Epub Viewer Windows

[Annette Fazzari]

Thereare times when it is necessary for the files in a ZIP archive to be in a specific order (for example, I'm currently creating EPUBs, which require that the first entry in the ZIP be the mimetype file). How can I do this on Windows?

Go to 7-zip download page and download 7-Zip Extra: standalone console version, 7z DLL, Plugin for Far Manager (doesn't work with stable 9.20, but works well with 9.38 beta and 15.06 beta). Extract 7za.exe. Save code below as repair.bat file:

One way would be: Most archivers, and archive tools have the ability to append or add additional file items to the original archive. Create your archive with the items you want at the top , then add additional files items to that created archive. I know this works in windows own ZIP tools.

The contents of the mimetype file must not contain any leading padding or whitespace, must not begin with the Unicode signature (or Byte Order Mark), and the case of the MIME type string must be exactly as presented above. The mimetype file additionally must be neither compressed nor encrypted, and there must not be an extra field in its ZIP header.

In my experience, the simplest answer (for Windows, 7, 64-bit) is to use Window's built-in Zip functionality. Use the "Send To" to send the mimetype to a new zipped folder, then use 7Zip to add the META-INF and OEBPS to the new zip. That seems to always work in terms of sequencing the mimetype file first. I have not had success performing this operation solely with 7-zip. (This is for ePUBS, but it should work, for sequencing, in other areas as well.)

On Windows 7 I fixed it with this strange trick where i made sure that I sorted all of the files that i was going to make in to a zip in a way that made mimetype the file on top (sorting them by size usually). Then I made sure that i marked all of the files from top to bottom with my cursor before sending them to a compressed (zip) folder (like this: -us/help/14200/windows-compress-uncompress-zip-files). After that I could change the name and filetype to whatever.epub.

However, after I upgraded to Windows 10 this trick did not work anymore. Luckily I have found another way. First you send the file you want at the top (mimetype) in the zip file to a compressed(zip) folder. Make sure it is only that file. Than I take the other files i want to zip (two folder in my case) mark them with the cursor and drag them up to the zip file i just created. Windows will then add the new files to the zip file, and keep the file you originally ziped on top.

If you are simply interested in getting a valid epub file (like me), it is sufficient to simply use the WinRar windows application. Select the two folders EPUB and META-INF and the mimetype file and in the context menu choose "add to archive".When in the WinRar dialogue open the tab "files" and exclude the mimetype file from being compressed by typing its name into the corresponding input field. No need to use a two-pass process.

If there is a preview handler for those formats that works in the Vista/Win7 Explorer preview pane, or an Internet Explorer ActiveX control which can view them, then you should be able to view them in Opus via the ActiveX plugin.

(If there's a preview handler then simply installing it should make it work. If there's an IE ActiveX control then you'll need to configure the ActiveX plugin to assign the file extensions to be viewed via IE.)

You're more likely to find a 3rd party ePub viewer that can be used within Opus than for Opus itself to get such functionality built-in, unless there is some kind of library we can use to add support to Opus.

We provide a framework that allows almost any type of pluggable viewer to be used within Opus, whether it be a preview handler (designed for Outlook 2007/2010 and Vista/Win7 Explorer), an ActiveX control (designed for Internet Explorer or similar), or custom-written for Opus.

I've found lots of programs that will display ePubs (or other eBook formats), but I have no idea if any of those can be converted into a preview handler. So far, none of them seem to automatically integrate with Windows or DOpus, though.

Your best bet is to find a free viewer and look at the About or Helo section to find out where they get their viewer technology from. Look for things like "Powered by" or "Uses xxx Technology" ... that sort of thing.

You could also start poking through the program's install folder and look for DLLs that might be being used like epubview.dll or ebook.dll. Get the properties and see who makes it, then head to their website.

I'd say busy rather than lazy. There aren't enough days in the week to create & support a good file manager and a good ePub viewer, since e-books are not a simple format to decode & display. Best to leave the ePub viewer to the experts in that area.

