Reformat MS Word DOC
Some of the ebook conversion articles I made in the past mentioned editing a MS Word DOC file before proceeding to another conversion. In this case, MS Word will serve as the “bridge” for another conversion. The reason is because most ebook converters can convert a DOC file directly. I use MS Word as the “bridge file” in converting repligo to other ebook formats. I also use this procedure to convert PDF to LIT, without purchasing commercial ebook converters.
The image shown below is a copied text from a PDF file pasted to MS Word blank document. Most often than not, you will have the same result. Of course we cannot convert it at this point and needs to reformat.
Choppy lines is obvious breaking the lines in unexpected places, this is because the original file had encoding (if its from html before PDF), paragraph and/or line breaks. That’s why it doesn’t come out looking exactly as the copied file.
The show/hide button of MS Word is a great tool to see the markings of breaks, it is located on your toolbar. When this button is clicked, you will see the symbol to every line breaks. It is easier to see exactly where you need to edit.
Manual removing of line breaks needs a lot of patience and time especially if you’ll be editing a big ebook file size. That would mean go to the symbol and delete… a repetitive process.
The easier way is to click edit from your toolbar, then choose replace. A pop-up window will show.
Find what: ^p or click special and choose paragraph mark
Replace with: ^s or click special and choose nonbreaking space
Then click Find Next button, when target line reach, click Replace button. Continue doing this until you reach the end of the document.
For other desired formatting depends on your file, choose and click from the special button in the Find and Replace window. If you plan to convert the DOC file to PRC afterwards, you might find Prepare MS Word DOC useful.
eBook Source File?!
Others call them as input files. The file that you have that you need to be converted into another ebook format. Please take note that I’m referring to ebooks for mobile as the output files or converted files in this topic.
When it comes to ebook conversion for handheld device just the same also needs attention on ebook preparation of source file before conversion. I don’t want to sound complicated but remember that we are reading our ebooks in small LCD screen, they should be optimized as such. That also depends on what ebook format we want it to be converted.
Going back to source file, in what format are the best source files? PDF? MS Word DOC? TXT?
PDF – I have to admit that this is the best ebook source file for most converted file for its perfection. Although there are available PDF reader for handheld devices and some read them directly on their device, I’m not comfortable navigating around my cursor to view the entire page. With PDF’s perfection, there are some limitations for mobile ebooks… there are PDFs that cannot be converted. A perfect example is Bob Ong eBooks. I also encountered a poorly converted PDF file that however I tweak the file, remains useless. hmmn… I should make a post about that. I still prefer PDF as source file for my favorite repligo reader, the output is the same as PDF on PC but optimized for small screens of handheld devices. No more editing, just click, click and click, you have your perfect RGO ebook.
DOC – This is the best source file if your ebook comes from other formats (or it could be from a “chain of conversion“). When it is originally in other format, its impossible that you don’t need to edit the file. Still if its DOC file, you could modify the file, remove some unnecessary lines, pages, line breaks, page breaks, etc.. You could edit DOC file depends on the output format you want to convert it. This is the best source format for Mobipocket PRC creation especially if it has TOC (Table of Contents).
TXT – I’m fond of using this as my source file for Aportis PRC ebook. I’m proud to say that its the most convenient way of converting my txt files to PRC (Aportis, not Mobipocket) during my first year of mobile ebook reading. I need the computer primarily for editing the txt file only, ebook conversion tool was installed on my phone as well as the reader. You can even convert your SMS to eBook directly on your mobile.
Convert Repligo (RGO) To Mobipocket PRC
To mobile eBookworms, the most common favorites are using Mobireader or Mobipocket and Repligo. Its sad to realized that Cerience had stopped updating Repligo reader for symbians and concentrated on latest handheld device such as Blackberry. Repligo reader on my symbian phone is version 2.1 year 2000-04. BUT there are still repligo lovers like me who prefer RGO than other formats. And there are some repligo fanatics switched to Mobipocket reader. Or there are some that replaced their handheld device and repligo is no longer compatible with their new symbian phones. And they started to love PRC…
Given the situation, putting my foot on their shoes, I could have lots of repligo files that I need to be converted to PRC format so I would use only “one” mobile application on my handheld device.
