Converting PDF files to Epub for Mac

[yiyi001]

I've got a problem. I'm really sorry if someone have already discussed that problem before.
I want to convert some PDF files to Epub for Mac.But i have no idea to work out that.If there is any website conversion or PDF converter to help me?
Hope to get answers as soon as possible.

[kjk]

Originally Posted by yiyi001

I've got a problem. I'm really sorry if someone have already discussed that problem before.
I want to convert some PDF files to Epub for Mac.But i have no idea to work out that.If there is any website conversion or PDF converter to help me?
Hope to get answers as soon as possible.

Try Calibre:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=166

If you have Adobe Acrobat, you can export to HTML, and then convert that to ePub as well.

Just realize that it isn't always an easy conversion, and may require a bit of cleanup. Good luck!

[Archon]

Just realize that it isn't always an easy conversion, and may require a bit of cleanup. Good luck!

This is a little bit of an understatement in my experience.

Here's the deal:

EPUb is a basically a website zipped up into a package. The files can be HTML or XML and they have an index and an image folder and can have links, etc. The files are "Text-Based" and can be searched and re-flowed on any browser or eBook reader that reads the EPUB format.

PDF is basically a picture of a document. Some PDF's are searchable and the text can be copied and pasted. If they are not searchable you will have a hard time converting them. The "For Dummies" series of books is a good example of a PDF that will not convert well. With all the side-bars and graphics, it makes conversion extremely difficult.

So, I assume your real question is "How can I EASILY convert PDF's to EPUB's?"
The short answer is, "You can't".

I just got done converting my family's genealogy book into an EPUB.
Here is the process:
Scan the book into PDF's or JPG's.
OCR the book with OCR software into RTF format.
Correct all the spelling errors introduced by the OCR software.
Reformat the text into HTML.
Load the HTML into Calibre and convert into an EPUB.
300 page book = approximately 40 hours of labor

So, Archon's Rule #1 about eBooks: Never, ever, ever get a PDF when there is ANY other format available. (This does not hold for magazines and comics as they are essentially picture-based communications.)

PDF's are NOT re-flowable and are only displayed as pictures on your device. You can zoom in but you CANNOT increase the size of the font, change fonts, change background colors, or many other things you can do to an eBook in any "text" format.

So, go back and take a look at your books and see if there is any other format available. If PDF is the ONLY format then your stuck with it. You can view them on a computer or other LCD based reader like your iPad or iPhone. Or you can try to convert them with Adobe Acrobat (pro not reader) or Calibre and spend hours correcting them. (In my experience neither will do a very good job on this conversion and may fail outright.) If it is a book you truly cherish, and it means a lot to you, it may be worth it. For the latest novel, it will probably not be worth it unless you look at it as a pure learning experience. In that case; Welcome to the world of eBooks!

Happy Humpday

[adv_dp_fan]

40 hours of labor for a 300 page book? Could scan, process, ocr, proof and convert 4-5 books in that amount of time.

Followed the instructions from diybookscanner.org and made my own cheap scanner and am currently converting my physical library to ebook form.

[1611mac]

I converted a public domain book which was in scanned pdf format. While viewing in "Preview" I simply "copied all" and "pasted" into Apple's "Pages" and it was text. Yes, there were some errors that had to be cleaned up. I then used ePub formatting (see Pages "help" info on ePubs) to generate a beautiful eBook in ePub format complete with chapters and TOC.

[Archon]

Yeah, some of the pdf's have selectable text so you don't have to OCR them.

Makes things lots easier.

Archon

[Vague Rant]

I feel like you're understating the proliferation of text PDFs vs. pure image series. I'd say the vast majority of PDFs are text rather than images. Of course, the PDF format allows the content creator to choose whether the text can be selected, etc., so in practical terms it might seem like it's just an image, but I believe there's ways of getting around PDF rights settings and copying the text from a restricted document. However, I haven't had occasion to do this, so I'm not at all sure how it's done. Even image-based PDFs like comics can use formatted text for captions and such, though copying the text alone from a comic would rather defeat the purpose.

