From exisiting html to PDF

ez2muz · 04-28-2017, 12:13 PM

Hello,

I arrived at this forum after searching around and stumbling onto the "calibre" tool. I want to download html files (some open-source "how-to" pages) from a website and convert the multiple html files found there within the linked subfolders into PDF files. Why to PDF? Good reasons but not worth discussing now... Is "calibre" the right tool? From their website I saw that it can take html as input and PDF as output... but the tutorials I've viewed thus far don't use open-source html within a webpage as the input.

Has anyone done this? Is there a better tool/method? I would also like to retain the heirarchial structure of the "how-to's" if possible.

Thank you

Solitaire1 · 05-01-2017, 03:08 PM

What I have used is OpenOffice.org to do the job of convert a web page to PDF.

While it takes a bit of formatting clean up, the basic steps are:

Save the web page.
Open it in OpenOffice.org.
Save as an Open Document file.
Open the Open Document file.
Clean up the formatting.
Export it as a PDF.

Something that I do is to make the page size the same as the screen size of my e-book reader. That way, it will look the same on my screen as it will look on my e-book reader and will allow me to identify any formatting issues before making the final PDF.

As far as linked pages, I haven't made use of them. What I do is put all of them into one document and then include a table of contents with page numbers so I can easily get to the page that I want.

I hope that helps.

Difflugia · 05-01-2017, 04:56 PM

There are lots of ways to do this.

For what it's worth, Calibre does a fine job. The options offer lots of flexibility and you don't need much prior experience to make it work.

The Chrome browser includes a printer selection called "Save to PDF". Select print and a dialog will come up. Under your default printer, click the "Change" button. Select "Save to PDF".

Microsoft Word has a save to PDF function. You can load the web pages, edit them how you want, and save the result as PDF.

If you only want to do it once (or over the next week, anyway), then the Acrobat free trial gives you all the tools you need. If you want it for longer, older versions offer a 30-day trial and are still available for download (Acrobat 8 or 9 and X or XI).

Installing Ghostscript and CutePDF will add a PDF printer driver that will work from most Windows software, including internet browsers.

If you're a bit of a hacker, you can skip CutePDF and set up a printer device that sends PostScript output to a file and use Ghostscript to convert it to PDF. Create a new local printer on the existing port "FILE:". Select a PostScript printer (the "HP Color LaserJet Series 2800 PS" works well). Then use "Program Files\gs\gs9.21\lib\ps2pdf.bat" to do the conversion.

04-28-2017, 12:13 PM	#1
ez2muz Junior Member Posts: 1 Karma: 10 Join Date: Apr 2017 Device: none	From exisiting html to PDF Hello, I arrived at this forum after searching around and stumbling onto the "calibre" tool. I want to download html files (some open-source "how-to" pages) from a website and convert the multiple html files found there within the linked subfolders into PDF files. Why to PDF? Good reasons but not worth discussing now... Is "calibre" the right tool? From their website I saw that it can take html as input and PDF as output... but the tutorials I've viewed thus far don't use open-source html within a webpage as the input. Has anyone done this? Is there a better tool/method? I would also like to retain the heirarchial structure of the "how-to's" if possible. Thank you

05-01-2017, 03:08 PM	#2
Solitaire1 Samurai Lizard Posts: 14,251 Karma: 66666666 Join Date: Nov 2009 Device: NookColor	What I have used is OpenOffice.org to do the job of convert a web page to PDF. While it takes a bit of formatting clean up, the basic steps are: Save the web page. Open it in OpenOffice.org. Save as an Open Document file. Open the Open Document file. Clean up the formatting. Export it as a PDF. Something that I do is to make the page size the same as the screen size of my e-book reader. That way, it will look the same on my screen as it will look on my e-book reader and will allow me to identify any formatting issues before making the final PDF. As far as linked pages, I haven't made use of them. What I do is put all of them into one document and then include a table of contents with page numbers so I can easily get to the page that I want. I hope that helps.

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05-01-2017, 04:56 PM	#3
Difflugia Testate Amoeba Posts: 3,049 Karma: 27300000 Join Date: Sep 2012 Device: Many Android devices, Kindle 2, Toshiba e755 PocketPC	There are lots of ways to do this. For what it's worth, Calibre does a fine job. The options offer lots of flexibility and you don't need much prior experience to make it work. The Chrome browser includes a printer selection called "Save to PDF". Select print and a dialog will come up. Under your default printer, click the "Change" button. Select "Save to PDF". Microsoft Word has a save to PDF function. You can load the web pages, edit them how you want, and save the result as PDF. If you only want to do it once (or over the next week, anyway), then the Acrobat free trial gives you all the tools you need. If you want it for longer, older versions offer a 30-day trial and are still available for download (Acrobat 8 or 9 and X or XI). Installing Ghostscript and CutePDF will add a PDF printer driver that will work from most Windows software, including internet browsers. If you're a bit of a hacker, you can skip CutePDF and set up a printer device that sends PostScript output to a file and use Ghostscript to convert it to PDF. Create a new local printer on the existing port "FILE:". Select a PostScript printer (the "HP Color LaserJet Series 2800 PS" works well). Then use "Program Files\gs\gs9.21\lib\ps2pdf.bat" to do the conversion.

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