Pages 5 - Export to ePub - How to Remove Table of Contents?

I've been trying to get rid of an unwanted toc in an epub generated by Pages 5 too, without success. I can't save to an earlier version of Pages because I bought Pages 5. I tried the Ez7z route suggested in this discussion, but the mac version does not generate files that look anything at all like those described. The eCanCrusher suggested by another person trying to be helpful is described on its website as a tool for turning an epub folder into an epub file, so I can't see how it might be useful (?). Updates relevant to Pages 5-generated epubs (or that would clarify things if I'm just misunderstanding) would be extremely welcome--especially if they work. Thanks anyone who can solve this problem.

I am also seeing this Exact problem. I used to use Pages 4.3 to save ePub files. I often write short writings without any Table Of Contents included. Now when I Export to ePub format using Pages 5.0 it always creates an ePub file with the first page being a Table Of Contents with 1 link on it named "Chapter 1".

Very annoying, and it interferes with my Calibre conversion of the ePub file to .mobi format for my Kindle, also, as it always includes the new 1 line Table Of Contents page it gets from the ePub created with Pages 5.0.

This is bug, and was not in Pages 4.3 at all. I do not even have any "Chapter Name" styles used or defined in my Pages 5.0 document, so it should not create a one (1) line "Chapter 1" ePub beginning TOC page when I export to ePub in Pages 5.0.

I hope Apple fixes this ePub creation problem in Pages 5.0, so it can be usable for creating short dopcuments or documents where the author desires no Table Of Contents to be included in the ePub file. Perhaps an option to disable TOC creation in the ePub? Where is the quality control to make ePub format saving the same as Pages 4.x?

It also seems to default to presenting the TOC as a numbered list, ignoring the numbering sequence you've used yourself. eg: 'Preface' will be numbered as 1, even though this is a prelim and the actual Chapter 1 comes later. Apple really need to add some functionality into the epub export settings asap, or at least default to a non-numbered list format.

Everyone who sees this thread, please take time to provide feedback on this problem since these user forums are not the place where Apple goes for user requests:

http://www.apple.com/feedback/pages.html

I too have run into this issue at the end of generating a digital publication for a client, and now I am having to export the file as Pages '09 document and then export as ePub from there because of this rediculous "feature". What in the world were the Apple developers who decided for it to do this thinking???

Ran into the same exact problem and finally cracked it. So here are steps that I followed to remove the automatically added toc from an ePub exported from Pages.

Additional software needed:

• Sigil (optional) - Just to explore the ePub structure not used in the steps.
• 7zip (pc) or other similar utility (ez7z, 7zX) for mac.

Lets name our ePub as xyz.ePub.

Steps for xyz.ePub:

• Copy: Make a copy of your 'xyz'.ePub.
• Extract: Using 7zip extract the contents of xyz.ePub. It would make a folder with name xyz containing all the files.
  • Note-1: ePub is nothing but a collection of files.
  • Note-2: Can use 7Zip(pc) or ez7Z for mac. I used 7Zip on my pc. You can use the equivalent on mac.
• Open: The extracted xyz folder would have the following files & folder structure.
  • File: mimetype
  • Folder: META-INF
  • Folder: OPS.
  • Using a word processor {WordPad / TextEdit} open the file having the opf extension {in our case it is epb.opf}. This file would be under the folder name OPS.
• Edit : In the epb.opf file search for the node spine. In that there would be a child element itemref having attribute idref as "toc". Delete the itemref element. Ex: <itemref idref="toc" linear-"yes"/>. Save the file, Make sure you don't delete any other child itemrefs of the spine node.
• Open ePub: Open the 'xyz'.ePub with open archive option of 7Zip. Delete the existing epb.opf file and add the edited epb.opf file that we just edited. (lying in the xyz/ops extracted folder.)
• Close: Close 7Zip. Thats its! We have successfully removed the TOC added at the start of the exported ePub file from Pages.
• Test: Load the updated 'xyz'.ePub file on iBooks apps of Mac/iPad/iPhone and check it out.

Hope it helps!

dePaula wrote:

Everyone who sees this thread, please take time to provide feedback on this problem since these user forums are not the place where Apple goes for user requests:

http://www.apple.com/feedback/pages.html

I too have run into this issue at the end of generating a digital publication for a client, and now I am having to export the file as Pages '09 document and then export as ePub from there because of this rediculous "feature". What in the world were the Apple developers who decided for it to do this thinking???

