.epub to .mobi loses pages, images, italics

[CursedRider]

Ok, I'm writing this because I couldn't find a similar problem.

I'm editing in Sigil a book, converted by Calibre from pdf to epub. The book has over 100 chapter breaks, aka .xhtml or .html files (I chose to use chapter break for images to display on separate pages). The chapters themselves, as in TOC are around 40.

Anyway, after I first went over 100 chapterbreaks (that is, 100 .xhtml files) I started having bad problems with the conversion. Pages I introduced at the beginning do not show at all, neither do images. I lost italic formatting all over the book. But this only happens in the mobi format, as viewed by the Calibre viewer, Kindle Previewer, Kindle 4. The epub files (viewed by the Calibre extension) are the way they are supposed to be.

https://www2.mobileread.com/i/smiliesadd1/help.gif

Please. I am losing my mind

[CursedRider]

Come on, does anyone have any ideas?

[JSWolf]

You should NOT use Calibre#s eBook viewer to tell if things work or not. For ePub, use Adobe Digital Editions and for KF8 & Mobi eBooks, use Kindle Previewer. Those are the two programs one should use depending on the format(s).

[CursedRider]

Thanks JS, but as you can see above, it isn't just in Calibre's mobi viewer that I tested it, but also on Mobireader, kindlePreviewer, and the Kindle itself. And the epub, that I'm actually editing in Sigil, is perfectly OK viewed in any viewer.

So your advice, although valid and for which I thank you, has absolutely nothing to do with the problem. The problem is not the way it appears, but that entire formatted pages dissapear.

[JSWolf]

How are you converting the ePub into Mobi? If you've not yet tried Calibre to do the conversion, give it a go and see what happens. Sometimes it does a lot better job then Mobipocket Creator or Kindlegen.

[CursedRider]

I am converting it using Calibre, that's why I was asking here.

I solved it meanwhile, by copying the files in a separate folder, deleting the whole book from Calibre, then copying only the epub and reconverting. It seems to have done the trick. Dunno why, but it does.

Thanks for your interest anyway, JS. It's an interesting bug, and frustrating as hell.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by CursedRider

I am converting it using Calibre, that's why I was asking here.

I solved it meanwhile, by copying the files in a separate folder, deleting the whole book from Calibre, then copying only the epub and reconverting. It seems to have done the trick. Dunno why, but it does.

Thanks for your interest anyway, JS. It's an interesting bug, and frustrating as hell.

My guess maybe is that the conversion wasn't actually happening because the file in the output format already existed. But anyway, glad it's working now.

Now, have you done the FULL A/B compare between the PDF and the ePub? You have to to make sure there are no errors as a PDF of any real length won't convert without errors and A/B comparing is a mandatory part of the conversion to fix any errors.

[CursedRider]

Yeah, I guess it was probably that. It didn't overwrite the output mobi. Dunno why.

Yeah, I am actually editing the epub right next to the pdf. There are a lot of errors, but I took them as granted and am working my way through them.

[JSWolf]

Well done on the A/B comparing.

[AlexBell]

Originally Posted by CursedRider

Yeah, I guess it was probably that. It didn't overwrite the output mobi. Dunno why.

I've had this experience also. In fact when I'm designing ebooks for Circaidy Gregory Press or their authors I ask them to completely delete the previous mobi version before installing or reading the new version. Otherwise the changes I've made don't always show.

I have no reason why this should be either, but I've seen it several times before I asked people to delete the previous version, and not at all since.