[graviton37]

Hi! I'm having insurmountable problems dealing with an epub file. I've often downloaded zipped epub files in the past, and normally have no problems-- I unzip it, click on the file and without doing anything more, Adobe Digital Editions springs into action and opens the file and there I am, reading my book.

However, in this case, I immediately saw that the epub file in question was not the usual single entity but was divided into 15 or so mini-files: split, in other words. When I clicked on the first of these, here is what I got:

"Windows cannot open this file:
File: .html_split_001
To open this file, Windows needs to know what program created it. Windows can go online to look it up automatically, or you can manually select it from a list of programs on your computer."

I then instructed Windows to look it up online:

"Use the Web service to find the appropriate program."

But when Windows did just that, it returned with this:

"File Type: Unknown
Description: Windows does not recognize this file type."

So I'm left baffled. What special software or procedure is necessary to open split epub files? (And, out of curiosity, why can't Windows deal with this situation?)

Any information at all would be helpful at this point. No one seems to know anything about this subject. I certainly don't, despite extensive online searches before coming to Geeks To Go.

Very cordially,
graviton37

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This usually means the file is split, so you need to download all the parts of it before you'll be able to unzip it.
A .001 file isn't a standard file extension, it's more a message to the downloader that it's split into chunks. You don't open these files with anything apart from the unzipper.

[Neil Jones]

This usually means the file is split, so you need to download all the parts of it before you'll be able to unzip it.
A .001 file isn't a standard file extension, it's more a message to the downloader that it's split into chunks. You don't open these files with anything apart from the unzipper.

[graviton37]

Neil, thanks for your reply. Let me explain the situation more clearly. I believe that the zipped aspect is irrelevant--it just so happens that the file was compressed with 7z, so I used 7z decompression software to liberate it. Normally when I do this the result is just a single epub file, ready to be opened by Adobe Digital Editions (which does so automatically, as soon as I click on the file), but this time there were MANY small files, each, I imagine, a chapter of the book, and each one designated in turn: .html_split_000 , .html_split_001, and so on. Clicking on any of them resulted in that unpleasant message from Windows declaring their complete ignorance. I have all the files--the problem is opening them. Once before, a year or two ago, I encountered split files (though not epub ones), and I never was able to open them. Apparently, split files are rather mysterious entities that nobody seems to know much about.

[Macboatmaster]

graviton37
Forgive me if I am wrong, but what is the difference in this thread you have started here and THIS one you started just the other day - in fact on 25 December
http://www.geekstogo...__fromsearch__1

Please do NOT start another thread for the same problem.

Edited by Macboatmaster, 27 December 2010 - 07:01 PM.

[graviton37]

Dear Macboatmaster,
The difference between the threads is that, unlike this new thread, the first was opened in what I now realize was an inhospitable environment to obtain answers: Christmas. As of this afternoon, it was about to disappear into second-page-of-forum-oblivion with me no closer to opening this very crucial file. Since I feel certain that some geek to go forum user must know how to open split epub files, I felt it made sense to try again. Macboatmaster, in the spirit of the lyrics of "If I Were A Rich Man" from Fiddler on the Roof, I ask you: 'Would it spoil some vast eternal plan?, if I started a second thread, similar to a first, because the first was ignored due to a fluke of timing?'

Very cordially,
graviton37

[Macboatmaster]

YOU are quite right, it will not spoil some vast eternal plan.
However, if everyone who asked for help on this site was to follow your example it would result in chaos.
Please comply with the rules.
AFTER THREE DAYS - without response - you may ask in the waiting room - as per the rules.
http://www.geekstogo...-with-no-reply/




You never replied to my suggestion posted shortly after your request for help.

Posted 25 December 2010 - 08:35 PM
http://www.jedisaber...oks/Readers.asp

http://www.jedisaber...ks/tutorial.asp

I have no knowledge of these but a quick search reveals the above.

However using my knowledge on a general basis I would ask is the site one you have downloaded successfully from before.
Is it a trusted site
Is it possible the download was corrupted by - security systems etc.
WILL OTHER DOWNLOADS done NOW, not previously existing ones, but from sites you have used before - open. If so I would simply download this one again and try.
IF NOT you clearly have a problem with your browser.

Edited by Macboatmaster, 27 December 2010 - 08:39 PM.

