Great real-world down and dirty tutorial for existing InDesign print users needing to create EPub....without the 10 hours worth of classes for all the bells and whistles. Thanks! I got up and running very quickly with this tutorial!
I got a pretty big commission from an long-time client - one that was kind enough to give me the job even though they know I'm not an expert on InDesign. This tutorial, and the previous one about how to actually create the book, has been an incredible help, one that I've come back to quite a few times along the way. Now the book is pretty much done - just some last minute checks to go through - my client is very happy with the end result and I will be able to save some more money this year. So, thank you Sean. Really. I will be sure to direct anyone that may need it to these two videos and hope they're gonna help them as much as they helped me.
You all probably dont care but does anyone know a trick to log back into an Instagram account? I was stupid lost my login password. I would appreciate any assistance you can offer me
Dear @Sean Foushee, I am a novice writer that have enjoyed a lot your tutos using InDesign to create a book and Epub. This videos help me a lot than the current courses I am taking in the use of InDesign. Without this I don't know when I could get my first manuscript formatted for Amazon. This tutos are a giant leap for those that want to to start publishing with the right format, knowing the right information without going for the bushes taking long tutorials about feautures that won't make any sense for E-pub formatting. God bless you, now and ever.
Wow! Thank you, Sean! Your tutorials saved my ebook project. After what feels like 100 different attempts with other videos, this is, as others have said, by far THE BEST Tutorial if you want to create an ebook that looks just like you want it to look. Thanks a million!
Thank you. This has been, by far, the most comprehensible InDesign Tut I have ever watched. I'd spent a whole week trying to find the right tutorial for epub exporting. You've been very helpful. I'm subscribing to your channel in hopes of learning more from you. Your teaching style is neither rushed not pretentious. Very professional. Again, thank you. Keep it up.
Very nicely done. I was using 'Export > General > Split Document > Single Paragraph Style' which gives you only one paragraph style to choose from. In general, I so much prefer this kind of explanation to, "OK, you want to click this, then click that..." which leaves you just as confounded as you were when you started.
I rarely comment online but I just want to say to you, Sean Foushee, that it was so lovely playing along to your video. First, you have a great voice and you sound so patient and calm and you are great at explaining things. Second, it's 2:30 am and my assignment is due tomorrow and I'm still having issues but it was great to use your knowledge to learn a new approach. I gotta keep cracking, I'm still not getting a correct TOC reference at the tippy top but I guess I must have done something wrong, otherwise I've done everything you've said. Lots of people criticize online and on the rare occasion that I do drop comments, I do it to express positive thoughts. I'm obviously subscribing
Thank you very much for your comment Anna. I hope you were able to get your TOC working, but if not feel free to ask any questions you have and I'll try to help you as much as possible.
@@SeanFoushee I haven't created my book from compiled documents - will readers still use my TOC do you know? Or do I need to disassemble my book so I can set it correctly? Thought I'd ask before experimenting in case you knew.
@@EmmaRosenBooks as long as your TOC setup was saved as a style it will work regardless if you used the book panel or compiled everything in a single document.
Thank you so much Sean. I have looked at so much InDesign book formatting advice and so far you are the ONLY one who has videos that actually make sense and are able to be followed in a step-by-step fashion. With your advice, I was able to format the print version of THE POWER OF INNER WISDOM (a project I'm doing for a minister friend, the Rev. Marrice Coverson) and upload it to CreateSpace. We just got the paperback proof copy and it looks fabulous. Following your "Preparing a Book for ePUB Export in InDesign" video, I was able to export an ePub of the book. - YES! Two confusing things about the ePUB export though: 1. When I exported the file I got the following warning (see below). I couldn’t see any problems because of this in the ePUB, but is there something I should do to correct this? EPUB export warning(s) The file was exported but one or more problems were detected: CSS name collision: 94 detected. Paragraph Style “Chapter Sub-title” and “Copyright page subtitle” generate conflict css name “chapter-subtitle” Paragraph Style “Copyright page subtle” and Chapter Sub-title” generate conflict css name “chapter-subtitle” Paragraph Style “Copyright page title” and “Chapter Sub-title” generate conflict css name “chapter-subtitle” 2. Following your directions and rasterized the title page. It looks fine, but it looks smaller on screen. I’m thinking this is because I’m looking at it on the big screen of my iMac. Do I need to do something to tweak this? Thanks so much. Just wondering if you’ve developed a course on self-publishing - you’re the best!
Thank you for the kind words Mary. on your first question, the CSS name conflicts are because two of your styles are being exported to the ePub style sheet (written in a presentation language used on the web, called CSS) with the same reference (class) name; this is a big no-no in the world of CSS. To fix this, edit one of two styles that are causing a conflict, then select the Export Tagging option at the bottom of the left hand column. In this set of options change the name listed in the Class text field to something else (i.e. change chapter-subtitle to chapter-subtitle2). For your second question, in the Object Export Options for the rasterized container, set your Size to adjust the final dimensions. Here are the descriptions of how those options work: None: No CSS width or height is generated for the tag mapped from the object. The size of the object is determined by the internal content, if any, according to the CSS rules, the aspect ratio is not maintained. Default: The CSS Size is determined by the settings in the Export Dialog/Object tab. Fixed: The CSS Size is determined by the calculating the dimension of the object in points and defining the same dimensions in the CSS as pixels. The aspect ratio of the object is maintained. Relative to Text Flow: The CSS width is determined by taking the width of the object and expressing it as a percentage relative to the width of the text frame containing the text flow. The aspect ratio of the object is maintained. Relative to Text Size: The CSS height is determined by taking the height of the object in points and converting it to ems at 12pts per em. The aspect ratio of the object is maintained. Custom Width/Height: Valid CSS units are cm, mm, in, pt, %, px, vh, vw, vmin, and vmax. The aspect ratio of the object is maintained. I would try Relative to Text Flow or a Custom Width/Height in %.
I love your tutorials and used your InDesign book to print tutorial to upload a PDF to CreateSpace. Your InDesign to ePub tutorial is helping me understand that exporting process (most tutorials tell you to export to ePub and then make a bunch of changes). I have these questions: 1. Will making the export to ePub changes in InDesign before export cause any problems if at some point in the future I have to make changes to the print version of the book? Should I do some sort of back up and work from that file? 2. I am using KDP for the ebook and most tutorials state that the ePub must be converted to MOBI before uploading to KDP. However, KDP now has ePubs as one of its supported ebook formats: "We support unzipped ePub files. Before uploading, we recommend validating the file with Kindle Previewer. You can also validate the file by using this ePUB checker tool." (kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G200634390) I am so confused! Help!
Thank you Mary. To answer your questions: #1 any export options you set to objects in your layout will only affect digital exports (ePub) and will not cause issues if you take the file to press with the exception of anchored objects; if your document has a lot of anchored objects I would recommend working off a duplicate file. #2 Amazon should be able to validate an ePub version 2 or 3 exported from InDesign for use with their publishing platform, just upload the ePub to their validator (which uses EpubCheck) and it should pass without an issue. If you've made any manual changes to the package after export that might not be the case.