EDIT: Just for the hell of it, I found myself a PDF password cracking app (links delted by moderator) and cracked the password for this example file: (link deleted to secured version). It only took a couple of minutes or so--I was expecting longer so I didn't actually watch the window to get an exact reading. That said, the password on this example file is "test", I'm sure a more secure password would take longer. Then again, I ran the cracker on a netbook, so it should be significantly faster on any modern desktop. Before anyone asks, PDF cracking is in no way illegal; I suspect sharing cracked PDFs without the author's permission would be, though.

[Vague Rant]

Are you aware that you deleted a link to an example PDF to which I hadn't done anything at all? I completely understand your policy on DRM circumvention, but an unmodified PDF offered freely online? There's a version of that PDF on my hard drive that's cracked, but that link wasn't it, since I consciously linked to the original, secured version (as stated in my post). Is there a policy that PDFs not be linked to, also? Like I say, I get the cracking thing, but it seems like you failed to understand what I was actually linking to there.

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by Vague Rant

Are you aware that you deleted a link to an example PDF to which I hadn't done anything at all? I completely understand your policy on DRM circumvention, but an unmodified PDF offered freely online? There's a version of that PDF on my hard drive that's cracked, but that link wasn't it, since I consciously linked to the original, secured version (as stated in my post). Is there a policy that PDFs not be linked to, also? Like I say, I get the cracking thing, but it seems like you failed to understand what I was actually linking to there.

It is ok to link to freely available files that are not copyrighted. However, linking to a PDF that has DRM has no purpose except to encourage breaking the DRM as you cannot read the file and the fact that it has DRM says it is very likely copyrighted. MobileRead does not condone copyright violation, DRM'd or not.

Dale

[Vague Rant]

You're thinking of the wrong kind of DRM. PDFs can be protected in a variety of ways. There are user passwords, where the reader must enter a password in order to view the document; owner passwords, where the document is freely readable by anyone but may restrict the user from editing, printing, or highlighting and copying text from the document (this is the kind we're discussing here); and ADEPT DRM, where the file is entirely encrypted and locked to a certain user and up to six of their devices.

To clarify, anyone could have read the file I linked; it wasn't the kind that's restricted to a particular user. It just couldn't be printed, edited, or have text copied and pasted from. It was a sample file created by a commercial PDF editor to demonstrate the owner password functionality of their editor. I linked it to show the same, that it was a readable but not copyable file of which it was trivial to find a way to copy the text; e.g. for converting into a more ideal format for an e-book reader.

Lastly, I do wish to thank you for being part of this conversation rather than deploying bans, unfortunately the more common response to disagreements on the Internet. My thanks. I understand this is something of an edge case--while it involves circumventing the limitations placed on the file, it's doubtful there's any copyright infringement going on in copying text from one format to another for personal use. I appreciate anyone willing to read this before condemning it as some form of piracy.

Regardless, I must affirm my agreement with your stance on copyright violation; it just seems unlikely that this and that are the same, and certainly linking to a readable PDF isn't.

[DaleDe]

Thank you for your agreement with the MobileRead stance on copyright violation and welcome to our community. We are a global group and things that might be legal in one country are not in another. As a responsible member of the global community we try and respect the rights of all members. DRM is a tricky subject. Our policy is that it is fine to talk about, argue about (so long as it is civil) and discuss it but not to provide any methods of breaking it. Distribution of copyrighted material without express permission is also something we do not condone.

Again, welcome to the group.
Dale

[Archon]

I'd say the vast majority of PDFs are text rather than images.

Well my point to the OP was that most print books that are scanned to PDF are most likely NOT OCR'd and therefore are left as only images and are not text selectable or searchable.

These are to be avoided if there is ANY other format besides the PDF available since they cannot be flowed or resized for an ereader.

[Vague Rant]

Definitely, 100% agreed on that; PDF is an awful format for e-books, practically any other option is superior.