Converting AZW3 book to PDF results in messed up format

NeonHD · 07-21-2017, 07:56 PM

Hi, so there is really no way to give a TLDR version of this, so please bear with me as I'll explain everything.

PURPOSE:

So recently my mom bought this book from Amazon to read via the Kindle for PC app, BUT the font was too small and there was no way to zoom in. I think this is due to it for showing two pages. I have absolutely no clue if it's giving me a two-page view or if the two pages are actually glued together as one. Here is a screenshot of what I'm talking about (since pictures speak more than words): http://imgur.com/a/U9TCo

So I took the courage to manually deDRM the book in Calibre and convert it to PDF so that my mom can use Adobe reader instead to zoom in.

THE PROBLEM:

BUT, by doing this yielded many complications:
1) The book was heavy on pictures and custom backgrounds and so it DID NOT format well. Some pictures seem to be distorted and out of place.
2) Text is all over the place. Paragraphs do not stay in their supposed margins and some text is off the screen.
3) There are many white blank pages which I have no idea why.
4) And all in all everything is spaced very far apart which is pretty much the main reason why everything's a mess.

I tried messing with all the settings and options (e.g. Look and Feel, Heuristic Processing, Page Setup, etc.) and still ended up either the same or worse.

WHAT I WANT:

To be honest, I am a complete newbie who knows absolutely nothing about formatting in CSS or HTML or whatever (If I did I probably would've used some better vocab to explain all this, I don't even know if I used the word "margin" correctly), so I was just hoping that maybe some of you guys here will help do this for me. ALL the files will be attached below and embedded in the post. If not then that is okay, I just need someone to fully understand my situation and to guide me, that would be great!

EXTERNAL LINKS

Moderator Notice
Links to copyrighted material deleted. This is in violation of the Mobilread guidelines. This is your only warning.

P.S. I've heard that PDF is an awful format to convert to/from, so I tried converting AZW3 to EPUB but it still has the exact same formatting issues. I thought everything was going to be a breeze based from my previous AZW4 to PDF conversion of a textbook which was a success.

kovidgoyal · 07-21-2017, 11:55 PM

Your source azw3 file is likely a fixed layout file, these are not supported by calibre. They suffer all the same problems as trying to convert PDF files.

And incidentally, converting to PDF is fine. Converting from PDF is not.

BetterRed · 07-22-2017, 12:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NeonHD

[. . .] I thought everything was going to be a breeze based from my previous AZW4 to PDF conversion of a textbook which was a success.

Here's why that was ==>> MobileRead Wiki - AZW4

BR

HarryT · 07-24-2017, 04:22 AM

Should you ever wish to "convert" a Print Replica (AZW4) book again, use the "KindleUnpack" plugin. This will directly extract the PDF file from the AZW4 with no conversion.

07-21-2017, 07:56 PM	#1
NeonHD Junior Member Posts: 1 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jul 2017 Device: Kindle for PC + Calibre	Converting AZW3 book to PDF results in messed up format Hi, so there is really no way to give a TLDR version of this, so please bear with me as I'll explain everything. PURPOSE: So recently my mom bought this book from Amazon to read via the Kindle for PC app, BUT the font was too small and there was no way to zoom in. I think this is due to it for showing two pages. I have absolutely no clue if it's giving me a two-page view or if the two pages are actually glued together as one. Here is a screenshot of what I'm talking about (since pictures speak more than words): http://imgur.com/a/U9TCo So I took the courage to manually deDRM the book in Calibre and convert it to PDF so that my mom can use Adobe reader instead to zoom in. THE PROBLEM: BUT, by doing this yielded many complications: 1) The book was heavy on pictures and custom backgrounds and so it DID NOT format well. Some pictures seem to be distorted and out of place. 2) Text is all over the place. Paragraphs do not stay in their supposed margins and some text is off the screen. 3) There are many white blank pages which I have no idea why. 4) And all in all everything is spaced very far apart which is pretty much the main reason why everything's a mess. I tried messing with all the settings and options (e.g. Look and Feel, Heuristic Processing, Page Setup, etc.) and still ended up either the same or worse. WHAT I WANT: To be honest, I am a complete newbie who knows absolutely nothing about formatting in CSS or HTML or whatever (If I did I probably would've used some better vocab to explain all this, I don't even know if I used the word "margin" correctly), so I was just hoping that maybe some of you guys here will help do this for me. ALL the files will be attached below and embedded in the post. If not then that is okay, I just need someone to fully understand my situation and to guide me, that would be great! EXTERNAL LINKS Moderator Notice Links to copyrighted material deleted. This is in violation of the Mobilread guidelines. This is your only warning. P.S. I've heard that PDF is an awful format to convert to/from, so I tried converting AZW3 to EPUB but it still has the exact same formatting issues. I thought everything was going to be a breeze based from my previous AZW4 to PDF conversion of a textbook which was a success. Last edited by theducks; 07-21-2017 at 08:14 PM. Reason: Delete links to copyrighted material

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07-21-2017, 11:55 PM	#2
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,849 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	Your source azw3 file is likely a fixed layout file, these are not supported by calibre. They suffer all the same problems as trying to convert PDF files. And incidentally, converting to PDF is fine. Converting from PDF is not.

07-24-2017, 04:22 AM	#4
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383043 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	Should you ever wish to "convert" a Print Replica (AZW4) book again, use the "KindleUnpack" plugin. This will directly extract the PDF file from the AZW4 with no conversion.

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