Sean Foushee - thanks so much. You have set my mind at rest. I did try to do a package for print again so i had a backup. It went through all the steps, but the file I created for the package was no where to be found. I had done this before to generate a PDF for the copy editor and that was fine. After I made the copy revisions I had no problem generating a package. But then - nothing. Any advice?
FYI -- Not being able to do a backup my InDesign Book turned out to be a High Sierra (Mac) glitch that I was able to resolve by doing a restart of my iMac. I'm back in business and can follow your ePub for doing that ePub export.
Wow, what an incredible tutorial! Thank you so much. I do have a question though. When I create the TOC, InDesign generates the TOC, then it only loads the header (Table of Condense) and no chapters in it, its just a blank page after that. Any ideas what I am doing wrong?
Thank you. When you generate the TOC, make sure in the TOC panel to click on the button to include all documents in the book file, otherwise it will only look in the current TOC.indd document for the chapter headings using the paragraph styles (which there are none).
Hey Sean, do you offer hourly coaching? Or do you have a course on creating epub in InDesign? I am an author and have 11 books to convert within the next couple months. Using this video, I got really close to a nice looking epub, but the size and placement of the chapter heading and page break symbol are not great. Could I pay you for an hour of your time where I could screen share?
The Fixed Layout is essentially created a PDF like version of your ePub which doesn't allow for features like resizing of the font size, and in some eReaders won't allow comments or bookmarking of content. That's not to say that the fixed layout isn't helpful, but as long as you understand the limitations of each type (reflowable vs fixed) then you can choose the right format for your project.
It's been years since you made this but I hope you still look in because I need your help urgently. So, I've several chapters of a book I'm making making and I want to turn it into an eBook now. I didn't plan to synchronise my documents because I have many different looking chapters (quite a busy book). I just made styles as each chapter required. But there are so many paragraph styles now and I'm wondering if I have to export tag each of the paragraph styles on each of the documents. Or, can I get away with tagging only the chapter titles on each document? I'm using InDesign 2019. Thanks!
Good evening! I think just tagging the headings should suffice as most will export as paragraphs by default. Tagging the headings will also help with accessibility.
What a wonderful person you are! Thanks so much for your quick response. Please make more InDesign videos? Whenever I'm looking for a fix, I always add your name to my question to see if you have anything on the subject. Blessings. :)
Hi there Sean -- First of all, thank you for your incredibly helpful tutorial AND for taking all the time you do to respond to our endless questions! I have a large (300+ pages) book with full-page images every 10 pages or so, so I feel the fixed layout is the only way to go? Meanwhile fixed layout exports fonts extremely badly for several different types of readers, so I may choose to rasterize each text box. SO, #1, Would you advise that? I can't create outlines for all the text since the TOC links will be lost, so would Object Export Options/rasterize handle it? Another problem I am having on certain readers is that the full-page image will appear overlaying itself. So Q#2, for each of the full-page images, do I need to set the Object Export Options to: "Use existing image" then center it on the page? Also, do I need to check "Insert page break" if I already have one in the document? Okay, THANK YOU for any advice you can lend!! I got this far completely thanks to your tutorial! :)
Hi Regina! When you export as a fixed layout InDesign essentially rasterizes each page, sort of like creating a PDF, so you'll want to stick with reflow able layout for your ePub. However, your image question is a good one. First, I would set in the object export option for the images (or you can set this in an object style FYI) that each of those images has a page break following the image and that the image size is set to relative page size so it remains close to full screen.
Thank you so much for the invaluable information. Two questions, you did create a new table of contents style just for the ePub so why were the numbers still off? Also why was the character style not there on the table of contents on the ePub, the numbers stuck to the chapter instead of using your spacing style and right alignment?
Thank you Leila, yes, when you create an ePub you need to setup and use a ToC style and I often exclude the page numbers in that style because ePubs reflow the text making some pages with more or less text effectively shifting page numbers and making them no longer match the printed version.
Great video, Sean and it's really helped me out, I just have one question, what happened to the right indent tab in ToC when it was converted to ePub, is there a way to ensure it stays there after conversion?
Michael Maloney an ePub is basically just a collection of HTML and CSS documents, and as such HTML does not support tab characters. Typically when building a TOC for ePub the right indent tab and print version’s page numbers are removed in favor of the clickable anchors generated on ePub export.
Hi! Just a question regarding adding images into the book. i saw some one said they "needed" a fixed layout, why cant i use reflowable for images? how do i know which to use? ALSO Janelle's remark "Do you have a youtube video on how to anchor an image or pullout text in between the text of the book?" sounds like a great idea, have you made a video for this since?
Hello Sean! Thank you for the informative tutorial! I have a question. Do you think it's okay if I don't use paragraph styles when exporting to epub? It's so hard for me to use this because in the manuscript I got from my client, it has italic, bold fonts and foreign languages in the chapters. If I copy the chapters in a plain text document, it loses all the special formatting and I have 58 chapters. Your reply will be much appreciated. Thank you so much and all the best!
Hi Victoria, good question and the answer is no, you do not need to use paragraph styles. However, not using paragraph styles will mean the Table of Contents will need to be manually created. If you could use styles only on your chapter headings that would at least allow you to setup page breaks between chapters, but if you can't use them at all and you still want to keep the page breaks I would suggest editing the ePub manually after its creation using a tool like Calibre to add those breaks in the generated HTML of the ePub package.
@@SeanFoushee Omg thank you for your reply! It means a lot. I will try to follow your tutorial. It just makes me dizzy to edit mine because every chapter title always has an image on the upper side of the page so I don't know if it will make a big problem later. But thank you so much! 🥳
@@reinexmist You're welcome. If you anchor the image to the heading it should help with any issues of including the image later when you export to ePub.
@@SeanFoushee many thanks! I am still encountering a lot of problems but I hope I could finish this project soon. More power to you, Sir and your good heart!
Hello Sean. Thanks for the video. Can you give me some steps to create an epub from a single indd file ? In other words the entire print ready file is together with all its styles already in place...but how do I go from that to then setup the TOC, etc. to work and export as a finished ebook??
When you setup the TOC you'll use the same steps as before, but instead of having to check that the TOC will use the book files it will just search through the current document for the styles. Just make sure you have an empty page ready to place the generated TOC.
Hello there. Thanks for the tutorial. I have a couple of questions. I also have a title page but after I try the same technique as you are using my text either remains very small and doesn't resize depending or resizes but loses form and gets either too wide or too tall
Without seeing how you setup the document, it sounds like you might have a conflict with a paragraph or character style. Try typesetting your cover manually instead of using the style or nested style technique in the video.
Thanks a lot. Please I have issue in writing on the 1st page (Cover Page) the text has a digital box in the end of each paragraph like the book name and I have tried to manage it in many ways like exporting with rastarizing as you explained but still the box in the ends. Thanks again
Thank you for your comment geo graph. Can you provide some additional information? I'm not sure what you mean by a digital box appearing at the end of each paragraph. Is it caused by a missing font?
Hi Sean. I had a question about which file type I should save my Indesign booklet in for it to be applied to an application so that people can flip through the book on their phone?
Gloria Whang hello Gloria. Unfortunately the answer is going to be “it depends on the application.” Many of the early page flip apps I used to program or implement for clients required all pages exported as an image sequence (jpeg or png), but I know there are some that will accept a PDF. Check with the software developer and they should be able to give you not only the proper format but also if the pdf needs to be exported as single pages or spreads.
