[Conversion Plugin] KFX Input

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by Birger

I got the following error when converting a book from KFX to ePUB:

ERROR: KFX conversion failed:
Cannot convert The Design Thinking Toolbox
Exception('This book has a layout that is incompatible with calibre conversion. For best results use either the From KFX user interface plugin or the KFX Input plugin CLI for conversion. See the KFX Input plugin documentation for more information.')

That error indicates the book you are trying to convert uses fixed layout. Calibre conversion is designed to handle only reflowable layout books correctly. PDF format is much better suited to books that use fixed layout.

See the section "From KFX" toolbar action in the first post of this thread for information on how you can avoid this error and convert the book to PDF instead of EPUB.

[jhowell]

Version 2.15.0 - 28 Jun 2024

Produce a PDF outline from the book's table of contents when converting fixed layout books to PDF format.

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by jhowell

Version 2.15.0 - 28 Jun 2024

Produce a PDF outline from the book's table of contents when converting fixed layout books to PDF format.

Thank you! Works great.

BTW I'm finding a few more Print Replica books that include Kindle Scribe in supported device lists, and from a large publisher. This one is free:

Measure, Integration & Real Analysis (Graduate Texts in Mathematics Book 282)

SpringerOpen titles are all free. Not all of those in PR format include Scribe in supported devices, and I have not found any paid books from Springer that do (using PR is more the exception rather than the rule for their catalog).

I guess this only proves that Scribe support can be added by any publisher using print replica format. It falls short of explaining why this practice is not a lot more common. I would guess it is just because they would have to update the listing for each of their books, and it's a manual process and not something they are used to doing.

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by tomsem

SpringerOpen titles are all free. Not all of those in PR format include Scribe in supported devices, and I have not found any paid books from Springer that do (using PR is more the exception rather than the rule for their catalog).

It may have something to do with maintaining copy protection for books of value. After all if a print replica book is available on Scribe a user can make an unobtrusive annotation on each page and use that to export the entire book as a DRM-free PDF.

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by tomsem

Thank you! Works great.

BTW I'm finding a few more Print Replica books that include Kindle Scribe in supported device lists, and from a large publisher. This one is free:

Measure, Integration & Real Analysis (Graduate Texts in Mathematics Book 282)

Note these (and write-on books) can be downloaded as AZW4 files using Download & Transfer via USB from Content & Devices for registered Scribes.

The irony is that Scribe ignores AZW4 entirely (with or without DRM removed). It does transfer successfully to a Fire tablet. The PDF in there is easily extracted by calibre or Kindle Unpack.

I wonder if the rest of the data in there sufficient 'context' to construct a bona fide print replica KFX? Otherwise AZW4 is kind of useless for side loading to a Scribe.