Using Oxygen XML Editor to Edit EPUB Files
October 08, 2009
InDesign CS4 is an excellent tool for creating eBooks in the EPUB format. After laying out a document, choose File > Export for Digital Editions to generate an EPUB version of it. If you set up your document properly, it will be converted into a well-designed eBook. When you need to make changes to your eBook, simply edit the original InDesign document and re-export it. Sometimes, however, there are changes that cannot be made with InDesign. For example, if you want to create an expandable cover image, format a table, add additional metadata, or customize the TOC, you'll need to edit the EPUB file itself.
When I started editing EPUB files, I would manually extract the contents of a file and edit its various components using a simple text editor. After making all the changes, I had to re-archive everything back into an EPUB file. If I wasn't satisfied with a change or if I needed to make more changes, I had to go through the process again. As you can imagine, this method is tedious and time consuming.
I recently discovered that I can significantly speed up the editing process by using Oxygen XML Editor to directly open an EPUB file without having to extract its contents. Oxygen is a cross platform XML editor that provides an amazing set of tools for working with XML content and it makes it easy to work with EPUB files. If you create a lot of eBooks, Oxygen is definitely worth your investment. To purchase and download Oxygen, visit www.oxygenxml.com.
To open an EPUB file, click the Open Archive
button that's located on the Archive Browser panel. The components of the file are displayed in the panel. Double-click a file to open it up and edit it.
The Archive Browser panel displays the components of the EPUB file. If you don't see the panel, choose Perspective > Show View > Archive Browser.
Once you’ve finished making all the necessary changes, save the files you've modified, close the archive, and then open the EPUB file in an eBook reader to view the results. I also highly recommend that you validate your EPUB file using the free Web site validation tool that's provided by threepress.org. By using this very handy tool you can be sure that your EPUB files are error free and compliant with the IDPF specifications.
There's just one last important piece of information you should be aware of. After using Oxygen to edit an EPUB file, you may run into a mimetype error when you try to validate it. If so, you need to extract the contents of the EPUB file and then re-archive everything. The series of steps is different depending on which operating system you’re using.
If you’re working on a PC, change the file’s extension from .epub to .zip and then extract the contents of the ZIP archive. Next, create an empty ZIP folder with whatever name you like. Then you need to copy the contents of the EPUB package into the new empty ZIP folder. Always copy the mimetype file over first before copying the OEBPS and META-INF folders. Finally, change the file’s extenstion to .epub and then open the file in an eBook reader to make sure it can be opened.
If you’re working on a Mac, change the file’s extension from .epub to .zip and then extract the contents of the ZIP archive. Next, use the command line in Terminal to create the ZIP archive.
Terminal is located in the Utilities folder, which is in the Applications folder. Launch Terminal and then copy and paste the following commands in consecutive order into the Terminal window:
- cd ~/desktop/"Folder Name"
- zip file.epub -X0D mimetype
- zip file.epub -X9rD OEBPS/
- zip file.epub -X9rD META-INF/
[Press Enter or Return]
[Press Enter or Return]
[Press Enter or Return]
[Press Enter or Return]
Note: The first command assumes that your EPUB folder is on your Desktop. Replace "Folder Name" with the actual name of your folder. Once you’ve entered the last command, the EPUB file will be found inside of the original folder and it will be called “file.epub.”
For more information on creating and editing EPUB files, see the October/November 2009 issue of InDesign Magazine.
Posted in eBook Publishing
9 comment(s) to " Using Oxygen XML Editor to Edit EPUB Files"
#1
October 10, 2009
Good news! I just downloaded the latest version of Oxygen XML Editor (version 11). After editing an EPUB file, I ran it through the validation tool on threepress.org and it passed. So with this version of Oxygen, there's no longer a need to re-archive an EPUB file after editing it.
#2
October 15, 2009
If you want to save money, you can also use Oxygen XML Author to edit EPUB files. It's not as robust as Oxygen XML Editor, but it works just as good for editing EPUB files.
#3
November 10, 2009
I'm brand new to this e-pub thing.I work for a publisher and we have 700 books old and new in a mixture of Quark (old files) and InDesign. Nothing was originally created in a way that translates to an even somewhat acceptable epub doc. Short of re-formatting the whole book, with new styles, etc, what can be done???
#4
November 11, 2009
@christy There are a number of techniques you can use to speed up the process of setting up a document that can be successfully and accurately converted to an EPUB file. However, I really need to see some of your files to be able to offer you in-depth advice. Why don't we talk more about your project via email. Click the Ask a Question button at the top of this page to send me an email. I look forward to helping you!
#6
December 04, 2009
I tested Altova's XMLSpy two months ago and discovered that it could not open an EPUB file.
#7
June 09, 2010
I am just starting to get into publishing epub books. Thank you so much for posting this, this is excellent! I can't tell you how many times I had to unzip, rezip, etc. This will save me a ton of time. I just have one question for you. I am going to be doing some books that will require a lot of image maps. The images are starting as PDFs and then they are getting placed into InDesign. When I export to epub they are getting converted to jpeg. Now from here what is the best way for me to create image maps. I tried Oxygen, but I see it doesn't even have any way of viewing image maps let alone create them. Currently I am using Image Ready CS2 to create the image maps, then saving as HTML and copying/pasting the html into the xhtml epub document. Is there a better way?
#8
August 05, 2010
The mimetype issue has been resolved in the latest build of Oxygen 11.2 (2010080212). You can download it from the Oxygen site: http://www.oxygenxml.com/download.html Anyone who has a license for version 11 can upgrade to this build and avoid the hassle of manually repacking the epub file.
#9
August 26, 2010
@Christy: I could help out with the coversion process of those 700 titles with Quark and InDesign input. But, I feel you might have figured them out by now, since am new on this forum. If you need any assistance still, please let me know. Thanks.
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