EPUB to AZW3 adds inline ToC to end of book?

Phssthpok · 08-05-2018, 07:34 AM

I have a quite normal EPUB with a ToC in the toc.ncx but no inline ToC in the text of the book. When I convert it to AZW3 it suddenly acquires an inline ToC following the last chapter, which has <body id="calibre_generated_inline_toc"> as if it were generated by Calibre's "Insert Inline ToC" tool.

Does anyone have any idea what might be causing this? I regularly convert EPUBs to AZW3 to read on my Kindle, and I've never seen this happen before...

jhowell · 08-05-2018, 08:16 AM

That is the default conversion behavior for AZW3 format.

In the conversion settings in the "AZW3 output" tab there is an option "Do not add Table of Contents to book" to disable this.

Phssthpok · 08-06-2018, 04:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jhowell

That is the default conversion behavior for AZW3 format.

In the conversion settings in the "AZW3 output" tab there is an option "Do not add Table of Contents to book" to disable this.

Thanks. I don't quite know what's happened, but I ticked the box and reconverted the offending book and all is now well. However, that book was one out of a batch of 15 EPUB books which I uploaded to my Kindle yesterday, and they were all converted automatically to AZW3 as part of the upload process. The other 14 AZW3s don't have an inline TOC at the end, so I'm really puzzled.

I decided to open the AZW3 that had the inline ToC and another AZW3 in the editor to see if I could spot any difference. The book with the inline ToC opens without any problems, but whichever other one I tried it with, the editor reported this error:

Code:

calibre, version 3.28.0
ERROR: Failed to open book: Failed to open book, click "Show details" for more information.

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "site-packages\calibre\gui2\tweak_book\job.py", line 35, in run
  File "site-packages\calibre\gui2\tweak_book\boss.py", line 60, in get_container
  File "site-packages\calibre\ebooks\oeb\polish\container.py", line 1508, in get_container
  File "site-packages\calibre\ebooks\oeb\polish\container.py", line 1469, in __init__
InvalidMobi: Failed to explode MOBI

The books all appear to be fine otherwise: the Kindle is happy with them, the Calibre viewer is happy with them... weird. I feel like I should just tiptoe away quietly.

Phssthpok · 09-05-2018, 11:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jhowell

That is the default conversion behavior for AZW3 format.

In the conversion settings in the "AZW3 output" tab there is an option "Do not add Table of Contents to book" to disable this.

I thought this problem had gone away, but it seems not. Some (but not all) EPUBs have a ToC added at the end when I convert them to AZW3.

I have "Do not add Table of Contents to book" ticked, as above. I have also looked at other settings, but the only one I can find that seems like it might be relevant is Common Options -> Table of Contents -> Force use of auto-generated ToC (which is NOT ticked).

Is there any reason anyone can think of why this might happen? The fact that it only happens to a few books is particularly baffling -- other books are fine, but if I delete the AZW3s and reconvert, the same few books consistently end up with a ToC at the end, as if there's something in the books themselves that makes it happen...

kovidgoyal · 09-05-2018, 12:19 PM

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=186697

BetterRed · 09-05-2018, 05:39 PM

@Phssthpok - I don't convert EPUB to AZW3, so this is mere speculation:

Maybe the books that don't have the ToC are using book specific conversion settings, and the ones that do have the ToC are using the conversion settings from Preferences -- or vice versa.

There's a Restore Defaults button on the Conversion dialogue (bottom left)

BR

JimmyR · 09-05-2018, 05:50 PM

This may clear up some confusion about conversion settings:
https://manual.calibre-ebook.com/con...for-conversion

Phssthpok · 09-06-2018, 06:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimmyR

This may clear up some confusion about conversion settings:
https://manual.calibre-ebook.com/con...for-conversion

Aha:
"1. From the defaults set in Preferences->Conversion
"2. From the saved conversion settings for each book being converted (if any). This can be turned off by the option in the top left corner of the Bulk Conversion dialog."

And 2 takes precedence.

This is a nasty, subtle and unexpected trap that I would expect most people would be surprised by -- having converted a book, discovered a problem, changed preferences according and reconverted, I would expect the new preference settings to hold. By no, they will be ignored completely!

And even worse, if I convert a single book (or if, as in my case, I auto-convert to AZW3 when attempting to upload EPUBs to my Kindle, and never convert manually), I don't have the option to do anything about this AT ALL.

And finally, even having unticked the box, the next time I do a bulk conversion the box is ticked again -- so it looks like (for certain books at least) I have to include them in a bulk conversion (and remember to untick the box again!) in order to kill off the ToC Zombie that keeps rising from the dead. Is there no way to untick this box permanently?

