As an avid eBook reader, I found reading PDF files on mobile devices like iPhone, iPad, Kindle Fire HD are rather limited as they lack the page-turning function, and due to the fixed layout of PDF document, it cannot resize to fit the width of the smaller screen of mobile devices.
Therefore, it becomes necessary to convert PDF to ePub file format that is reflowable and without format loss. But most of the PDF to EPUB converters will only convert PDF to EPUB with fixed layout, and some even output nonsense characters. Here in this article, we will share 6 ways to convert PDF to EPUB on Mac, without losing formatting.
Cisdem PDF Converter OCR
Free Download macOS 10.14 or later
You may have tried various free PDF to EPUB converters online but with results falling short of your expectations, for instance, the converted format did not stay the same as the original. In this case, choosing a professional PDF to EPUB converter can be a good solution to your problems.
Here we recommend Cisdem PDF Converter OCR for Mac users, which proves to an excellent tool in converting PDF to EPUB. As one would expect, Cisdem has made great efforts to maintain the original formatting and layouts as accurately as possible. Besides converting PDF to EPUB on Mac, it also supports conversions from PDF to multiple document formats, such as MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), iWork (Pages, Keynote, Numbers) and image. Conversely, converting other file formats to PDF is also allowed. This app also comes with advanced OCR technology which can convert scanned PDF documents and images.
Free Download macOS 10.14 or later 
Check the PDF to EPUB conversion video tutorial:
Calibre is a free, open-source, cross-platform eBook management tool, which allows users to view, edit metadata and convert books. Users can convert books to PDF, EPUB, MOBI, AZW3, DOCX, RTF, ZIP, etc. Also, users can utilize this tool to get books and fetch news online.
| Tab | Setting |
|---|---|
| Look & Feed | Change "Minimum Line Height" from 120% to 100% |
| Page Setup | Choose "Default Output Profile" and "Default Input Profile" |
| Structure Detection | Use //h:h1 for "Detect chapters at (XPath expression)" |
| EPUB Output | Pick "Preserve cover aspect ratio" |
Supplement:
Maybe many users don’t know that Calibre has a built-in eBook viewer that open PDF directly, and allows you to copy text, add bookmark, highlight, resize text, search, print, etc. It’s a one of tools of Calibre, so you cannot find it as an application in Finder. What you need to do is right-click the PDF file that you want to convert and open it with ebook-viewer as the image shows.
With an intuitive interface, handy document sharing, and a huge range of supported file types, Convertio becomes one of the best online PDF to ePub converters for Mac. It also gives you an OCR option to convert scanned PDF files and images, but only ten pages are available for free OCR. In addition, the conversion result is not that good when compared to dedicated software, such as Cisdem PDF Converter OCR.
When the process is finished, download the converted files. Or, convert more files if you need.
Zamzar is a well-reviewed online file converter that supports a wide range of file formats, including documents, images, videos and more. It provides a feature of converting PDF or image to ePub, and allows users to upload one or more files at once as long as the input files are the same format. But the maximum size per PDF-to-ePub conversion is 5 MB.
In the case you want to convert PDF to EPUB on Mac for free, besides using an online PDF to EPUB converter, you can also utilize Google Docs to perform the conversion with a Google Account.
Adobe Acrobat is the best and most powerful PDF tool for all PDF-editing purposes. It also offers Conversion features, helping users to export PDFs as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Text, Image and other formats. But it doesn’t support exporting PDF files as EPUB format directly, which makes some users feel helpless.
However, another popular product created by Adobe Inc. can easily solve this problem. Adobe InDesign can flexibly design ebooks, presentations, magazines, newspapers, posters and other pages, and supports exporting multiple formats.
If you have installed Adobe InDesign, follow the steps to convert PDF to EPUB on Mac now.
Actually, Apple Books doesn’t provide a feature to convert PDF to EPUB on Mac.
For macOS, iPadOS, iOS operating systems, Apple Inc. produced an e-book viewer to read, store and create EPUB files - Apple Books (under name iBooks). Actually, it supports importing EPUB and PDF, so you can open a PDF with Apple Books on Mac easily.
However, the PDF file will not be changed, and it still needs to be opened by Preview. For PDF files, Apple Books is equivalent to an ordinary storage tool. If you want to convert PDF to EPUB format, you still need to rely on the EPUB converters mentioned above.
PDF and EPUB are two of the most common ebook formats, each have it’s own characteristics that greatly impact ebook reading experience.
PDF is well know to preserving page layout and design, while EPUB is better for reading on ebook readers. It characterized by a “ reflow function “ that can adjusting text and images depending on screen size.
As this two are totally different, use a tool that simply convert PDF to EPUB, one will invariably has to do some post conversion editing. And it’s very likely to meet issues like broken paragraphs, nonsense characters by places, screwed up layout, etc in the output.
Though there are other free solutions to convert a PDF to EPUB on Mac, a great part of users resort to a professional one. A dedicated tool can not only save your time and efforts, but also bring satisfactory conversion results, such as the way Cisdem PDF Converter OCR allows users to do.
Carolyn has always been passionate about reading and writing, so she joined Cisdem as an editor as soon as she graduated from university. She focuses on writing how-to articles about PDF editing and conversion.
Dossie
Finally can get the books read on my Kindle, thanks.
Kenny
I read ebooks a lot and I tried several online converters before, it sucked. Hope the paid service works for me better.
Philip
When I read PDF file on my Kindle, it cannot resize to fit the width of screen, converting PDF to EPUB is a good idea.
Laura Van Tyne
I have a PDF with hyperlinks that I need to convert to an epub with hyperlinks (for a mac). will this program also convert my links? Or will they be broken in the conversion? Thanks, Laura
Owen
I am a eBook reader, I want to convert my PDF to ePub so that I can read it on my mobile device better. I will use this PDF to ePub converter.