Recipes

Content

Introduction
Managing the Table of Contents
Book cover image

Introduction

On this page we’ve collected recipes of how to solve certain problems, and how to manage common tasks when converting books using the Bookalope tools. Please contact us if you want to suggest a topic!

Managing the Table of Contents

Like many other document editors Bookalope manages the Table of Contents (TOC) for you: it assembles the TOC from the headings in your document. However, you need to tell Bookalope where exactly it should place that generated TOC.

Remember that the paragraph labels on the Structure page contained one particular label: TOC item. That paragraph label is the key to telling Bookalope where to place a TOC. If in your document you label a number of consecutive paragraphs as TOC item then Bookalope will know that these paragraphs are, in fact, a TOC.

So, when you confirm the Structure on the page then Bookalope removes all TOC item paragraphs and keeps a placeholder in their stead. On the Content page you will then see that placeholder like so:

Note also that we have marked the chapter title Table of Contents as a “toc” kind of chapter, therewith telling Bookalope that this chapter contains a TOC.

Note that if Bookalope encounters a chapter that’s marked as “toc” but which does not contain a TOC, then Bookalope will insert one. Furthermore, if you export your document as an ebook and if your document does not contain a “toc” chapter then Bookalope will insert one (that’s because the ebook accessibility standard requires it).

Book cover image

We should not, but we do judge a book by its cover. Having an appealing book cover image is important, which is why Bookalope takes extra care of it.

If you upload a file format which contains an explicit book cover image (e.g. an ebook) then Bookalope extracts that image and manages it automatically as the book’s cover image. If you upload metadata that contains cover image information then Bookalope handles that as well.

For every Bookflow, you can manage its cover image through the Bookflow’s metadata page:

Here you can browse for a local file to update the existing cover image, or you can click the Picture icon to have Bookalope generate a cover image for you (the text Generate cover image will be displayed). However, if you don’t want a book cover image at all for your book, click the Trashcan icon.

By default, Bookalope takes care of the cover image’s alternative text. If you enter a text here, though, then Bookalope will use your text instead.