PRS-950 Converting a PDF?

[Klankster]

I recently got a PRS-950 and yesterday a friend sent me a PDF book he wrote so I was looking forward to reading it on my 950, and dragged the file to the Reader software and copied it to my 950. It is in there but if I go read it, the formatting is all screwed up. One line of text in the original PDF ends up being about 2.5 lines of text on the Reader and is extremely hard to read. For example, the first few lines of this post would look like this:

I recently got a PRS-950 and
yesterday a friend sent me a
PDF book he wrote

so I was looking forward to
reading it on my 950, and
dragged the file to the

Reader software and copied it
to my 950. It is in there but
if I go read it, the

I thought the new Reader software automatically did reflow (or whatever it's called) to make books reformat properly. Apparently not!

Is there a way to reformat this PDF to read properly on my 950?

[SeaBookGuy]

Welcome, Klankster!

I had an author offer me a PDF book as I don't own a Kindle. However, it ended up being better that she sent a mobi (Kindle format, but open not DRM'ed) that I converted to Epub, that was a terrific read!

If not mobi, even a txt (or rtf) that you can convert to Epub, would be okay if your friend could send that.

[dwig]

Originally Posted by Klankster

...
I thought the new Reader software automatically did reflow (or whatever it's called) to make books reformat properly. Apparently not!

In order for reader software to reflow the text in a PDF the PDF file must first be created in a way that enables reflow. Most PDF creation software doesn't have this ability. Even with the software that does its generally not enabled by default. If the PDF file wasn't "tagged" for reflow when created there is nothing the reader software can do to reflow the text.

Is there a way to reformat this PDF to read properly on my 950?

The best method would be for the author to go back to the original source document and create a true ebook format file (preferable epub for your Sony) avoiding PDF altogether. When converting PDFs to a true ebook formats it is often very difficult to avoid or fix the various problems that arise.

[screaminglemon]

If you are going to attempt to convert a PDF to EPUB I have found that I get best results by using Acrobat pro to convert the PDF to HTML. Then use Calibre to convert the HTML to EPUB. Its still not perfect and often needs some touch-up at the HTML stage but it's the best I've found so far.

[doreenjoy]

I've fallen deeply truly madly in love with the ABBYY PDF Transformer software. It does a fabulous job of OCR'ing a PDF, retains styles, and gives me an RTF I can easily convert to EPUB either by dragging the RTF right to my Reader, or by using Atlantis word processor's "Save as Ebook" command.

[Klankster]

I ended up using Stanza to do the conversion. Not perfect -- a few odd glitches -- but readable and it reflows properly.

Thanks for the tips, everyone.