PDF to ePub – new software from DNAML converts PDF to EPUB
By Paul Biba
This is an important piece of software, presuming it works well. However, DNAML of Australia is a publishing expert so I think the presumption is that it will. They sent me an email alerting me to Pdf to ePub’s release and here is the link to their site. It costs $99 (I presume Australian dollars) and they don’t, unfortunately, have a trial version available. If anyone uses it please let us know. Here are the specs:
Quick conversion (2 to 5 minutes for an average trade title)
100 % text accuracy
Auto paragraph joining algorithm that works automatically across multiple pages
Correctly splits final HTML into multiple segments, improving performance and lowering memory requirements for ePub readers and eBook devices
Handles images and image positioning based on the PDF positioning
Provides the PDF to ePub user the option to overwrite glyphs (character images) utilised within the PDF, with custom characters using a simple interface which requires no programming knowledge
Converted ePub will be automatically validated to ensure 100% compatibility
with ePub check
Can convert from PDF to HTML allowing for web pages creation from the PDF text
Customise PDF area to extract from thus avoiding common problems with other conversion tools like headers and footers of pages being treated as body text
Provides the PDF to ePub user a pre-set option using PDF to ePub preset rules or to employ custom rules to the ePub conversion process
For Advanced users – PDF to ePub uses a powerful scripting language (.lua) to allow the PDF to ePub user to fully customise how text and images are extracted from the PDF files
Provides the end user the ability to set DPI (resolution) for images and glyph (character images)
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September 16th, 2009 at 10:14 am
Yes, I also would be interested in a trial version, or on a user experience report…
September 16th, 2009 at 10:27 am
Sounds marvelous. There’s a lot of PDF around pleading to become ePub. I just wonder how well it understands structural items like chapters and subheadings. A good digital book has those marked out. Perhaps they should release a demo version that can only convert short documents, say five pages or less, so potential customers can test how well it works with specific documents.
PDF has become the ruling standard for documents whose page breaks and layout is important, such as journal articles and forms. It’d be great if ePub could become a similar standard for reading on devices where the text has to flow to fit the device screen. OS X on Macs can already create and save a PDF in almost any application. It’d be great if the next version, 10.7, would do the same for ePub. Then Microsoft would copy that feature and we’d all be happy.
September 16th, 2009 at 10:32 am
It can’t just work better than InDesign exporting to ePub. What I mean is that you’ll need to redefine styles afterwards anyways. Same old, same old.
September 16th, 2009 at 10:52 am
My grandfather warned me more than once: never buy a pig in a poke. The price is reasonable, but no free trial is a deal-breaker.
Keep your source files, the files used before making your PDF. EPUB-making from source files (or from RTF files Saved in seconds from the source) has got to be far more accurate — and faster — than churning out something from a PDF.
But I’d love to be proved wrong during a free trial of this EPUB superware.
September 16th, 2009 at 11:10 am
Keep in mind that in many business contexts, the original may have become lost. All they have is the PDF that circulated for review, so PDF-to-ePub can be a lifesaver. There’s also software that, however crudely, can turn a scan into a searchable PDF. That’d make this useful if all you have of an old book or document is the book or document itself. And keep in mind that publishers interesting in releasing backlist titles through POD and ePub may not want to inject a pricey ‘reformat with InDesign’ into their production cycle. They want results quickly and cheaply.
Those wanting to go from PDF to InDesign and then to ePub might want to look at Recosoft’s PDF2ID, an import filter than brings PDF documents into InDesign, applying styles in the process.
http://www.recosoft.com/products/pdf2id/
Not mentioned thus far is this about pdftoepub: “This product requires Windows XP/Vista. If using on Apple MAC, a PC emulator is required, e.g. VirtualPC for MAC or Parallels for MAC”
Finally, the people doing this are part of a much larger company:
http://www.dnaml.com/
and a format for ebooks called DNL.
September 16th, 2009 at 11:44 am
Good points, Mike Perry, thanks.
What do you think about this statement:
[pdftoepub claims] “100% text accuracy.”
That makes me believe that this software is designed for PDF files that are not image files: PDF files that do not require OCR conversion. Even the best OCR software available is not 100% accurate.
And even InDesign is not making EPUBs that pass the validation check — maybe that will change with the new IDPF EPUB standards — but not yet.
So whatever system or software you use to make EPUBS — there will always be some technical expertise needed to tweak them, to apply some finishing touches that allow your EPUB to pass the validation.
That’s another reason why the company should offer a free trial: to show whether or not their software is truly a push-button, no-need-to-think solution.
September 16th, 2009 at 3:02 pm
100% text accuracy? It’s not the text accuracy, it’s the formatting that’s the problem with most automatic conversions.
September 16th, 2009 at 5:12 pm
I mean if the pdf is text, of course. Not images.
September 18th, 2009 at 4:19 am
I have downloaded the software and tested it – the conversion to E PUB was very good and it converted all the text perfectly and the formatting was very good.
However, I have been unable to include any type of image in the conversion yet. The user manual is very sparse – one page – therefore the answers to any queries like images you can’t find.(and there is nothing or the web site to assist you) I will be logging a request with the company to hopefully get the answer.
Finally, it does not have a system to view the file you have converted – so if you don’t have an E PUB reader on your PC you have a problem.
September 21st, 2009 at 10:13 pm
Hi, Geoffrey,
I’m the lead developer of pdftoepub.
1. For the images, pdftoepub support extracting all pixel bitmaps (jpg,gif,png …) but not vectors. The images you found missing are vectors. We’re currently working on a solution to extract vectors correctly.
2. Adobe Digital Edtion http://www.adobe.com/products/digitaleditions/ is a free epub reader.
October 30th, 2009 at 7:31 am
For a simple and free solution, try Epub2Go. It is an excellent web based solution that has very good accuracy and formatting. Images are usually not converted. Also, because it is web based, I would not use it on files where privacy is an issue.
November 12th, 2009 at 7:56 am
Is it safe to buy pdftoepub?
Will it convert the pdf files with out any formatting issues?
I don’t think so….If DNL is confident on their product they definitely provide evaluation copy as they are providing for DNL author now..