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Dimitris Sarigalas
Participant
March 28, 2024
Question

Epub

  • March 28, 2024
  • 2 replies
  • 208 views

Hello everyone, do you know if it is possible to create an e-book from a pdf file?
Since this is a novel I would like the file to be customizable and not a fixed layout.

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    2 replies

    James Gifford—NitroPress
    James Gifford—NitroPress
    Legend
    March 28, 2024

    As Mike says. It's important to understand that both PDF and EPUB are end document formats, not really intended for further editing and re-use, any more than printed pages are. Yes, there are tools, and just as pages can be scanned and OCR'ed, the semi-live text of EPUB and PDF can be extracted and mucked with.

     

    But to go from one end format to another really requires editable source files.

    James Gifford—NitroPress
    James Gifford—NitroPress
    Legend
    March 28, 2024

    Just to add a more useful answer, and since this is a novel (which I assume is simple, flowing text with chapter headings and nothing more complicated in formatting etc.), you can export the PDF to Word, then open that file and clean it up with search and replace and a few simple macros to assist. The biggest problem, other than loss of most formatting, is that there will be many line breaks. You'll have to search for those line breaks and (usually) replace them with spaces to get normal paragraph flow again.

     

    From there, reformatting the manuscript in simple style is one step from an EPUB export. You don't need any page formatting or elaborate layout for that.

    Mike Witherell
    Community Expert
    Mike WitherellCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    March 28, 2024

    Not directly. You need the original authoring files. As a lengthy work-around, you could export the text to a word docx and also harvest the images up and through PS and AI to rebuild assets. Then, you could start from scratch in ID and build with a view to exporting to epub2.

    Mike Witherell
      D
      Dimitris SarigalasAuthor
      Participant
      March 28, 2024

      Thank you very much

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