Apple may not use these forums for user requests (or anywhere come to that), but they do come here to find solutions as most Apple staff do not use iWork.

Peter

My much simpler solution was to choose "Export as Pages 4.x", right-click and "Open With... Pages 4.3" (which remains on your computer after upgrading), then export as ePub from there. Much less time and no 3rd party apps.

That sadly is the answer to 99% of the problems here.

btw Congratulate Apple they hit the magic 100 removed features today! 🙂

This bug will make it 101.

Peter

dePaula wrote:

My much simpler solution was to choose "Export as Pages 4.x", right-click and "Open With... Pages 4.3" (which remains on your computer after upgrading), then export as ePub from there. Much less time and no 3rd party apps.

Thanks. Couldn't try that as I recently bought Pages(v5.0.1)

Great - thanks for isolating the element in the .opf file, and for the clear write up.

One improvement I'd suggest is using eCanCrusher to crack open and repackage .epub files. It's much easier and cleaner, at least on mac. http://www.docdataflow.com/ecancrusher/

Thanks again : )

My much simpler solution was to choose "Export as Pages 4.x", right-click and "Open With... Pages 4.3" (which remains on your computer after upgrading), then export as ePub from there. Much less time and no 3rd party apps.

Doing this can create annoying issues to fix to do with floating objects, pages breaks at chapter headings etc.

Also, Pages 4 exports to the ePub 2 standard, and not to the new ePub 3, which can be an issue if the book contains features that utilise ePub 3.

Really hope Apple sorts this (and many other) issues in the next update! : )

I tend to keep things simple and follow the rule for ePub to only use in-line images and stay away from floating elements. The work I do is for novels, so it's all about the text. My author photo transferred just fine as an in-line image.

The only formatting I had was chapter titles and section breaks for the chapters. All of that exported just fine.

But you are right - for more complex ePub projects, you can run into formatting inconsistencies between the Pages versions.

Similarly, the text-only projects I'm working on are not utilizing any of the new ePub 3 elements as far as I know.

I've been trying to get rid of an unwanted toc in an epub generated by Pages 5 too, without success. I can't save to an earlier version of Pages because I bought Pages 5. I tried the Ez7z route suggested in this discussion, but the mac version does not generate files that look anything at all like those described. The eCanCrusher suggested by another person trying to be helpful is described on its website as a tool for turning an epub folder into an epub file, so I can't see how it might be useful (?). Updates relevant to Pages 5-generated epubs (or that would clarify things if I'm just misunderstanding) would be extremely welcome--especially if they work. Thanks anyone who can solve this problem.

Hello Amelia1927,

The solution as described in the above posts does work, though requires getting your hands dirty by 'cracking open' the ePub, locating the .opf file, locating and deleting the <itemref idref="toc" linear-"yes"/> element, then repackaging the ePub.

Using eCanCrusher is one simple way to both 'crack open' the ePub, and to repackage it once you've finished modifying its contents.

I use this method to the remove the auto-generated toc every time I create ePubs when working with Pages.

Good luck.

I'd be extremely happy if I could figure out how to make it work as you did. But the only potentially useful information I get using the Ez7z is a notice from a file called OPS/toc.xhtml that says the epub file "is not a supported archive." There doesn't seem to be a file anywhere with the identification you describe. Could you possibly provide the "for Ez7z for dummies" step-by-step directions? Thanks in advance.

I'd be extremely happy if I could figure out how to make it work as you did. But the only potentially useful information I get using the Ez7z is a notice from a file called OPS/toc.xhtml that says the epub file "is not a supported archive." There doesn't seem to be a file anywhere with the identification you describe. Could you possibly provide the "for Ez7z for dummies" step-by-step directions? Thanks in advance.

1. Install eCanCrusher.
2. Add it to your dock.
3. Create ePub using Pages 5.
4. Place ePub on desktop.
5. Drag ePub file onto eCanCrusher icon in dock.
6. A folder will appear on desktop sharing the name of your ePub.
7. Open this folder.
8. Open OPS folder.
9. Open epb.opf file with Text Edit.
10. Press Apple F to open search box.
11. Search for 'toc' (without quotes).
12. One of the results will be this element: <itemref idref="toc" linear-"yes"/>
13. Remove this whole element very carefully, leaving no spaces.
14. Save and close this file.
15. Exit Finder.
16. Drag the folder onto the eCancrusher icon in the dock.
17. A new ePub will be created on the desktop.
18. This one will not contain the auto-generated toc.
19. Make a cup of tea.