Hi
I have written a book in word but it became so ‘junked’ with word mark up that when I tried to get it into kindle format it was not going to happen. So for the cleanest HTML I saved in HTML from word and then opened in Dreamweaver which completely cleaned up the HTML and I have a nice clean file.
I tried to use Kindle Gen on its own to convert but just could not get this to work. Found a nice post singing praise for scrivener.
Now with Scrivener…and…
File import (to import my HTML) all the HTML files are greyed out, in fact all files txt, etc are greyed out there is simply no import function. Is this because it’s in trial mode?
I have no issue with buying scrivener it I need to at this stage (the price is very reasonable) but I want to know that I can import files like it says one can.
“Trail” mode in Scrivener is full-function. You have to create a project to import into, first. A word of advice: it’s worthwhile spending an hour or so going through the Interactive Tutorial in the Help menu.
Hi
Thanks for the feed back. I am about three hours in and I LOVE what I am seeing. However, the fact remains that I cannot import an HTML file, a doc file or any file UNLESS it goes into the RESEARCH folder, but then I cant work on that file. I cant even copy and paste from that research file into a scrivener document window. ( I would have thought copy and paste from the research folder would be an absolute basic thing to be able to do?)
So, this is it…
I have an HTML file that I want to get into scrivener and do some work on ready to output to kindle. I have watched the video on how to do this and its fairly straight forward. I have watched the import video again straight forward, BUT as I cannot get my document to open in scrivener I cannot proceed with anything. There has to be a reason why when I try to import ALL the files in finder are greyed out. Oh! If I select a FOLDER to import then that will import, but then of course whilst I all my images and links etc I do not have the master HTML file that holds it all together.
Maybe I should relocate the HTML folder to INSIDE a folder and then import the folder?
OK it may be a solution, but your video shows a very simple import document procedure which I cannot perform.
Hope you / anyone can help.
And a BIG thanks again for responding. So many user forums are a complete waste of time and this is a refreshing change.
Have a great day
Thanks for trying Scrivener. Have you gone through the tutorial yet? That covers importing, and explains that you cannot import media files - which includes HTML files - into the Draft folder. The Draft folder can only contain text, and HTML will come into Scrivener by default as an uneditable web file. Likewise, you can’t drag or import anything with images in it into the Draft folder.
You can drag or import .doc, .txt, .rtf and other text files into the Draft folder, however.
If you have an HTML file that you want to import for editing, try the following:
Import it somewhere outside the Draft folder (e.g. the Research folder - it doesn’t have to be the Research folder, it just has to be outside the Draft folder).
Once imported, select your HTML file and go to Documents > Convert > Web Page to Text. This will convert your HTML file to a rich text file which can be edited. You can then drag it into the Draft folder because it is now a text file and no longer a media file.
If you are likely to want to convert all imported HTML files to text, then you can choose to have them converted automatically on import via the Import/Export pane of Scrivener’s Preferences (if you choose to have the converted automatically, then you will be able to import them directly into the Draft folder).
Hi Keith
I have watched that import video a couple of times but clearly missed that. Your answer though now concerns me as if I follow your instructions I am about to cause myself HOURS of work.
My HTML or DOC file ( have the book in both formats) is complete with TOC, footnotes and images that make up the book. If I import as you suggest then my images will no longer be there and the book will be ruined just leaving me a shell to then start building the images back in.
I actually did manage to do what you suggested earlier and then when I went to open up the file all my images had been removed thus I have nothing that I can then process to produce in Kindle.
Guess I should have started out with scrivener instead of word and then I would have been ok
Maybe I am barking up the wrong tree here (I dont think I am)
Can I use scrivener to write a book, INSERT images into that book (all within scrivener) and the output that ready for upload to Amazon Kindle?
Thanks again for your help. I do feel I am getting a wee bit closer to the goal posts
If you have them in .doc format then by far the best option is to save out of Word as RTF and import the RTF into Scrivener.
However, importing the HTML should come in with images intact (if I recall correctly - try it and see). If you import the .doc files directly then any images in them will be lost, because Scrivener’s .doc import is quite basic (being based on that of TextEdit). RTF import will maintain images, though (and HTML import I believe).
Yes, you can export to Kindle format with images intact.
YES! Ok I now have it all in Scrivener and looking good. I have one last hurdle…promise just the one
I want to have a TOC for the kindle. I have watched the video over and over, I have tried every combination but I never get a TOC to navigate the book.
I also went through the manual and found a section about adding “page break before flag” but if I check that, no matter where I go in the document it shows that as ticked.
I want a TOC that shows
Chapter number
Chapter heading description
Chapter contents
As an example
[size=150]Chapter 1[/size] The markets as a business
Repeatability
Idealised supply and demand
Market makers supply and demand
The circularity of stock movement
[size=150]Chapter 2[/size] …and so on
Should I now break apart my one big doc and put it in folders so that scrivener uses this as a TOC?
Also how to I get the second level ie the above lines in bold to show up on the contents menu so the kindle reader can instantly navigate to those sections?
Yes! what stunning software.
All completed jeeze wish I had started the project in Scrivener, it would have been a BREEZE
A BIG thanks for all your help APPRECIATED!!
On a marketing note. I see that at the end of a lot of books one has the option to tweet or facebook that you have finished reading a book. Any idea how that is set up in Kindle? Just a link to twitter or facebook?
Thanks
Martin
PS just going buy Scrivener, this ONE job was worth many times the purchase price.
Glad you got it sorted! As for Twitter or Facebook, yes, I imagine you would just create a normal link for that. You should be able to find instructions via Google on how to construct the link you need - for instance, a quick Google of “link to create tweet” came up with this page:
