Major Conversion Problems

[Paxman53]

Help!

I just added a book to my calibre library and did my normal conversion - but it converted it to virtual gobbledygook. In Book View the text is all separated and mixed in with HTML symbols. In Code view it is one solid block of text

I though it was a particular fault in this file so I added another book different format - same result.

I have checked previous additions - books that I know are perfectly Ok e.g.
Treasure Island.

I reconverted it in its original position and the result was fine.

I copied that and added it again as a new book - result again gobbledygook.

Should be : SQUIRE TRELAWNEY, DR. LIVESEY, and the rest of these gentlemen having asked me to write down the whole particulars about Treasure Island, from the beginning to the end, keeping nothing back but the bearings of the island, and that only because there is still treasure not yet lifted, I take up my pen in the year of grace 17—and go back to the time when my father kept the Admiral Benbow inn and the brown old seaman with the sabre cut first took up his lodging under our roof.

Now: p a n c l a s s = " b o l d " & g t ; S & l t ; / s p a n & g t ; Q U I R E T R E L A W N E Y , D R . L I V E S E Y , a n d t h e r e s t o f t h e s e g e n t l e m e n h a v i n g a s k e d m e t o w r i t e d o w n t h e w h o l e p a r t i c u l a r s a b o u t T r e a s u r e I s l a n d , f r o m t h e b e g i n n i n g t o t h e e n d , k e e p i n g n o t h i n g b a c k b u t t h e b e a r i n g s o f t h e i s l a n d , a n d t h a t o n l y b e c a u s e t h e r e i s s t i l l t r e a s u r e n o t y e t l i f t e d , I t a k e u p m y p e n i n t h e y e a r o f g r a c e 1 7 — a n d g o b a c k t o t h e t i m e w h e n m y f a t h e r k e p t t h e A d m i r a l B e n b o w i n n a n d t h e b r o w n o l d s e a m a n w i t h t h e s a b r e c u t f i r s t t o o k u p h i s l o d g i n g u n d e r o u r r o o f . & l t ; / p & g t ; &

Solutions I have tried:

1. I have uninstalled Calibre 09.13 - reinstalled - no difference
2. System restore to earlier date - no difference
3. Uninstalled Calibre again - installed earlier version - no difference

The strange thing is that it only seems to affect newly added books not existing ones.

I have attempted to attach examples of the 2 Treasure Island files here:

Attachment 99053

Attachment 99054

Any advice on how to solve this would be greatly appreciated.

[JSWolf]

There is nothing we can do without more information.

What format is the source? What format is the destination? What Calibre settings? Link to the source so we can have a look and see if it's on your end or not.

Based on your device information, can we say that the destination format is ePub?

[Paxman53]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

There is nothing we can do without more information.

What format is the source? What format is the destination? What Calibre settings? Link to the source so we can have a look and see if it's on your end or not.

Based on your device information, can we say that the destination format is ePub?

Sorry,

Thanks for the quick reply

Input source Epub - Epub format for destination.

Calibre settings - at the end virtually none but still corrupting:

Look and Feel - Disabled font settings and nothing else ticked.
Heuristic - not enabled
Page Setup - Default Input Profile - Output profile Tablet
Structure Detection -Remove Fake Margins (tick) Insert Metadata (Tick)
Table Of Contents - Do not Add (Tick)
Search & Replace - Nothing
Epub Output - Do not split (Tick) Preserve Cover (Tick)

I did try to upload the relevant files by using the attachment symbol above but seemed to have failed miserably.

I press the attachments button above and get the manage attachments window, I browse and upload the files from my computer, which are then shown in the current attachments section, however when I try to attach to this message I just get Corrupted Treasure Island - Robert Louis Stevenson.epub which doesn't seem to link to anything - Do you know what I am doing wrong? - I have never attached a file before.

[Paxman53]

Seems to have linked this time.

[JSWolf]

Is this an ePub from Penguin? Why are you trying to convert ePub > ePub?

[Paxman53]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Is this an ePub from Penguin? Why are you trying to convert ePub > ePub?

The cover is from Penguin scanned in from my hard copy.

I like to tweak books to my own preference.

Anyway this was only an example. I have tried other input formats with the same effect.

Do you have any suggestion as how to solve it please.

[DoctorOhh]

FYI, sticky posts (like this one) at the top of forums have valuable information.

Hopefully someone will have some insight soon.

[Paxman53]

Originally Posted by DoctorOhh

FYI, sticky posts (like this one) at the top of forums have valuable information.

Hopefully someone will have some insight soon.

Thank you Doctor Ohh,

On that basis I have retried the data and created in Sigil a test Epub file which shows the problem.

