Help needed - converting ePub to Kindle mobi format

[VRBurnett]

Please bear with me - I'm not HTML literate and am very new to my kindle and to calibre. It is likely that someone has asked this question and been answered in the past but I haven't been able to find a question here that looks like it fits my need. I would really rather have the time to read through the forums here and figure out this solution on my own but I have very limited computer time just now and am having a hard time grasping many of the threads I have had time to read.

Here's the thing -

I have a scripture study manual that is available in PDF and in ePub that I want to convert to mobi to use on my kindle (I have the very basic 6" economy style kindle.) I can read the PDF manual with my kindle but the small screen size paired with the fact that there are two columns on the page makes reading and navigating across the page at a legible size very cumbersome.

I have successfully converted several other publications from ePub to mobi so I'm familiar with the very basic basics but none of those other publications had the formatting challenges of page columns, maps and illustrations. When I have tried to convert this manual, the outcome has been very wonky. I'll get a segment with several sentences that breaks off and then has another several line segment from the neighboring column. The text bounces back and forth from column to column and it gets even more weird if an illustration or caption is thrown in.

If someone can offer a few suggestions about how to adjust settings in calibre to manage those columns or even direct me to a few threads that will help me learn the ropes a little more efficiently, that would be wonderful! If my cause is hopeless, that would be good to know also - then I'll stop wasting time on it!

Thanks so much.

[itimpi]

I am afraid that there is no good way of converting a PDF file with complex formatting. The best you are likely to be able to do is start by converting the file to ePub and then using an editor such as Sigil to clean things up. EPub files normally convert well to Mobi.

[wallcraft]

Are you sure the conversion is ePub to MOBI? The kinds of artifacts you describe are more usual for PDF to MOBI, rather than ePub to MOBI, conversion. If the ePub is the source, then check to see if it also has the problems you describe. Usually, an ePub to MOBI conversion will be relatively problem free.

[VRBurnett]

Looks like I just needed a reminder to double check my formats again.

Because I had both PDF and ePub formats in my library, I must have mistakenly tried to convert the PDF multiple times resulting in the same errors multiple times. When I went for the ePub, it converted to mobi smoothly and the document is now reading beautifully on my kindle.

Thank for your patiently urging me to look for operator error again.