Specific PDF Question from a potential Kindle owner

[grechzoo]

I will be getting one of these when I go to America in May (unless they are released in the UK first)

Basically I have a large collection of e-books in PDF format. They are all formatted text, so there are no images or anything within them that I am looking to preserve. So basically, I’m asking if there if is a way to convert them into a kindle supported format that would allow me to not only preserve the formatting, (Indents, Spacing etc.) but also be able to change the text size on the kindle, and save the page you are on etc.

Is there a PC program out there that does this? again bear in mind these are specifically text based PDF’s, I know this is impossible when I'm dealing with images, but I’m just hoping there is a conversion program out there that makes it a true kindle book file while still retaining the formatting. I ask this because when I copy and paste the text from the PDF (using Foxit) to MS word the indents and things aren’t there anymore. It’s still readable, but it isn’t exactly the best.

Also me and my mother do not have the best vision so just using the PDF feature on the kindle might be a bit too uncomfortable.

Any advice you could offer would really help me, I really want this work out as I know it would be one of the best purchases I will make if I can get this working right.

Thanks
~
Idris

[wallcraft]

Two conversion methods to try are Windows MobiPocket Reader (Import the PDF, the MOBI output will be in the default MobiPocket directory) and Calibre (has its own forum here, again you want MOBI as the output format).

Note that Amazon has an e-mail based conversion service, which can convert PDF to MOBI. It is similar to Windows MobiPocket Reader in capabilities.

[daffy4u]

Welcome to MobileRead grechzoo! You can order the Kindle from the U.K.. It's now available in over 100 countries.

A couple of things to keep in mind whatever way you choose to convert your books:

- the Kindle has it's own font, so your converted book will only show with the native Kindle font (unless you hack your Kindle but you will still have only one font choice). You will be able to use the font at 6 different sizes.

- Kindle content if fully justified (with rare exceptions) so if your books are left justified they won't be on the Kindle.

Good luck!

[grechzoo]

Originally Posted by daffy4u

- Kindle content if fully justified (with rare exceptions) so if your books are left justified they won't be on the Kindle.

Good luck!

forgive my ignorance but could you explain what you meant (i apologise)

and thanks for the help.

i would import the kindle but the imports and stuff cost at last £25 more. plus from what i have been reading the sony e-reader isn't so bad, considering my main source of ebooks will be coming from my computer and i dont really have use for the kindle store or wifi features.

either way though my topic still stands in terms of converting pdf into fully usable e-books for electronic readers. maybe it would be a little easier if it was with the sony reader?

ill keep researching and any help would be great.

[catsittingstill]

Left justfied text all lines up at the left margin, but the lines end at different places on the right, producing a ragged margin sometimes referred to as "ragged right."

Fully justified text lines up at both the right and left margins, usually by tinkering with spaces between letters and spaces between words.

(I tried to give examples, but spacing in the comment window is not the same as spacing in the post, so I had to delete them.)

[JMikeD]

Originally Posted by grechzoo

either way though my topic still stands in terms of converting pdf into fully usable e-books for electronic readers. maybe it would be a little easier if it was with the sony reader?

PDFs don’t convert very well at all to the Kindle. I've been trying for two years to find a way to do this satisfactorily. Some methods are better than others, but none do a good job. I always end up with strange paragraph breaks, run-together words etc. It could be my standards are too high, but I find that anything I convert requires a lot of hand-editing after the conversion.

The Sony appears to be no different.

[grechzoo]

i have had some success with calibre anyway, converting it to a suitable text based e-book (epub and mobi) that should work fine. also with a combination of using nitroPDF to cut out any enforced headers or footers i think it should be fine.

i know kindle does this, but does the sony reader automatically save the page you are on when you stop reading or shutdown?

if so then not having full table of contents is a feature i can live without. i never usually skip through a book fo any kind anyway, just read from start to finish. but as i say is the sony reader doesn't automatically take you to your previous page on a book you are reading then it could be a major annoyance.

also the reason why im leaning towards the sony reader is the fact that it can be bought over here, so in terms of support, and lack of import taxes its handy. also the epub support is nice, add in the fact that i dont particaularly need wifif or the amazon store (as i will get all my ebooks on my pc through cheaper (legal) sources.( then its jnust a straight up hardware battle.

which hass the longest battery, sharpest visuals, most reliable etc. (but then we are going off topic)

[angelad]

PDFs are definitely a bit weird on Kindles, but calibre does help some, at least it has with my badly formatted pdfs.

[daffy4u]

Originally Posted by naumanqayum

that would be awesome ....u can easily order kindle for uk on amazon.co.uk

It still ships from the U.S. I was under the impression that the O.P. wasn't aware that the Kindle ships to 100+ countries. Sorry for the confusion.

[davidspitzer]

Abbyy Finereader 10 does a phenomenal job of transforming pdf's to text with the formatting intact - then you could turn it into an ebookfile using mobi creator

[Fat Abe]

Originally Posted by JMikeD

PDFs don’t convert very well at all to the Kindle.

The Sony appears to be no different.

Ditto to that, but at least the Sony readers don't force you to jump through hoops to bring a PDF document into your reader. For anyone with a requirement to read technical documents, BEWARE of all the products out there so far. Try this test file:

http://www.spectrumsignal.com/public...orm_primer.pdf

On the Sony, the first figure, and a few others, are missing. With both Mobi and Calibre converters, no figures show up. As for equations, ha ha. The laugh is on you, the end user. The score: Sony gets 7.5, Kindle converters gets a 1.0. I wonder what kind of hatchet job the Apple Ipad will do on this file.

[lilman]

To answer one of your questions the Kindle does remember the last page you were on. When you exit a pdf it will create a bookmark of the page you were on, and the next time you load the pdf it will open to that page again by default.