ePub export error message: toc text anchor missing

[tracyc39]

This is the error message received during attempted export of four files comprising a book, to ePub...

TOC Text Anchor not found:1

TOC text anchor "_idTOCAnchor-22" in (then the entire file name for the location of that specific InDesign file on the C: drive).

The TOC text anchor error message is then repeated for numerous other locations...

This is the error message I receive when trying to Preview in Kindle Preview 3...

W30009: Epub navigation file does not follow the specification. Please refer to Kindle Publishing Guidelines about usage of EPUB3 Navigation support. Tag <a> should have value in file: C:\Users\user\AppData\Local\Temp\1dd0c493-f403-4917-b149-c728ea164821\cTemp\mTemp\mbp_7E3_9_1C_D_23_29_1A_4930_1574_1\OEBPS\toc.xhtml line: 9

This has become a critical issue since this error message is the same for the other three files comprising a book that is being requested for posting on Kindle Direct Publishing.

In advance, many thanks for your suggestions...

[HelensFusion]

I can see no one gave you any solution.

I have had same problem every time I export a new book and it takes forever to try to solve...and then suddenly it is solved without I know how. Problem is. I cant solve it next time. I searched for this problem numerous times and only suggestion I read is "remember to check -Make source anchor in source paragraph" which offcorse all people who had the problem did before asking online forums.

Im sitting with the same problem again..with a reflow epub I get this message:

TOC Text Anchor not found : 1

TOC text anchor "_idTOCAnchor-25" in.....

so when it say " 1 " it means it found all the others..but theres a problem with my chapter 22... I cant find what causing this. I tried reenter every chapter in articles panel...after I tried just having 1 textflow...then single chapters and then all the text again. I seriously spent several days on this and I have no solution. I tried to check all my LinkedIn courses for any solution, but there is none.

The problem is that the extern TOC is not working, all titles are listed, but they are not clickable.

I have tried to ecan crush it to find any mistake, but I can see nothing wrong. 

I hope someone have an explenation to what is causing this problem and how can I solve it.

The other problem I have is about embedding fonts... I dont understand why fonts from Typefont that are embedded will not show in Adobe Edition. Im trying to export another book as fixed layout and the text will not show properly. This has taken me several days to solve..and again..somtimes it works..but I dont understand why and now nothing works. I have been searching for other programs to use, but none can make reflow and fixed epub...it seems though that InDesign can not do it either... I did not start yesterday, I have worked with ID for years and Photoshop and Illustrator..only InDesign give such headaches, Im sorry to say.

Kind regards Helene

[Julian F230996403lxk]

Hi

Using InDesign 2020 I have the same problem as Helene.

Error received: TOC Text Anchor not found:2

Even though I have checked the box "make text anchor in source paragraph" in the Table of Contents dialog, I have 2 lines in my TOC that are not linking to their respective anchors. "Board" and "Trustee."

I can see (displayed by 🙂 that the text anchors exist.

This InDesign file was originally set up to export Interactive PDF then modified as Indesign file to export epub. The links in the pdf work as they should. 

Also, in the epub when I open in Books.app the missing first level TOC headings are not displayed in the internal navigation.

Is there a known solution? thank you

Julian

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

What version and type EPUB are you exporting to (v2/3, FXL/reflowable)?

Do you have 'Split Document' checked in the export General menu? While splitting documents is a valid EPUB option, it's not necessary for most ID export and can mess up TOCs and other links.

[Julian F230996403lxk]

Thanks for the quick reply.

Reflowable. I have tried exporting to both 2.0 and 3.0 and both have the same result. 

Yes, I had "split document" checked to have page breaks based on paragraph styles as I always do. I tried it with it unchecked to see if it made a difference, but I still received the same error.

[Julian F230996403lxk]

PS. I have also exported with TOC hyperlinks both included in the Hyperlinks panel and deleted from the panel.

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

ID is prone to document corruption after a file has been mangled on a while, especially if it's shifted around for different purposes. I've found that subtle problems can creep in for EPUB export (along with other problems).

