Can't convert RTF files

[sglinert]

I have about 4000 rtf files that were saved from Word 2003. Calibre won't convert them. Here's the error:

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ERROR: Conversion Error: <b>Failed</b>: Convert book 1 of 1 (Acceptance)

Convert book 1 of 1 (Acceptance)
Resolved conversion options
calibre version: 0.7.1
{'asciiize': False,
'author_sort': None,
'authors': None,
'base_font_size': 0.0,
'book_producer': None,
'change_justification': u'original',
'chapter': u"//*[((name()='h1' or name()='h2') and re:test(., 'chapter|book|section|part\\s+', 'i')) or @class = 'chapter']",
'chapter_mark': u'pagebreak',
'comments': None,
'cover': None,
'debug_pipeline': None,
'disable_font_rescaling': False,
'dont_split_on_page_breaks': False,
'extra_css': None,
'extract_to': None,
'flow_size': 1640,
'font_size_mapping': None,
'footer_regex': u'(?i)(?<=<hr>)((\\s*<a name=\\d+></a>((<img.+?>)*<br>\\s*)?\\d+<br>\\s*.*?\\s*)|(\\s* <a name=\\d+></a>((<img.+?>)*<br>\\s*)?.*?<br>\\s*\\d+))(?=<br>)' ,
'header_regex': u'(?i)(?<=<hr>)((\\s*<a name=\\d+></a>((<img.+?>)*<br>\\s*)?\\d+<br>\\s*.*?\\s*)|(\\s* <a name=\\d+></a>((<img.+?>)*<br>\\s*)?.*?<br>\\s*\\d+))(?=<br>)' ,
'input_encoding': None,
'input_profile': <calibre.customize.profiles.InputProfile object at 0x039EAA90>,
'insert_blank_line': False,
'insert_metadata': False,
'isbn': None,
'keep_ligatures': False,
'language': None,
'level1_toc': None,
'level2_toc': None,
'level3_toc': None,
'line_height': 0.0,
'linearize_tables': False,
'margin_bottom': 5.0,
'margin_left': 5.0,
'margin_right': 5.0,
'margin_top': 5.0,
'max_toc_links': 50,
'no_chapters_in_toc': True,
'no_default_epub_cover': False,
'no_inline_navbars': False,
'no_svg_cover': False,
'output_profile': <calibre.customize.profiles.OutputProfile object at 0x039EAC70>,
'page_breaks_before': u'/',
'prefer_metadata_cover': False,
'preprocess_html': False,
'preserve_cover_aspect_ratio': False,
'pretty_print': True,
'pubdate': None,
'publisher': None,
'rating': None,
'read_metadata_from_opf': 'c:\\docume~1\\susans~1\\locals~1\\temp\\calibre_0 .7.1_iqiitk.opf',
'remove_first_image': False,
'remove_footer': False,
'remove_header': False,
'remove_paragraph_spacing': False,
'remove_paragraph_spacing_indent_size': 1.5,
'series': None,
'series_index': None,
'tags': None,
'timestamp': None,
'title': None,
'title_sort': None,
'toc_filter': None,
'toc_threshold': 6,
'use_auto_toc': False,
'verbose': 2}
InputFormatPlugin: RTF Input running
on E:\E-Books\EBook Library\Harry Potter Fanfiction\Acceptance (4306)\Acceptance - Harry Potter Fanfiction.rtf
Converting RTF to XML...
Preprocessing to convert unicode characters
line: 1 has bad encoding
File "preprocessed.rtf" does not appear to be RTF.
Python function terminated unexpectedly
'ascii' codec can't decode byte 0xbe in position 53: ordinal not in range(128)Invalid RTF: File not ascii encoded.
(Error Code: 1)
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "site.py", line 103, in main
File "site.py", line 85, in run_entry_point
File "site-packages\calibre\utils\ipc\worker.py", line 99, in main
File "site-packages\calibre\gui2\convert\gui_conversion.py", line 24, in gui_convert
File "site-packages\calibre\ebooks\conversion\plumber.py", line 808, in run
File "site-packages\calibre\customize\conversion.py", line 211, in __call__
File "site-packages\calibre\ebooks\rtf\input.py", line 197, in convert
File "site-packages\calibre\ebooks\rtf\input.py", line 88, in generate_xml
File "site-packages\calibre\ebooks\rtf2xml\ParseRtf.py", line 238, in parse_rtf
calibre.ebooks.rtf2xml.ParseRtf.InvalidRtfExceptio n: 'ascii' codec can't decode byte 0xbe in position 53: ordinal not in range(128)Invalid RTF: File not ascii encoded.

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There's nothing odd about them, as far as I can see. Line 1 of the file in question seems to be a carriage return.

Saving the file as HTML and converting worked fine. But, needless to say, I am not up to converting 4000 files to html, one by one. Happy to send files if that would help figure out the problem.

[banjomike]

Posting a sample is probably a good idea.

Did the conversion work with Calibre 0.6.xx ?

[sglinert]

I am using .71. Where can I post the sample?

[banjomike]

Originally Posted by sglinert

I am using .71. Where can I post the sample?

You attach the file using the "manage attachments" button when you reply to a message.

[sglinert]

Ah. I see. A sample file is attached. Hope someone can help.

[Zetmolm]

I cannot test your sample file now, but when I have problems with RTF files I open and save them in Wordpad (rather than Word) and so far that has always worked for me.

[banjomike]

Er, well, I've tried it in 0.6.53 (not upgraded yet) and it fails. I think the problem is that there is only one line of text in the rtf file. A very long line.

Try the two files attached. An epub and a tweaked rtf. If the epub looks OK then try the rtf in your Calibre.

Zetmolm has suggested what I've tried. These files are the result. Loaded your rtf in Wordpad. Save as different name. Drop on Calibre. Convert. Yay.

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by sglinert

There's nothing odd about them, as far as I can see. Line 1 of the file in question seems to be a carriage return.

Saving the file as HTML and converting worked fine. But, needless to say, I am not up to converting 4000 files to html, one by one. Happy to send files if that would help figure out the problem.

I got the same error. When I viewed the file in Notepad++ I noticed that it was one long line. There were no carriage return line feeds (CRLF) in the document.

I opened it in Wordpad and saved it. I then viewed it in Notepad++ and all of the CRLF were in place as I would have expected to see them the first time. This time the file converted just fine.

I bet you could modify the info in this thread to convert all of your RTF files to ePub. The thread explains how to do batch conversions of .doc files to epubs using free tools. If you switch the extension from .doc to .rtf the batch conversions should run fine. Specifically check out posts 23, 49 and 56.

[sglinert]

How odd. The carriage returns show up in Word. In fact, in many cases, I had to replace soft returns with hard ones. I shall take a peek at the thread dwanthny recommends and see if that information is useful.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by sglinert

How odd. The carriage returns show up in Word. In fact, in many cases, I had to replace soft returns with hard ones. I shall take a peek at the thread dwanthny recommends and see if that information is useful.

It probably was in *nix format.

There is a menu item in Notepad++ to change the line endings from or to windows style or *nix style). Edit Menu, EOL Conversion

[sglinert]

I found a solution. I have ABCText Converter, which batch converts just about everything to everything. So I converted all my rtfs to html and they convert fine. Thanks for your help, everyone.