ePub Zip/Unzip AppleScript application for Mac OS X

[pdurrant]

The ePub Zip AppleScript application is now the ePub Zip/Unzip AppleScript application!

A shiny new version of the application is available in the first post of this thread.

Bug reports, feedback, additional translations are all welcome.

[PageLab]

Thanks for this!

[amarie0]

Paul, this is fantastic. Thank you! And thanks for updating the first post too. I keep sending people over here in my training videos and seminars, so this keeps them up to date, too!

AM

[Aerys]

thanks!

[pdurrant]

Just uploaded version 2.0.1 with German translation by shorshe added.

[danrodney]

You know how iTunes adds an iTunesMetadata.plist in the root directory of the ePub file when dragging an ePub onto iTunes? Sometimes I unzip an ePub to find that nasty file (which invalidates your ePub).

If this Zip-Unzip script excludes .DS_Store files, how about it also exclude the iTunesMetadata.plist file? That way if it ever exists, you know it will be removed when rezipping. Could be nice, right?

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by danrodney

You know how iTunes adds an iTunesMetadata.plist in the root directory of the ePub file when dragging an ePub onto iTunes? Sometimes I unzip an ePub to find that nasty file (which invalidates your ePub).

If this Zip-Unzip script excludes .DS_Store files, how about it also exclude the iTunesMetadata.plist file? That way if it ever exists, you know it will be removed when rezipping. Could be nice, right?

I'm not sure I want to go that route myself. There may be people who want their iTunesMetadata.plist kept.

However, you could do quite easily for your copy. Open the script with AppleScript Editor, find the line containing

-x mimetype

change that bit to

-x mimetype -x iTunesMetadata.plist

and save. (Make sure you don't delete the " either side, or the space before the first -x)

[pdurrant]

Just uploaded version 2.1. Now, when unzipping an ePub, the script first makes sure that there aren't any problems with the zip structure of the ePub.

[pdurrant]

Just uploaded version 2.1.1. Now with a Portugese translation by PageLab.

More translations (or improvements to existing translations) are most welcome.

[JGSTYLE]

Thanks for this, I've been using it successfully for over a year now.

I just ran into an issue, and I'm not sure if there's anything ePub Zip can do about it.

When I was submitting my epub file to Smashwords Direct, I received this error:

The book file you uploaded is in a format we do not support, or it has a filename extension we do not recognize. Your file appears to be a "application/zip" file, and has a ".epub" filename extension.

I never have this issue with Apple, Lulu, or Amazon.

The epub has a mimetype file which has the "application/epub+zip" line in it, but Smashwords doesn't acknowledge this.

Has anyone seen this and figured out a solution? Or does anyone have any ideas?

[Jellby]

Is that "mimetype" file the first in the archive and is it uncompressed?

[JGSTYLE]

The mimetype file is uncompressed as far as I can tell. It's in the root directory next to the "META-INF" and "OEBPS" directories.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by JGSTYLE

When I was submitting my epub file to Smashwords Direct, I received this error:

Have you successfully submitted to Smashwords before? I know they used to only accept Word/RTF files. While I think I heard something about them accepting ePubs recently, I'm not sure if that's out of beta yet.

In short: Are you sure the bit of Smashwords you uploaded to will accept an ePub?

[JGSTYLE]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Have you successfully submitted to Smashwords before? I know they used to only accept Word/RTF files. While I think I heard something about them accepting ePubs recently, I'm not sure if that's out of beta yet.

In short: Are you sure the bit of Smashwords you uploaded to will accept an ePub?

Hi there, actually this is the first time I've ever uploaded to Smashwords because they previously only took the Words files.

Smashwords does now accept epubs as seen here:

https://www.smashwords.com/swdirect

The caveat being that they won't then reformat your file to all the other ones they usually do.

So far it's not a banner experience. They same epub that validates and works on every other service is rejected.

Like I said originally, I highly doubt this is the fault of ePub Zip, but I was hoping you or someone might know of a way to circumvent this error. I've been trying to find a way to manually adjust the mime type of the file, but no dice so far...

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by JGSTYLE

The mimetype file is uncompressed as far as I can tell. It's in the root directory next to the "META-INF" and "OEBPS" directories.

That doesn't matter.

In windows open a cmd window and cd to wherever your ePub file is.
on the command line enter: type <filename> where filename is the name of your ePub file. Does it look like:
PK♥♦
yYª8íÅr╠▬ ▬ mimetypeapplication/epub+zip
PK♥♦
Ignore the leading garbage characters on the second line. The second PK may appear just after the mimetype info instead of on a different line. Ignore anything after the second PK.

If it does not then the ePub is not built correctly.

Dale