From *docx to ebook, fast and easy, how?

[Notjohn]

Good morning! Since 2007 I have created forty-odd ebooks, most recently by firing up an old version of Sigil and editing a text created by WordStar or Notepad Pro (or both). But now I have a 140,000-word book in *.docx format that I want to carry with me on a Fire tablet when I go to Poland and Ukraine in March. It is essential research documentation. I want to be able to highlight passages and add notes using a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse. I will be the only person ever to see the ebook.

What's the fastest and easiest way to create an epub for Kindle? Saving the *.docx file as text would require a day or three of plodding through this 248-page, single-spaced document just to add the paragraph tags. There must be an easier way, but what is it?

Thank you! - Dan Ford

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Notjohn

Good morning! Since 2007 I have created forty-odd ebooks, most recently by firing up an old version of Sigil and editing a text created by WordStar or Notepad Pro (or both). But now I have a 140,000-word book in *.docx format that I want to carry with me on a Fire tablet when I go to Poland and Ukraine in March. It is essential research documentation. I want to be able to highlight passages and add notes using a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse. I will be the only person ever to see the ebook.

What's the fastest and easiest way to create an epub for Kindle? Saving the *.docx file as text would require a day or three of plodding through this 248-page, single-spaced document just to add the paragraph tags. There must be an easier way, but what is it?

Thank you! - Dan Ford

Make sure the eBook is using styles and not a highlight and click something on the toolbar. Then use calibre to convert the .docx file to KF8 or KFX for your Kindle.

[jhowell]

I believe that the Microsoft Office apps are available on Fire Tablets. Those allow reading and editing of DOCX natively.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by jhowell

I believe that the Microsoft Office apps are available on Fire Tablets. Those allow reading and editing of DOCX natively.

Without Internet & Offiice 365?

A 11" 64G Chromebook can natively run LO Writer faster than Word on 2016 Win10 Laptop. New Samsung models are discounted to about £160 from £300 right now on Amazon. Make page size small (which helps if target is epub / azw3) and 11" 1366 x 768 works. It also runs Calibre on the Crostini Linux subsystem. For general use & long run time an ARM ChromeBook is better, but for content creation and legacy Win32 programs on WINE, then the Intel ones like the Samsung Galaxy Go are better. Not all Android apps install.

I've tried editing docx on a decent 10" Android tablet, with mouse and keyboard. It's a disaster; and Fire is just really Android. The Win10 tablet wasn't much better.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by Notjohn

Good morning! Since 2007 I have created forty-odd ebooks, most recently by firing up an old version of Sigil and editing a text created by WordStar or Notepad Pro (or both). But now I have a 140,000-word book in *.docx format that I want to carry with me on a Fire tablet when I go to Poland and Ukraine in March. It is essential research documentation. I want to be able to highlight passages and add notes using a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse. I will be the only person ever to see the ebook.

What's the fastest and easiest way to create an epub for Kindle? Saving the *.docx file as text would require a day or three of plodding through this 248-page, single-spaced document just to add the paragraph tags. There must be an easier way, but what is it?

Thank you! - Dan Ford

Use the calibre ebook-editor File->Import an HTML or DOCX file as a new book feature, save the EPUB and try it on your Kindle Fire. Edit as necessary with the calibre editor or the one you already know - i.e. Sigil.

BR

[retiredbiker]

Calibre will intake a .docx and nativly convert it to epub or azw3, but you will get some readability assumptions. Also, current Sigil has very good import plugins for both .docx and .odt files. Depending on how old your Sigil is and if you would update...

https://github.com/dougmassay/docxim...ugin/releases/

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=274536

Any of these methods depends for quality on you having the source document properly styled, of course.

[Quoth]

Convert docx to epub2 and check, then epub2 -> azw3.

Sigil seems to need you to setup a docx style to CSS style table. Calibre does that automatically and perfectly, if the docx styles make sense.

Sigil is certainly better for creating a text book, but Calibre creates novels almost perfectly from sensible docx.

[Notjohn]

It's been so long since I used Calibre that I had an awful time outputting an epub (and an awful time FINDING it again!). So I tried uploading a *.docx. When I finally got them on my Fire tablet, they were identical!

(Weirdly, almost every instance of "modern" was rendered "modem".)

Thank you all!

[Quoth]

Ah, bad keming when it should be kerning. Calibre won't change the actual words of content at all.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Notjohn

It's been so long since I used Calibre that I had an awful time outputting an epub (and an awful time FINDING it again!). So I tried uploading a *.docx. When I finally got them on my Fire tablet, they were identical!

(Weirdly, almost every instance of "modern" was rendered "modem".)

Thank you all!

Try a different font with better kerning.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by Notjohn

It's been so long since I used Calibre that I had an awful time outputting an epub (and an awful time FINDING it again!). So I tried uploading a *.docx. When I finally got them on my Fire tablet, they were identical!

(Weirdly, almost every instance of "modern" was rendered "modem".)

Thank you all!

I'm guessing you used the library manager.

My fault I should have been explicit and told you to use the calibre-editor directly and then after selecting File->Import an HTML or DOCX file as a new book you would have seen this dialogue (but blank) :



Can't get much quicker and easier than that, and:

The EPUB will be generated with minimal changes from the source, unlike doing a full conversion in calibre.

BR

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Convert docx to epub2 and check, then epub2 -> azw3.

Sigil seems to need you to setup a docx style to CSS style table. Calibre does that automatically and perfectly, if the docx styles make sense.

Sigil is certainly better for creating a text book, but Calibre creates novels almost perfectly from sensible docx.

There are several methods for getting docx into Sigil. My docx import plugin (which definitely requires a style map in order to be useful) is merely one of them.

[DNSB]

For my puposes, I took the styles I use to create a docx for conversion and set the style map in the Sigil plugin. This only required doing once. Yes, the results can look awful when a docx made without styles or with a different style set but that is a small percentage of my docx to epub conversions.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

There are several methods for getting docx into Sigil. My docx import plugin (which definitely requires a style map in order to be useful) is merely one of them.

I think your plugin with the style map is good idea. My first attempt was like pouring in unformatted text

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by Quoth

I think your plugin with the style map is good idea. My first attempt was like pouring in unformatted text

I've always intended it as an authorial type tool. Or at least for someone attached to the authorial process. Once someone learns to properly use styles in their DOCX or ODT habits, they can create a map (or a few) that will make it easy to consistently reproduce their individual formatting style in an epub.