This tutorial saved me hours of frustration-Thank you Sean. I do have a question; when clicking on the chapter title in the ToC it takes me to the chapter so this is all good but how can I click on the chapter title to return to the ToC?
I'm glad the video helped Peter. You pose an interesting question, as the anchor created in the ePub is based on the TOC's automated generation by InDesign using the paragraph styles applied to the chapter headings. The issue is you don't have the same in return back to the TOC. So, you'd have to get creative and manually set each chapter heading as a clickable element that links back to an anchored text in the TOC (perhaps the TOC's title). There isn't a way I know to automate this.
@@SeanFoushee Thank you for that reply. I was beginning to suspect that this may be the case and you have just confirmed it. I will be watching more of your very informative youtube clips. Kindest regards Peter
Hello! This has been really helpful but im having quite a trouble. Some content of my "chapters" (with the chapter title as my page break marker) does not even fill up the whole space. However, when I export it as pubmat i want it to look continous and without any negative space because of the new html file per page break. How can i fix this?
Hello nicoleb_ when you mean the content doesn't fill up the whole space, are you referring to the print layout or just the digital ePub file? Also, as far as the space you want filled, is it just the extra space created due to the page breaks or is there an issue with the horizontal spacing between the measures (lines of text) and the outside margins?
If I have a chapter title, body paragraph and a drop cap paragraph, do I use h1 or is the drop cap paragraph style include when I use P for the body paragraph?
Great tutorial. However, I don't understand why you chose to display page numbers in the Table of Contents. Page numbers are irrelevant in eBooks (as you pointed out) because the content flow changes when the font size is changed, line spacing is changed, column width is changed, etc.
These two videos were originally intended for my students in my Publishing 2 class and following this demonstration I explain how to setup a separate TOC style for the ePub that doesn't include the page numbers for precisely the reasons you pointed out. Unfortunately that step never made it into this video.
An explanation of the epub:type in "Object Export Options" would of been very helpful. Within the epub:type their are several options. I used this to set up my prelim pages of book ie, Title, Half Title, Imprint, Dedication. I used "Rasterize Container and Custom layout for each prelim page. Unfortunately when I exported to epub I ended up with duplicates of the prelim pages. Any idea why this has happened?
+Sean Foushee I figured it out! I think my ToC was corrupts! Do you have a youtube video on how to anchor an image or pullout text inbetween the text of the book?
Hello Sean, great tutorial, i'm facing some issues when opening the ebook on reader, I'll list it to you, i'll be very grateful if you give me some tips to resolve the configs in Indesign: 1- i'm unable to control the fonts size on reader (small,medium,big, etc.) 2- pannel navigation from reader is showing in every entry the numbers and texts from master pages (book name and author name) 3- one font (rage italic) have lost its appearance after export. Really appreciate any directions you can provide, thanks!
When you export to ePub you have two options, Fixed Layout and Reflowable. The Fixed Layout will include master page information, won't permit you to adjust the font size, and if the embedded font isn't readable by the device it's display will be altered. Try exporting to the Reflowable format.
Sean Foushee thank you very much for response! yeah i did some tests, the fact is i need the master page decor but not the info at the pannel navigation, now i'm facing other issues when exporting as reflowable, the pages cover, credits, table of contents and dedication are completely messed up, they are splited, i've checked the exporting tag in the styles but the config is correct, the box isn't ticked, once the cover splits, the other pages assume the same, the weird thing is the chapters are starting correctly, definitively config an epub to export is a hard task, i appreciate your help, thanks.
You might have a situation with your layout where it could be beneficial to learn how to directly edit the ePub package. ePub documents are essentially web pages linked together, so if you're HTML and CSS is good enough you could use a text editor to alter the ePub after export to fine tune it to your needs.
Hi, I'm back! LOL. So I tried to upload my ePub to Smashwords and got the following error: "File 'META-INF/encryption.xml' in EPUB not listed in manifest!" Now I'm truly all the way under. What do I need to do? Please help.
That could be related to embedded fonts in the ePub. I recalled an article about this a while back when I had to compile a book for a client to upload to smashwords and thankfully I was able to find it. Check out this article by Deepak Gupta: www.versatilecontents.com/resolving-the-file-meta-infencryption-xml-in-epub/
@@misse2449 You probably have encrypted font files still in your ePub. Some services don't allow for encrypted font files embedded in the final ePub document, so those will need to be replaced with the unencrypted versions. However, please note that you need to be aware of the copyright of the fonts used in your book before embedding un-encrypted versions. To replace those font files you'll need to use a program like Sigil to open the ePub and read the directories in the compiled document. From there, you'll need to make note of the files in the fonts folder (not just which fonts are listed but their EXACT filenames), then delete those files and copy fresh versions from your fonts director on your computer making sure the filenames match what were in their before. Save the ePub and re-upload.
I've tried finding a video about how to link your TOC to the chapters in the book but cannot. When I export as ePub, it brings up the TOC thing you can sort through, but I need it to also have links on the TOC where people can click the name of a chapter or section and go to that chapter or section. Any tips? Going crazy!!!
When you generate your TOC for the print version you'll need to make sure the checkbox that says "Make text anchors in source paragraph" is selected, then regenerate the TOC. That will make the TOC entries clickable when you create an ePub.
Hello Sean: Thanks for the great tutorial. it's one of the best I have seen so far. I'm trying to create an ebook that has alot of pictures so I need the epub fixed layout for kindle. I followed your video to the letter but, I selected fixed layout instead of re flow. However, my indesign table of contents is not clickable. I'm clicking on the table of contents using the kindle viewer. The ncx table of contents works fine. So My question is : How can I make my table of contents clickable on kindle reader using the fixed layout (epub 3) In the future, are you going to make a video on how to create an ebook with the fixed layout? Thanks in advance, My friend
+pierre w Good evening Pierre. The fixed layout can use the same multi-level TOC as the reflowable ePub I created in the example. Make sure, when you generate your TOC, that you've checked the box next to the option "Make text anchor in source paragraph" or else the TOC will not be clickable.
+pierre w did you save a TOC style and during your export to ePub (Fixed Layout) under the TOC options are you choosing multi-level TOC then selecting the style you saved?
+Sean Foushee ...Yes, I did that. I'm doing the same steps you did in the video but, I selected fixed layout and selected the TOC options that you mentioned. By the way, the Toc works fine when I select the reflow layout. but, I need the fixed layout for my pictures
+pierre w Which platforms or apps are you using to preview the ePub? I just created a fixed layout ePub with a clickable TOC that worked properly in iBooks and I'm wondering if this isn't a problem with a specific device.
also, when working with Scrivener, I have text styles (italics) that I want to carry over, along with paragraph details, and I have been using export to rich text to do this...but some of the styles don't carry over. Any clues? Thanks for the heads up on 'Place', I was copying and pasting, which you solved for me. Great video...
Sean, I have an ISBN for my epub, should I put it in the field that has the id # when I export? Also, when I populate the docs in the book window, they all show page '1' , not consecutive pages. Any thoughts?
If you have an ISBN then replace the URN in the identifier field with the ISBN. Also, make sure each of your documents' sections are using automatic page numbering.
If you do this without the book format, and have all of the contents within one document, the Table of Contents gets shoved to the back of the book. Is there a way around this? Is the only choice to setup in book format the way you have done and have a separate document for the title page, TOC, and chapters?
I'll put another question here on its own in case it might help someone else in the future: I used 'rasterise' option for my ePub export and now I have two cover pages when I viewed on both Calibre and Kindle Previewer. How do I make it so that I have just one cover page, please? Thanks a million.
Some e-readers will show the cover page when the book opens or place it as the "first page" in the book. This can create an issue if the cover page is using the first page of your layout to rasterize the file. You can prevent this by taking the cover page/first page of your layout out and make it a separate file. Export that single cover page as a PNG and in your ePub setup use the PNG instead of the first page of the layout to generate the cover page.
The same goes for when I use Object Export Options. Upon output to epub, the image is forced to the back of the book. How do you maintain the sequential order of the book, so that image stays either on the page it should be or anchored within the flow of the text?
Just as with the TOC the ePub export will export your first page's text frame and any linked text frames first, then layout the rest of the objects, which causes them to be pushed to the back of the book. The solution is to anchor the frames to the content within the page they appear. When you add a text frame or object frame there is a blue box, just drag that to link to a piece of text on that page and when you export the object will show up inline with that content. There are a lot of options for setting anchors, I'd suggest starting with Adobe's website docs first to get the basic understanding of how it works. I'll try to produce a video on that this semester.
+primegeist in CS6 when you place an internal TOC it automatically creates hyperlinks. You can see the link after placing the TOC by opening the Story editor.
+Sean Foushee I must be generating it incorrectly. After export, it shows the links, but they are non responsive. Thank you for such a quick reply, I'm having difficulty finding resources to tackle this specific issue.
+primegeist you're welcome, let me re-install CS6 from the Cloud and run some tests (it's been two years since I've used that version). I'll reply back once I verify that procedure still works.
+primegeist Just installed CS6 and created a simple 16 page book and verified that the TOC works as expected. Make sure you're setting each of your chapter headings using a paragraph style, in your TOC setup save the settings as a new TOC style, and finally in the ePub export options make sure to select that style in the TOC style drop down.
+Sean Foushee Okay! I got the ToC to work with this suggestion, but with two complications during the export: I now have a duplicate (non-working) ToC before the effective one and there is an additional blank entry in the ToC menu between two actual chapters. I'm sure I am missing something, somewhere. I have checked and rechecked my styles for hours now. Thinking about taking a bath on this one, today. Screencap added for reference: imgur.com/0OfN82L
Hi Sean, I have a question for you... when i export my epub from indesign, and then i want to see a preview on amazon kindle previewer 3, i can't zoom the pages... why??
Sorry for the delayed reply Marco, if you export as a reflowable ePub it's not something that can be pinch-zoomed. If you want that functionality you'll need to export as a fixed ePub.
Hello Miss E. To add the acute accent over a letter (this works for more than just the letter E) type option+e to create the accent then type the letter you want under the accent, in this case a lowercase e (you can also accent uppercase letters as well). So, option+e then release all keys and type e again.
@@SeanFoushee I did an ALT+E (because I'm on Windows) but when I do that it looks like it's the shortcut for the Edit menu. I want the accent on the letter N, actually. Same thing? Thanks.
@@misse2449 My apologies, I should have asked if you were on Windows. In that case you need to know the character code of the accent and letter you want to use then hold down the alt key and on the keypad type the character code. For the ñ character (tilde over a lowercase n) the code is 0241. So, hold the alt key and on the keypad type 0241.
@@SeanFoushee It gives me a trademark mark "TM" but I'm going to look into those codes now until I get the right one. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction. ☺️
The TOC process for EPUB is so longwinded, it doesn't seem even worth it with ereaders having their own TOC. Just seems way easier to keep file names accurate and use the internal TOC.
@@SeanFoushee I didn't even think about that. Is there a way to create an EPUB using info from the indesign files and not the title but without creating an internal TOC?
@@esunsalmista Yes, the ePub TOC is generated by whatever Paragraph style you select, which means any content, including hidden content, can be used to generate the TOC as long as the content is on the correct page.
PS - using cs6 is a bit different in the options dept., and not having the fixed layout. After entering basic file metadata, edge preview and kindle previewer shows it's all a formatting 'GO' on several devices. Terry White has an excellent set on using the articles panel to set up an epub that flows in a more predictable, fixed way... ua-cam.com/video/SEMckLri6-M/v-deo.html Perhaps some day you will put your spin on that type image-heavy project using articles for non-cloud ID users..?
Great idea. The older ePub versions aren't really the issue when it comes to layout, it's how InDesign renders and writes out the corresponding (X)HTML files to the ePub container. I have a series of lectures I give with my Publishing 2 class on editing the ePub directly for fine tuning of your project, I'll see about committing those to a tutorial.
Great real-world down and dirty tutorial for existing InDesign print users needing to create EPub....without the 10 hours worth of classes for all the bells and whistles. Thanks! I got up and running very quickly with this tutorial!
I got a pretty big commission from an long-time client - one that was kind enough to give me the job even though they know I'm not an expert on InDesign. This tutorial, and the previous one about how to actually create the book, has been an incredible help, one that I've come back to quite a few times along the way. Now the book is pretty much done - just some last minute checks to go through - my client is very happy with the end result and I will be able to save some more money this year.
So, thank you Sean. Really. I will be sure to direct anyone that may need it to these two videos and hope they're gonna help them as much as they helped me.
That is great Sindisil! Congrats on the client and finished project, and I really appreciate the comments.
You all probably dont care but does anyone know a trick to log back into an Instagram account?
I was stupid lost my login password. I would appreciate any assistance you can offer me
Dear @Sean Foushee, I am a novice writer that have enjoyed a lot your tutos using InDesign to create a book and Epub. This videos help me a lot than the current courses I am taking in the use of InDesign. Without this I don't know when I could get my first manuscript formatted for Amazon. This tutos are a giant leap for those that want to to start publishing with the right format, knowing the right information without going for the bushes taking long tutorials about feautures that won't make any sense for E-pub formatting. God bless you, now and ever.
Thank you for your kind words, I'm happy that this video helped you publish your first manuscript!
Far and away the best tutorial on ePub topic...
Thank you!
This is an excellent tutorial. No time wasting and very clear instructions. Thank you Sean.
You're welcome!
Wow! Thank you, Sean! Your tutorials saved my ebook project. After what feels like 100 different attempts with other videos, this is, as others have said, by far THE BEST Tutorial if you want to create an ebook that looks just like you want it to look. Thanks a million!
Thank you Este Fy!
Thank you. This has been, by far, the most comprehensible InDesign Tut I have ever watched. I'd spent a whole week trying to find the right tutorial for epub exporting. You've been very helpful. I'm subscribing to your channel in hopes of learning more from you. Your teaching style is neither rushed not pretentious. Very professional. Again, thank you. Keep it up.
Thank you Hanafi, sorry I'm just now seeing your comment (UA-cam's system is a bit cumbersome)
Very informative. I like the way you present those little tricky functions from a bit complicated software. Thanks for sharing Sean.
