insert a link to .pdf file

[paola]

Hi, I have a bunch of HTML files that each contain hyperlinks to pdf files: each html page has information about a person, with links to supporting documentation in pdf. I would like to be able to convert this to pub.
To do so I created an ePub in sigil by adding the existing pages (which all come with references). If I then add the pdf files, these are stored in the "Misc" directory.

Which path should I use to refer to these files? I have tried various combinations in the manifest and in the spine, but the epub fails validation.
As an example, the html page/chapter may be something like this:

<td class="text">Reference letter by Mr X<br />
<a href="Misc/421947.pdf" style="font-size: 10pt;" target="_blank">[View Letter]</a><br />
<br />

Then these in manifest and spine:

<manifest>
...
<item href="Misc/421947.pdf" id="x421947.pdf" media-type="application/pdf" />
</manifest>
<spine toc="ncx">
...
<itemref idref="421947.pdf" />
</spine>

changing the path in manifest to either

<manifest>
...
<item href="Text/Misc/421947.pdf" id="x421947.pdf" media-t
</manifest>
</spine>

or

<manifest>
...
<item href="421947.pdf" id="x421947.pdf" media-t
</manifest>
</spine>

makes no difference. I am sure I am doing something really silly, but I cannot see my mistake (unsurprising as a total noob...). Can anyone please help?

[DiapDealer]

I don't think you can open an internal file (pdf) with an external program via an epub. How would the epub reading software handle it?

There may be a way to embed a pdf in an epub, but I'm unaware of it if so. Sigil probably won't help you do it, and I don't know of any epub reading software that would handle it.

[paola]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I don't think you can open an internal file (pdf) with an external program via an epub. How would the epub reading software handle it?

There may be a way to embed a pdf in an epub, but I'm unaware of it if so. Sigil probably won't help you do it, and I don't know of any epub reading software that would handle it.

thanks diapdealer - I read here somebody managed, but it is also possible I misunderstood.

[varlog]

You can convert PDFs into pictures - then any epub software can handle it as good as it can - which is probably not good enough.. Consider converting PDFs into (x)html.

[Doitsu]

Originally Posted by paola

thanks diapdealer - I read here somebody managed, but it is also possible I misunderstood.

I experimented with this some time ago and created a test file that seems to work more or less, however, it won't fully validate with ePubCheck 3.0.1 and, IIRC, it will only work with the desktop versions of ADE 1.7.2 and ADE 4.0.2.
(The desktop versions of ADE 2 and 3 will crash after the second pdf page is being displayed and, AFAIK, most dedicated eInk readers don't support embedded .pdf files in .ePub files at all.)

It appears to work with iBooks (but it renders the pdf content poorly) and RMSDK based ePub apps, e.g. Bluefire for iOS, however, if this is for a commercial book, you'll probably have to convert it to ePub3 or fiddle with the .opf file to make it pass ePubCheck.

You might want to consider embedding an .svg file or a .png file instead.

[Notjohn]

I have done something similar, by linking to a website for an enlarged image instead of the part-image reproduced in the book, but I can see that this might not work for you.

[paola]

many many thanks for all your suggestions! I do not need a professional book, it is only something really handy for my work (a way of linking documents for job candidates which I can then annotate if it is in ebook format). Doitsu, thank you so much for the epub, I can now play around with it.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by paola

many many thanks for all your suggestions! I do not need a professional book, it is only something really handy for my work (a way of linking documents for job candidates which I can then annotate if it is in ebook format). Doitsu, thank you so much for the epub, I can now play around with it.

You could put the PDF online someplace and then create the ePub with a link to the PDF via http. This might work.

[paola]

Thanks JSWolf, but one of the reason I want an ebook format is to be able to access the information off line.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by paola

Thanks JSWolf, but one of the reason I want an ebook format is to be able to access the information off line.

@paola - maybe you could put a link to the pdf file that's on your computer in the EPUB

<a href="file:///D:/Documents/Quick%20Docs/10lessons.pdf/" target="_blank">Local: Cameron’s EU veto: 10 lessons that need to be learnt</a>

BR

[paola]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

@paola - maybe you could put a link to the pdf file that's on your computer in the EPUB

<a href="file:///D:/Documents/Quick%20Docs/10lessons.pdf/" target="_blank">Local: Cameron’s EU veto: 10 lessons that need to be learnt</a>

BR

I had tried but failed - problem is I am trying to put it on an iPad, and I am not sure how to give the path out (it is not a rooted device). But if I know this must work, I'll try again, should manage something by trial and error - I'll report back when I succeed!

[GMcG]

@paola
If the html files are in the folder 'Text' and the pdf documents are in the folder 'Misc', the link would be

href="../Misc/421947.pdf"

../ in the path means one level up from the folder 'Text' and then down to the folder 'Misc'.

George

[paola]

Originally Posted by GMcG

@paola
If the html files are in the folder 'Text' and the pdf documents are in the folder 'Misc', the link would be

href="../Misc/421947.pdf"

../ in the path means one level up from the folder 'Text' and then down to the folder 'Misc'.

George

thanks George: I had tried this, but it did not work. Then the strangest thing happened, I noticed that the link did work for one file, the only one with extension ".PDF" instead of ".pdf". I ignored this for a while, then thought "what the hell", and renamed all the files with a capitalised ".PDF" extension (changing the links to them accordingly": it worked

Isn't this bizarre?

Many thanks to all for all your help! I will post my files later today, when I'll have a little more time.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by paola

thanks George: I had tried this, but it did not work. Then the strangest thing happened, I noticed that the link did work for one file, the only one with extension ".PDF" instead of ".pdf". I ignored this for a while, then thought "what the hell", and renamed all the files with a capitalised ".PDF" extension (changing the links to them accordingly": it worked

Isn't this bizarre?

Many thanks to all for all your help! I will post my files later today, when I'll have a little more time.

Case Sensitive file names:
the link must match the target exactly.

foo.pdf is not foo.PDF, there needs to be file extension 2 associations (pdf and PDF) on the reading application (on the device ) for the PDF browser to work with both case.
The reading application is calling external/internal viewer when it encounters a link-click for a different file type. If the link matches the filename, then the viewer call is faulty

[paola]

Originally Posted by theducks

Case Sensitive file names:
the link must match the target exactly.

foo.pdf is not foo.PDF, there needs to be file extension 2 associations (pdf and PDF) on the reading application (on the device ) for the PDF browser to work with both case.
The reading application is calling external/internal viewer when it encounters a link-click for a different file type. If the link matches the filename, then the viewer call is faulty

thanks the ducks, I do get that. The problem is this: when both link and target had "name.pdf" the link did not work, while when both link and target were "name.PDF" the link works! This is the mystery... I thought a file name is a file name, capitalisation (provided it is used correctly) should not matter. Or so I thought.