What's the best pdf to epub converter you can recommend?
PDFs can be problematic as the lines of text don't flow, so you can end up with a lot of linebreaks in the output, as well as the headers and footers if the conversion isn't up to the job. You are still probably going to have to use Sigil to edit the conversion, depending on the quality of final ebook.
For text PDFs, I've tried a few methods and the best results I get, for my needs, is using the Mobipocket Creator:
http://www.mobipocket.com/en/downloadsoft/productdetailscreator.asp
This takes a text PDF and breaks it down into a nicely clean HTML file with the relevant images (although sometimes it can chop them up, but if you go back into the PDF you can get the snapshot tool to grab any messed up ones - paste them into something simple like Paint and save as PNG), which I can then open in Sigil and proof for paragraph breaks and formatting, adding in a stylesheet and splitting the sections. This gives me a lot more control over the finished ebook, which is what I'm after.
If you just wanted to create a readable version then there are plenty of options.
Calibre will also do a quick and dirty conversion, the trick is to go into settings and go PDF Input >> Line Un-Wrapping Factor. This seems to be set to 0.45 by default and reducing it to 0.40 seems to usually do the job in the few tests I've done.
I've converted quite a few text PDFs now, so if you need further advice let me know - sometimes it needs a little tinkering to get right.
For text PDFs, I've tried a few methods and the best results I get, for my needs, is using the Mobipocket Creator:
http://www.mobipocket.com/en/downloadsoft/productdetailscreator.asp
This takes a text PDF and breaks it down into a nicely clean HTML file with the relevant images (although sometimes it can chop them up, but if you go back into the PDF you can get the snapshot tool to grab any messed up ones - paste them into something simple like Paint and save as PNG), which I can then open in Sigil and proof for paragraph breaks and formatting, adding in a stylesheet and splitting the sections. This gives me a lot more control over the finished ebook, which is what I'm after.
If you just wanted to create a readable version then there are plenty of options.
Calibre will also do a quick and dirty conversion, the trick is to go into settings and go PDF Input >> Line Un-Wrapping Factor. This seems to be set to 0.45 by default and reducing it to 0.40 seems to usually do the job in the few tests I've done.
I've converted quite a few text PDFs now, so if you need further advice let me know - sometimes it needs a little tinkering to get right.
Links dead? Need re-up? PM me.
Strange is the night where black stars rise,
And strange moons circle through the skies,
But stranger still is Lost Carcosa.
Strange is the night where black stars rise,
And strange moons circle through the skies,
But stranger still is Lost Carcosa.
Carcosa wrote:For text PDFs, I've tried a few methods and the best results I get, for my needs, is using the Mobipocket Creator:
http://www.mobipocket.com/en/downloadsoft/productdetailscreator.asp
I've kept testing options out and the main downfall of MobiPocket Creator is that it doesn't preserve basic formatting, like italics, bold, etc., so you have to add these in by hand.
My new favourite bit of software for this job is PDF Reflow:
http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=83094
It preserves basic formatting and does a nicer job of removing headers and footers and stitching the pages back together. I used it to convert this:
viewtopic.php?t=744064
Which was quicker than it would have been using MobiPocket Creator. That has footnotes and more complex formatting than you'd find in a fiction book, which is going to be something any piece of software will struggle with. Even then, with the styling it does add you can clean everything up pretty quickly in Sigil - regular expressions, for example, allowed me to add in all the footnotes with very little effort. With a fiction book, that has simpler formatting, it should be possible to run it through PDF Reflow, then add headers, split into sections and generate a TOC in Sigil - you should be able to get a decent release pretty quickly.
Links dead? Need re-up? PM me.
Strange is the night where black stars rise,
And strange moons circle through the skies,
But stranger still is Lost Carcosa.
Strange is the night where black stars rise,
And strange moons circle through the skies,
But stranger still is Lost Carcosa.