Very nicely done. I was using 'Export > General > Split Document > Single Paragraph Style' which gives you only one paragraph style to choose from. In general, I so much prefer this kind of explanation to, "OK, you want to click this, then click that..." which leaves you just as confounded as you were when you started.
Excellent tut from an excellent tutor. God bless you !
I rarely comment online but I just want to say to you, Sean Foushee, that it was so lovely playing along to your video. First, you have a great voice and you sound so patient and calm and you are great at explaining things. Second, it's 2:30 am and my assignment is due tomorrow and I'm still having issues but it was great to use your knowledge to learn a new approach. I gotta keep cracking, I'm still not getting a correct TOC reference at the tippy top but I guess I must have done something wrong, otherwise I've done everything you've said.
Lots of people criticize online and on the rare occasion that I do drop comments, I do it to express positive thoughts. I'm obviously subscribing
Thank you very much for your comment Anna. I hope you were able to get your TOC working, but if not feel free to ask any questions you have and I'll try to help you as much as possible.
Excellent tutorial!! Thank you so much!
Thanks Sean for this tutorial, it was informative and went along at the right pace.
You're welcome Natalie. I'm glad you found the tutorial useful.
I a former web designer and i wrote a fictional novel. its was very useful to know about css. thanks for the insight!
Really clearly explained, thanks Sean!
You're welcome Emma!
@@SeanFoushee I haven't created my book from compiled documents - will readers still use my TOC do you know? Or do I need to disassemble my book so I can set it correctly? Thought I'd ask before experimenting in case you knew.
@@EmmaRosenBooks as long as your TOC setup was saved as a style it will work regardless if you used the book panel or compiled everything in a single document.
@@SeanFoushee ah cool, thanks!
How very helpful! Thank you for being such a generous, awesome tutor! Well done!
Thank you for the comment, and I'm glad you found it helpful.
These tutorials are extremely clutch. Thank you.
You're welcome Louis!
Thank you so much for this comprehensive exercise.
It helped me tremendously.
What an awesome tutor - clear, paced and accurate. Subscribing.
OB Design Solutions I appreciate that, thank you.
This is a very helpful Tutorial, thank you so much for explaining in very detail that even a beginner like me can understand, Thank you so much :)
You're very welcome!
you are a life saver!!! Thank you
Thank you a lot for gave us a new information .
+Ahlam Alshehri you're welcome Ahlam.
You're an angel. I was going crazy with the export! Thanks so much :)
You're very kind to say that. I'm glad you found the video helpful.
Thank you for this tutorial!
Glad it was helpful!
Thank you so much Sean. I have looked at so much InDesign book formatting advice and so far you are the ONLY one who has videos that actually make sense and are able to be followed in a step-by-step fashion. With your advice, I was able to format the print version of THE POWER OF INNER WISDOM (a project I'm doing for a minister friend, the Rev. Marrice Coverson) and upload it to CreateSpace. We just got the paperback proof copy and it looks fabulous. Following your "Preparing a Book for ePUB Export in InDesign" video, I was able to export an ePub of the book. - YES! Two confusing things about the ePUB export though:
1.
When I exported the file I got the following warning (see below). I couldn’t see any problems because of this in the ePUB, but is there something I should do to correct this?
EPUB export warning(s)
The file was exported but one or more problems were detected:
CSS name collision: 94 detected.
Paragraph Style “Chapter Sub-title” and “Copyright page subtitle” generate conflict css name “chapter-subtitle”
Paragraph Style “Copyright page subtle” and Chapter Sub-title” generate conflict css name “chapter-subtitle”
Paragraph Style “Copyright page title” and “Chapter Sub-title” generate conflict css name “chapter-subtitle”
2.
Following your directions and rasterized the title page. It looks fine, but it looks smaller on screen. I’m thinking this is because I’m looking at it on the big screen of my iMac. Do I need to do something to tweak this?
Thanks so much. Just wondering if you’ve developed a course on self-publishing - you’re the best!
Thank you for the kind words Mary. on your first question, the CSS name conflicts are because two of your styles are being exported to the ePub style sheet (written in a presentation language used on the web, called CSS) with the same reference (class) name; this is a big no-no in the world of CSS. To fix this, edit one of two styles that are causing a conflict, then select the Export Tagging option at the bottom of the left hand column. In this set of options change the name listed in the Class text field to something else (i.e. change chapter-subtitle to chapter-subtitle2).
For your second question, in the Object Export Options for the rasterized container, set your Size to adjust the final dimensions. Here are the descriptions of how those options work:
None: No CSS width or height is generated for the tag mapped from the object. The size of the object is determined by the internal content, if any, according to the CSS rules, the aspect ratio is not maintained.
Default: The CSS Size is determined by the settings in the Export Dialog/Object tab.
Fixed: The CSS Size is determined by the calculating the dimension of the object in points and defining the same dimensions in the CSS as pixels. The aspect ratio of the object is maintained.
Relative to Text Flow: The CSS width is determined by taking the width of the object and expressing it as a percentage relative to the width of the text frame containing the text flow. The aspect ratio of the object is maintained.
Relative to Text Size: The CSS height is determined by taking the height of the object in points and converting it to ems at 12pts per em. The aspect ratio of the object is maintained.
Custom Width/Height: Valid CSS units are cm, mm, in, pt, %, px, vh, vw, vmin, and vmax. The aspect ratio of the object is maintained.
I would try Relative to Text Flow or a Custom Width/Height in %.
Sean Foushee - thanks again. You are a life saver!
Thanks a lot!! you are the best!!!
Thanks a lot. Extremely helpful!
Excellent video, very useful!
thank you
thank you ... you are a God Send!
I love your tutorials and used your InDesign book to print tutorial to upload a PDF to CreateSpace. Your InDesign to ePub tutorial is helping me understand that exporting process (most tutorials tell you to export to ePub and then make a bunch of changes). I have these questions:
1. Will making the export to ePub changes in InDesign before export cause any problems if at some point in the future I have to make changes to the print version of the book? Should I do some sort of back up and work from that file?
2. I am using KDP for the ebook and most tutorials state that the ePub must be converted to MOBI before uploading to KDP. However, KDP now has ePubs as one of its supported ebook formats: "We support unzipped ePub files. Before uploading, we recommend validating the file with Kindle Previewer. You can also validate the file by using this ePUB checker tool." (kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G200634390) I am so confused! Help!
Thank you Mary. To answer your questions: #1 any export options you set to objects in your layout will only affect digital exports (ePub) and will not cause issues if you take the file to press with the exception of anchored objects; if your document has a lot of anchored objects I would recommend working off a duplicate file. #2 Amazon should be able to validate an ePub version 2 or 3 exported from InDesign for use with their publishing platform, just upload the ePub to their validator (which uses EpubCheck) and it should pass without an issue. If you've made any manual changes to the package after export that might not be the case.
Sean Foushee - thanks so much. You have set my mind at rest. I did try to do a package for print again so i had a backup. It went through all the steps, but the file I created for the package was no where to be found. I had done this before to generate a PDF for the copy editor and that was fine. After I made the copy revisions I had no problem generating a package. But then - nothing. Any advice?
FYI -- Not being able to do a backup my InDesign Book turned out to be a High Sierra (Mac) glitch that I was able to resolve by doing a restart of my iMac. I'm back in business and can follow your ePub for doing that ePub export.
Thank you! Super helpful!
You're welcome Tania, I'm glad you found it useful.
Is there a section on the images you may want to place in the epub; how to style them in Indesign and export them so they will show in the ebook?
Wow, what an incredible tutorial! Thank you so much. I do have a question though. When I create the TOC, InDesign generates the TOC, then it only loads the header (Table of Condense) and no chapters in it, its just a blank page after that. Any ideas what I am doing wrong?
Thank you. When you generate the TOC, make sure in the TOC panel to click on the button to include all documents in the book file, otherwise it will only look in the current TOC.indd document for the chapter headings using the paragraph styles (which there are none).
@@SeanFoushee Ah! I thought I did that, but must have missed it. Thank you!
Hey Sean, do you offer hourly coaching? Or do you have a course on creating epub in InDesign? I am an author and have 11 books to convert within the next couple months. Using this video, I got really close to a nice looking epub, but the size and placement of the chapter heading and page break symbol are not great. Could I pay you for an hour of your time where I could screen share?
Just what I needed, thanks for the videos!
I found the best way to create ebooks - Watch Me Create A Professional eBook With Instant Content In Just A Few Clicks! EbookSoftware9.blogspot.com
Great tutorial. Helped me a lot!
I’m happy it helped you, thank you for the comment!
Sir!
Thank you so much for your great help!
are all these steps still necessary now that there's a "fixed layout" option for export?
The Fixed Layout is essentially created a PDF like version of your ePub which doesn't allow for features like resizing of the font size, and in some eReaders won't allow comments or bookmarking of content. That's not to say that the fixed layout isn't helpful, but as long as you understand the limitations of each type (reflowable vs fixed) then you can choose the right format for your project.
It's been years since you made this but I hope you still look in because I need your help urgently. So, I've several chapters of a book I'm making making and I want to turn it into an eBook now. I didn't plan to synchronise my documents because I have many different looking chapters (quite a busy book). I just made styles as each chapter required. But there are so many paragraph styles now and I'm wondering if I have to export tag each of the paragraph styles on each of the documents. Or, can I get away with tagging only the chapter titles on each document? I'm using InDesign 2019. Thanks!
Good evening! I think just tagging the headings should suffice as most will export as paragraphs by default. Tagging the headings will also help with accessibility.
What a wonderful person you are! Thanks so much for your quick response. Please make more InDesign videos? Whenever I'm looking for a fix, I always add your name to my question to see if you have anything on the subject. Blessings. :)
Very well explain sir thank you
Hi there Sean -- First of all, thank you for your incredibly helpful tutorial AND for taking all the time you do to respond to our endless questions! I have a large (300+ pages) book with full-page images every 10 pages or so, so I feel the fixed layout is the only way to go? Meanwhile fixed layout exports fonts extremely badly for several different types of readers, so I may choose to rasterize each text box. SO, #1, Would you advise that? I can't create outlines for all the text since the TOC links will be lost, so would Object Export Options/rasterize handle it? Another problem I am having on certain readers is that the full-page image will appear overlaying itself. So Q#2, for each of the full-page images, do I need to set the Object Export Options to: "Use existing image" then center it on the page? Also, do I need to check "Insert page break" if I already have one in the document? Okay, THANK YOU for any advice you can lend!! I got this far completely thanks to your tutorial! :)
Hi Regina! When you export as a fixed layout InDesign essentially rasterizes each page, sort of like creating a PDF, so you'll want to stick with reflow able layout for your ePub. However, your image question is a good one. First, I would set in the object export option for the images (or you can set this in an object style FYI) that each of those images has a page break following the image and that the image size is set to relative page size so it remains close to full screen.
Pretty slick :) However, i exported to adobe digital editions .. and there are extra pages ?
You might want to check your settings for Split Document in ether your Paragraph Styles or ePub export options.
Thank you so much for the invaluable information. Two questions, you did create a new table of contents style just for the ePub so why were the numbers still off? Also why was the character style not there on the table of contents on the ePub, the numbers stuck to the chapter instead of using your spacing style and right alignment?
Thank you Leila, yes, when you create an ePub you need to setup and use a ToC style and I often exclude the page numbers in that style because ePubs reflow the text making some pages with more or less text effectively shifting page numbers and making them no longer match the printed version.
Wow. You really know your stuff!
gingersinsamac thank you!
Great video, Sean and it's really helped me out, I just have one question, what happened to the right indent tab in ToC when it was converted to ePub, is there a way to ensure it stays there after conversion?
Michael Maloney an ePub is basically just a collection of HTML and CSS documents, and as such HTML does not support tab characters. Typically when building a TOC for ePub the right indent tab and print version’s page numbers are removed in favor of the clickable anchors generated on ePub export.
Hi!
Just a question regarding adding images into the book. i saw some one said they "needed" a fixed layout, why cant i use reflowable for images? how do i know which to use?
ALSO
Janelle's remark "Do you have a youtube video on how to anchor an image or pullout text in between the text of the book?" sounds like a great idea, have you made a video for this since?
Hello Sean! Thank you for the informative tutorial! I have a question. Do you think it's okay if I don't use paragraph styles when exporting to epub? It's so hard for me to use this because in the manuscript I got from my client, it has italic, bold fonts and foreign languages in the chapters. If I copy the chapters in a plain text document, it loses all the special formatting and I have 58 chapters. Your reply will be much appreciated. Thank you so much and all the best!
Hi Victoria, good question and the answer is no, you do not need to use paragraph styles. However, not using paragraph styles will mean the Table of Contents will need to be manually created. If you could use styles only on your chapter headings that would at least allow you to setup page breaks between chapters, but if you can't use them at all and you still want to keep the page breaks I would suggest editing the ePub manually after its creation using a tool like Calibre to add those breaks in the generated HTML of the ePub package.
@@SeanFoushee Omg thank you for your reply! It means a lot. I will try to follow your tutorial. It just makes me dizzy to edit mine because every chapter title always has an image on the upper side of the page so I don't know if it will make a big problem later. But thank you so much! 🥳
@@reinexmist You're welcome. If you anchor the image to the heading it should help with any issues of including the image later when you export to ePub.
@@SeanFoushee many thanks! I am still encountering a lot of problems but I hope I could finish this project soon. More power to you, Sir and your good heart!
Hello Sean. Thanks for the video. Can you give me some steps to create an epub from a single indd file ? In other words the entire print ready file is together with all its styles already in place...but how do I go from that to then setup the TOC, etc. to work and export as a finished ebook??
When you setup the TOC you'll use the same steps as before, but instead of having to check that the TOC will use the book files it will just search through the current document for the styles. Just make sure you have an empty page ready to place the generated TOC.
11:15 Table of Contents starts here.
Hello there. Thanks for the tutorial. I have a couple of questions. I also have a title page but after I try the same technique as you are using my text either remains very small and doesn't resize depending or resizes but loses form and gets either too wide or too tall
Without seeing how you setup the document, it sounds like you might have a conflict with a paragraph or character style. Try typesetting your cover manually instead of using the style or nested style technique in the video.
