Conversion result in odd characters

[Calistn]

I have been using calibre for awhile now and love it. Mostly everything works fine and I have no problems.

Sometimes though I will convert a file from pdf or txt and get odd symbols showing up in my mobi version. Most time I can correct this by editing the orginal file and correcting the errors using the find and delete or find and replace text editing.

Sometimes though I will get a file convert it and when I open the converted mobi file or even the txt file on the pc everything is fine but once in a blue moon I will get weird characters or symbols show up after transferring it to my kindle.

For example one book I have everything is fine in txt and mobi formats on the pc but if I put the mobi format in my kindle if has a ? (in a odd square) placed randomly throughout the text. If I just stick the txt file in the kindle all is fine just like on the pc.

Any ideas what causes this and how to fix it?

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Calistn

I have been using calibre for awhile now and love it. Mostly everything works fine and I have no problems.

Sometimes though I will convert a file from pdf or txt and get odd symbols showing up in my mobi version. Most time I can correct this by editing the orginal file and correcting the errors using the find and delete or find and replace text editing.

Sometimes though I will get a file convert it and when I open the converted mobi file or even the txt file on the pc everything is fine but once in a blue moon I will get weird characters or symbols show up after transferring it to my kindle.

For example one book I have everything is fine in txt and mobi formats on the pc but if I put the mobi format in my kindle if has a ? (in a odd square) placed randomly throughout the text. If I just stick the txt file in the kindle all is fine just like on the pc.

Any ideas what causes this and how to fix it?

The square is a missing glyph in your devices font set, which is why the PC shows if correctly. There are lots of fonts on your PC

[Calistn]

Is there anyway to fix this, I mean the ?in a square doesn't shows up in those spots on the pc but it does on the kindle.

for example on the pc:

Jack looked at him funny but decided to remain silent.

on the kindle:

Jack looked at him funny but decided to ?remain silent.

the ? is actually inside a square.

Is there anyway to fix this or is it just cause I got an older kindle? (it has the mini keyboard at the bottom)

I mean I can't edit it out of the original as it's not there

[eschwartz]

It may *look* like there is nothing there in the source document, but calibre didn't create it out of thin air.

I wonder if it is a zero-width space, or hyphen?
Difficult to see that just by looking but there would be an extra character in the raw text.

P.S. "kindle" is not very explanatory, it would be helpful to know which exact model. Check here: Kindle Serial Numbers and update your info block.

If you have the KK, then the latest firmware update supports AZW3 -- much more capable than MOBI, and allows embedding fonts.

[Calistn]

Okay I figured it might be something like that, it happens very very rarely so I guess I will just live with it. lol

Thanks for explaining it to me you two!

[Shagbark]

Go to preferences, output options, and choose the filetype you're converting to.
Then choose a simple character set, like ascii.
That should work. So far it hasn't, for me! But that's what it's there for.