Which of these formats would give me a printed-like PDF after conversion

[dream3]

Hey guys.

I'm new. Hope this is the right place to ask.

I would like to buy a digital book and make a regular pdf out of it. Here are the choices I have as far as book file format/store:

Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Books A Million
Google Play Store
iBooks
Kobo

Which one should I choose in order to have a printed-like layout (as if the book was printed or the original PDF sent for printing) after I open it in Calibre and do the Ctrl+P to save as PDF?

Hope that is an easy question to answer haha.

Thanks to all in advance!

[theducks]

Well, you can (mostly) leave out Amazon. (AZW4 could be unpacked)
A few stores feature multiple formats.

But it begs the question: Why e-book if you are going to print it out?
Paper books are already bound, a bit more compact.
Toner/drum and paper usually cost more that the ready made version <or are you getting that for free? >

[dream3]

Thanks.

I didn't say I wanted to print though. What I meant is I wanted a PDF file with the original formatting/layout instead of that random mess I usually get with epubs.

I still want my book to be digital but I need a simple plain PDF (with the correct layout, as the original author intended to).

Went ahead and got one from Kobo. Downloaded to ADE and extracted the Epub. It opens fine in Calibre but it keeps on changing its layout whenever I resize the window.

Now I need to find a way for Calibre to properly present it to me

[theducks]

Originally Posted by dream3

Thanks.

I didn't say I wanted to print though. What I meant is I wanted a PDF file with the original formatting/layout instead of that random mess I usually get with epubs.

I still want my book to be digital but I need a simple plain PDF (with the correct layout, as the original author intended to).

Went ahead and got one from Kobo. Downloaded to ADE and extracted the Epub. It opens fine in Calibre but it keeps on changing its layout whenever I resize the window.

Now I need to find a way for Calibre to properly present it to me

You missed the point of EPUB2. Reflow text to fit the screen.
(which is not what you want for charts and tables )

If it is a total hash, the book Publisher messed it up.
If you want (non-reflow) PDF (ADE devices can reflow some PDF), buy that and open with Adobe Reader

[dwig]

Originally Posted by theducks

...
If it is a total hash, the book Publisher messed it up.
If you want (non-reflow) PDF (ADE devices can reflow some PDF), buy that and open with Adobe Reader

Exactly. GIGO

[dream3]

Originally Posted by theducks

You missed the point of EPUB2. Reflow text to fit the screen.
(which is not what you want for charts and tables )

If it is a total hash, the book Publisher messed it up.
If you want (non-reflow) PDF (ADE devices can reflow some PDF), buy that and open with Adobe Reader

Sorry but I was completely lost in what you said.

I haven't been able to find the books that I want for sale in straight out PDF format. The places were those I listed in the first post, and they all seem to be delivered in epub.

That's why I'm looking for Calibre to help with a proper conversion from that freeflow mess to the original page layout.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by dream3

Sorry but I was completely lost in what you said.

I haven't been able to find the books that I want for sale in straight out PDF format. The places were those I listed in the first post, and they all seem to be delivered in epub.

That's why I'm looking for Calibre to help with a proper conversion from that freeflow mess to the original page layout.

Ain't gonna happen automatically, with ANY Calibre setting.
You are going to have to analize the codes used on each section and adjust those.

I suggest you change your device, to one with a bigger screen (if you are using a tiny screen).
Or return a 'Defective book for a refund, if you are using a 5" or larger screen. Failure to render on those, is an indication that the book failed to work on a common device.

[dream3]

Oh I see what you mean.

I was able to sort out two kinds of ebooks for sale. At least on Google Play Store they make it clear that one version features "free flow" and the other one features "free flow AND original pages".

So it seems logical now the "free flow" version would have absolutely no guidelines at all while the other one must have the "original pages" information written inside the ebup, correct?
Wouldn't Calibre be able to render the epub as I'd like in cases like that, extracting that information for me? Maybe I need to tweak some settings at it?

I'm using a 27" monitor.

[theducks]

'Original Pages' suggests a version of PDF (but it could be pictures of the page)

Your monitor is big. reflow fits the window. who knows what happens when you go far either way from a normal sized reader screen.

[Elfwreck]

There is no guarantee any store provides ebooks that look like the print book - while epub formatting allows a lot of precision, most publishers don't take advantage of it, and even those that do, it's a book-by-book decision. (Newer books may be formatted with all the correct fonts, layout options, etc.; older reprints may have just basic formatting.)

If you really, really want it to look like the print version, you'll have to look for PDFs, and as you've noticed, they're often not available. (And some stores don't bother to tell you even when they are available - they just say "Adobe Digital Editions" and don't mention whether that's epub or PDF.)

Next option is to get epubs and figure out enough of the coding/css options to run it through a conversion process that makes it look more like what you want to read. There's no simple solution for that, because most people who read ebooks want the reflow options, so that it fills whatever screen they're using at the time.

I'm fond of the EPUBReader plugin for Firefox; I can open books in that and resize the screen to whatever's comfortable.

"Free flow" likely means epub, where the text matches your screen, like an HTML file. It doesn't mean no line breaks or no chapter breaks; it just means that your "page" is the viewer window.

"Original pages" sounds like a PDF, presumably a searchable version, with fixed page layouts - you see a whole page at a time, and if you shrink your viewing window (whether that's a browser or some version of Acrobat), you either get a smaller page that's hard to read, or a zoomed-in section so you'll have to scroll around to see everything.

[BetterRed]

@dream3 - if I wanted to transform a free-flow layout format (e.g. ePub) into a fixed layout format (e.g. PDF), I would convert it to a fixed layout format (e.g. DOCX) on which I could use a word processor like MS Word a LO Writer to create the PDF.

Why - because I have considerable experience in producing fixed layout publications (tech manuals) using word processors for print and PDF. Word processors are inherently fixed format, which probably explains why they're hopeless at producing HTML.

BR

[dream3]

Thanks guys, for the thorough explanations. I unfortunately got it now

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

I'm fond of the EPUBReader plugin for Firefox; I can open books in that and resize the screen to whatever's comfortable.

Would I be able to export, convert or print to PDF from that plugin?

Originally Posted by BetterRed

@dream3 - if I wanted to transform a free-flow layout format (e.g. ePub) into a fixed layout format (e.g. PDF), I would convert it to a fixed layout format (e.g. DOCX) on which I could use a word processor like MS Word a LO Writer to create the PDF.


BR

That would mean rebuilding the book from scratch, wouldn't it?

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by dream3

That would mean rebuilding the book from scratch, wouldn't it?

I have no idea, converting to DOCX should preserve the text, fonts, and the basic structure, but things like sidebars, diagrams and tables would probably need some attention.

If your existing word processor skills don't go much beyond using it as if it were typewriter then it could be hard going.

Format shifting between flowable and fixed layouts is a bit like throwing a bowl of soup into microwave oven in the hope that it will produce a triple decker sandwich. It is inevitable that the output will require some editing

BR

[theducks]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

Format shifting between flowable and fixed layouts is a bit like throwing a bowl of soup into microwave oven in the hope that it will produce a triple decker sandwich. It is inevitable that the output will require some editing

BR

Usually, it just belches all over the inside and makes a MESS
Sorta what the OPis getting