Converting epub to epub

[dlyearsley]

When converting epub to epub it creates a backup version called epub_original . When I do it a second time instead of converting the current book and over writing the epub_original it restores the epub_original. I am sure it is a setting I have set somewhere I just cannot find it.

Currently I delete the epub_original before doing the convert again.

I would appreciate any help in the area.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by dlyearsley

When converting epub to epub it creates a backup version called epub_original . When I do it a second time instead of converting the current book and over writing the epub_original it restores the epub_original. I am sure it is a setting I have set somewhere I just cannot find it.

Currently I delete the epub_original before doing the convert again.

I would appreciate any help in the area.

Why is it you are converting ePub to ePub? Maybe we can help so you don't have to convert. I hardly ever convert ePub to ePub. I edit the code in most cases.

[hyegeek]

While I don't know the OPs reason (or the answer to the question), I myself convert epub to epub all the time. The reason is I want to change the epubs font to opendyslexic and embed it into the book so it works on my ebook.

[retiredbiker]

Interesting, I just tried a few conversions.

Take an epub that's left-aligned, convert to make it justified.
View the original_epub, and it has the original left-aligned text.

Convert it back to left-aligned with the original_epub in place.
View the original_epub, and it is still left-aligned. If Calibre made a new original_epub on the second conversion, that should be justified.

So it seems on conversion, if an original_epub is present, it is just ignored. Not restored, as OP suggests, but just left alone.

Seems strange; if you polish a book with an original_epub, you are warned that it will work on the original and over-write the epub itself. Converting has different behaviour.

This means that if you are converting and want that back-up, you had better delete the original_epub each time.

[hyegeek]

My experience agrees with what you are seeing, the original is just that, original. However, future changes are not done from the original, they are done from the current which might be what the OP was seeing.

[deback]

There is a setting in Preferences to disable saving a copy as *_original. I can't remember where it is, so perhaps someone else will know without having to go through all the settings.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by hyegeek

While I don't know the OPs reason (or the answer to the question), I myself convert epub to epub all the time. The reason is I want to change the epubs font to opendyslexic and embed it into the book so it works on my ebook.

It's best to learn how to embed the font you want. It's actually easy to do in the Calibre editor. The more you learn, the more you can change things to your liking without changing anything else.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by hyegeek

My experience agrees with what you are seeing, the original is just that, original. However, future changes are not done from the original, they are done from the current which might be what the OP was seeing.

My experience is the same. The original_epub is just there as a backup in case you need it. I run Modify ePub multiple times until it says nothing is changed because in some cases, it makes changes more then once. It never uses the original_epub.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by deback

There is a setting in Preferences to disable saving a copy as *_original. I can't remember where it is, so perhaps someone else will know without having to go through all the settings.

But if you turn this off and your conversion or whatever goes wrong, you don't have the original eBook to restore or look at. So I would suggest not turning this off.

[hyegeek]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

It's best to learn how to embed the font you want. It's actually easy to do in the Calibre editor. The more you learn, the more you can change things to your liking without changing anything else.

In the past, this is what I had to do. When Calibre added the option to do it for me, I've used that. I have a strict policy of letting the computer do what it is good at. 😀 That said, I still have to used the editor to fix books from Smashwords as Calibre only adds the font, it does not edit the stylesheet correctly to use it.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by deback

There is a setting in Preferences to disable saving a copy as *_original. I can't remember where it is, so perhaps someone else will know without having to go through all the settings.

Preferences -> Tweaks -> Save original file when converting/polishing from same format to same format

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by hyegeek

In the past, this is what I had to do. When Calibre added the option to do it for me, I've used that. I have a strict policy of letting the computer do what it is good at. 😀 That said, I still have to used the editor to fix books from Smashwords as Calibre only adds the font, it does not edit the stylesheet correctly to use it.

All you do is import the font file you want, past the CSS code into the CSS. You do that for all fonts you want embedded. Then you edit the CSS and done. It's a lot easier then it sounds. No need to convert. Sometimes it's easier to clean up the ePub from the original code then from a Calibre conversion.

Plus, you can do things in the editor such as lossless compression of the images, removing all unused CSS which can be hundreds of unused classes. Also you can error check using the Calibre checker and epubcheck. I read of others having problems because of eBooks with errors. By being able to check for errors and fixing them, you have less chance of any issues with your Reader.

One thing I suggest that would make things easier may be to get a new Reader and I suggest Kobo as it has OpenDyslexic font as one of the system fonts and it will handle your ePub without the need to convert to a different format.

[hyegeek]

While your suggestions are all good (and appreciated), just this year I've added over 400 books to my library. Compare manually editing that number of books vs. a couple of clicks and my font is embedded.

If/when Calibre does not do a good jobs (and that is getting to be much less often) I do the manual edits.

Also, while I do keep my eyes out for new ereaders that will do more for me, I can't justify buying one to avoid a couple of button clicks in a very good software package.

[dlyearsley]

There are many reasons to convert epub to epub.

1. To add a metadata page at the front of the book.
2. Many books do not have the chapters set up correctly to files. If you set chapter to a heading it will automatically build files based on the chapter.
3. The conversion program has several clean up functions and can be used to take a file that has issues and make it more readable.
4. Upgrade the versions of epub.
5. Fixes the css sheets.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by dlyearsley

There are many reasons to convert epub to epub.

1. To add a metadata page at the front of the book.
2. Many books do not have the chapters set up correctly to files. If you set chapter to a heading it will automatically build files based on the chapter.
3. The conversion program has several clean up functions and can be used to take a file that has issues and make it more readable.
4. Upgrade the versions of epub.
5. Fixes the css sheets.

But Polish or Modify EPUB can do the metadata or Cover update WITHOUT touching the rest