09-30-2011, 02:29 AM | #1 |
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KindleGen: Epub to Mobi conversion
I'm having trouble converting my epubs (created in IDCS5.5, edited in TextWrangler) to mobi files with Kindlegen. The basic conversion works, but a few things are problematic.
I am interested in learning what adjustments I need to make to the epub file for a clean conversion, rather than working in Sigil or Calibre. Does anyone work like this? My first main problem is generating a table of contents for the mobi. I have both a Contents page (in its own html file) and a toc.ncx file in the epub. Neither of these becomes the TOC in mobi. Is there a way to adjust the epub so Kindlegen will produce a TOC for Kindle? |
09-30-2011, 03:04 AM | #2 |
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For reference, here is the errors I'm pulling up thus far:
Warning(prcgen): Guide title is empty. Item is ignored Info(prcgen): Parsing files 0000017 Info(cssparser): @rules other than @import and @charset are not supported. Info(cssparser): @rules other than @import and @charset are not supported. Info(cssparser): @rules other than @import and @charset are not supported. Info(cssparser): @rules other than @import and @charset are not supported. Info(cssparser): @rules other than @import and @charset are not supported. Info(cssparser): @rules other than @import and @charset are not supported. Info(cssparser): @rules other than @import and @charset are not supported. Info(cssparser): @rules other than @import and @charset are not supported. Info(cssparser): @rules other than @import and @charset are not supported. Info(cssparser): @rules other than @import and @charset are not supported. Info(cssparser): @rules other than @import and @charset are not supported. Info(cssparser): @rules other than @import and @charset are not supported. Info(cssparser): @rules other than @import and @charset are not supported. Info(cssparser): @rules other than @import and @charset are not supported. Info(cssparser): @rules other than @import and @charset are not supported. Info(cssparser): @rules other than @import and @charset are not supported. Info(cssparser): @rules other than @import and @charset are not supported. Info(prcgen): Resolving hyperlinks Info(prcgen): Building table of content URL: /var/folders/Dm/DmpXZclPH1KXvbHFzK9XqE+++TI/-Tmp-/mobi-Jo5hFQ/OEBPS/toc.ncx Info(pagemap): No Page map found in the book Warning(prcgen): Cover is too small : /var/folders/Dm/DmpXZclPH1KXvbHFzK9XqE+++TI/-Tmp-/mobi-Jo5hFQ/OEBPS/images/frontcover.jpg Info(prcgen): Computing UNICODE ranges used in the book Info(prcgen): Found UNICODE range: Basic Latin [20..7E] Info(prcgen): Found UNICODE range: General Punctuation - Windows 1252 [201C..201E] Info(prcgen): Found UNICODE range: Latin-1 Supplement [A0..FF] Info(prcgen): Building MOBI file, record count: 0000053 Info(prcgen): Final stats - text compressed to (in % of original size): 052.84% Info(prcgen): The document identifier is: "The_Happy_Life" Info(prcgen): The file format version is V6 Info(prcgen): Saving MOBI file Info(prcgen): MOBI File generated with WARNINGS! |
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09-30-2011, 04:51 AM | #3 |
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See the other thread. I think you're missing the toc reference item in the guide section of the OPF file... because judging by your kindlegen output, it looks like the ncx file is being processed just fine (which will give you the navigational "dots" on the progress bar on the Kindle).
Last edited by DiapDealer; 09-30-2011 at 06:00 AM. Reason: Typo correction |
09-30-2011, 12:39 PM | #4 | |
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Quote:
If you did so, and it still doesn't work, I'd check the spellings, paths, etc. -- all the usual suspects. |
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10-02-2011, 08:21 PM | #5 |
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This is what I have in my content.opf guide section:
<guide> <reference type="cover" href="cover_epub.html"/> <reference type="title-page" href="title-page_epub.html"/> <reference type="toc" href="toc_epub.html"/> </guide> |
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10-03-2011, 12:24 AM | #6 |
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I have just tried another book (an epub received from a conversion house). Kindlegen ran with no errors except this message:
Info(pagemap): No Page map found in the book The book works fine on Kindle Previewer for iPad, except there is no Table of Contents. Stumped. |
10-03-2011, 02:48 AM | #7 | |
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Quote:
I have a new problem (of course!). Most conversions are working, but this one is giving me grief, just this error, which stops the cover from displaying: Warning(prcgen): Cover invalid and was not built with the book : /var/folders/Dm/DmpXZclPH1KXvbHFzK9XqE+++TI/-Tmp-/mobi-6USM65/OEBPS/cover.html |
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10-03-2011, 11:37 PM | #8 |
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Warning(prcgen): Cover invalid and was not built with the book : /var/folders/Dm/DmpXZclPH1KXvbHFzK9XqE+++TI/-Tmp-/mobi-6USM65/OEBPS/cover.html
I figured this one out by hacking at the code - the file hadn't been built properly by the conversion house, and while it worked fine in the epub, it showed its flaws during the conversion process. I think the epub to mobi conversion process is under control now - touch wood. |
11-06-2011, 05:27 AM | #9 |
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I am coverting an epub that contains several indented block quotes to mobi. The kindlegen generated mobi doesn't scrub up too well, the indented quotes are indented on the left hand side (maybe a bit further thanI would like) but not at all on the right hand side. Is there a known way to fix this? If i need to edit the epub CSS first, or perhaps I need to use another program to clean up the mobi? Any help much appreciatted.
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11-06-2011, 05:29 AM | #10 |
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The current Mobipocket format doesn't do right hand indents at all.
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11-06-2011, 05:56 AM | #11 |
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Thanks pdurrant. And please excuse my ignorance, I'm new to the world of all things kindle, so does that mean any ebook on a kindle won't support right indents, or is there another format which kindle uses that does support right indent? AZW? Is there actually any difference?
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11-06-2011, 06:36 AM | #12 | |
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Quote:
So no current Kinde ebooks have right indents. Amazon have recently announced a new format "Kindle Format 8" - KF8 - that should support right indents (and a whole lot more) but it's not really ready for use yet. |
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11-06-2011, 06:41 AM | #13 |
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Cool. Thanks for the clarification.
I forgot to mention, the block quotes also have a space-before that is being ignored in the mobi. Is this another kindle setting, or is there a way to fix this? The space-after block quote is being honoured. |
11-06-2011, 08:05 AM | #14 |
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It should be possible to adjust the coding on the ePub so that KindleGen gives you some space before the block quote. But you'll just have to experiment to find out what works for your particular situation. There isn't any documentation of what KindleGen will convert properly as far as I know.
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11-06-2011, 10:34 AM | #15 |
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I know kindlegen can be very fussy about top AND bottom margins being simultaneously applied through CSS to <p> and other block tags. One or the other seems to get ignored at times. Especially if the margins are specified in em's. I've had better luck designing layouts where you can get the spacing you want with top-margins only. Or using pt's instead of em's.
Another trick is to run the epub through calibre's mobi conversion process. If the results look the way you want them to (on a Kindle or in Kindle previewer)... use MobiUnpack to see what's going on. Or even just feed the results of MobiUnpack (the opf file) to kindlegen. |
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epub conversion, kindlegen, mobi conversion |
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