Converting from Google Docs

kdgarris · 12-19-2011, 01:26 PM

I have a book that I wrote in Google docs that I want to convert to a Kindle book, and I am trying to determine the best method to do so. I figured my best approach would be to download in HTML format, then have Calibre convert the HTML to Mobi. This worked, and it detected chapters nicely, but I'm not pleased at how it messed with my formatting and spacing (space between lines is gone; there are indents where there were none before, etc. I think the issue with with Calibre's conversion, not with the HTML that Google docs produced, since the latter looked fine when viewed via a Web browser before converting it.

The only conversion process that gave formatting that I liked was downloading my book in word format, then emailing it to my Kindle email address for conversion. This looked better, but, of course, there was no auto-detected table of contents.

Is there any way I can have my cake and eat it too, here, or do I need to give up on conversion, and learn how to author a Mobi doc from scratch?

kdgarris · 12-20-2011, 09:54 AM

Would the Conversion forum be better for this question? I put it here because I figured that the question wasn't specific to Calibre.

susan_cassidy · 12-20-2011, 11:16 AM

It could be that the HTML contains fancy CSS that does not readily translate to .mobi format, which does not really support CSS, only basic HTML.

kdgarris · 12-22-2011, 02:17 PM

What ended-up working best for me was using the email conversion from Word to get the .azw with the correct line spacing, etc., then loading the .azw into Calibre to add the metadata, then converting to .mobi to have it generate a Table of Contents, etc.

12-19-2011, 01:26 PM	#1
kdgarris Connoisseur Posts: 59 Karma: 14744 Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Indianapolis, IN USA Device: Kindle 3 wifi	Converting from Google Docs I have a book that I wrote in Google docs that I want to convert to a Kindle book, and I am trying to determine the best method to do so. I figured my best approach would be to download in HTML format, then have Calibre convert the HTML to Mobi. This worked, and it detected chapters nicely, but I'm not pleased at how it messed with my formatting and spacing (space between lines is gone; there are indents where there were none before, etc. I think the issue with with Calibre's conversion, not with the HTML that Google docs produced, since the latter looked fine when viewed via a Web browser before converting it. The only conversion process that gave formatting that I liked was downloading my book in word format, then emailing it to my Kindle email address for conversion. This looked better, but, of course, there was no auto-detected table of contents. Is there any way I can have my cake and eat it too, here, or do I need to give up on conversion, and learn how to author a Mobi doc from scratch?

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12-20-2011, 09:54 AM	#2
kdgarris Connoisseur Posts: 59 Karma: 14744 Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Indianapolis, IN USA Device: Kindle 3 wifi	Would the Conversion forum be better for this question? I put it here because I figured that the question wasn't specific to Calibre.

12-20-2011, 11:16 AM	#3
susan_cassidy Wizard Posts: 2,251 Karma: 3720310 Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: USA Device: Kindle, iPad (not used much for reading)	It could be that the HTML contains fancy CSS that does not readily translate to .mobi format, which does not really support CSS, only basic HTML.

12-22-2011, 02:17 PM	#4
kdgarris Connoisseur Posts: 59 Karma: 14744 Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Indianapolis, IN USA Device: Kindle 3 wifi	What ended-up working best for me was using the email conversion from Word to get the .azw with the correct line spacing, etc., then loading the .azw into Calibre to add the metadata, then converting to .mobi to have it generate a Table of Contents, etc.

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