k2pdfopt: optimizes PDFs for viewing on e-readers

[srpgreader]

Originally Posted by willus

This is very hard to diagnose without a sample. Can you post a page or two from the PDF you are trying to convert that is having the issue?

sure thing. just attached a 2 page sample.
it has the vines on top and bottom.
2 columns
"left" pages have a sort of table of contents on the left
"right" pages have a sort of table of contents on the right

I'm trying to convert it into a document that:
doesn't include any large pictures like the one included on one of the sample pages
converts both columns into one column I can read left to right.
removes the vines
removes the TOC on the left and right pages.

the end goal is a book I can read much easier from a tablet or from a text to speech program.

currently, text to speech programs read the left column first, then the right column of the next page, then the left column of that page, and so on, and it makes it very hard to understand what's going on when reading it in a sort of backwards order.

when you look at the sample you'll understand how much of a nightmare this document is.

[willus]

For this specific case with so many graphics in the margins, particularly if the columns are very consistent throught the document, I recommend using a couple of fixed crop boxes around the columns. See the screen shot from the GUI (the GUI has a nice selection tool to quickly create the crop boxes--I added a screenshot of that where it overlays the pages together so you can see how your cropping selection fits over multiple pages).

The command line is:
k2pdfopt -mode 2col -c -cbox- -ibox- -cbox 0.9242in,0.9942in,3.291in,8.892in -cbox 4.229in,1.05in,3.333in,8.71in 2pagesample.pdf

[srpgreader]

Originally Posted by willus

For this specific case with so many graphics in the margins, particularly if the columns are very consistent throught the document, I recommend using a couple of fixed crop boxes around the columns. See the screen shot from the GUI (the GUI has a nice selection tool to quickly create the crop boxes--I added a screenshot of that where it overlays the pages together so you can see how your cropping selection fits over multiple pages).

The command line is:
k2pdfopt -mode 2col -c -cbox- -ibox- -cbox 0.9242in,0.9942in,3.291in,8.892in -cbox 4.229in,1.05in,3.333in,8.71in 2pagesample.pdf

thanks so much, I'll try this out!