Thanks a lot. Please I have issue in writing on the 1st page (Cover Page) the text has a digital box in the end of each paragraph like the book name and I have tried to manage it in many ways like exporting with rastarizing as you explained but still the box in the ends. Thanks again
Thank you for your comment geo graph. Can you provide some additional information? I'm not sure what you mean by a digital box appearing at the end of each paragraph. Is it caused by a missing font?
Hi Sean. I had a question about which file type I should save my Indesign booklet in for it to be applied to an application so that people can flip through the book on their phone?
Gloria Whang hello Gloria. Unfortunately the answer is going to be “it depends on the application.” Many of the early page flip apps I used to program or implement for clients required all pages exported as an image sequence (jpeg or png), but I know there are some that will accept a PDF. Check with the software developer and they should be able to give you not only the proper format but also if the pdf needs to be exported as single pages or spreads.
This tutorial saved me hours of frustration-Thank you Sean. I do have a question; when clicking on the chapter title in the ToC it takes me to the chapter so this is all good but how can I click on the chapter title to return to the ToC?
I'm glad the video helped Peter. You pose an interesting question, as the anchor created in the ePub is based on the TOC's automated generation by InDesign using the paragraph styles applied to the chapter headings. The issue is you don't have the same in return back to the TOC. So, you'd have to get creative and manually set each chapter heading as a clickable element that links back to an anchored text in the TOC (perhaps the TOC's title). There isn't a way I know to automate this.
@@SeanFoushee Thank you for that reply. I was beginning to suspect that this may be the case and you have just confirmed it. I will be watching more of your very informative youtube clips. Kindest regards Peter
Hello! This has been really helpful but im having quite a trouble. Some content of my "chapters" (with the chapter title as my page break marker) does not even fill up the whole space. However, when I export it as pubmat i want it to look continous and without any negative space because of the new html file per page break. How can i fix this?
Hello nicoleb_ when you mean the content doesn't fill up the whole space, are you referring to the print layout or just the digital ePub file? Also, as far as the space you want filled, is it just the extra space created due to the page breaks or is there an issue with the horizontal spacing between the measures (lines of text) and the outside margins?
If I have a chapter title, body paragraph and a drop cap paragraph, do I use h1 or is the drop cap paragraph style include when I use P for the body paragraph?
Great tutorial. However, I don't understand why you chose to display page numbers in the Table of Contents. Page numbers are irrelevant in eBooks (as you pointed out) because the content flow changes when the font size is changed, line spacing is changed, column width is changed, etc.
These two videos were originally intended for my students in my Publishing 2 class and following this demonstration I explain how to setup a separate TOC style for the ePub that doesn't include the page numbers for precisely the reasons you pointed out. Unfortunately that step never made it into this video.
An explanation of the epub:type in "Object Export Options" would of been very helpful. Within the epub:type their are several options. I used this to set up my prelim pages of book ie, Title, Half Title, Imprint, Dedication. I used "Rasterize Container and Custom layout for each prelim page. Unfortunately when I exported to epub I ended up with duplicates of the prelim pages. Any idea why this has happened?
Such a great video and very helpful. I have a question. When trying to export my Epub (which is just under 200 pgs) it crashes every time. Any tips?
+Janelle Evangelides thank you. Which version of InDesign are you using and what are your ePub export settings?
+Sean Foushee I figured it out! I think my ToC was corrupts! Do you have a youtube video on how to anchor an image or pullout text inbetween the text of the book?
+Janelle Evangelides I don't have a video yet, but that is an excellent topic. I'll put one together within the next couple of weeks.
Thanks! I figured it out but your videos have been the most helpful.
Hello Sean, great tutorial, i'm facing some issues when opening the ebook on reader, I'll list it to you, i'll be very grateful if you give me some tips to resolve the configs in Indesign:
1- i'm unable to control the fonts size on reader (small,medium,big, etc.)
2- pannel navigation from reader is showing in every entry the numbers and texts from master pages (book name and author name)
3- one font (rage italic) have lost its appearance after export.
Really appreciate any directions you can provide, thanks!
When you export to ePub you have two options, Fixed Layout and Reflowable. The Fixed Layout will include master page information, won't permit you to adjust the font size, and if the embedded font isn't readable by the device it's display will be altered. Try exporting to the Reflowable format.
Sean Foushee thank you very much for response! yeah i did some tests, the fact is i need the master page decor but not the info at the pannel navigation, now i'm facing other issues when exporting as reflowable, the pages cover, credits, table of contents and dedication are completely messed up, they are splited, i've checked the exporting tag in the styles but the config is correct, the box isn't ticked, once the cover splits, the other pages assume the same, the weird thing is the chapters are starting correctly, definitively config an epub to export is a hard task, i appreciate your help, thanks.
You might have a situation with your layout where it could be beneficial to learn how to directly edit the ePub package. ePub documents are essentially web pages linked together, so if you're HTML and CSS is good enough you could use a text editor to alter the ePub after export to fine tune it to your needs.
supeeer. thx alot.
Hi, I'm back! LOL. So I tried to upload my ePub to Smashwords and got the following error: "File 'META-INF/encryption.xml' in EPUB not listed in manifest!" Now I'm truly all the way under. What do I need to do? Please help.
That could be related to embedded fonts in the ePub. I recalled an article about this a while back when I had to compile a book for a client to upload to smashwords and thankfully I was able to find it. Check out this article by Deepak Gupta: www.versatilecontents.com/resolving-the-file-meta-infencryption-xml-in-epub/
@@SeanFoushee I tried her suggestions (as much as I understood of it, anyway) and it didn't work for me.
@@misse2449 You probably have encrypted font files still in your ePub. Some services don't allow for encrypted font files embedded in the final ePub document, so those will need to be replaced with the unencrypted versions. However, please note that you need to be aware of the copyright of the fonts used in your book before embedding un-encrypted versions. To replace those font files you'll need to use a program like Sigil to open the ePub and read the directories in the compiled document. From there, you'll need to make note of the files in the fonts folder (not just which fonts are listed but their EXACT filenames), then delete those files and copy fresh versions from your fonts director on your computer making sure the filenames match what were in their before. Save the ePub and re-upload.
I've tried finding a video about how to link your TOC to the chapters in the book but cannot. When I export as ePub, it brings up the TOC thing you can sort through, but I need it to also have links on the TOC where people can click the name of a chapter or section and go to that chapter or section. Any tips? Going crazy!!!
When you generate your TOC for the print version you'll need to make sure the checkbox that says "Make text anchors in source paragraph" is selected, then regenerate the TOC. That will make the TOC entries clickable when you create an ePub.
Hello Sean:
Thanks for the great tutorial. it's one of the best I have seen so far. I'm trying to create an ebook that has alot of pictures so I need the epub fixed layout for kindle.
I followed your video to the letter but, I selected fixed layout instead of re flow. However, my indesign table of contents is not clickable. I'm clicking on the table of contents using the kindle viewer. The ncx table of contents works fine.
So My question is : How can I make my table of contents clickable on kindle reader using the fixed layout (epub 3)
In the future, are you going to make a video on how to create an ebook with the fixed layout?
Thanks in advance, My friend
+pierre w Good evening Pierre. The fixed layout can use the same multi-level TOC as the reflowable ePub I created in the example. Make sure, when you generate your TOC, that you've checked the box next to the option "Make text anchor in source paragraph" or else the TOC will not be clickable.
