spacing problem in Kindle Mobi converted from rtf file

[Anne Marie Weiss]

Hi friends. I'm working on the creation of an ebook by exporting it in a rtf file to Kindle for conversion to mobi. The goal is to edit and polish the output for reading on Kindles.

I've managed to resolve a variety of formatting issues but don't see answers to this one in the forum.

The mobi file wants to respect the 8.5 x 11 standard page size by inserting line breaks in the words of the text at the page border, and page breaks where the 11 inch page would end. How to delete these large spaces?

I surmise I need to edit the 'page size' somewhere in the rtf format before exporting to Kindle for conversion.

I'd appreciate your comments and suggestions.

Thank you.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Anne Marie Weiss

Hi friends. I'm working on the creation of an ebook by exporting it in a rtf file to Kindle for conversion to mobi. The goal is to edit and polish the output for reading on Kindles.

I've managed to resolve a variety of formatting issues but don't see answers to this one in the forum.

The mobi file wants to respect the 8.5 x 11 standard page size by inserting line breaks in the words of the text at the page border, and page breaks where the 11 inch page would end. How to delete these large spaces?

I surmise I need to edit the 'page size' somewhere in the rtf format before exporting to Kindle for conversion.

I'd appreciate your comments and suggestions.

Thank you.

Hi:

No, that's not what is happening. Somehow, when you used that file, it must have been in some Apple or iPad app, because it's being exported with line-breaks at the end of EVERY line, all of which have to be removed by hand, and page-breaks at the bottom of each page. We also see this with faux Word/RTF files created by "save as Word" from PDFs, too. (Never works).

You have to edit all of those out. eBooks do NOT use the same line-lengths as print, and they reflow. Turn on your pilcrow or reveal codes icon, find the paragraph breaks or line-breaks at the end of each line, delete them. Replace with a space as needed. Delete the page breaks at the bottom of each page.

If you leave them in, even in changing the "page size" your resulting Kindle book will be a disaster.

That's how it's done.

Hitch

[Anne Marie Weiss]

Thank you so much! Yes, I do see the codes for line break and page break.

The file is a collection of poetry that was made in Access, and was exported as rtf. Then sent to Kindle for formatting for e-reader.

So, I need to search for all line breaks and page breaks in the 150 page file and remove each manually? There is no way to 'find and replace all'?

THANK YOU.

AMW

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Anne Marie Weiss

Thank you so much! Yes, I do see the codes for line break and page break.

The file is a collection of poetry that was made in Access, and was exported as rtf. Then sent to Kindle for formatting for e-reader.

So, I need to search for all line breaks and page breaks in the 150 page file and remove each manually? There is no way to 'find and replace all'?

THANK YOU.

AMW

Well, I don't know if you have line-feed characters, or paragraph characters. Of course, you can regex or S&R them out, but you need to pay attention to what you're doing. For example, if you remove ALL pilcrows (end of paragraph codes), you'll have one giant paragraph. If you have line-feed characters at the end of each line of text, that should not be there, then you can certainly delete those without worrying too much.

However...I would think that if the original document was poetry, then you need those line-feeds or paragraph breaks (they really ought to be para breaks) at the end of each line of the stanzas, right? I'm now a bit confused by what you're saying, because I'd think that you wouldn't, normally, have lines running past the end of the right margin, with poetry. I was thinking of prose, which of course does have this problem.

So...you might want to post a screenshot of what you're trying to do, because if you're creating poetry, then you do not want to remove all the line-ends. I don't want to tell you to do X, and then find out that your intent was Y, if you know what I mean. At the moment, to me, it sounds like two different things--text intended to line-wrap, at the right margin, versus stanzas of poetry, which typically wouldn't.

Hitch

[Notjohn]

>it's being exported with line-breaks at the end of EVERY line, all of which have to be removed by hand, and page-breaks at the bottom of each page.

People laugh at me for using DOS WordStar, but in document mode a Ctrl-6 command slides down the right margin and removes all those carriage returns. Of course one can't just skim through the whole document, because the actual paragraphs ought to remain delineated.

[najgori]

oh! it's you mr. george rr martin?

[Anne Marie Weiss]

Hi friends. MANY THANKS for your advice. I have edited 150 pages of rtf text and only a few questions still remain.

