Copying Text, HTML, PDF or epub

Lots of users looking, but no one has any idea. :frowning_face:

We know that copy/paste does not keep the source format or structure.

But someone out here must know a way to import various sources.
I have lots of sources (Text, HTML, PDF or epub) that I need to bring into Blocs. I need for these to be responsive.

Please reply back with suggestions or How to
Thank you

Hi @KBConcepts

With bringing them into Blocs, what do you mean exactly:

  • Link to a file (creating a downloadable asset)?
  • Display the file content in a Blocs-created page?
  • Copying the text from said file into Blocs ?
  • something else?

Nice of you to reply back. :smile: I have many PDF writing (some over 100 pages) I would like to make responsive. It would be great to use Blocs for that purpose.

No problem. The issue is that PDF-files are by default non-responsive. Which means that the text would be extremely small on mobile devices.

So you would need to get creative to work around this format-limitation.

One option could be to copy paste the text from those files into a responsive html layout. In essence converting the content to html pages.

Addendum: the other file types (ePub for example) are reflowable, meaning they’re capable of being responsive. The limitation I spoke of is only imposed on PDF files.

This would be and is too much work for sure.

This is very good information. How can this be accomplished?
I can convert PDF to ePub.

I think if you have a number of PDF’s, particularly large multi-page documents, it may not be the best idea to convert them into HTML pages for use in a website. The pages would become quite extensive and probably too text-heavy for normal website users.

One option would be to convert the documents into online digital publications and then embed the publications into your blocs pages. This would give users a choice of viewing options. They can read online as a page-flip publication, download the original PDF for viewing offline, or printing one or more pages to a printer. Users will also be able to share the documents via social media.

An example of how this works in a blocs page can be seen on THIS SITE. Although the site is specifically designed for restaurant menus, the same principals can be used for a wide variety of websites/publications.

Nice another reply, thank you for taking the time to write this.

I’ve never been a fan of flip pages. Download the file would work for mobile devices very well.

Responsive websites or reading text today, should never have “Swipe to turn the pages” or
“Zoom and slide to read” or “One-Tap links to other option”

I take your point, but it should be remembered that mobile gestures are something mobile users are well used to. One of the nice things about apps that provide for viewing PDF’s on mobiles is that they usually automatically open in single page view and have a couple of icons for zooming into a legible text mode. It’s then just a question of sliding your finger over the screen to read the content. This is no different from the amount of effort needed to read a responsive page, particularly if you’re talking about multi-page documents converted to HTML. If you think about it, a 100 page PDF converted into a single HTM responsive page is going to need a lot of scrolling to read the content.

Yes, that is why there are touchable or clickable hyperlinks. :smile: