[Solved] Images 'disappear' HTML doc upload to Amazon Kindle

[motorhomelifer]

Apache Open Office 4.1.0

Windows 7 Home Premium
Service Pack 1
64 Bit

I have created a document with images and saved it as word 97-2003. No problem.
I save it as an HTML document and all the images are displayed correctly in the text.
I now wish to save the HTML file and the images in a compressed file in order to upload it onto the Amazon website for publishing.
The images 'disappear' from the HTML document after I copy it into the compressed folder.

The instructions from Amazon were to copy and paste the images in a separate file alongside the HTML File in the compressed folder. This didn't work so I copied the images into the compressed folder without placing them in a separate folder first and it worked fine on June 13th 2014.
There are 19 images in total.

Why doesn't it work now?

What can I do?

Thanks in advance,
Ali

[John_Ha]

Welcome to the forum

If you are editing a document called test, and you save it as an HTML document, you save test.html as a file (which contains only the text and makes calls to the images) and, in the same folder, you save all the image files as test_html_xxxxxx.png etc. See below, where the folder called Example has test.html and its four images.

What I expect Amazon wants you to do is to compress the entire folder Example as I have done here. When this ZIP file is unzipped into a folder called say, Tom, clicking on test.html opens the document with the images in place.

If this doesn't work, then please copy the exact Amazon words into your post so we can see exactly what Amazon is asking or, perhaps better, post the link to the Amazon page.

If this solves the problem, please edit your original post title to [Solved].

Edit: I have assumed that your images were actually inserted into the document you were editing which means they are created in the same folder as the html file. If you only linked to the images, and your images were stored a different folder called, say, Harry, you will need to replicate that path - I am not sure of the details and it will vary depending on whether you linked using Direct addressing or Relative addressing. It is quite "tidy" to put the images in a folder called Images below the folder containing the document, and link to them relatively in your document. In this case the folder Example above would just have test.html in it; together with a folder called Images, which contained all the images.

[motorhomelifer]

hi John,
I have attached the instruction from Amazon, taken from their PDF Version of How to Publish on Kindle.
They only provide information for Word Documents created using the Word programme, but at the beginning of their guide they advise that Open Office can be used as an alternative.
I followed their instructions as attached but it didn't work.

When I successfully created the HTML document in the zipped file with the images correctly displayed in the document and uploaded I didn't place the images in a separate file, as they suggest, I just copied them as separate files into the zipped folder along with the HTML file. Then I uploaded the compressed file onto their Kindle Direct Publishing Platform and everything worked great.

The problem I have now is that after I place the HTML document in the compressed file the images on the document 'disappear' and they were included in the original HTML file before I placed it in the compressed folder.

I have copied your response below and given my answers in CAPITAL LETTERS.

" I have assumed that your images were actually inserted into the document you were editing which means they are created in the same folder as the html file-YES I DID THIS'

If you only linked to the images, and your images were stored a different folder called, say, Harry, you will need to replicate that path - I am not sure of the details and it will vary depending on whether you linked using Direct addressing or Relative addressing- DIRECT AND RELATIVE ADDRESSING IS BEYOND MY LEVEL OF UNDERSTANDING. I CLICKED ON MY DOCUMENT (CREATED AS A WORD 97-2003 DOCUMENT), SAVE AS- HTML- CHOSEN FROM DROP DOWN MENU'

It is quite "tidy" to put the images in a folder called Images below the folder containing the document, and link to them relatively in your document. In this case the folder Example above would just have test.html in it; together with a folder called Images, which contained all the images. WHEN I DO THIS THE IMAGES DON'T DISPLAY IN THE HTML DOCUMENT.

The problem I have is that I can't replicate what I did last time. I hope this makes sense.
Look forward to your advice, thanks again Ali

[Bill]

The instructions from Amazon were to copy and paste the images in a separate file alongside the HTML File in the compressed folder.

No, the instructions were to drag the folder containing the images into the compressed folder. It isn't explicitly stated in the instructions, but the folder containing the images must be in the same folder as the original html file WHEN THE HTML FILE IS CREATED. That's the only way to maintain the relative position of the html file and the images when the instructions for creating the .zip file are followed. If the relative position isn't maintained, the images will disappear.

[motorhomelifer]

I have followed your instructions. The images are included in the HTML file before I copy it into the Zipped folder. After it is in the compressed folder the images have gone from the document and I am copying the images into the compressed folder as well. Thanks Ali

[Bill]

It's been a while since I've worked on HTML files, but if I recall correctly, they don't contain images. They contain links to image files which are separate from the HTML file. If the image files are not in the link location, no image will be displayed.

[motorhomelifer]

I have the original document with images displayed in the text. When I 'save as' HTML file the images are displayed in the HTML file in the same locations as the original word document throughout the text. When I copy the HTML file into the new compressed folder the images are no longer in the text and it doesn't make any difference whether there are images in the same folder, alongside it and I am creating my compressed folder in the same file location as you recommended. All I know is it worked the first time I did this for the Amazon upload and it doesn't work now. I can't afford to have my work upload to Amazon without the images in the text or my book will look very scrappy and unprofessional.
Is it worth me uninstalling and reinstalling my Open Office software? Next step is to ask Amazon I guess.

