EPUB to PDF guides

Everything worth knowing about turning an ebook into a PDF that reads well: on paper, on a screen, or in an app that takes nothing else.

• Why an EPUB looks wrong when you just print it

  Printing straight from a reading app gives you screenshots of a screen, not a book. What goes wrong, and why converting properly fixes it.

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• Choosing a page size and margins

  The page size is the most consequential setting in the whole converter, and the right answer is completely different for paper and for screens.

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• Printing an ebook as a folded booklet

  A5 pages, folded A4 sheets and a staple down the spine. Which settings to use here, which to leave to the printer driver, and the page-count rule everyone trips on.

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• Why some EPUBs can't be converted

  DRM, .acsm files, fixed-layout comics and non-Latin scripts. What each one looks like, why it stops the conversion, and what you can do about it.

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• Where to find EPUBs that will actually convert

  DRM-free sources, from Project Gutenberg to publishers who sell you the file. How to check a book you already own, and why the shop matters more than the format.

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• Reading a PDF comfortably on a tablet or phone

  PDFs have a bad reputation on screens, and it is mostly one fixable mistake. Plus which readers show bookmarks, and when you should just read the EPUB instead.

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