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PDF to Epub

B

bob616

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 12, 2008
277
0
I have some books in PDF format that I want to get into the Epub format so i can read them on my future iPad.

What is a good program to do this?
I can use mac and windows so it doesn't matter what operating system the application is for.

Thank You in advance.
 
Also check out Calibre (free, cross-platform). I understand there may be some flow issues from PDF > ePub from a friend who does it a lot, but if they're just text books (as opposed to technical manuals, stuff with a lot of graphics), it may be okay.
 
I use stanza to convert for my kindle, works well but you don't have too much control over the settings.
 
The Kindles now read PDFs natively. You might want to skip converting them and see if they'll open in the ipad Kindle app. If not, you can email them to your (free) amazon Kindle account to have them converted and sent to the Kindle app.
 
bob616 said:
I have some books in PDF format that I want to get into the Epub format so i can read them on my future iPad.

What is a good program to do this?
I can use mac and windows so it doesn't matter what operating system the application is for.

Thank You in advance.
Click to expand...

If it's just text books, than just use calibre.

However, if it's technical books or graphical books, I suggest leaving it as PDF and get a PDF app on the iPad to read the PDF. It'll look beautiful on it.
 
Just a side note, anyone think Apple will ever update the ibookstore so it will natively display pdf's instead of just epub files?
 
The only reson to convert is to make them scaleable. Since the iPad has native PDF viewing built into the OS like the iPhone, there is no reason to convert them.

You will be able to load the PDFs on the iPad and view them, and they will look amazing. About 10000000x better than conveting to epub.

The only reason to convert for the kindle or other e-ink is they do not allow scaling with pdf files
 
Bodhi395 said:
Does it? I'm talking about the ibooks application, not the ipad itself. I know the ipad supports pdf's, but can you load a pdf onto the ibooks application itself?
Click to expand...

Why would how you access the file matter? However I have little doubt that you will have trouble loading a pdf file on the ipad and reading. I would also be suprised if you can't add these to ibooks.

Converting to epub destroyes the pdf formatting. Use the native pdf viewing no matter how you access the file..
 
4DThinker said:
The Kindles now read PDFs natively. You might want to skip converting them and see if they'll open in the ipad Kindle app. If not, you can email them to your (free) amazon Kindle account to have them converted and sent to the Kindle app.
Click to expand...

Only the Kindle allows you to read PDFs. The Kindle app only allows you to read purchased items from Amazon
 
SteveSparks said:
Why would how you access the file matter? However I have little doubt that you will have trouble loading a pdf file on the ipad and reading. I would also be suprised if you can't add these to ibooks.

Converting to epub destroyes the pdf formatting. Use the native pdf viewing no matter how you access the file..
Click to expand...


The problem is storage of PDF files and the application to view them natively. Apple needs to release iPad version of Preview.app with all the editing/handwriting features as well as central storage for all of your PDF files.
 
MikhailT said:
The problem is storage of PDF files and the application to view them natively. Apple needs to release iPad version of Preview.app with all the editing/handwriting features as well as central storage for all of your PDF files.
Click to expand...

I have to disagree. Using preview to read a large cook is not nearly as enjoyable as reading it on the Kindle [or, I hope, the iPad]. The iPad lets you read like it's a book. Turning pages is similar to a book.

You can e-mail a pdf document to Kindle and they will send it back in a few minutes in their eBook format. I have 2 200+ books that I did that with.
I only hope there is something similar associated with the iPad
 
MikhailT said:
The problem is storage of PDF files and the application to view them natively. Apple needs to release iPad version of Preview.app with all the editing/handwriting features as well as central storage for all of your PDF files.
Click to expand...

Listen to the Keynote. I am under the impression you will have the ability to store files on the iPad. The iPhone OS has the ability to view PDF files, it is exactly like preview and works great.
 
SteveSparks said:
Listen to the Keynote. I am under the impression you will have the ability to store files on the iPad. The iPhone OS has the ability to view PDF files, it is exactly like preview and works great.
Click to expand...

