TOC problem

[ruefrex]

Hi all,

I'm on week two of trying to convert my book to .mobi format. I am a clueless idiot, apparently, because I do not understand this stuff at all. Because I'm on a Mac, I can't just upload the thing to Amazon so I'm forced to use Calibre. I was able to create an EPUB file without TOC or any of that, just to check that the formatting works. But now I apparently have to create a Kindle book with TOC and NCX or whatever that other mystery thing is, and it's just. Not. Working.

I'm opening the book in Kindle Previewer and at least I finally got it to recognize a TOC, but it's all jumbled up and there's extra stuff in it.

The TOC I created in Word looks like this:
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER TWELVE

(of course, what I wanted was a TOC for every chapter but I apparently can't do that)

The TOC in Kindle Previewer looks like this:
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER TEN

I mean, WHAT? And if I click to go to Chapter Three (the second one), it has CHAPTER THREE and then underneath it, CHAPTER FIVE. If I go to Chapter Seven, it says CHAPTER SEVEN, then CHAPTER NINE. And if I go to Chapter Ten, it says CHAPTER TEN, then CHAPTER TWELVE.

I have been all over the Internet and there is no clear explanation for someone who doesn't understand all of this stuff. There's always some expertise presumed. If I understood it, I wouldn't need the help!!

If anyone can help me out, that would be beyond super. I am at my wits' end here!

I thought learning Photoshop so I could create a cover was hard. That's a piece of cake compared to this nonsense.

[atjnjk]

If you still have the epub file, try reconvert it to epub with Heuristic Processing (see the screenshot), check the new epub's TOC using calibre viewer, then convert epub to mobi (if the TOC is not as good as you want, use Sigil to edit the epub).
You could also read Chapter Detection/Table of Contents Tutorial.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by ruefrex

Hi all,

I'm on week two of trying to convert my book to .mobi format. I am a clueless idiot, apparently, because I do not understand this stuff at all. Because I'm on a Mac, I can't just upload the thing to Amazon so I'm forced to use Calibre. I was able to create an EPUB file without TOC or any of that, just to check that the formatting works. But now I apparently have to create a Kindle book with TOC and NCX or whatever that other mystery thing is, and it's just. Not. Working.

I'm opening the book in Kindle Previewer and at least I finally got it to recognize a TOC, but it's all jumbled up and there's extra stuff in it.

The TOC I created in Word looks like this:
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER TWELVE

(of course, what I wanted was a TOC for every chapter but I apparently can't do that)

The TOC in Kindle Previewer looks like this:
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER TEN

I mean, WHAT? And if I click to go to Chapter Three (the second one), it has CHAPTER THREE and then underneath it, CHAPTER FIVE. If I go to Chapter Seven, it says CHAPTER SEVEN, then CHAPTER NINE. And if I go to Chapter Ten, it says CHAPTER TEN, then CHAPTER TWELVE.

I have been all over the Internet and there is no clear explanation for someone who doesn't understand all of this stuff. There's always some expertise presumed. If I understood it, I wouldn't need the help!!

If anyone can help me out, that would be beyond super. I am at my wits' end here!

I thought learning Photoshop so I could create a cover was hard. That's a piece of cake compared to this nonsense.

Your original book (file) appears to have been created out of order (by Word?) Calibre orders the TOC in the order it discovers the Headers(unless you exert some additional control ).
( I suspect there were individual files that simply got processed alphabetically)

Is this a Single file or were there many pieces (files) that you fed to Calibre?

This FAQ item may help you control the order
http://calibre-ebook.com/user_manual/faq.html#id15

[ruefrex]

Originally Posted by theducks

Your original book (file) appears to have been created out of order (by Word?) Calibre orders the TOC in the order it discovers the Headers(unless you exert some additional control ).
( I suspect there were individual files that simply got processed alphabetically)

Is this a Single file or were there many pieces (files) that you fed to Calibre?

This FAQ item may help you control the order
http://calibre-ebook.com/user_manual/faq.html#id15

Well, here's what happened. I followed someone else's guide <g>. You guys were very helpful! I think it's sorted out. What happened was, I created a TOC in Word and so Calibre added it as text at the end of the book. But I also used different headers instead of just Heading 1, which is why I got the weird chapters. I changed all of it to Heading 1, didn't create a TOC in Word, did the heuristic processing, told Calibre to create a TOC with class/chapter, and it worked!!

Bizarrely, it's MUCH easier than the guides made it out to be. Thanks for your help!!

[theducks]

Originally Posted by ruefrex

Well, here's what happened. I followed someone else's guide <g>. You guys were very helpful! I think it's sorted out. What happened was, I created a TOC in Word and so Calibre added it as text at the end of the book. But I also used different headers instead of just Heading 1, which is why I got the weird chapters. I changed all of it to Heading 1, didn't create a TOC in Word, did the heuristic processing, told Calibre to create a TOC with class/chapter, and it worked!!

Bizarrely, it's MUCH easier than the guides made it out to be. Thanks for your help!!

Glad you won

The 'guides' can become out of date very quickly.