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EPUB Exporter

by Johannes Kaindl
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Description

Export Markdown notes as EPUB3 books — book note as single source of truth.

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Latest Version

0.3.1
3 days ago

Changelog

Behoben

  • Die Einstellungen sehen jetzt auf allen unterstützten Obsidian-Versionen gleich aus. Auf Versionen vor 1.13 blendete die Ausweich-Ansicht die Zeile „Eigener Ordner“ aus, solange das Ausgabeziel nicht bereits darauf stand — ab 1.13 war sie durchgehend sichtbar. Beide Ansichten lesen jetzt dieselbe Einstellungs-Definition.

Geändert

  • Die README ist jetzt englisch (README.md); die deutsche Fassung steht als README.de.md daneben.
  • Die README dokumentiert erstmals die Frontmatter-Felder der Buch-Notiz samt ihrer deutschen Aliase (titel, autor, sprache, verlag, …) sowie die Funktionsweise des Exports. Die Beschreibung der Einstellungen war inhaltlich falsch — sie nannte Optionen für Bilder und Code-Blöcke, die es nicht gibt — und listet jetzt die tatsächlich vorhandenen Einstellungen mit ihren Vorgabewerten.
See all version on GitHub

README file from

Github

EPUB Exporter

Export notes as EPUB3 — a single note, or a whole book assembled from embedded chapters.

License: AGPL-3.0 Release Platform: Desktop + Mobile

Auch auf Deutsch verfügbar: README.de.md.

Features

  • A book is a note. Frontmatter carries the metadata, the embedded chapters form the spine — no separate project file that drifts out of sync.
  • Export a single note, a book note, or an entire folder as EPUB3.
  • Sidebar with the chapter list; reordering by drag or Alt+↑/↓ writes the new order straight back into the book note's embed spine.
  • Import a folder as a book and consolidate a book note into a folder (numbered chapter files + _assets/).
  • Metadata fields in German or English (autor/author, titelbild/cover, …).
  • Images, internal links and code blocks travel into the book; anything EPUB cannot represent is simplified rather than swallowed, and reported afterwards.
  • Builds the EPUB without an external library — which is why it also runs on mobile.

Requirements

  • Obsidian 1.8.7 or newer.
  • Desktop and mobile — the plugin is not desktop-only.
  • For the chapter spine: a note whose embeds (![[…]]) name the chapters in the intended order. Everything else is optional.

Install

Community plugin list (recommended): Settings → Community plugins → Browse → search for "EPUB Exporter" → install and enable.

Manual install: copy main.js, manifest.json and styles.css from a release into <vault>/.obsidian/plugins/epub-exporter/.

From source: clone the repository, run npm install && npm run build, then copy the same three files into the same folder.

Usage

The book model

A book note is the single source of truth. Its frontmatter carries the metadata, its ordered embeds form the chapter spine:

---
title: Der Sandmann
author: E. T. A. Hoffmann
language: de
cover: assets/cover.png
---

![[01 Nathanael an Lothar]]
![[02 Clara an Nathanael]]
![[03 Nathanael an Lothar]]

Because the chapters are real embeds, the finished book is visible as such in reading view — there is no separate project file that could drift out of sync with the note.

Recognized fields are title, author, language, identifier/isbn, description, publisher, date, series + series_index, subject/tags, rights and cover — each also under its German name (titel, autor, sprache, verlag, datum, reihe + reihe_nr, schlagworte, rechte, titelbild). Without title the file name is used; without identifier a UUID is generated. The command "Insert book frontmatter into note" lays out the scaffold.

Ways into an export

  • Sidebar — opens the book overview with the chapter list plus export and consolidate buttons.
  • Reorder chapters — in the sidebar by dragging or with Alt+↑/↓; the new order goes straight into the book note's embed spine, so the book reorders itself in reading view immediately.
  • Command "Export as EPUB" — exports the active note.
  • A folder's context menu — exports the folder as a book or imports it as a book note (embed spine from the file name order).
  • Book note → "Consolidate book to folder" (command, sidebar or context menu) — moves the book into a folder of its own: book note + numbered chapter files + _assets/. A dialog picks whether chapters are copied or moved, and how many images come along.

Per chapter: chapter_title overrides the title in the table of contents, epub_exclude: true leaves a chapter out.

Configuration

Settings → Community plugins → EPUB Exporter:

Setting Default Meaning
Output destination Beside the note Or: attachment folder, custom folder, or "Share / open in another app" (mobile)
Custom folder (empty) Only used when the output destination is "Custom folder"
Default book language en Used when a book note has no language field
Open sidebar on startup off Reveals the EPUB Exporter panel when Obsidian starts
Consolidate: chapter files Copy Copy (keep originals) or move
Consolidate: images Full Cover + all chapter images, cover only, or none

The two consolidate settings are only the default in the dialog — it lets you deviate per run.

How it works

The EPUB is built entirely inside the plugin, without an EPUB or ZIP library: a minimal, uncompressed ZIP writer puts mimetype first (as the specification demands), followed by the container, the OPF package and the navigation document. That is why the export also works on mobile and needs no network connection.

Each chapter is rendered by Obsidian and then translated from the DOM into XHTML. Whatever EPUB does not know is degraded to the closest element rather than dropped — a notice reports how many elements that affected. Code blocks are swapped for placeholders before rendering and put back unchanged afterwards, so no syntax highlighting ends up in the book. Images are collected by a registry and stored once with the right media type (PNG, JPEG, GIF, SVG, WebP); links to notes within the same book become internal jump targets, links pointing outside become plain text.

License

AGPL-3.0-or-later — see LICENSE.

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