MobiPocket Creator

MobiPocket Creator is a tool used to build MobiPocket MOBI eBooks. It is only available for the Microsoft Windows.

Editions

This was a free download from MobiPocket. The same download can be used to install the Home Edition or the Publisher edition. Amazon closed the web site as of October 31st, 2016. A copy of the last available version of the creator program is available from the MobileRead forum Unzip the file and run the program to install it

Home Edition

Has a simple to use interface and is designed to produce content for private use. When creating new files from scratch you can use predefined templates to aid in the creation effort.

A user can also use the windows version of MobiPocket Reader to convert files. For more details see the Reader article.

Publisher Edition

Installing this version provides the most power to customize the output of the file and is required to submit eBooks commercially. if you are a publisher and intend to sell eBooks through eBookbase, this is the version of the Mobipocket Creator that you should use. Additional features essential for publishers include:

• the encryption level required by eBookbase
• an integrated "deploy" feature to automatically upload or update your books in eBookbase
• the metadata editor to set the price, ISBN, cover image... of your books
• PDF import

Command Line

mobigen (formerly known as prcgen): this command line tool allows you to build a Mobipocket eBook from an OPF publication or a single HTML file. This can be used by advanced users to create build chains. A good set of command line options would look like:

mobigen.exe -c1 -s0 -jpeg file.OPF

Import File formats

Formats that you can use directly or import in the Creator (from the most recommended to the least recommended) are:

1. IDPF 1.0 (OPF + HTML) - OEB
2. HTML or XHTML files very limited support for CSS
3. XML and XSL
4. Microsoft Word document (Requires a copy of Word on the PC)
5. RTF document
6. PDF

The EBook HTML page covers the acceptable tags.

Image File Formats

The following images are supported in MobiPocket Creator

• JPEG
• GIF
• BMP
• PNG - will be converted since the reader doesn't support this format.

Creator files

MobiPocket Creator builds or collects several files that are used to create the MOBI formatted file. These files are left behind as source files and can be used to re-create the mobi file or as source files to create other OEB formats or even as source for the ePub file generation. The main starting point is the OPF file. (This file can be edited by hand if you wish) The contents includes the following data:

<guide>
<reference href="filename1.html" title="Table of Contents" type="toc"/>
<reference href="filename2.html" title="Copyright" type="copyright"/>
<reference href="filename3.html" title="Cover" type="coverpage"/>
</guide>

Alternatively, if you're using anchors within the same page:

<guide>
<reference href="filename.html#toc" title="Table of Contents" type="toc"/>
<reference href="filename.html#copyright" title="Copyright" type="copyright"/>
<reference href="filename2.html" title="Cover" type="coverpage"/>
</guide>

MobiPocket Reader

You will also need a copy of the windows version of MobiPocket Reader to view the results.

The Creator programs always uses a .prc extension on the file it creates. This extension is required for some platforms but the Windows Reader will also accept .mobi as an extension. It is better to use this extension if you have other Palm database files and want to keep your eBooks for Windows separate and easy to identify.

See Also

• KindleGen
• MobiPocket Creator Tutorial guide - Written by user:HarryT
• Content Creation - preparing documents for MobiPocket Creator (removed October 31, 2016)
• IE9 fixes - These fixes are required to make MobiPocket Creator work on Windows 7 with Internet Explorer version 9 installed.