Dolphin Publisher: Steps for generating a DAISY book from documents

It is possible to quickly create a DAISY book from documents which exist as electronic files on the computer. The steps required for accomplishing this task using Dolphin Publisher are given below.

Step 1: Create a project

• Open Dolphin Publisher, click FILE and then click NEW PROJECT or press CTRL + N

• Select CREATE FROM DOCUMENTS

  

• Now type the TITLE of the book

  

• Select or create a folder for saving this project
• Click NEXT

Step 2: Select source document/s

• Click the ADD ONE OR MORE FILES TO THE LIST icon

  

• Now browse your computer and select the text files/s. Dolphin Publisher v3 allows import of HTML, TXT, RTF, DOC, DOCX, OPF, XML & ePub formats.
• You can remove the files you have added or change their sequence in this window. When done, click NEXT

Step 3: Generate the project

• In the next window you can select a suitable MDF file and set auto-markup options.

  

• MDF FILE sets the rules for handling the tags in the input document. This is an advanced functionality and a deeper understanding of markup tags is required for this. The default MDF is generally good for most documents.
• IMPORT META DATA INFORMATION FROM THE DOCUMENTS: Certain type of META DATA or publication information such as BOOK TITLE, AUTHOR is mandatory for DAISY books. When this option is selected, the Meta data available in the document is imported into the project and you will not have to manually type out this data.
• Click PREVIEW SENTENCES to check if all the text has been marked properly by Publisher.

• Click AUTO MARKUP OPTIONS to open the MARKUP TAB. Here you can choose the break characters which will be used to detect sentences in the document.

  

• Click GENERATE to finish the CREATE NEW PROJECT WIZARD.

Step 4: Review structure and sentences

You should now check out the headings and sentences to make sure that everything has been properly marked. You can use the TABLE OF CONTENTS VIEW (F4) to check the sequence and hierarchy of the headings in the project. If the document had correct markup of page numbers then they would also appear on the PAGE TAB of the TOC VIEW.

If you detect errors in the detection of sentences or if you want to make corrections in the text then you should use the HTML EDIT view (F6). In the HTML VIEW you can edit and mark/unmark text.

If you had imported files which did not have any markup for headings or pages then the same can be marked at this time using the commands available in the main screen EDIT menu and TOOLS menu in the HTML VIEW.

You have now created a DAISY book from documents. You can now record this book in human voice through live recording or use a TTS to record the text. If the recording of this text is available in audio files, it can be imported and synchronized.

It may be noted that preparation of the source documents has an important bearing on the output. If the source documents are prepared in DOC or DOCX format then it is advisable to markup the various text elements using the built in styles. This will significantly reduce the editing time in Dolphin Publisher.

See also

• Visit the DAISY Marketplace for more information on Dolphin Publisher
• Steps for creating a Simple (TOC only) DTB with Dolphin Publisher
• More DAISY authoring and production tools