Calibre epub rejected by Apple store

starrigger · 08-23-2011, 01:49 AM

I've just finished a frustrating bout of uploading a book to the iTunes store. While nothing about the process was easy, the most frustrating thing was the repeated rejection of my epub book file by the Apple system. I created the epub in Calibre, from a Word doc saved to filtered html. Normally this gives me excellent results. (But this is the first time I've tried to upload to the Apple store.)

What it mostly complained about was "link" and "vlink" coding in the header to the last (or nearly last) html file in the epub. This coding was there, I assume, because of links I have in the "about the author" section at the end of the book.

I never did succeed in getting the Calibre version uploaded. I finally tried the file produced by the Smashwords meatgrinder, and Apple accepted that without problem. (That was from the same Word doc, give or take a few lines of text, and it had the same hyperlinks as the doc I used to make the Calibre version.)

I also tried running the Calibre version through an epub validator, and it failed, with a long list of the same kind of violations. The SW version passed with flying colors.

I'm not sure what to make of this. On the one hand, I finally got a file up there through other means. But I'm a little concerned about what went wrong in this Calibre conversion, and whether I might have undiscovered issues in my other books.

Manichean · 08-23-2011, 01:59 AM

From what I've read on this forum, ePub validity checkers are notoriously fickle, and the one used by the Apple store seems to be particularly bad. As far as I know, Calibre only creates valid ePub. I've heard mention of Sigil and Flightcrew as passable validity checkers. Others with more experience in these matters will no doubt be along shortly

kovidgoyal · 08-23-2011, 02:15 AM

calibre does not produce files that pass epub validity checkers. It produces files that actually work on multiple ebook readers instead. The only time a calibre produced file will pass an epub validity checker is if the input you give calibre is already XHTML 1 and CSS 2.1.

Word does not produce valid XHTML 1

starrigger · 08-23-2011, 03:02 AM

Hm. Any idea why the difference in result between an epub produced from a Word doc by Meatgrinder, and an epub produced essentially from the same doc by Calibre? They look the same in the viewers that I've tried them in, but I've peeked at just enough of the code to see that they look different.

When I explode the SW version, I see no trace of the Word styles, but there are some interesting lines, such as:

<meta name="GENERATOR" content="OpenOffice.org 3.0 (Unix)"/> -- which makes me wonder if it's poured through Open Office before conversion, and

<body dir="ltr" class="calibre"> -- and a lot of other tags with the word "calibre" in them, which makes me wonder if Meatgrinder has Calibre scripts running under its hood.

I see some similar-looking tags in the version generated by Calibre.

Not sure what to make of it all, though.

kovidgoyal · 08-23-2011, 03:17 AM

meatgrinder uses OpenOffice and calibre and presumably some custom scripts to ensure the input to calibre is compliant.

pdurrant · 08-23-2011, 03:25 AM

You could try opening the calibre output in Sigil and re-saving. Sigil has some automated HTML cleanup code, I think.

starrigger · 08-23-2011, 03:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

meatgrinder uses OpenOffice and calibre and presumably some custom scripts to ensure the input to calibre is compliant.

Hm. Might be worth trying Open Office as an intermediary to my input to Calibre. (I could try the Sigil trick, too. I have it, but really haven't used it.)

Manichean · 08-23-2011, 03:41 AM

There's also an ePub output plugin for OpenOffice available, since you're converting from a DOC file anyway...

starrigger · 08-23-2011, 03:51 AM

I was just going to ask...if I try going through OO, does it make more sense to save from OO to html and import into Calibre, or use the epub output straight from OO. (And then, I guess, use Calibre to tweak the metadata and whatnot.)

theducks · 08-23-2011, 06:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by starrigger

What it mostly complained about was "link" and "vlink" coding in the header to the last (or nearly last) html file in the epub. This coding was there, I assume, because of links I have in the "about the author" section at the end of the book.

I'm not sure what to make of this. On the one hand, I finally got a file up there through other means. But I'm a little concerned about what went wrong in this Calibre conversion, and whether I might have undiscovered issues in my other books.

There is nothing wrong with the conversion for the most part (the link and vlink styling should probably be moved to the stylesheet or coded differently).

For the most part, these store enforce their own content rules in the checker.

kovidgoyal · 08-23-2011, 11:12 AM

calibre convert the openoffice file format (.odt) directly, no need to convert to html. You will have to try the various alternatives to see which givs you a file best suited to your needs.

starrigger · 08-23-2011, 03:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

calibre convert the openoffice file format (.odt) directly, no need to convert to html. You will have to try the various alternatives to see which givs you a file best suited to your needs.

Ah. I'll give that a try. Thanks.

