Calibre and pdf to epub

JCSullivan · 05-11-2010, 06:52 AM

I'm trying to convert a pdf to epub (for Kobo if that matters).

I'm loosing images
Parags. are being split
Where there is a square bullet-point I get a ? symbol and a break in the line (with or without linear tables)

Simply, there doesn't seem to be any formatting.

Any help?
Thanks

Randal6393 · 05-11-2010, 08:48 PM

Ummmm -- there are several threads floating loose on converting pdf to epub. Not a very productive plan, most conversion systems require an HTML edit at the least. Recommendation is that you read the pdf as a pdf if at all possible on your reader. Or buy an epub rendition.

I have some success by using Mobipocket Creator to produce an HTML file, then editing that to add a decent <style> section to the <head> setion of the file. Also have saved the pdf as text and used Gnu EMACS/Perl to convert the text file into HTML.

Best of luck to you,

Stinger · 05-12-2010, 07:52 AM

comment I made regarding this on the Kobo forums here, for reference sake I add it here verbatim:

Quote:

PDF's were designed for publishing/printing purposes, and as such uses absolute positioning based on the page size... which makes in inherently unfriendly to 'reflow' concepts like font resizing. Essentially, PDF's are made to be 1:1 digital copies of print material.

So taking PDF's that are created with a standard page size, and viewing them on a smaller screen like the Kobo's is probably not ever going to be elegant. You're probably always going to be limited to simple zooming and panning.

The only way around this is creating the PDF's so the page size is as small as the Kobo screen. In my case, since most of my master copies of my books are HTML (epub is just HTML/XML wrapped in a zip container), cooking a PDF with an appropriate page size is easy, and reading on the Kobo doesn't require panning around.

Of course, if your master copies are already PDF's, this won't be very helpful to you. Which is exactly the reason I try very hard to avoid PDF's as master copies for ebooks.

Basically what Randal said is true, with PDF you're effectively stuck with what you've got. Converting anything but very simple PDFs, and keeping formatting intact almost always requires lots of manual correcting of the things you mentioned (paragraph splits, etc).

charmer512 · 05-26-2010, 09:46 PM

I tried using calibre for my kobo but it just wouldn't allow me to view the content on my ereader. So for the last coupld hours I'be been playing with font size and page size on word and then converting it to PDF. But thanks to that no more pan or crop and the pages fit the screen exactely how I want it to.

They may seem like ridiculous dimensions but here is what I used for my kobo all the numbers are in inchs.
Width:9.57
Height:18.89
Margins: Top:0.07 Bottom:8.4 Right:1.32 Left:1.32
After I type in the dimensions on word I go to print (I have PDFcreator) click on the PDF printer and change the page dimension to the right Width and Height and press print. Voila PDF that fits on the Kobo. You can read any font size that's larger then 20 (which is small).
Don't know if this will help or not but good luck with your PDFs.

05-11-2010, 06:52 AM	#1
JCSullivan Chief Inspector Gamache Posts: 123 Karma: 12 Join Date: May 2010 Location: Canada eh! Device: Viewsonic	Calibre and pdf to epub I'm trying to convert a pdf to epub (for Kobo if that matters). I'm loosing images Parags. are being split Where there is a square bullet-point I get a ? symbol and a break in the line (with or without linear tables) Simply, there doesn't seem to be any formatting. Any help? Thanks

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
[Old Thread] How to convert epub to pdf using calibre	blueberry	Conversion	7	04-21-2013 11:25 PM
Calibre PDF>>EPUB N° de pages	micheljo	Software	2	10-13-2011 02:03 PM
Using Calibre to convert pdf to epub	varelov	Calibre	2	10-15-2010 02:20 AM
Problems with Calibre, PDF>EPUB	rAzR	Apple Devices	8	06-09-2010 11:06 AM
epub to pdf conversion using calibre	rblearn	Calibre	0	02-23-2010 04:57 PM

05-11-2010, 08:48 PM	#2
Randal6393 Ebook Addict for ten year Posts: 17 Karma: 58 Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Charlotte, NC, USA Device: Ebookwise 1150, Bebook Mini as lbook, Dell Axim Pocket PC	Ummmm -- there are several threads floating loose on converting pdf to epub. Not a very productive plan, most conversion systems require an HTML edit at the least. Recommendation is that you read the pdf as a pdf if at all possible on your reader. Or buy an epub rendition. I have some success by using Mobipocket Creator to produce an HTML file, then editing that to add a decent <style> section to the <head> setion of the file. Also have saved the pdf as text and used Gnu EMACS/Perl to convert the text file into HTML. Best of luck to you,

05-26-2010, 09:46 PM	#4
charmer512 Junior Member Posts: 1 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2010 Device: kobo	I tried using calibre for my kobo but it just wouldn't allow me to view the content on my ereader. So for the last coupld hours I'be been playing with font size and page size on word and then converting it to PDF. But thanks to that no more pan or crop and the pages fit the screen exactely how I want it to. They may seem like ridiculous dimensions but here is what I used for my kobo all the numbers are in inchs. Width:9.57 Height:18.89 Margins: Top:0.07 Bottom:8.4 Right:1.32 Left:1.32 After I type in the dimensions on word I go to print (I have PDFcreator) click on the PDF printer and change the page dimension to the right Width and Height and press print. Voila PDF that fits on the Kobo. You can read any font size that's larger then 20 (which is small). Don't know if this will help or not but good luck with your PDFs.

Advert