The impression is that you can mount the ipad's filesystem on your mac and yes transfer some pdf's across. But as the iPad has no finder, no UI to it's filesystem, unless someone writes an app that'll look for and load PDF's you are sh*t outta luck.

I don't think it's unreasonable to expect the ibook app to open PDF's but it seems in this iteration we're not to get it.

One of the reasons i won't be buying one this time around. :(
 
elmo151 said:
I have to disagree. Using preview to read a large cook is not nearly as enjoyable as reading it on the Kindle [or, I hope, the iPad]. The iPad lets you read like it's a book. Turning pages is similar to a book.

You can e-mail a pdf document to Kindle and they will send it back in a few minutes in their eBook format. I have 2 200+ books that I did that with.
I only hope there is something similar associated with the iPad
Click to expand...

Disagree on what point? Preview on iPad wouldn't be the same as Preview on Mac, it would be more interactive and more animation with multi-touch support, it'll have page turning and so on. Those are just animations, nothing to do with file format. PDF>ePub destroy the original formatting, period. It ruins the whole look of the book. Just because you had a couple of files that looked fine, doesn't mean the rest of them do fine, I did use textbooks and it turned out to be completely ruined.

PDF is the best formatting file support there is on the market for graphical novels, textbooks and any so on, they are same format that publishers use to print books with. If you want the best book experience, unfortunately, PDF is the way to go. ePub as far as I am aware, is weak for those type of content but it could evolute over time to support those.

Apple doesn't have to port Preview, they could've just easily add PDF support to iBook and add annotations, highlighting, bookmark support as well. That way we can just use iTunes to sync our PDF collection. Unfortunately, as far as I am aware, there's no PDF support for iBook.

SteveSparks said:
Listen to the Keynote. I am under the impression you will have the ability to store files on the iPad. The iPhone OS has the ability to view PDF files, it is exactly like preview and works great.
Click to expand...


Ok, how do I access those files without finder and the actual Preview.app? None of us knows how exactly we will be about to store files on the iPad, is it via iTunes or USB storage mount?

Just because iPhone OS supports PDF natively, it doesn't mean anything as long as I have to find another application, and than figure out a way to sync my PDF collection with that application. I don't want to email my PDF to myself and have Mail open it up for me or run a web server on my computer to load the PDF via Safari. Apple need to make it simple by adding PDF support to iBook and let us sync via iTunes or USB storage mount.
 
calibre is my converter of choice.

on the ipad i use goodreader to read pdfs (most functional app i own--it even went into my dock at the bottom)

i use goodreader usb to transfer pdfs. easily moves stuff over to the ipad AND allows me to keep the same folder hierarchy i have in my computer (itunes will strip away the folders and you are left with hundreds of unorganized pdfs).

BUT, BUT, BUT why would you convert something to epub? you can view the pdf in ibook or goodreader as it is!
 
Because:

palpatine said:
calibre is my converter of choice.

BUT, BUT, BUT why would you convert something to epub? you can view the pdf in ibook or goodreader as it is!
Click to expand...

Because reading pdf's in iBooks on an iphone is a horroble experience - the whole page cannot always be fitted to the screen, so you have to flick the page from left to right to read the lines and the text is too small to see.

I use calibre too, but for huge pdfs I have given up... Its simply not doing the job. Text is messed up or misspelled. TOCs not working etc etc... If a single program cannot do the job, perhaps somebody knows which steps you need to take to actually make a readable version of a pdf format that you do not wish to read on your computer screen, but on your iphone..?:(

Just paid $$ for goodreader, alas to no good outcome...
First of all; the pdfpages look EXCACTLY the same as in iBooks (pages too big and txt too small to read on iPhone). SEcond: tried the experimental feature "odf reflow" - to does the EXCACT same thing as calibre: it messes up my txt, removes graphics and it takes FOREVER to load pages whenever i flick to the next page - so that was a WASTE OF MONEY.

Maybe it's about NOT converting digital books to pdf in the first place...?! If it's that impossible to get a good result when converting it back to an ebook-reading format?! Waiting for the future for a better solution and for now giving up reading books on my iphone.. (Sorry but financial crisis is keeping me from buying the book i paper format or buying an iPad...)
 
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