08-23-2011, 01:49 AM	#1
starrigger Jeffrey A. Carver Posts: 1,355 Karma: 1107383 Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Massachusetts, USA Device: Lenovo Yoga Tab Plus, Droid phone, Nook HD+	Calibre epub rejected by Apple store I've just finished a frustrating bout of uploading a book to the iTunes store. While nothing about the process was easy, the most frustrating thing was the repeated rejection of my epub book file by the Apple system. I created the epub in Calibre, from a Word doc saved to filtered html. Normally this gives me excellent results. (But this is the first time I've tried to upload to the Apple store.) What it mostly complained about was "link" and "vlink" coding in the header to the last (or nearly last) html file in the epub. This coding was there, I assume, because of links I have in the "about the author" section at the end of the book. I never did succeed in getting the Calibre version uploaded. I finally tried the file produced by the Smashwords meatgrinder, and Apple accepted that without problem. (That was from the same Word doc, give or take a few lines of text, and it had the same hyperlinks as the doc I used to make the Calibre version.) I also tried running the Calibre version through an epub validator, and it failed, with a long list of the same kind of violations. The SW version passed with flying colors. I'm not sure what to make of this. On the one hand, I finally got a file up there through other means. But I'm a little concerned about what went wrong in this Calibre conversion, and whether I might have undiscovered issues in my other books.

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Epub Apple issues and contacting apple	dlanzarotta	ePub	17	10-17-2011 09:14 PM
File rejected by Apple	awp	ePub	20	08-11-2010 08:28 AM
Apple store might have it right..	scottjl	Apple Devices	4	06-30-2010 07:26 AM
New Apple Store App	kjk	Apple Devices	0	06-15-2010 12:06 PM
apple rejected/then rates a dictionary as 17+ do to bad words	ahammer	News	23	08-07-2009 11:51 AM

08-23-2011, 01:59 AM	#2
Manichean Wizard Posts: 3,130 Karma: 91256 Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Germany Device: Cybook Gen3	From what I've read on this forum, ePub validity checkers are notoriously fickle, and the one used by the Apple store seems to be particularly bad. As far as I know, Calibre only creates valid ePub. I've heard mention of Sigil and Flightcrew as passable validity checkers. Others with more experience in these matters will no doubt be along shortly

08-23-2011, 02:15 AM	#3
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 44,160 Karma: 22670164 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	calibre does not produce files that pass epub validity checkers. It produces files that actually work on multiple ebook readers instead. The only time a calibre produced file will pass an epub validity checker is if the input you give calibre is already XHTML 1 and CSS 2.1. Word does not produce valid XHTML 1

08-23-2011, 03:02 AM	#4
starrigger Jeffrey A. Carver Posts: 1,355 Karma: 1107383 Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Massachusetts, USA Device: Lenovo Yoga Tab Plus, Droid phone, Nook HD+	Hm. Any idea why the difference in result between an epub produced from a Word doc by Meatgrinder, and an epub produced essentially from the same doc by Calibre? They look the same in the viewers that I've tried them in, but I've peeked at just enough of the code to see that they look different. When I explode the SW version, I see no trace of the Word styles, but there are some interesting lines, such as: <meta name="GENERATOR" content="OpenOffice.org 3.0 (Unix)"/> -- which makes me wonder if it's poured through Open Office before conversion, and <body dir="ltr" class="calibre"> -- and a lot of other tags with the word "calibre" in them, which makes me wonder if Meatgrinder has Calibre scripts running under its hood. I see some similar-looking tags in the version generated by Calibre. Not sure what to make of it all, though.

08-23-2011, 03:17 AM	#5
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 44,160 Karma: 22670164 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	meatgrinder uses OpenOffice and calibre and presumably some custom scripts to ensure the input to calibre is compliant.

08-23-2011, 03:25 AM	#6
pdurrant The Grand Mouse 高貴的老鼠 Posts: 71,900 Karma: 307105450 Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Norfolk, England Device: Kindle Voyage	You could try opening the calibre output in Sigil and re-saving. Sigil has some automated HTML cleanup code, I think.

08-23-2011, 03:41 AM	#8
Manichean Wizard Posts: 3,130 Karma: 91256 Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Germany Device: Cybook Gen3	There's also an ePub output plugin for OpenOffice available, since you're converting from a DOC file anyway...

08-23-2011, 03:51 AM	#9
starrigger Jeffrey A. Carver Posts: 1,355 Karma: 1107383 Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Massachusetts, USA Device: Lenovo Yoga Tab Plus, Droid phone, Nook HD+	I was just going to ask...if I try going through OO, does it make more sense to save from OO to html and import into Calibre, or use the epub output straight from OO. (And then, I guess, use Calibre to tweak the metadata and whatnot.)

08-23-2011, 11:12 AM	#11
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 44,160 Karma: 22670164 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	calibre convert the openoffice file format (.odt) directly, no need to convert to html. You will have to try the various alternatives to see which givs you a file best suited to your needs.

Advert

Advert