Hi,

Is there an alternative to calibre. Calibre does not seem export certain pdf files that well.

Simple pdf files are fine when exported to mobi/epub, but the more complex pdfs files don't render that well. Sometimes they have weird artifacts and characters. Is this normal when converting pdfs with calibre or are pdf files difficult to render no matter what application does it?


thanks

After doing more research. Adobe pdf files have features that are proprietary such as tables in pdf files and mobi/epub doesn't support tables. I read a work-a-round is to export the pdf file to epub and then use an application call sigil, a WYSIWYG ebook editor to make adjustments to the epub file.

Oh well.........

PDF files are my speciality... Just kidding,... But I do know a bit about them...

One possible way around the problem is to break up the PDFs with a tool like PDFsam, pdfedit, or some others that can be found, exporting problematic things like tables to images, and reassembling the PDF for conversion. It's time consuming and labor intensive for automatic conversion though, unless the real goal is getting the document into reader form for wider distribution, or for self-publishing.

Anything that is in the ISO 32000-1 standard for PDFs has been essentially open sourced (Adobe has granted a public patent license for free use). Of course, there are other features that extend PDFs from there that are not open. Most of what can be found in ISO 32000-1 has been incorporated, to some extent, into open source PDF editors. One suggestion is to make sure you're using the most up to date versions of the editing tools available (so not necessarily repo versions).

Thanks for the info JaseP, I will look into those apps you mentioned.

Try using KindleGen or one of the other programs that are similar>
Kindle Publishing Programs - http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.htm...cId=1000234621

Working from the other end, I use Aldiko on Android. Imports/converts technical (reference manuals) pdfs fine. They are page-format just like the pdf rather than a truly flowable epub, but work just fine for me when read on a tablet in portrait.
Might be an option.

@ craigevil

Kindlegen produce the same results as calibre. If a pdf has tables or a complex layout it is not formatted as the original pdf and the table of contents i.e chapters are replace by dots, cryptic symbols and incomplete sentences. See below
However, the main content of the ebook which calibre/kindlegen produces is readable. Which is fine.
@ syg00

Even though the main content is readable I am always willing to try other means to improve the conversion. How do you do this with Aldiko?

Thanks to all with the suggestions

I tried this experiment to see if kindle can open native pdf files and it did. I drop the original unmodified pdf file into the kindle directory and then launch the kindle app. The only drawback is I have to zoom in to read it. But hey, it works!