Try the Big Hammer: export/save the file as IDML and then reopen it. If that doesn't work, cut and paste the entire contents into a new document. (Be sure to archive your master document first, of course.)

Oh, and stay with v3 reflowable... always. 🙂

[Julian F230996403lxk]

Thanks for the suggestions. I truly appreciate it.

Unfortunately no solution for the "missing" anchors. 

1. I saved as IDML and tried exporting it from 2020 and then 2019. Same result. 
2. I made a indb file and divided the content into 5 InDesign files pasted into blank documents. I did not use the articles panel this time. That was a no go too. 

If there's anything else to suggest, I'm all ears.

regards, J

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

Shoot. That very often fixes these stubborn problems.

Have you tried rebuilding the TOC from scratch? Oh — and have you created a TOC specifically for EPUB export and selected it in the "TOC Style" box? Don't use "default" here.

(The use of "style" for TOCs in ID is a little misleading. It's not a "style" as are most of that name, but the complete definition of the TOC, what items it contains, how they are arranged and formatted, etc. It's really more of a complete preset than a style.)

[BobLevine]

Have you tried it with 2022?

[ebook259309973ish]

guyz! I have solved this issus.

1) update your toc

2) make page name, page head name same, assign css on them

done

[BerberisBarbarus]

I think may have a solution for this - or something very similar. I didn't notice any error messages, but three of my chapters were not "recognized" by the table of contents in my epub.

My TOC contained 30 items, including 24 chapters. 21 chapters were just fine - displayed, with hyperlinks working. The other 3 were somehow "broken" - they showed up on the TOC list, but had "0" next to them instead of page or line numbers, and the links just didn't work. Just as HelensFusion wrote - they were not clickable.

There was NO REASON why these 3 files should be any different from the other 21 - they were perfectly identical in terms of structure, and I'm sure of that because I designed my book (and ebook...) twice from scratch. NO IDEA why it happened, but it happened, and I spent a dozen or so hours trying to resolve this. Finally, I figured this CAN'T have anything to do with the chapters themselves, and my brilliant fiance somehow figured out* the rest.

*Not quite, because we still don't know why exactly that happened, and why the fix worked, but we fixed that. 🙂

If you have the same issue, after you export your ready epub (e.g., from InDesign), you need to use software called SIGIL. Open the epub file in Sigil and go to Tools --> Table of Contents. Select the option: Create HTML from Table of Contents.

A new xhtml file will appear in your ebook (probably visible in a left-hand panel). Mine had a strange name - Section0001. DELETE this file. Yes, delete this file - delete Section 0001. Save the changes. DONE.

If you had the same problem as me, your TOC should now be fully functional. NOTE, however, that a table of contents will appear in the ebook itself, not "outside of it" (you know, there can be a TOC that is embedded in the ebook itself and a TOC that is, how to put it, available from the device settings, sort of...?)

Let me emphasize that you don't need to make any changes to the toc.xhtml file or the other, ncx file. You just "create HTML from TOC" - and immediately remove it...

Hope this will help a lost soul like me.

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

EPUB surgery is, to put it politely, an obsolete practice. It's like fixing a printed letter with wite-out, or printing out a new strip of text to paste on the page. Or worse.

For one thing, it fixes only that export file... so, need to make changes/export again? You have to repeat all the manual fixes.

The correct method for at least the last ten years has been to fix the problem, not the result. And making fixes to generate a flawless export is the skill to develop, not hacking around with Sigil or Calibre Editor or whatever after the broken export is made.

[BerberisBarbarus]

Then my solution is, sadly, imperfect. Still, it's a solution that works. Good enough for people who don't feel the need to be pros and artists, I guess. Still, thank you for your feedback - I would have never figured it out on my own.

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

I'll just suggest that the effort of fixing what's broken in the document was about equivalent, and more productive both in this instance and for resolving future issues, to that of finding and applying an obsolete practice to do a clumsy one-time repair.

I don't see anything but the practice of doing something right, there — pro, amateur, artist, whatever.