PDF to EPUB
Turn the text of a PDF into an EPUB e-book that fits any screen, or save it as Markdown or JSON. Read it first in a phone-sized preview. Free, in your browser.
About This Tool
PDF to EPUB takes the text out of a PDF and lays it out again as one column: paragraphs, headings, lists and tables that fit the width of whatever screen they are read on. You see the result at once in a phone-sized preview, and save it as an EPUB e-book, as Markdown or as JSON.
The pages are read a line at a time and in reading order: down each column of a page set in columns, and from the right for Arabic. Lines are joined into paragraphs, and a line set clearly larger than the text becomes a heading. Lists, simple tables, bold and italic type and links to web addresses are kept. Running heads and page numbers that repeat from page to page are left out, since they are printed on the page but are not part of the text, and a paragraph cut in two by the end of a page is joined again where the next page plainly carries on the sentence. The EPUB has a section for each main heading and a table of contents that leads to every heading.
Only text is taken. Pictures and charts are not carried over, and a scanned PDF has no text to take until it has been through OCR PDF. Headings are told by the size of their type, so look through the preview before you save. Everything happens in your browser: the file is not uploaded.
How to Use
Upload your PDF
Drag one PDF onto the box, or click it to choose a file. The text is read at once: there is nothing to set first.
Read the preview
The text is shown as it will read on a narrow screen. Under "Reading preview", choose the colours and the size of the text that suit you. They change the preview only, not the files you save.
Check the title
E-readers list a book under its title. It is taken from the PDF, or from the name of the file where the PDF gives none; type another under "Title of the book" if it is not right.
Save
Click "EPUB e-book" for a book that opens in e-readers and reading apps, or "Markdown" or "JSON" for the same text in those forms.
Use Cases
Reading a paper or a report on a phone
Turn a PDF set for paper into a book whose lines fit the screen, and read it without zooming in and dragging from side to side.
A book for an e-reader
Save a long text PDF as an EPUB, with a table of contents made of its headings, and open it in the reading app or on the e-reader you use.
Text for your notes
Save the text as Markdown, with its headings, lists and tables, to keep in a notes app or to edit further.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will the EPUB look like the PDF?
No, and it is not meant to. A PDF fixes every line on a page of one size; an EPUB holds the text and leaves the device to set it in its own type, at the width of its screen. You keep the words, the headings, the lists and simple tables. You lose the page layout, the fonts and the pictures.
Does it handle pages set in two columns?
Yes. Where a page is set in columns with clear paper between them, each column is read down in turn, the right one first for Arabic, and a line that spans the page, such as a title, is read where it stands. A page with boxes and sidebars may come out in an order you would not read it in, so look through the preview.
What happens to pictures, tables and formulas?
Pictures are not carried over. A simple table with clear columns is kept as a table; a complicated one may come out as lines of text. A formula comes out as whatever plain characters the PDF holds for it, which is often not readable.
My PDF is a scan. Why is there nothing to read?
A scan is a picture of text and holds no text. Put it through OCR PDF first and bring the result here. If only some pages are scans, the tool reads the others and tells you how many it left out.
Why are the page numbers and the line at the top of each page missing?
They are left out on purpose: in a text with no pages, a page number or a running head would land in the middle of a sentence. A line is left out only when it stands apart at the top or the bottom of the page, is set no larger than the text, and repeats on at least three pages, or on two for a bare page number. PDF to Markdown keeps every line, if you need them.
What kind of EPUB is it, and is my file uploaded?
It is an EPUB 3 book with the older style of table of contents included for older devices, and it passes EPUBCheck, the official validator of the format. Nothing is uploaded: the PDF is read and the book is written in your browser.