Sigil automatic splitting of document

[perkin5]

In the past, when I have loaded an epub into Sigil, all the chapters or sections have been automatically split into separate files. I have just loaded an epub generated in Indesign and the whole book is in one file despite the fact that Kindle Previewer shows separate pages. I can see instances of:

<div id="page2" role="doc-pagebreak" aria-label="2" epub:type="pagebreak" />

but they have not split the file. I know I can do this manually by splitting at the cursor Ctrl+Enter but I want to do it automatically. There are several promising looking tools in the menu but I don't want to accidentally wreck the document. Can anyone advise?

[theducks]

Search&Replace those with the Sigil split marker: (it is on the tools menu)

<hr class="sigil_split_marker" />

Once done: F6 (executes the split)

[KevinH]

You probably do not want to split on every page break. Especially if this is not a fixed layout epub. Try looking for heading tags.

[perkin5]

Originally Posted by theducks

Search&Replace those with the Sigil split marker: (it is on the tools menu)

<hr class="sigil_split_marker" />

Once done: F6 (executes the split)

The split marker is not on the tools menu in 2.0.0 but on the Insert menu, which foxed me for a bit! OK that works and many thanks. May I ask a supplementary - can I select text and then comment it out? There appears to be no toolbar button to do this in 2.0.0

[perkin5]

Yes, maybe you are right - I do want some page breaks in the front matter of my book but the manual job is then much less.

[Turtle91]

To comment in HTML, place a <!-- tag before the comment text and a --> tag after the comment text. In Sigil you can create a clip like this:

<!--\1-->

So all you need to do is highlight the section you want commented out and click on the clip.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by perkin5

The split marker is not on the tools menu in 2.0.0 but on the Insert menu, which foxed me for a bit! OK that works and many thanks. May I ask a supplementary - can I select text and then comment it out? There appears to be no toolbar button to do this in 2.0.0

My bad. I slipped menus.

You can just paste that string into the Replace.
You are not limited to that original pattern. Any Search can me used. Just be careful when using Replace All. I sometime use Replace-Next and skip (click find) if needed.

[perkin5]

Many thanks for the excellent advice!

[AlanHK]

Originally Posted by perkin5

In the past, when I have loaded an epub into Sigil, all the chapters or sections have been automatically split into separate files. I have just loaded an epub generated in Indesign and the whole book is in one file despite the fact that Kindle Previewer shows separate pages. I can see instances of:

<div id="page2" role="doc-pagebreak" aria-label="2" epub:type="pagebreak" />

but they have not split the file. I

"type="pagebreak" " doesn't produce a pagebreak. These indicate the pagebreaks in the print book, and maybe used by e.g. indexes as anchors. But you (usually) don't want to put breaks in the ebook there, as they are often in the middle of a sentence.

The displayed pagebreaks will be set in the CSS of a tag, probably the headings. Look in the stylesheet and you will find something like:

h2 {page-break-before: always;
....

You can use those to split the file into more manageable chunks. If not too many, just manually search for <h2 and split, or do S&R to replace

<h2 (or whatever the heading was)
with
<hr class="sigil_split_marker" /><h2

then "Edit/Split at markers"
Then remove the "pagebreak" from the CSS as redundant.
And also check if any blank pages were created by the split. Just delete those.

You will need to check if the TOC is correct (it may be if it linked to anchors), or regenerate it if not.

[perkin5]

Good advice, gratefully received!