# PDF to MOBI, images missing



## eurotrash (Jul 28, 2011)

I'd like to get a Kindle and the sort of books I wish to read often have images. I have a collection of PDFs I'd like to be able to read on the Kindle. However, when using Calibre to convert the PDFs to MOBI, all the images (besides the cover) are missing. I've tried going down various routes, e.g. converting from other formats and other intermediate steps, but no luck. 

Can this simply not be done, or am I missing something? I'm not interested in reading PDFs directly from the Kindle - I need a file format that Kindle will automatically reformat (layout-wise) to fit the screen, as it does with text in mobi files. 

Thanks


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

PDF was designed as an end point. . .you're supposed to convert to PDF and leave it there.  So converting from PDF is a hit or miss operation.  You might also try Mobipocket Creator which will also convert to Mobi, or you might try a program that will convert it first to a Word file or something of the sort.  But I'm afraid you're probably not going to be particularly happy with the results, regardless.


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## eurotrash (Jul 28, 2011)

Yeah I tried Mobipocket and also tried converting PDF to Word, HTML, and other file types and then to MOBI but no luck. Does Mobi support images besides the cover image? I'm sure native kindle books have the same images in them that the paper books have, so there must be a way to insert images.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

You might try asking the question in the Writer's Cafe. . .those folks make a living out of putting things in Kindle format. . .not sure how many of them are starting with PDF -- few, probably -- but they might have some tricks you can use or know of more specialized software.


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## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

eurotrash said:


> Yeah I tried Mobipocket and also tried converting PDF to Word, HTML, and other file types and then to MOBI but no luck. Does Mobi support images besides the cover image? I'm sure native kindle books have the same images in them that the paper books have, so there must be a way to insert images.


Converting from PDF is just a losing proposition. Even just straight text from a PDF doesn't work all that well.

The best way to get images in your book is to use HTML and put the images in the HTML code. Second best is to use a word processor, imbed the images, and export as HTML. Then convert to mobi or epub.

I generally use OpenOffice to generate the documents, then convert to mobi using Calibre. The results have been excellent. Caliber can use the native odf files that OpenOffice uses. Or you can export as HTML. There's even a direct ePub convertor extension available for OO.

Mike


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## eurotrash (Jul 28, 2011)

Thanks, I'll try it out.


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## GravitysRainbow (Aug 28, 2011)

I agree with Mike, formatting your images in html can solve a lot of issues.

If you are still having problems, make sure the images are loaded onto the same folder as your book's files. If your book is trying to link to images and they aren't available in the same directory (folder) as your book will not display the images. 

Checking your images is easy. Just open up the book's original html or word document and right click one of the images. There should be a menu option like "picture", click on that. A window will open up that displays where your book is taking the image from. If the image's file does not actually exist in that position then the ebook can't use it!

Hope this helps


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