Indesign to Reflowable EPUB - Footnotes (first line appears with a space before on the kindle)

[Cara5FB6]

Hi all,

I've exported a book from Indesign to a Reflowable EPUB. When I view the book on my kindle the footnote pop-up is perfect in how it works, however the first line seems to only start halfway across the line.

See image attached.

Thanks in advance,
Cara

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

First — are you using the relatively new feature of side-loading an EPUB onto your Kindle reader? That process, although a bit hyped by Amazon, does not actually load the file as an EPUB, but performs something of a clunky conversion to an intermediate file type. (It's not even a standard Kindle format, but an archaic one or something off the main line.) Format problems are common with this process and there's no good way to fix them since the file format and conversion are essentially undocumented.

Does this glitch appear when you use a more standard reader like Thorium or Calibre? That would validate the EPUB export itself and point to or away from a formatting error in the InDesign file itself.

Does this glitch appear when you convert/view the EPUB in Kindle Previewer? Although it's not quite the same format, if the problem appears in this standard Kindle format it's a clue that it could be fixed.

But nearly everything in EPUB depends on the reader. And Kindle is anything but a standard EPUB reader.

[Cara5FB6]

Hi,

No I'm using the send to kindle via email option. 

Yeah so when I view on 'kindle previewer' app, the issue is not there...

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

Sorry, maybe too technobabblish... that is side-loading. Any time you put a file on a device through a path other than (usually) the authorized app or document store, it's called side-loading. (Putting a game on a smartphone by downloading a file somewhere and poking it into the right place in storage... side-loading.)

Some devices/platforms don't distinguish between authorized and side-loaded content; if you dump a bunch of MP3 files in most devices, they treat them just as they do the paid, authorized music you got from the 'proper' source.

Kindle, though, is a closed ecosystem of source, file and device, and the process of poking your own files into your library or onto a device is treated differently. You can't just load an EPUB (or Kindle file) onto a Kindle reader; you have to send it to Amazon via the email link and ask pretty-please for them to allow you to use it... after they convert it to a file format they choose.

In this case, if Previewer doesn't show the flaw (and if you were to try a regular EPUB reader you'd probably also see that it works properly), it means the Kindle intermediate format and reader are at fault... and there's no particularly good way to fix that, as the conversion process and format are largely undocumented.

You might try saving the file out of Previewer (export to .kpf format), but I am not sure Amazon will allow that format to be side-loaded.

Kindle is for Kindle and it's very difficult to use it — well, at least — for anything else. You might look into a good EPUB reader for your tablet or phone instead, for EPUB documents you want to read on the go.

[Cara5FB6]

Thank you so much.

Would this also be the reason as to why the cover of the book shows on my kindle, but not another one? 

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

Different readers and formats handle these details differently, yes.

I haven't looked closely, but my experience is that the cover specified for embedding into the EPUB export is ignored by Kindle in favor of the separate one uploaded at the time the Kindle book is uploaded for publishing. So how a Kindle reader would handle the embedded cover in a side-loaded EPUB... is not certain.