Removing margin settings from epub

[treadlightly]

I'm trying to remove any margin settings in my epub files in order to use the margin sliders on the Glo. I have the patcher installed with "custom left/right margins" patch enabled. At first I thought the "ignore book css" patch would be a godsend but quickly learned why the css experts here said it was like using a sledgehammer to drive a thumbtack.

I would prefer to edit the epub directly so as not to have duplicate files in my Calibre library. I used Sigil on a few, changed all margins to 0 in the css stylesheet and everything was good.

I then encountered an epub where that didn't work, and some poking around revealed a .xpgt file with margin settings. Does Kobo use this to display the epub? Would I set the single_column margin settings to 0? Deleting all these page-master references caused a corrupted database went I sent the epub to the device, so I'm a bit leery to mess with this file now.

I downloaded a fresh epub file and used Modify Epub and checked "Remove margins from Adobe .xpgt files" which had the desired effect, but that plugin does create a backup epub. I'd really like to learn to use Sigil to do this.

[PeterT]

Remember it is VERY easy to have calibre remove the backup copy from the library.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by treadlightly

I downloaded a fresh epub file and used Modify Epub and checked "Remove margins from Adobe .xpgt files" which had the desired effect, but that plugin does create a backup epub. I'd really like to learn to use Sigil to do this.

Assuming that the epub is not DRMed, I tend to do the following when I get a new epub file.

Using Sigil, I do a search for lines similar to "<link href="../Misc/page-template.xpgt" rel="stylesheet" type="application/adobe-page-template+xml" />" and replace it with nothing. Then I open the Misc container and delete the xpgt file.

I check the contents of the page_styles.css file. If it is simply setting top and bottom margins, repeat the above for the lines referencing the page_styles.css and delete that file from the Styles container.

I then do quite a bit of cleanup on the stylesheet css file pretty much replacing it's contents with my personalized one. This is not always needed depending on how the epub looks but the search and replace takes about 15-20 minutes on the average.

The only epub where I found the page-template.xpgt of use was also the only epub I've seen that used double columns.

Regards,
David

[treadlightly]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Assuming that the epub is not DRMed, I tend to do the following when I get a new epub file.

Thank you! I will be sure to find and delete the reference to the files - I think that is what I was missing.

[Antioch]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Assuming that the epub is not DRMed, I tend to do the following when I get a new epub file.

Using Sigil, I do a search for lines similar to "<link href="../Misc/page-template.xpgt" rel="stylesheet" type="application/adobe-page-template+xml" />" and replace it with nothing. Then I open the Misc container and delete the xpgt file.

I check the contents of the page_styles.css file. If it is simply setting top and bottom margins, repeat the above for the lines referencing the page_styles.css and delete that file from the Styles container.

Can you configure the Kobo Extender Driver for Calibre to do this?

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Antioch

Can you configure the Kobo Extender Driver for Calibre to do this?

There is nothing in the extended driver to do this. You could ask if it could be added in the thread for the driver. But, odds are you want it removed for all ereaders/uses. The Modify ePub plugin already does it, or do the manual edit as described if you want to make other changes to the epub.