+Sean Foushee :
I made sure that it was checked but, it(clickable of ToC) still does not work for fixed layout but, it works for reflow layout.
+pierre w did you save a TOC style and during your export to ePub (Fixed Layout) under the TOC options are you choosing multi-level TOC then selecting the style you saved?
+Sean Foushee ...Yes, I did that. I'm doing the same steps you did in the video but, I selected fixed layout and selected the TOC options that you mentioned.
By the way, the Toc works fine when I select the reflow layout. but, I need the fixed layout for my pictures
+pierre w Which platforms or apps are you using to preview the ePub? I just created a fixed layout ePub with a clickable TOC that worked properly in iBooks and I'm wondering if this isn't a problem with a specific device.
also, when working with Scrivener, I have text styles (italics) that I want to carry over, along with paragraph details, and I have been using export to rich text to do this...but some of the styles don't carry over. Any clues? Thanks for the heads up on 'Place', I was copying and pasting, which you solved for me.
Great video...
Check your settings by going to InDesign's clipboard preferences. Often it's set to exclude rich formatting.
Sean, I have an ISBN for my epub, should I put it in the field that has the id # when I export? Also, when I populate the docs in the book window, they all show page '1' , not consecutive pages. Any thoughts?
If you have an ISBN then replace the URN in the identifier field with the ISBN. Also, make sure each of your documents' sections are using automatic page numbering.
If you do this without the book format, and have all of the contents within one document, the Table of Contents gets shoved to the back of the book. Is there a way around this? Is the only choice to setup in book format the way you have done and have a separate document for the title page, TOC, and chapters?
If you have a single document then you'll need to anchor the TOC frame in order for it to remain in order.
Thanks a lot sir:)
You're very welcome!
Hi sean, Can i ask why did you separate each chapter and title? Does it really need to be separated?
How did you chapters? Did you create separate file for each chapter?
I'll put another question here on its own in case it might help someone else in the future: I used 'rasterise' option for my ePub export and now I have two cover pages when I viewed on both Calibre and Kindle Previewer. How do I make it so that I have just one cover page, please? Thanks a million.
Some e-readers will show the cover page when the book opens or place it as the "first page" in the book. This can create an issue if the cover page is using the first page of your layout to rasterize the file. You can prevent this by taking the cover page/first page of your layout out and make it a separate file. Export that single cover page as a PNG and in your ePub setup use the PNG instead of the first page of the layout to generate the cover page.
@@SeanFoushee Awesome. I will do just that. Thanks a lot!
The same goes for when I use Object Export Options. Upon output to epub, the image is forced to the back of the book. How do you maintain the sequential order of the book, so that image stays either on the page it should be or anchored within the flow of the text?
Just as with the TOC the ePub export will export your first page's text frame and any linked text frames first, then layout the rest of the objects, which causes them to be pushed to the back of the book. The solution is to anchor the frames to the content within the page they appear. When you add a text frame or object frame there is a blue box, just drag that to link to a piece of text on that page and when you export the object will show up inline with that content. There are a lot of options for setting anchors, I'd suggest starting with Adobe's website docs first to get the basic understanding of how it works. I'll try to produce a video on that this semester.
What do CS6 users do for the "Make text anchor in source Paragraph" portion of this export?
+primegeist in CS6 when you place an internal TOC it automatically creates hyperlinks. You can see the link after placing the TOC by opening the Story editor.
+Sean Foushee I must be generating it incorrectly. After export, it shows the links, but they are non responsive. Thank you for such a quick reply, I'm having difficulty finding resources to tackle this specific issue.
+primegeist you're welcome, let me re-install CS6 from the Cloud and run some tests (it's been two years since I've used that version). I'll reply back once I verify that procedure still works.
+primegeist Just installed CS6 and created a simple 16 page book and verified that the TOC works as expected. Make sure you're setting each of your chapter headings using a paragraph style, in your TOC setup save the settings as a new TOC style, and finally in the ePub export options make sure to select that style in the TOC style drop down.
+Sean Foushee Okay! I got the ToC to work with this suggestion, but with two complications during the export: I now have a duplicate (non-working) ToC before the effective one and there is an additional blank entry in the ToC menu between two actual chapters. I'm sure I am missing something, somewhere. I have checked and rechecked my styles for hours now. Thinking about taking a bath on this one, today. Screencap added for reference: imgur.com/0OfN82L
Hi Sean, I have a question for you... when i export my epub from indesign, and then i want to see a preview on amazon kindle previewer 3, i can't zoom the pages... why??
Sorry for the delayed reply Marco, if you export as a reflowable ePub it's not something that can be pinch-zoomed. If you want that functionality you'll need to export as a fixed ePub.
Hi. How did you add that accent mark over the "e" in your name, please?
Hello Miss E. To add the acute accent over a letter (this works for more than just the letter E) type option+e to create the accent then type the letter you want under the accent, in this case a lowercase e (you can also accent uppercase letters as well). So, option+e then release all keys and type e again.
@@SeanFoushee I did an ALT+E (because I'm on Windows) but when I do that it looks like it's the shortcut for the Edit menu. I want the accent on the letter N, actually. Same thing? Thanks.
@@misse2449 My apologies, I should have asked if you were on Windows. In that case you need to know the character code of the accent and letter you want to use then hold down the alt key and on the keypad type the character code. For the ñ character (tilde over a lowercase n) the code is 0241. So, hold the alt key and on the keypad type 0241.
@@SeanFoushee It gives me a trademark mark "TM" but I'm going to look into those codes now until I get the right one. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction. ☺️
thanks a lot!
I know indesign. but i can't epub. When I make an epub. The fonts I use are corrupted. :(
Hi Sean, What is the size of your layout.
I'm using a digest format for most of these demonstrations (Imperial size 5.5 in x 8.5 in)
The TOC process for EPUB is so longwinded, it doesn't seem even worth it with ereaders having their own TOC. Just seems way easier to keep file names accurate and use the internal TOC.
I completely understand, but some filenames might not allow characters included in the chapter titles (for example, Macs can't use colons).
@@SeanFoushee I didn't even think about that. Is there a way to create an EPUB using info from the indesign files and not the title but without creating an internal TOC?
@@esunsalmista Yes, the ePub TOC is generated by whatever Paragraph style you select, which means any content, including hidden content, can be used to generate the TOC as long as the content is on the correct page.
@@SeanFoushee Thank you Sean!
PS - using cs6 is a bit different in the options dept., and not having the fixed layout.
After entering basic file metadata, edge preview and kindle previewer shows it's all a formatting 'GO' on several devices.
Terry White has an excellent set on using the articles panel to set up an epub that flows
in a more predictable, fixed way... ua-cam.com/video/SEMckLri6-M/v-deo.html
Perhaps some day you will put your spin on that type image-heavy project using articles for non-cloud ID users..?
Great idea. The older ePub versions aren't really the issue when it comes to layout, it's how InDesign renders and writes out the corresponding (X)HTML files to the ePub container. I have a series of lectures I give with my Publishing 2 class on editing the ePub directly for fine tuning of your project, I'll see about committing those to a tutorial.
Thank you for this great tutorial. I found it very useful.