I am learning how to produce an organized and clear Ebook by sending the edited rtf file to Kindle for transformation.

QUESTION - how can I view the rtf codes? I do see the paragraph breaks but I think I need to view all the codes in order to perfect the file.

The current challenge is - what to insert in the place of the page break? If I just delete it, the format is lacking what looks like a 'half line' break. It might be a spacing 'after text' of .6 or ,8, as I see that in some places.

However, I'm not sure how to adjust the spacing when removing a page break. Because I can't see the codes and insert whatever is missing.

THANK YOU

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Anne Marie Weiss

Hi friends. MANY THANKS for your advice. I have edited 150 pages of rtf text and only a few questions still remain.

I am learning how to produce an organized and clear Ebook by sending the edited rtf file to Kindle for transformation.

QUESTION - how can I view the rtf codes? I do see the paragraph breaks but I think I need to view all the codes in order to perfect the file.

The current challenge is - what to insert in the place of the page break? If I just delete it, the format is lacking what looks like a 'half line' break. It might be a spacing 'after text' of .6 or ,8, as I see that in some places.

However, I'm not sure how to adjust the spacing when removing a page break. Because I can't see the codes and insert whatever is missing.

THANK YOU

Anne?

What editor or word-processor do you have this open in, please?

Hitch

[Anne Marie Weiss]

I saved the material in Access over a period of years. I then exported to a PDF and sent to Kindle for formatting, but learned that rtf produces a file that is easier for Kindle to convert.

So I stopped trying to produce an e-reader book through pdf, and instead have been working with rtf - cleaning up the undesirable line breaks manually. As suggested on this forum. That requires a lot of time, but does produce excellent results.

However, when I remove the page breaks in the rtf file, the resulting spacing does not match the remainder of the text formatting.

Again, thank you.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Anne Marie Weiss

I saved the material in Access over a period of years. I then exported to a PDF and sent to Kindle for formatting, but learned that rtf produces a file that is easier for Kindle to convert.

So I stopped trying to produce an e-reader book through pdf, and instead have been working with rtf - cleaning up the undesirable line breaks manually. As suggested on this forum. That requires a lot of time, but does produce excellent results.

However, when I remove the page breaks in the rtf file, the resulting spacing does not match the remainder of the text formatting.

Again, thank you.

Using a PDF to make an eBook is like solving your headache by hammering a nail into your forehead. And with all due respect, sending a file to your Kindle isn't going to fix anything, either. The "document" conversion system isn't the same as the conversion software in Kindlegen; it's different and older.


I was asking, what are you editing the RTF in? Word? Something else? You're obviously editing it--but using WHAT?

Hitch

[Anne Marie Weiss]

Sorry......... yes, editing in Word.

I have also installed Calibre. Do you recommend Kindlegen?

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Anne Marie Weiss

Sorry......... yes, editing in Word.

I have also installed Calibre. Do you recommend Kindlegen?

First, I'd recommend installing Kindle Previewer 3. You can drag-drop your source files on there, and build MOBIs, instantly preview them. My firm doesn't use Calibre, because I don't care for the CSS and coding that it creates, but a lot of people here swear by it. I suspect that you can probably use it without too much worry, but if you're going to use it, I recommend building an ePUB first, which you then convert to MOBI using KP3. But you'll get other advice, choose what works for you.

Now, as far as seeing the codes, you need do nothing more than turn on the PILCROW icon in Word.

I didn't have time to load this to a server to insert here, but you can view an image I just made for you that shows how to view the codes in Word, here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/fvcg67jda9...ation.jpg?dl=0

Hope that helps.

Hitch

[Anne Marie Weiss]

And now, it seems that converting through Kindle is not an option. For 24 hours files emailed to Kindle do not produce any results. No converted text is sent back to my device.

So it looks like it's time to investigate Kindlegen and start using that.

[Anne Marie Weiss]

Thank you, Mitch. I'll check on this... appreciate your advice!

[Anne Marie Weiss]

I opened your image - thanks for that.

Yes, I can view those symbols now and I have been removing the unnecessary line breaks, one by one. Finished doing that in the 150 page document.

However, when I remove the page breaks, the spacing is not correct. It looks as if the text needs a half line inserted to maintain the standard spacing in text throughout the document.

I haven't figured out yet what adjustment to make when I delete the page breaks.