I've noticed that Internet Explorer is used by DO somehow when displaying certain file types in the viewer window. In my case, it uses my installation of Soda PDF to display PDF files. I don't understand how it works so forgive me if my terminology is not correct. The point is that the viewer window shows Internet Explorer.

Opus can display IE contents, because of ActiveX, which doesnt apply for Firefox (i believe). If you find software plugins for viewers like Acrobat or Foxit, it should ne no problem.

Both can be used in Opus.

I was looking around for a truly minimalist CLI epub reader. Meh. Didnt find anything that worked that well. But did find what has to be absolutely most basic way of reading epub. Open terminal and use unzip command, it can unzip epub without renaming it. You will get several html files which contain the text, ignore any other files. Oddly Firefox refuses to open them. But Seamonkey can and is maybe most pleasant way to view them, so can little html viewer called Surfer that BarryK included in EasyOS. No menu entry, you have to call it from CLI. LibreWriter can. So can Geany and Leafpad though they show all the html tags so makes it unpleasant to try and read. Oh well I thought it was interesting.

Gotta say my favorite ebook reader is actually a free Android only one called Librera PRO. Its not minimalist but its pleasant to use. Honestly lot ereaders arent that pleasant. Usable but not pleasant.

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There is probably a nice CLI one out there, linux has been around long time. Just one man band type app that got lost in time when no longer supported. I did run across a couple old ones but they needed some old oddball libraries and such.

Whats weird is that there isnt even a truly nice one for windows. I did find a 1MB one for windows that isnt horrible. Guessing from win95/98 days when size mattered more. 100MB apps werent really practical. It works ok in WINE except tiny text and the ctrl++ to zoom doesnt work. And yea unless you have WINE for other reasons that kinda defeats the purpose of looking for minimalist.

Actually if size doesnt matter and you have WINE, then Balabolka isnt bad. Yea its more designed as a text to voice app, but it can open epub books and it displays text and you can set font and size of font. There are also old versions of Calibre that werent so monster size. Honestly Calibre has its uses converting formats and storing libraries of ebooks, but as a actual ebook reader its so-so.

So yea honestly unzip plus Seamonkey might be one of more pleasant ways to go. Did nice job presenting the text without chopping it up when font size changed. Probably a small html viewer or older minimalist browser that would work. Surfer works but no options for font, etc. Maybe links or something. Oh there is some CLI app to extract text from epub. I didnt try it. No idea if it kept paragraphs etc. Or if you just get pages of run together text.

This is exactly what I was looking for. It is tiny script with no oddball libraries needed, and it works well with options for font, background, etc. Surprised this didnt get included as standard app in most Puppies.

Ok, its got its quirks and guess that is why. Worked great with first book I tried. Little less with second, put the chapter html files in wrong order. And any illustrations at the end. You also have to be really patient while it opens the epub and populates with the html files for longer books. It will keep background color change, but not font changes. So yea needs more work. But still for its size, its not bad at all. If you are aware of its limitations. And being able to choose an easy on eyes light green background is nice. No idea why all the other ebook readers assume you want black text on bright white background or white text on black background. Just needs more polishing.

Thinking maybe best way to go is to use that Android ebook reader I like and then scrcpy so not squinting. Swear some of the choices make the Kindle for PC app look good and its nothing to write home about. Unfortunately its more concerned with DRM than anything else.

Oh found one I have never seen before, no not CLI, but its 2MB, called Lucidor. And it requires either an old version Firefox or current PaleMoon. Which if you have Palemoon installed, great. Otherwise its not so small. So thinking yea FossaPup has Palemoon so booted from Fossapup dvd and clicked on the deb file. Installed fine and now choice in menu. Tried starting it. Nope, you have to start Palemoon, then click on Lucidor. Its actually fairly pleasant. One bad thing, it lets the book define the width of the page. One book it showed everything in this narrow newspaper like column. The other book it used the whole page. You can set font and font size and background color. Anyway I like this one except for it letting book decide width of page displayed. Might be a plugin or something that gets around this, didnt read the manual.

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