Writer2ePub

Writer2ePub is an Open Office and Libre Office extension that creates an ePub file from any document openable by the OOo Word Processor.

Overview

Writer2ePub is an ePub creator. Simply write your document with the OOo Word Processor and W2E will make an ePub file using the best traditional typographic rules, by applying a predefined style sheet (CSS). If you need a good ePub document and you can use the OOo Writer Word Processor, W2E is your tool.

It is not a converter or ePUB editor. It uses standard Writer ODT files and creates the ePUB from scratch each time. Since Writer will open a Windows word DOC file it can provide a good way to create an ePUB from Word.

Getting started

To Install just double click on the downloaded file, it will install or replace the old W2E version. Otherwise, please open the Extension Manager from the Tools menu and add the extension from there. Once installed, on opening a new writer document you will find a small toolbar with three green icons. To use it, write or load your document and then simply press the left icon. An ePub will be created in the same folder of the original file.

The icon with the blue mark is used to add or edit the metadata information (title, author and so on). Some metadata is required for ePUB.

The last icon with the red mark is to modify the preference. In a normal use you don't need to modify these settings.

Capability

• LibreOffice 3.x / 4.x / last working version 6.0.7.3: Windows, MacOS X, Linux
• OpenOffice.org 3.x: Windows, MacOS X, Linux
• Apache OpenOffice 3.x: Windows, MacOS X, Linux
• Apache OpenOffice 4.x: Windows, MacOS X, Linux
• NeoOffice: MacOS X (PPC/Intel)

Revision History

1.0.0

• Initial version

1.0.1

• Removed semicolon

1.0.2

• Added Japanese localization (Kisi)
• Cleared unused code

1.0.3

• Solved issues introduced with 1.0.2 (missing "repl" function)

1.0.4

• New "developer mode" handling

1.0.5

• Now the extension saves an .odt working file before conversion, to work with any kind of files openable by writer
• Progress bar shown on SVG export (Kisi)
• Now supports English, Italian, Japanese (Kisi) Spanish (Kiermel), Polish (Art)
• Minor bugs solved in code and CSS (Kisi, Art)
• Added icon in the extension manager

1.0.6

• Solved a bug that crashes the extension during temp file deleting (Conte and Kisi)

1.0.7

• Solved a bug in TOC nesting (Conte)
• Add French localization (Zelda)
• Add license files

1.0.8

• New metadata routine, ready for preference panel (Conte)
• CJKV improvement (Kisi)

1.0.9

• Removed a bug in TOC generation
• CJKV improvement (Kisi)

1.1.0

• Implementation of Metadata and Preferences dialogs
• Solved some bugs that prevents TOC validation
• Improved CSS and styles recognition

1.1.1

• Implementation of file split if too big

1.1.2

• Implementation of a working metadata window (Conte)
• Improved preferences window (split before Hx, no messages)

1.1.3

• Improved preferences window (split after x kB, close doc, meta from filename)
• Adding font height modification
• Solved a bug in smallcaps if present "&" charachter
• Solved a bug in Graphics handling
• Improved Graphics handling (Alt, Align)

1.1.4

• Solved the images naming problem
• Add the Reset button in the preference window

1.1.5

• Solved a problem in metadata window (Conte)

1.1.6

• Added the base font selection in the preferences

1.1.7

• Enabled automatic updates

1.1.8

• Cover image handling in metadata (Sisifone)
• iTunesMeta.plist handling
• solved cover image metadata in content.opf
• solved wrong deletion of folder with the same name of epub
• now converts in .jpg all images unsupported by epub

1.1.9

• Solved some bugs: Repl function (again!), early unwanted file splitting
• Solved Superscript issue
• Added ISO languages to metadata window

1.1.10

• Better metaLanguage handling
• Added full support to Italian, French, Spanish, Dutch, Russian, Lithuanian.
• Solved a bug that prevents use of the first image as cover

1.1.11

• Solved a bug when <>"& are present in the headers
• Improved image handling and positioning.
• Solved a bug in cover handling.
• Solved a bug that crashes converting one-coloumn tables
• Added a simple list management (thanks to Kreti)

1.1.17

• can be now integrated with KindleGen to create Mobipocket on-the-fly. Just install Kindlegen and set its path in the preferences!

1.1.26

• No more two different extension for Apache OpenOffice 4.x and other supported platforms. One extension fit all Office suites.
• Added a control about the filetype. Because .doc or .rtf files can cause malfunctioning during EPUB creation, only .odt files can be used. Otherwise you will ask to save a copy of your work in .odt format.
• Solved a bug that cause a blue background in exported formulas.

1.1.28

• Crash while export custom styles
• Toolbar not correctly installed in all *Office versions but Apache OpenOffice 4.x

Tips

• If you need to customize the output from Writer2ePub a simple technique would be to design your own CSS file patterned after the one that Writer2ePub writes and then simply overwrite the CSS file after the ePub has been generated.
• You can use 7zip to open the ePub after it has been generated. This can allow minor tweeks to files in the ePub, but you will need to redo them if you ever regenerate the file from Writer2ePub.
• If you have images in your file be sure you have installed the DRAW option. Best to install the whole package.

For more information

• Open Office extension web site - download from here.
• Mobile Read forum - to discuss this extension.
• http://writer2epub.it/en/ main site.
• Luke's blog - the author's site.
• Authors wiki - documentation
• edubirdie.com - writing help