An ebook that looks wrong on a device is usually a file that was built in a way the reading software did not expect. The manuscript is rarely the problem. Conversion turns a page-based document into a flowing one, and the things that survive that change badly are the ones that depended on the page: images anchored in place, fonts, manual breaks, tables, and anything positioned by eye.
This guide gathers our posts on ebook faults in one place, organized by what you can see rather than by what caused it. Each post answers a single question and stands on its own, so start with the symptom that matches yours. We add to the guide as we cover more ground, so it is worth bookmarking.
One caveat: the same fault can look different on different devices, and a file that is wrong everywhere is a different problem from one that is wrong in a single app. Before chasing a fix, check the book on a second device or in a previewer, which our ebook file guide covers.
Images
- Images that break in conversion: what happens to them between Word and EPUB, and how to fix it.
- Images that look blurry on Kindle: why the sharpness goes, and what resolution to supply.
- Transparent images in dark mode: why a transparent background turns into a visible box.
Type and layout
- Fonts that disappear: what conversion does to the typefaces you chose.
- A title page that no longer matches: why the front of the book comes out different from the Word file.
- Breaks in the wrong place: which kind of break to use, and what each one does after conversion.
- Tables that fall apart: how tables convert, and why they are the hardest element to keep.
Links, and files that fail somewhere else
- Links that stop working: which kinds of link survive on Kindle and which do not.
- Passes on Kindle, fails elsewhere: why one store accepts a file that another refuses.
- Converted from a PDF: why a PDF makes a poor starting point, and what it does to the result.