Answers.Body: <p>PDFs are not designed to be converted from. They have no structure that allows Calibre to determine for sure how many columns of text it has or what's a footnote. The <a href="https://manual.calibre-ebook.com/conversion.html#pdfconversion" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Calibre manual</a> describes the topic in more depth.</p>
  <p>I found that copying the text to a text editor, cleaning it up and then pasting it into the Calibre e-book editor gives the best results but it takes long and is boring.  I've written down my work-flow in a <a href="https://thoughtpile.tastytea.de/posts/how-i-convert-pdfs-to-epub/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">blog post</a>. It describes how to make EPUBs, but I'm sure it can be adapted to mobi fairly easily, since it seems to use XHTML too.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2021-03-28T15:26:29.983Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2021-03-28T15:26:29.983Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: tastytea
Body: <p>I have a collection of <code>PDF</code> files which I'm looking to load onto a <code>Kindle</code>.  First, however, they need to be converted.</p>
  <p>Experimentation gives sub-par results by selecting and converting to <code>mobi</code> through <code>calibre</code>.  Better results are achieved by copy/paste to a text file.  I haven't yet tried a bulk convert to text from <code>calibre</code>.</p>
  <p>Some <code>PDF</code>'s have very odd results, where what's visually and logically a paragraph of text is somehow &quot;columns&quot; either when copy/pasted or converted.  The result is a sort of interlace, but slightly out of sequence.  However, that's unusual.  For the most part/copy past gives excellent results.</p>
  <p>These <code>PDF</code>'s generally are all text, with footnotes.</p>
  <p>It's a bit mystifying why copy/paste would be better than calibre converting to <code>mobi</code>.</p>
  
Tags: <kindle><epub><calibre><pdf><conversion>
Title: How to convert PDF's with footnotes for Kindle?
UserDisplayName: Nicholas Saunders
ThreadText: # How to convert PDF's with footnotes for Kindle?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2021-02-20)
  
  I have a collection of `PDF` files which I'm looking to load onto a `Kindle`. First, however, they need to be converted.
  
  Experimentation gives sub-par results by selecting and converting to `mobi` through `calibre`. Better results are achieved by copy/paste to a text file. I haven't yet tried a bulk convert to text from `calibre`.
  
  Some `PDF`'s have very odd results, where what's visually and logically a paragraph of text is somehow "columns" either when copy/pasted or converted. The result is a sort of interlace, but slightly out of sequence. However, that's unusual. For the most part/copy past gives excellent results.
  
  These `PDF`'s generally are all text, with footnotes.
  
  It's a bit mystifying why copy/paste would be better than calibre converting to `mobi`.
  
  **Tags:** kindle, epub, calibre, pdf, conversion
  
  
  ---
  
  ## 1 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_1 on 2021-03-28. Score: 1
  
  PDFs are not designed to be converted from. They have no structure that allows Calibre to determine for sure how many columns of text it has or what's a footnote. The [Calibre manual](https://manual.calibre-ebook.com/conversion.html#pdfconversion) describes the topic in more depth.
  
  I found that copying the text to a text editor, cleaning it up and then pasting it into the Calibre e-book editor gives the best results but it takes long and is boring. I've written down my work-flow in a [blog post](https://thoughtpile.username_1.de/posts/how-i-convert-pdfs-to-epub/). It describes how to make EPUBs, but I'm sure it can be adapted to mobi fairly easily, since it seems to use XHTML too.
  
  
  ---
  
  