a beast; Calibre can't, and I don't think Kindlegen does either (it creates a combined KF8/Mobi6 file, aka Calibre MOBI type 'both').