[graviton37]

Dear Macboatmaster,

My sincere apologies for not replying to your suggestions. My explanation: I was, with violent abruptness, thrust into frenetic preparations for the blizzard that, only at the very last minute, was predicted to strike New York City and deposit feet rather than inches of snow, accompanied by near-hurricane force winds, impassable streets, and widespread power outages (all of which in fact occurred, as you may have read). Let me assure you that I carefully read and considered every word of yours. And permit me to atone for my prior negligence by responding fully right now.

First, I actually had already turned up the very same web pages in my pre-geek to go forum searches as you did. I learned that Adobe Digital Editions was, as rated by the author's idiosyncratic system, the best for handling epub files, and (this was crucial) that it updated automatically. That latter fact meant that my original hypothesis regarding the problem was evidently wrong, i.e. that I had an obsolete version of Adobe. (Adobe Digital Editions doesn't have a version number, apparently--the first thing I did when the split files didn't open was go to Add or Remove a Program to see which version of Adobe Digital Editions I had, hoping to compare it to the latest at the Adobe website and download any newer one if available. But I was thwarted in that ambition by the absence of any version number.) Thus it was of great import to learn that Adobe Digital Editions updates automatically--therefore, any new software wrinkles to deal with split files should have been in my possession already. Actually, that fact perplexed me--how could it be that a leading epub reader that updates automatically wasn't able to deal with split epub files? It was then that I knew I had to turn to the experts.

Second, the site I got the split epub file from is eminently trustworthy, and I've downloaded innumerable files fruitfully from it before, albeit mostly pdf's and djvu's, but still, quite a few epubs too, all of which functioned perfectly. Of course, all of those were traditional single file epubs, not these split files. And there's no possibility of interference from a security system, etc.

Third, I don't think it could be a browser issue because, at your suggestion that it might, I repeated the process in Chrome after doing it in Firefox, to no avail.

My inference is that something must generally be done to these split files before they can be dealt with by Adobe Digital Editions or any other reader. But given my profound ignorance of split files, I thought I should, without further delay, consult the experts to ascertain a) if I was correct in my conjecture that some special handling is necessary for split files of the type .html_split_000, .html_split_001, etc. (as opposed to my having simply downloaded improperly prepared split files, i.e. perhaps these strange-to-Windows files are unrecognizable not because they are split files per se but because they are the fumblings of a well-intentioned but not-terribly-dextrous amateur file-splitter who configured them improperly) and b )if I was correct that in fact special handling was required for all split files, what did that consist of.

My experience a year or two ago with split files (though not the epub type), where I spent a maddening three days futilely searching for a means to open them, inclined me to believe that split files always require special handling. But this admittedly is not knowledge I confidently proclaim, but a surmise that I humbly submit for consideration.

Very cordially,
graviton37

[Spyderturbo007]

Have you tried something like HJSPlit to join the files back together? I'm not familiar with the epub files, but I know that HJSplit is a common program to split and rejoin files.

[graviton37]

To Spyderturbo007:

Thanks for your suggestion. Actually, the story has already had a happy, although surprise, ending.

It turns out that this file fiasco was due to that improbable confluence of unfortunate events that these days is referred to as "a perfect storm".

First, the site I downloaded the file from evidently misidentified the file type, prominently labeling it an epub.

Second, the file-uploader chose to split the file, making the already somewhat uncommon epub file a much rarer, stranger, more mysterious and forbidding entity, "a split epub file".

Third, and most important, the ostensibly omniscient Force that we all show such servile deference to declared "Windows cannot open this file" and then, when instructed to search the Web for assistance, returned to inform me "Windows does not recognize this file type" and departed the scene.

Foolish me accepted the judgment of Windows as sound--in part because of the unfamiliar nature of 'split epub files'--- and I then pursued all sorts of complicated ways to open the split files, assuming such complicated ways were necessary.

They weren't. At someone's suggestion I tried to open them with Notepad, didn't succeed to any substantial degree (I got a mosiac of strange symbols, gibberish and text), but did achieve just enough to prod me to further explore conventional methods. And as soon as tried to open one of the split files with Firefox I had complete success. So then I just opened, copied, and pasted all eight chapters in Open Office and I had a complete, perfectly readable book. Now I just hope the quality of the book is commensurate with the energy expended to procure it!!!

[Alen33]

You can split in 2 steps if this is applicable:

1. Convert ePub to Pdf
2. Split Pdf by page (or the set of pages)

Try this resource for all steps: http://go4convert.com/ToPdf