Divingduck · 09-08-2018, 06:27 AM

Hm. This works for me fine since years. Had you check your global conversion template in preferences for format MOBI and AZW3 output options looks like? As BR wrote, the global template "defaults" will be overwritten from a manual changed template for a individual book. To reverse this behavior you need to set the preferences to default for these books.

A behavior that I really like because I don't need to think about original vs manipulated conversion behavior. My standard behavior is to manipulate as less as possible during a converting process and do modifications only if a default setup or a book design so poor that I need to correct to become it on a reader readable.

The only thing I am sometimes missing is a easy way to identify books with a non default individual conversion setups within the library. Maybe an enhancement for a plugin?

BetterRed · 09-08-2018, 07:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Divingduck

The only thing I am sometimes missing is a easy way to identify books with a non default individual conversion setups within the library. Maybe an enhancement for a plugin?

+1

Something you could use in a template to set a Column colour or Column icon.

BR

Divingduck · 09-11-2018, 01:20 PM

Yes, this would be nice and handy.

Phssthpok · 09-16-2018, 05:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Divingduck

Hm. This works for me fine since years. Had you check your global conversion template in preferences for format MOBI and AZW3 output options looks like? As BR wrote, the global template "defaults" will be overwritten from a manual changed template for a individual book. To reverse this behavior you need to set the preferences to default for these books.

Thanks to a Windows update ("Destroyer's edition" or some such) which required a total reinstall, I lost my Calibre settings, which I had neglected to back up. I forgot to set the AZW3 output option after reinstalling, so everything since then was done using a ToC-at end. Then I changed the ToC-at-end setting, but still got ToCs at the end of some books, presumably those I'd converted previously.

Quote:

The only thing I am sometimes missing is a easy way to identify books with a non default individual conversion setups within the library. Maybe an enhancement for a plugin?

Absolutely. In desperation, what I ended up doing was bulk-converting all my books with ToC-at-end turned off to make sure this doesn't happen again. This took slightly over 3 days to run...

08-05-2018, 07:34 AM	#1
Phssthpok Age improves with wine. Posts: 558 Karma: 95229 Join Date: Nov 2014 Device: Kindle Oasis, Kobo Libra II	EPUB to AZW3 adds inline ToC to end of book? I have a quite normal EPUB with a ToC in the toc.ncx but no inline ToC in the text of the book. When I convert it to AZW3 it suddenly acquires an inline ToC following the last chapter, which has <body id="calibre_generated_inline_toc"> as if it were generated by Calibre's "Insert Inline ToC" tool. Does anyone have any idea what might be causing this? I regularly convert EPUBs to AZW3 to read on my Kindle, and I've never seen this happen before...

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08-05-2018, 08:16 AM	#2
jhowell Grand Sorcerer Posts: 6,496 Karma: 84420419 Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Tampa Bay, Florida Device: Kindles	That is the default conversion behavior for AZW3 format. In the conversion settings in the "AZW3 output" tab there is an option "Do not add Table of Contents to book" to disable this.

09-05-2018, 12:19 PM	#5
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,843 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=186697

09-05-2018, 05:39 PM	#6
BetterRed null operator (he/him) Posts: 20,553 Karma: 26954694 Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Sydney Australia Device: none	@Phssthpok - I don't convert EPUB to AZW3, so this is mere speculation: Maybe the books that don't have the ToC are using book specific conversion settings, and the ones that do have the ToC are using the conversion settings from Preferences -- or vice versa. There's a Restore Defaults button on the Conversion dialogue (bottom left) BR

09-05-2018, 05:50 PM	#7
JimmyR ɴₐɴ Posts: 421 Karma: 2507940 Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: 37.2N 93.3W Device: KV PW4 PW3 PW2	This may clear up some confusion about conversion settings: https://manual.calibre-ebook.com/con...for-conversion

09-08-2018, 06:27 AM	#9
Divingduck Wizard Posts: 1,161 Karma: 1404241 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Germany Device: Sony PRS-650	Hm. This works for me fine since years. Had you check your global conversion template in preferences for format MOBI and AZW3 output options looks like? As BR wrote, the global template "defaults" will be overwritten from a manual changed template for a individual book. To reverse this behavior you need to set the preferences to default for these books. A behavior that I really like because I don't need to think about original vs manipulated conversion behavior. My standard behavior is to manipulate as less as possible during a converting process and do modifications only if a default setup or a book design so poor that I need to correct to become it on a reader readable. The only thing I am sometimes missing is a easy way to identify books with a non default individual conversion setups within the library. Maybe an enhancement for a plugin?

09-11-2018, 01:20 PM	#11
Divingduck Wizard Posts: 1,161 Karma: 1404241 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Germany Device: Sony PRS-650	Yes, this would be nice and handy.