20 March 2012

Converting Logos Books to Kindle Format

I found the following post on the Logos forum a few days ago.  I just tried it with R. C. Sproul's book, Grace Unknown.  It worked like a charm.  Here's the process exactly as it was posted on the forums-

(by the way, the software noted below looks like it has a lot of utility in converting just about any MS Word or HTML document to Kindle format...)



Fr Devin Roza Posted: 3-18-12 10:49 AM

I know there are a few posts already about Kindle, but I have come up with a methodology to export books from Logos to Kindle (or other eReader devices) that I think is really easy, quick and powerful, and wanted to start a new post to share it with you.
Goal: Export a Logos book to a native Kindle (or other eReader device) format, with fully functional native Table of Contents and working footnotes. Easy and fast (I promise! There are lot of steps, but they are very simple).

Programs: You'll need to install two free programs, Calibre and Sigil. Here are the links:
- Calibre: http://calibre-ebook.com/
- Sigil: http://code.google.com/p/sigil/downloads/list

Steps:
1. In Logos, open Tools - Program Settings. Set the option to Copy Footnotes to "Yes"

2. Open the book you would like to export to Kindle. Go to the Title Page.Change the Layout style to full screen. If you like, make the text as small as possible (this will make it slightly faster, and is completely optional).

3. With your mouse, select the text beginning on the Title Page and begin to drag the mouse downward. In the box above the book which indicates the page number, you will notice that it begins to report the pages which you currently have selected. Once you have selected a good amount (maybe every couple of chapters), right click on the selected text and choose the option Copy.

4. Paste the text into Microsoft Word (or another similar program). You will notice that the footnotes are copied, and that the hyperlinks to Logos resources are NOT included. This is good for Kindle, as those hyperlinks won't work and could simply cause confusion.

5. Go back to Logos, and repeat steps 3 and 4 until you have copied the entire book.

6. In Microsoft Word, mark the Chapter Titles and Sections of the book which you want to be included in the Table of Contents with the Styles of Heading 1, Heading 2, and Heading 3. Normally this can be done very quickly right clicking on the Chapter Titles and Section Titles and choosing the option to Select text with similar formatting. 

7. Choose the option to Save As... and save the document in the format HTML, Filtered.

8. Open your saved HTML document in Sigil. On the right hand column you will notice that Sigil has generated a Table of Contents from your headings. That is a native Kindle, Nook, etc. table of contents. Optionally select the button Generate TOC from Headings. A window will pop up with your headings. On the right hand side of the window (you may need to scroll over to see it) there are check boxes where you can select or deselect one by one the headings that you want to keep or not in your Table of Contents. Sigil will also create a Chapter Navigation Mark for each one of your headings included in the Table of Contents.

9. Choose the option File - Save As... and save your book as en EPUB file.

10. Open Calibre. Choose the option Add books. Select your EPUB file. Optionally select the option Edit Metadata and you can download a cover, metadata, etc., or edit it manually.

11. Connect your Kindle, Nook, etc. In Calibre, select the option to Send to Device. Calibre will convert the book to Kindle (or other as corresponds) format and send it to your Kindle.
You will then have a fully functional native Kindle book with footnotes, Table of Contents, and Chapter Markers for easy navigation!!

P.S.: If you need to add images, right click on them in the Logos book and select Copy, and then paste them into your Microsoft Word document before exporting to HTML.

If your book has a lot of images, or you don't need footnotes, you can use the built in option in Logos to "Export/Print" to an RTF or HTML file, which will include the images (but not the footnotes!). But then you have a problem! Your document is full of hyperlinks to Logos resources which will not work in Kindle. Luckily getting rid of these is very easy.

Type CTRL A to select the entire Word Document. Then select CTRL SHIFT F9. This will eliminate all the hyperlinks in your document. Then you can continue with step 6 in this Guide.

No comments:

Post a Comment

I welcome comments, and will read them, but they are moderated.

Reftagger