I’ve had a lot of difficulty getting CHM files to format properly for an eReader. My goals were to retain the table of contents, graphics, and tables. All content is resized for readability.
Prerequisites:
- CHM to HTML converter (CHM to HTML, Armenian Dictionary Software)
- Microsoft Word 2007 with VBS and PDF/XPS output plugin
- Word Macros: Download Here
General Scheme
- Convert CHM to a directory of HTML files
- Import HTML into Microsoft Word
- Clean it up using page breaks and search'/replace
- Convert CHM/ HTML headings into Word Headings
- Macro: Resize page, graphics, and tables
- Final formatting (line spacing, font changes, and sizing)
- Save as PDF
1. Convert CHM to HTML
Any number of programs can be used for this purpose and straightforward. There are even methods using Microsoft’s built in .chm decompression.
2. Insert HTML into a blank Word document
Use Word’s “Insert Text File” feature to import in all of the newly created HTML files from the output directory.
A few tips:
Use the search box at the top of the insert dialog to filter all the *.html or *.htm files in the directory.
Insert a few files at a time if the files aren’t conveniently numbered. Also, I would suggest leaving out the less useful portions of a book such as some of the introductory material and index (which will be useless)
After this step, you will have a nearly perfect version of your CHM file which is basically an HTML document. Word seems to handle this well.
![test[4]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNaEGLFr4kTnxLXDD3mptbMwYp54lRe-PWy1imzl-Vacqhz0qS8EklOc6Td787IzhL-7jD60vhbGuyie4EwhtQ5YPF1eSgsvkCydLRHDl88vamGKj8V0DRMAicWMyB4chBkZUNPvHTExA/s1600-h/test%5B4%5D%5B2%5D.jpg "test[4]")
3. Clean up the document
- create a title page by creating a page break
- search and replace the strange characters that some times show up in CHM ebooks (œ").
- search and replace any frequent common headers or footers. Use the wild card checkbox to make this job easier.
4. Convert CHM headings to Word Headers to easily create bookmarks
Word has a fascination feature where you can “search” for a certain font and size and “replace” it with a style. Usually every CHM file will have their headers in a larger font, which is sufficient for this trick.
The first step though is to make sure your document styles for Headers matches you CHM files. If you haven’t worked with Word styles before this can be confusing.
Click on one of the headings in your book “Chaper 1: etc.” and then right click on “Header 1” and pick “Match style to formatting”. That’s it.
Now go to search and replace and then in the “Find” box keep it blank and pick “formatting” in the pull up box at the bottom of the dialog box. Then pick font and match the size and font to your heading. In the “replace” box, pick the “formatting box” but this time pick “style” and then choose header1. Then replace all.
You’ve now effectively transformed random plain text in your document that was distinguished by it’s size into a bona fide Word heading that will automatically translate into a PDF bookmark when you convert.
5. The following macro does the rest of the dirty work of formatting the document to the right page size, resizing graphics, and resizing tables. One of the sub modules is from http://guru-web.blogspot.com who wrote an excellent module for resizing images.
Sub DocToSonyReader()
With ActiveDocument.PageSetup
.PageHeight = InchesToPoints(4.82)
.PageWidth = InchesToPoints(3.57)
.LeftMargin = CentimetersToPoints(0.2)
.RightMargin = CentimetersToPoints(0.2)
.TopMargin = CentimetersToPoints(0.2)
.BottomMargin = CentimetersToPoints(0.2)
End With
ConvertShapes
End Sub
Private Sub ConvertShapes()
' Used from http://guru-web.blogspot.com/2008/08/converting-word-docs to-sony-ebook.html
Dim iShapeCount As Integer
Dim height As Integer
Dim width As Integer
Dim DocThis As Document
Set DocThis = ActiveDocument
iShapeCount = DocThis.InlineShapes.Count
Dim J As Integer
For J = 1 To iShapeCount
width = DocThis.InlineShapes(J).width
If PointsToInches(width) > 3 Then
DocThis.InlineShapes(J).width = InchesToPoints(3)
End If
Next J
End Sub
Private Sub ResizeTables()
Dim myTable As Table
For Each myTable In ActiveDocument.Tables
myTable.Select
Selection.Font.Size = 8
myTable.PreferredWidth = InchesToPoints(3)
myTable.LeftPadding = 0
myTable.Rows.Alignment = wdAlignRowCenter
With Selection.ParagraphFormat
.LeftIndent = InchesToPoints(0)
.RightIndent = InchesToPoints(0)
.SpaceBefore = 0
.SpaceBeforeAuto = False
.SpaceAfter = 0
.SpaceAfterAuto = False
.LineSpacingRule = wdLineSpaceSingle
.WidowControl = True
.KeepWithNext = False
.KeepTogether = False
.PageBreakBefore = False
.NoLineNumber = False
.Hyphenation = True
.FirstLineIndent = InchesToPoints(0)
.OutlineLevel = wdOutlineLevelBodyText
.CharacterUnitLeftIndent = 0
.CharacterUnitRightIndent = 0
.CharacterUnitFirstLineIndent = 0
.LineUnitBefore = 0
.LineUnitAfter = 0
.MirrorIndents = False
.TextboxTightWrap = wdTightNone
End With
Selection.Tables(1).Rows.Alignment = wdAlignRowCenter
Next myTable
End Sub
*Before running this macro make sure you are in DRAFT view. If you run in page view, the document updating itself can lead to instability within the macro.
Like with most Word macros, expect there to be some difficulties. I’ve run it on a 8,000 page textbook and it might take a while. Usually though, it works well enough and is stable.6. Finally, the finishing touches
- select all the text (CTRL-A) and change the font to one that is friendly with the Sony Reader. George and Book Antiqua are good choices.
- Change the size.of the fonts to 12 which I find is very readable.
- If you prefer, change the line spacing to 1.5.
- Use the document properties to add title and author information
- Add a picture to title page from Amazon
7. Now, go to File Save As and PDF/XPS file. If this option isn’t available, download the plug in from Microsoft at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=F1FC413C-6D89-4F15-991B-63B07BA5F2E5&displaylang=en
Finally, make sure you check “Create bookmarks using Headings”.
8. That’s it! I essentially will preview the file in Acrobat or FoxIt and then copy the file directly to the my reader’s memory card.
Hope this helps!
