Marja E
Level 1 (23 points)
Accessibility

Q: How Can I Convert Pdfs to Plain Text Epubs?

I want simple, readable epubs, without excess formatting and especially without mis-formatting such as erratic font size changes, extra line breaks, etc. I want to be able to sideload these to my ebook reader and check these without eye strain.

 

I can copy text from pdf, and if necessary filter through Textedit, though I have rsi and want to avoid too many extra steps.

 

iBooks Author is supposed to be for multitouch. I'm disabled and can't use multitouch. I've installed it anyway, but it's heavy on custom formatting, when I don't want any extra formatting, just plain text, paragraph breaks, chapter breaks, and a functional table of contents.

 

I don't use iBooks itself, because I've had trouble with it switching titles, etc. from one file to another, making it harder to find the right file from the wrong title.

MacBook Air (11-inch Mid 2013), OS X El Capitan (10.11.1)

Posted on Dec 23, 2015 9:25 AM

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Marja E

Q: How Can I Convert Pdfs to Plain Text Epubs?

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Tom Gewecke,

    Tom Gewecke Tom Gewecke Dec 23, 2015 11:13 AM in response to Marja E
    Level 9 (78,979 points)
    Dec 23, 2015 11:13 AM in response to Marja E

    Have you already done a google search on "convert pdf to epub"?  Have you tried any solutions mentioned there?

     

    SInce PDF is not really intended to be converted into anything else, results of such processes are often poor.  What is the purpose of your doing this -- to let you change the font and font size?  Calibre is a common conversion app.  See

     

    http://manual.calibre-ebook.com/conversion.html#pdfconversion

     

    What epub reader are you using?

  • by Marja E,

    Marja E Marja E Dec 23, 2015 12:35 PM in response to Tom Gewecke
    Level 1 (23 points)
    Accessibility
    Dec 23, 2015 12:35 PM in response to Tom Gewecke

    I haven't tried yet another DuckDuckGo or Google search. I have had enough frustrating searches for now, and my good arm hurts.

     

    "What is the purpose of your doing this -- to let you change the font and font size?"

     

    "I want to be able to sideload these to my ebook reader and check these without eye strain."

     

    "Calibre is a common conversion app."

     

    And it has its uses, and converting pdfs to readable epubs is not one of its uses. I tried Calibre. I tried PDF to EPUB + EPUB to PDF. Neither one could convert pdfs to readable epubs.

  • by Tom Gewecke,

    Tom Gewecke Tom Gewecke Dec 23, 2015 1:23 PM in response to Marja E
    Level 9 (78,979 points)
    Dec 23, 2015 1:23 PM in response to Marja E

    I think it will just be luck if you find something that does what you need. 

  • by Marja E,

    Marja E Marja E Dec 23, 2015 2:51 PM in response to Tom Gewecke
    Level 1 (23 points)
    Accessibility
    Dec 23, 2015 2:51 PM in response to Tom Gewecke

    I can convert pdf to plain text.

     

    I assume there is some way to convert plain text to epub, even though I haven't found it yet, and a roundabout conversion wouldn't help my rsi.

     

    So why is it so hard to convert pdf to epub?

  • by Tom Gewecke,Helpful

    Tom Gewecke Tom Gewecke Dec 23, 2015 4:53 PM in response to Marja E
    Level 9 (78,979 points)
    Dec 23, 2015 4:53 PM in response to Marja E

    Marja E wrote:

     

    I assume there is some way to convert plain text to epub

     

     

    Calibre or Pages should be able to do that.

     

    PDF is so hard to convert because inside it is often garbage and more like a picture than text.  It is intended as a final product to be read or printed.

  • by Marja E,

    Marja E Marja E Dec 23, 2015 4:53 PM in response to Tom Gewecke
    Level 1 (23 points)
    Accessibility
    Dec 23, 2015 4:53 PM in response to Tom Gewecke

    Okay, thank you. I can copy and past from Preview into Textedit, fix in Textedit, and then convert in Calibre.

     

    It does work, but it is a lot of arm strain.