Docx vs RTF

Quoth · 01-30-2023, 02:17 PM

Was editing a downloaded epub (it had a copyright notice but is just text of an 1882 book and author died in 1905, no later illustrations). It was so badly messed up I decided to convert to docx and save that to disk. Except all the pages were tiny and blank. I then converted it to RTF, which worked. This was at 2.30 am (yes stupidly late or early). Perhaps the USA spelling made it copyright? It should have had British spelling, which it has now.

I've often found RTF works better than docx for export an epub to edit. I thought later am I doing something wrong in the conversion?

So I looked at docx output and it was custom size 6x9. Hovering I see it should be the page size in points, not inches! Duh! It was actually the default! Well, that was stupid!

The RTF conversion mysteriously seems to have no setting for page size, which is why it worked! It creates a Letter Size page with 72pt margins according to LO Writer import.

Why Letter (USA only surely?) rather than ISO A4, or why no output page settings either in main setup ?

kovidgoyal · 01-30-2023, 09:32 PM

The default is not 6x9 it is letter. This is actually the default from Microsoft Word. And all common page sizes are available so I am not sure what you mean by letter only.

Quoth · 01-31-2023, 08:42 AM

On the RTF output. Is LO Writer then deciding the imported RTF is letter size?

I did sort my docx output. I'm not sure what I was thinking whenever, ages ago, I made 6x9 the default for docx. Maybe I thought it used inches or cm. But obviously it is points, so 420 x 560 works for a small docx page size export.

I was just wondering what sets RTF page size, but maybe it only gets one when you import the RTF to Word or LO Writer.

I think I didn't express myself clearly. Thanks Kovid.

kovidgoyal · 01-31-2023, 08:43 AM

I dont think there's any page size in the RTF output plugin but I didnt write that one, so not sure.

Quoth · 01-31-2023, 09:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

I dont think there's any page size in the RTF output plugin but I didnt write that one, so not sure.

No setting I can see anywhere. Maybe it's Letter only. Not big issue to edit the page property after import.

I'll try docx next time now that I've fixed my stupid 6x9!

01-30-2023, 02:17 PM	#1
Quoth the rook, bossing Never. Posts: 7,172 Karma: 62500001 Join Date: Jun 2017 Location: Ireland Device: Both Kinds: epub based makes and Kindle	Docx vs RTF Was editing a downloaded epub (it had a copyright notice but is just text of an 1882 book and author died in 1905, no later illustrations). It was so badly messed up I decided to convert to docx and save that to disk. Except all the pages were tiny and blank. I then converted it to RTF, which worked. This was at 2.30 am (yes stupidly late or early). Perhaps the USA spelling made it copyright? It should have had British spelling, which it has now. I've often found RTF works better than docx for export an epub to edit. I thought later am I doing something wrong in the conversion? So I looked at docx output and it was custom size 6x9. Hovering I see it should be the page size in points, not inches! Duh! It was actually the default! Well, that was stupid! The RTF conversion mysteriously seems to have no setting for page size, which is why it worked! It creates a Letter Size page with 72pt margins according to LO Writer import. Why Letter (USA only surely?) rather than ISO A4, or why no output page settings either in main setup ?

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01-30-2023, 09:32 PM	#2
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 42,274 Karma: 19574690 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	The default is not 6x9 it is letter. This is actually the default from Microsoft Word. And all common page sizes are available so I am not sure what you mean by letter only.

01-31-2023, 08:42 AM	#3
Quoth the rook, bossing Never. Posts: 7,172 Karma: 62500001 Join Date: Jun 2017 Location: Ireland Device: Both Kinds: epub based makes and Kindle	On the RTF output. Is LO Writer then deciding the imported RTF is letter size? I did sort my docx output. I'm not sure what I was thinking whenever, ages ago, I made 6x9 the default for docx. Maybe I thought it used inches or cm. But obviously it is points, so 420 x 560 works for a small docx page size export. I was just wondering what sets RTF page size, but maybe it only gets one when you import the RTF to Word or LO Writer. I think I didn't express myself clearly. Thanks Kovid.

01-31-2023, 08:43 AM	#4
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 42,274 Karma: 19574690 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	I dont think there's any page size in the RTF output plugin but I didnt write that one, so not sure.