How to convert ebook to PDF

I find it useful to convert ebooks in formats such as epub to PDF. This is useful for example to annotate or take notes, since those features are well supported for PDF files in a portable manner.

Calibre (commandline)

The best commandline tool I have found to export ebook to PDF is the ebook-convert tool in Calibre.

• Install Calibre if you do not have it:

$ sudo apt install calibre

• Convert ebook to PDF:

$ ebook-convert in.epub out.pdf
$ ebook-convert in.epub out.pdf <other options go here>

• Use --enable-heuristics to convert with formatting tweaks that make the resulting document nicer.

• Use --pdf-page-numbers to add page numbers at the bottom of every page. This was also the only option that helped fix another problem I faced: last line of some pages would get split to the next page.

Tried with: Calibre 3.21.0 and Ubuntu 18.04

Calibre (GUI)

• Open Calibre and use the add books to add the ebook. This step typically adds the ebook file to a folder inside %USERPROFILE%\Calibre Library\.
• Right-click on the added ebook in Calibre and choose Convert books -> Convert individually.
• In the Convert book dialog, I like to choose these options:
  • Choose output format as PDF.
  • Under Heuristic processing: enable the Enable heuristic processing.
  • Under Page setup: keep output profile as Default profile, but set left/right margins to 2pt and top/bottom margins to 3pt.
  • Under PDF output: choose Paper size as A4, Serif family as Constantia, Sans family as Corbel and Monospace family as Consolas.
• Click OK and Calibre will generate a PDF file in the same directory as the ebook file (see above).

Tried with: Calibre 5.17