Test Subject (Original).epub Test Subject (Converted).epub

Here is the Conversion Log details for that operation:

Initial parse failed, using more forgiving parsers
Parsing OEBPS/Text/Section0002.xhtml as HTML
Reading TOC from NCX...
Merging user specified metadata...
Detecting structure...
Inserting metadata into book...
Flattening CSS and remapping font sizes...
Source base font size is 12.00000pt
Removing fake margins...
Found 2 items of level: div_1
Found 1 items of level: div_2
div_1 left margin stats: Counter()
div_1 right margin stats: Counter()
div_2 left margin stats: Counter()
div_2 right margin stats: Counter()
Cleaning up manifest...
Trimming unused files from manifest...
Creating EPUB Output...
Splitting markup on page breaks and flow limits, if any...
Looking for large trees in jacket.xhtml...
No large trees found
Looking for large trees in OEBPS/Text/Section0001.xhtml...
No large trees found
Looking for large trees in OEBPS/Text/Section0002.xhtml...
No large trees found
Generating default cover
EPUB output written to C:\Users\GRAEME~1\AppData\Local\Temp\calibre_0.9.1 2_tmp_bdiovg\grgztc.epub

Output File above

Description of problem: Instead of getting text in book view:
[Chapter One

This is test material to show how the conversion process in Calibre is working.]

there seems to be a mixture of HTML symbols and individual letters:

[< ! D O C T Y P E h t m l P U B L I C " - / / W 3 C / / D T D X H T M L 1 . 1 / / E N " " h t t p : / / w w w . w 3 . o r g / T R / x h t m l 1 1 / D T D / x h t m l 1 1 . d t d " > < h t m l x m l n s = " h t t p : / / w w w . w 3 . o r g / 1 9 9 9 / x h t m l " > < h e a d > < t i t l e > < / t i t l e > < / h e a d > < b o d y > < h 3 > C h a p t e r O n e < / h 3 > < p > T h i s i s t e s t m a t e r i a l t o s h o w h o w t h e c o n v e r s i o n p r o c e s s i n C a l i b r e i s w o r k i n g . < / p > < / b o d y > < / h t m l >

No error message shown.

No conversion options changed from my normal usage, which is:

Look & Feel: disable font size - unchecked - base font size 12.0 pt.
remove spacing - checked
indent size 1.5 em
left allign
smarten puctuation - checked
keep ligatures - checked
Extra CSS - h2, h3, h4, h5 { text-align: center }

Heuristic Processing: not enabled

Page Setup: Input Profile - Default, Output Profile - Tablet

Structure Detection: Detect Chapters - //*[((name()='h2' or name()='h3') and re:test(., 'chapter|book|section|part|0|1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9\s+' , 'i')) or @class = 'chapter']

Remove fake margins - checked
Insert Metadata - checked

Table Of Contents: Level 1 Toc //h:h2, Level 2 Toc //h:h3, Level 3 Toc //h:h4

Search & Replace: CHAPTER to Chapter

Epub Output: Initially Preserve Cover ratio - Checked, then on subsequent conversion - Do not Split On Page Breaks - Checked

Since my initial reporting of the problem I have also tried deleting the Metadata file in Calibre Library and restoring the Library from Backup - has not resolved the problem.

I have also retried existing files and they are now recreating the problem.

I do hope someone can point me in the right direction as I would be lost without Calibre.

Looking forward to hearing from someone.

[kovidgoyal]

You've likely got a search and replace expression that is incorrect in your conversion settings. Look under the search and replace section carefully, or post the full conversion log, not just the end of it.

[Paxman53]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

You've likely got a search and replace expression that is incorrect in your conversion settings. Look under the search and replace section carefully, or post the full conversion log, not just the end of it.

I only have CHAPTER to Chapter in Search & Replace

Sorry didn't realize there was more above here is full log:

Convert book 1 of 1 (Test Subject)
Resolved conversion options
calibre version: 0.9.12
{'asciiize': False,
'author_sort': None,
'authors': None,
'base_font_size': 12.0,
'book_producer': None,
'change_justification': u'left',
'chapter': u"//*[((name()='h2' or name()='h3') and re:test(., 'chapter|book|section|part|0|1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9\\s+ ', 'i')) or @class = 'chapter']",
'chapter_mark': u'pagebreak',
'comments': None,
'cover': None,
'debug_pipeline': None,
'dehyphenate': True,
'delete_blank_paragraphs': True,
'disable_font_rescaling': False,
'dont_split_on_page_breaks': False,
'duplicate_links_in_toc': False,
'embed_font_family': None,
'enable_heuristics': False,
'epub_flatten': False,
'extra_css': u'h2, h3, h4, h5 { text-align: center }',
'extract_to': None,
'filter_css': u'',
'fix_indents': True,
'flow_size': 260,
'font_size_mapping': u'7.5, 9.0, 10.0, 12.0, 15.5, 20.0, 22.0, 24.0',
'format_scene_breaks': True,
'html_unwrap_factor': 0.4,
'input_encoding': None,
'input_profile': <calibre.customize.profiles.InputProfile object at 0x04143110>,
'insert_blank_line': False,
'insert_blank_line_size': 0.5,
'insert_metadata': True,
'isbn': None,
'italicize_common_cases': True,
'keep_ligatures': True,
'language': None,
'level1_toc': u'//h:h2',
'level2_toc': u'//h:h3',
'level3_toc': u'//h:h4',
'line_height': 0.0,
'linearize_tables': False,
'margin_bottom': 5.0,
'margin_left': 5.0,
'margin_right': 5.0,
'margin_top': 5.0,
'markup_chapter_headings': True,
'max_toc_links': 150,
'minimum_line_height': 120.0,
'no_chapters_in_toc': False,
'no_default_epub_cover': False,
'no_inline_navbars': False,
'no_svg_cover': False,
'output_profile': <calibre.customize.profiles.TabletOutput object at 0x04143650>,
'page_breaks_before': u'/',
'prefer_metadata_cover': False,
'preserve_cover_aspect_ratio': True,
'pretty_print': True,
'pubdate': None,
'publisher': None,
'rating': None,
'read_metadata_from_opf': u'C:\\Users\\GRAEME~1\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\calib re_0.9.12_tmp_bdiovg\\4olohs.opf',
'remove_fake_margins': True,
'remove_first_image': False,
'remove_paragraph_spacing': True,
'remove_paragraph_spacing_indent_size': 1.5,
'renumber_headings': True,
'replace_scene_breaks': u'',
'search_replace': '[["CHAPTER", "Chapter"], ["", " "], ["", ""], ["", ""]]',
'series': None,
'series_index': None,
'smarten_punctuation': True,
'sr1_replace': None,
'sr1_search': None,
'sr2_replace': None,
'sr2_search': None,
'sr3_replace': None,
'sr3_search': None,
'start_reading_at': None,
'subset_embedded_fonts': False,
'tags': None,
'timestamp': None,
'title': None,
'title_sort': None,
'toc_filter': None,
'toc_threshold': 6,
'unsmarten_punctuation': False,
'unwrap_lines': True,
'use_auto_toc': False,
'verbose': 2}
InputFormatPlugin: EPUB Input running
on C:\Users\GRAEME~1\AppData\Local\Temp\calibre_0.9.1 2_tmp_bdiovg\x6c7fm.epub
Found HTML cover OEBPS/Text/titlepage.xhtml
Parsing all content...
Parsing OEBPS/Text/Section0001.xhtml ...
Initial parse failed, using more forgiving parsers
Parsing OEBPS/Text/Section0001.xhtml as HTML
Parsing OEBPS/Text/Section0002.xhtml ...
Initial parse failed, using more forgiving parsers
Parsing OEBPS/Text/Section0002.xhtml as HTML
Parsing OEBPS/Text/jacket.xhtml ...
Initial parse failed, using more forgiving parsers
Parsing OEBPS/Text/jacket.xhtml as HTML
Parsing OEBPS/Styles/stylesheet.css ...
Parsing OEBPS/Text/titlepage.xhtml ...
Initial parse failed, using more forgiving parsers
Parsing OEBPS/Text/titlepage.xhtml as HTML
Parsing OEBPS/Styles/page_styles.css ...
Reading TOC from NCX...
Merging user specified metadata...
Detecting structure...
Inserting metadata into book...
Flattening CSS and remapping font sizes...
Source base font size is 12.00000pt
Removing fake margins...
Found 2 items of level: div_1
Found 1 items of level: div_2
div_1 left margin stats: Counter()
div_1 right margin stats: Counter()
div_2 left margin stats: Counter()
div_2 right margin stats: Counter()
Cleaning up manifest...
Trimming unused files from manifest...
Trimming u'OEBPS/Images/cover_image.jpg' from manifest
Creating EPUB Output...
Found non-unique filenames, renaming to support broken EPUB readers like FBReader, Aldiko and Stanza...
{u'jacket.xhtml': u'jacket_u1.xhtml'}
Splitting markup on page breaks and flow limits, if any...
Looking for large trees in OEBPS/Text/Section0001.xhtml...
No large trees found
Looking for large trees in OEBPS/Text/Section0002.xhtml...
No large trees found
Looking for large trees in jacket_u1.xhtml...
No large trees found
Looking for large trees in OEBPS/Text/jacket.xhtml...
No large trees found
The cover image has an id != "cover". Renaming to work around bug in Nook Color
EPUB output written to C:\Users\GRAEME~1\AppData\Local\Temp\calibre_0.9.1 2_tmp_bdiovg\gzwhud.epub

[kovidgoyal]

You've got 4 expressions in search and replace, not one

'search_replace': '[["CHAPTER", "Chapter"], ["", " "], ["", ""], ["", ""]]',

[Paxman53]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

You've got 4 expressions in search and replace, not one

'search_replace': '[["CHAPTER", "Chapter"], ["", " "], ["", ""], ["", ""]]',

Oh I see, the three with quotes did not appear to show up in the Search Replace section of Convert Books only as blank boxes.

I have gone to preferences and removed all of them and retried the conversion - it now works perfectly.

Thank you Kovid so very very much.