Kobo epub font changes? Remove bold?

[Rojofo]

Hi to Everyone,
Sometimes when I download an epub to my Kobo the font appears as bold and I cannot get rid of this format. Changing fonts on my Kobo or even going into the "advanced" menu to change the weight of the font has no effect. The font remains bold throughout the book. This is very unpleasant to read.
The only simple solution that I have found is to convert the book to text format and then the font returns to normal and I can choose any of the Kobo fonts which appear normally.
However converting to text format takes away the epub format and is rather poor in its presentation since I lose chapter headings set off from the text etc.

Is there a simple way to get rid of this imposed bold text format using Calibre?
I see so many options in the reformatting menus but they are far too complex for me. Can anyone indicate a simple solution for this problem?
Thanks in advance and thanks to the Calibre team for having produced such a great software with so many options !!

[theducks]

Could you update your MR Profile to show what reader*s) you have?
(There are more than 1 Kobo model these days )

[theducks]

Is this happening on a Single book?
Auto-repair of code does not always put the fix for a missing closing tag, in the correct spot. A visual code inspection of where a Valid Bold was supposed to end, will probably be where the missing closing tag was supposed to be (Add there and remove at the end. These are fun to find and fix)

Have you validated the CSS? RMSDK was known for ignoring the CSS if it had errors (it was only supposed to skip the bad part )

[Rojofo]

Thank you, theducks, for these replies!
The problem is the same on all of the several Kobos that I have. I mostly use a Kobo Forma.
This font problem has appeared on a few books, some downloaded from Gutenberg but also from other sites.
I am looking for a very simple solution which removes the "compulsory" bold font in the format of the downloaded books.

[theducks]

Sorry I can not suggest a Simple solution. I gave up almost at the beginning (2010) of using conversion adjustments as a way of making it My Way.
I simply use the Editor and reverse engineer the CSS.

Or in some horrid cases that have inline styling , try an Move that OUT to a CSS.

If you post the PG book ID (title), I can look at the way it was coded.

I did assume you got an EPUB version from PG, rather than convert from something else.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Rojofo

Thank you, theducks, for these replies!
The problem is the same on all of the several Kobos that I have. I mostly use a Kobo Forma.
This font problem has appeared on a few books, some downloaded from Gutenberg but also from other sites.
I am looking for a very simple solution which removes the "compulsory" bold font in the format of the downloaded books.

I cannot say what your font problem is. But you can check it by using a known font that works.

Go to the URL listed below and download ChareInk6SP NoWeight and see if you still see a bold font. I know that font works properly.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=184056


Here's an eBook you can download and try as well to make sure it's not the eBooks. I know this one is good as I made it.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=177182

[Rojofo]

Thank you JSWolf for this reply. I will try this font and come back with the results.

However, I have already downloaded other fonts to try to solve this problem and that solution did not work with the troublesome ebooks.Even with the new downloaded font the whole book remained in bold type.
I don't think it would be useful to download another ebook as this compulosry bold font is not a problem with most of my ebooks, only some have this problem.
Surely there is a simple way of "liberating" a book of a compulsory font typeface?

[Rojofo]

Well, JSWolf, I have downloaded and tested the font you suggested. Unfortunately the problem remains.
When I chose to change the font to the new font you suggested, in the "advanced" font menu on the Kobo, the font appears as having a large "weight" but when I reduce this on the menu and return to the book, the "bold" type remains unchanged.
Other ebooks on my Kobo do not have this problem, only a few.

My layman's impression is that these problematic ebooks have been formatted with a specific font included which appears as "bold" and I would like to remove this formatting using Calibre but I don't know how to do that.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Rojofo

Thank you JSWolf for this reply. I will try this font and come back with the results.

However, I have already downloaded other fonts to try to solve this problem and that solution did not work with the troublesome ebooks.Even with the new downloaded font the whole book remained in bold type.
I don't think it would be useful to download another ebook as this compulosry bold font is not a problem with most of my ebooks, only some have this problem.
Surely there is a simple way of "liberating" a book of a compulsory font typeface?

Yes it would be a good idea to download an eBook known to be well coded and not have a bold issue.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Rojofo

Well, JSWolf, I have downloaded and tested the font you suggested. Unfortunately the problem remains.
When I chose to change the font to the new font you suggested, in the "advanced" font menu on the Kobo, the font appears as having a large "weight" but when I reduce this on the menu and return to the book, the "bold" type remains unchanged.
Other ebooks on my Kobo do not have this problem, only a few.

My layman's impression is that these problematic ebooks have been formatted with a specific font included which appears as "bold" and I would like to remove this formatting using Calibre but I don't know how to do that.

Install the Modify ePub plugin and then use that to remove the embedded fonts. Then you can load these newly modified eBooks to your Kobo and see how your choice of fonts work from there.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Rojofo

My layman's impression is that these problematic ebooks have been formatted with a specific font included which appears as "bold" and I would like to remove this formatting using Calibre but I don't know how to do that.

You could try the following, but if it doesn't work (and it might not), then the only way would be to edit the css in the calibre editor.

Convert the book from epub to epub and in the conversion options, go to Look & Feel -> Styling -> Other CSS Properties; enter font-family, font-weight in the box. Click OK.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

You could try the following, but if it doesn't work (and it might not), then the only way would be to edit the css in the calibre editor.

Convert the book from epub to epub and in the conversion options, go to Look & Feel -> Styling -> Other CSS Properties; enter font-weight in the box. Click OK.

It would be a lot easier to test with the eBook I linked as I know that works. That way we'd know if it was the eBooks or the fonts because ChareInk6SP works and so does the eBook I linked.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

It would be a lot easier to test with the eBook I linked as I know that works. That way we'd know if it was the eBooks or the fonts because ChareInk6SP works and so does the eBook I linked.

It's ebooks. The OP said only a few ebooks have the issue, not all of them.

[Rojofo]

Thank you JSWolf for this tip. I installed the Modify ePub plugin and did what you suggested. Surprisingly, this had no effect. When I view the ebook using the viewer within Calibre, the text remains "bold", despite having chosen the "remove embedded fonts" in the plugin.
I have not yet tested the "modified" ebook on the Kobo itself but will do so now.

[Rojofo]

So I checked this manipulation with Modify Epub, examining the text on the Kobo reader. Unfortunately, the text remains "bold".