Things needed: Repligo Windows for PC, Mobipocket Creator (Home or Publisher Edition), Mobipocket Reader for PC.
Convert RGO to PRC:
- Open rgo file using Repligo Reader for PC
- Click edit, select all, then copy
- Open MS Word then paste
- Edit the file depends on your desired layout
- Save the edited MS Word DOC file
- Open Mobipocket Creator and import the MS Word document
- Convert
You could also read Prepare DOC File Before PRC Conversion for additional tips. A simple warning from me, editing the DOC file will consume you time depends on the ebook length. Have a little more patience to have those precious ebook collection converted.
Mobipocket PRC eBook Conversion
Did you know that converting file to Mobipocket PRC format is complicated? Have you tried downloading a PRC format from forums? Of course if you purchased or download from mobipocket site, the file should be perfect. Try comparing a PRC file from Mobipocket site and a PRC file from forums. You could download free ebooks or a sample PRC ebook from Mobipocket ebooks site and the PRC file you downloaded from forums (usually shared by other members). You will see the difference.
Complicated? If you don’t have the perfect source file, that means you have to edit the source file first. If you’ll be reading the PRC file using your mobile, you will see a minimal difference but using the MobiReader for PC, its the other way around.
Downloads:
Mobipocket Reader for PC
Mobipocket Creator Home Edition
Mobipocket Creator Publisher Edition
It is advisable to install Mobipocket Reader for PC so you could see if you converted a perfect PRC file. Its easy to use the Home Edition but on ebook conversion, I suggest to use the Publisher Edition.
Conversion:
MS Word DOC to PRC – Please read my post Prepare MS Word DOC Before Conversion. There’s a lot of editing on MS Word DOC file but I guarantee that you should have a perfect PRC if you checked and edited the whole document. It consumes a lot of time on editing depends on the file, it usually took me a minimum of two hours depends on my desired output PRC file.
Actually, you could convert HTML, PDF and TXT format too as source file but I prefer MS Word, you could see and edit the layout faster and use font style, font size and styling on MS Word window. That’s impossible on TXT format. HTML and PDF file should be easy, just import the file on Mobipocket Creator and convert. Don’t forget to encode the metadata.
Prepare MS Word DOC For Mobipocket Conversion
From the sound of the title, it should be simple and easy but based on my experience, preparing the source file eats time more than the converting process itself. Ever wonder why most of the ebook conversion company charges a big sum of money for their services? This could be one of the reason. It took me 2-6 hours on correcting source files to have a perfect output.
Let’s make MS Word DOC as an example. From the MS Word software, our eyes could deceive us. We could also believe that everything is perfect already because we already saw how would it look when printed. For all we know, there are wrong tags like header, footer, index on a paragraph. Errors like these will make the words become noticeable because of their font size and style (bold or larger fonts).
Sometimes, ebook conversion on other format could be as easy as 1-2-3, we could convert the same file and have the same output we see on MS Word print preview. Its different on converting to mobipocket PRC format, every formatting such as font style, size, alignment, index, header, footer, page breaks, line breaks, among others will be reflected. Converting to a mobipocket format should be done with a perfect source file, one needs a keen eye on details and with a lot of patience. Otherwise, you will never have a perfect PRC format output.
Quick tips on editing an MS Word eBook:
- Use page breaks after each chapters
- Use line breaks for spaces instead of using “enter” key
- Omit any blank page unless needed
- Be careful on using header, footer, index on paragraphs
Sometimes, even if you edit the source file there are times that there’s still unexpected error that you could see only on output file (converted PRC format) using Mobipocket reader. That’s the time you will search again for that words to make correction. To easily find that, press Ctrl-F and type in the words to be searched.