[John_Ha]

The Amazon instructions assume you are using MS Word so it is important to know the difference between how AOO and MS Word save HTML files. I don't have MS Word so I am going on what I can find on the web. Also, I assume that the images in the ODT file are placed directly in the ODT file and they are not linked images.

Writer saving a .ODT as an HTML
Assume you have a document called telescopes.odt which contains three images with, for example, the first a GIF, the second a PNG and the third a JPG. When you File > Save as > choose HTML, Writer saves telescopes.html, image_1.gif, image_2.png and image_3.jpg all in the same folder. When you click on telescopes.html, your browser opens it, reads the html code, and calls up the image files which it expects to find in the same folder as the html file - in other words it looks for image_1.gif etc. The HTML code in telescopes.html does not include a path for the images, so they must be in the same folder as the telescopes.html file.

MS Word saving a .DOC as an HTML
Assume you have a document called telescopes.doc which contains three images with, for example, the first a GIF, the second a PNG and the third a JPG. When you save it as an HTML in MS Word, MS Word saves telescopes.html, but saves the images in a sub-folder called telescopes_files, where telescopes is the name of the .doc file. The HTML code in telescope.html now calls telescope_files\image_1.gif etc. The HTML code in telescopes.html now includes the relative path for the images, so they must be in a sub-folder as defined by that path.

See the attached telescopes.odt file. Download it and save it to a folder called Fred. Now open it and save it as an HTML. Note how the three images are saved in Fred.

So you need to experiment with Amazon. Does Amazon expect the images to be in the same folder as the HTML file? Or does Amazon expect the images to be a sub-folder called telescopes_files? If Amazon wants the second method, you have two options

1 Edit telescopes.html (use Notepad) and change image_1.GIF to telescopes_files\image_1.gif etc. Put the images in a sub-folder called telescopes_files (and delete the images in the same folder as telescopes .html just to be certain which images you are using!). Now click on telescopes.html and you should see the images.

2 I haven't done this to prove it, but when you create the ODT file, place the images in a sub-folder called telescopes_files in the same folder as telescopes.odt. Do NOT bring the actual image files into the ODT file, but "relative link" them. Save the ODT file. Writer now has the relative link \telescopes_files built into the filename, and Writer expects to find the image files in the sub-folder called telescopes_files. Now save as an HTML file. Writer will now create the HTML with the path \telescopes_files pointing to the images in the sub-folder. Note that it does not matter where the html file is stored as long as the folder telescope_files is stored in the same folder as the html file.

[motorhomelifer]

I really appreciate you going to all this trouble to explain this to me and help, but I just don't understand why it worked for me before without all this hassle when I uploaded the original copy to Amazon. Amazon expect the second method with the images in a separate file but when I did that they didn't 'stick' with the HTML. I only use JPEG files. I don't understand all the codes etc in notepad and this is getting worse than maths homework. Sorry to be such a numbskull but I have to stick with writing. I'll take it up with Amazon, after all they recommend open office so they should also be able to advise. Thanks again

[John_Ha]

Try converting telescopes.odt to html and uploading it to amazon.

Can you post the amazon page where you upload it, or some other amazon page I can try.

[motorhomelifer]

You have saved my sanity! I uploaded the Telescopes file in the compressed folder with the images alongside and they displayed correctly on the Kindle previewer. I notice from your profile that you volunteer for this, so a huge thank you! All the best, Ali

[John_Ha]

No problem. You might also find googling with openoffice publish kindle or with openoffice publish kindle site:amazon.com helps (where the site:amazon.com limits the search to the amazon.com). I quickly found uploading from OpenOffice format

Also, the images you uploaded actually give precise instructions which, now you know the difference between Writer and Word, probably makes more sense, namely:

(3) Books with images: Creating a zipped file of your book contents

If your book includes images, you'll need to create a compressed file of your book for it to work on Kindle. To do that, follow these steps:

1. Go to the folder where you saved your book (by default, Word will save your files in 'Documents' so if you aren't sure where it is, this is a good place to look).

2. You'll find two files with the name you used: a folder containing Your images and an HTML file containing your book.

Right click on the HTML file, scroll over "Send to" and on the menu that appears, click 'Compressed (zipped) folder'

4. A new folder with the same name will appear with a zipper on it.

5. Drag the folder with your images in it onto the new zipped folder.

This zipped folder will be necessary when it comes time to upload your book to KDP.

If this solves the problem, please edit your original post title to [Solved].

[motorhomelifer]

Lovely, will do. Thanks again

[John_Ha]

Actually, can I suggest you edit the title to something like Images in HTML for upload to amazon for kindle - that will help others searching for a similar problem.

[Adriana]

I had also a problem with disappearing images.Then tried saving it as an .odt which did not work. Then I exported it as a PDF and that solved the problem.