epub_generator
Turn your Drupal content into real ebooks -- no external binaries, no headless browsers, no special hosting.
Your reports, manuals, and documentation live in Drupal. Your readers want them on e-readers, tablets, and phones -- offline, accessible, and portable. ePub Generator bridges that gap: one click on any node, or on any Book outline, produces a valid ePub 3 file with proper publishing metadata, a navigable table of contents, and accessibility baked in.
Because it's pure PHP (built on the zero-dependency php-epub library), it runs anywhere Drupal runs, including managed hosting where installing wkhtmltopdf or a headless Chrome is not an option. All it needs is the `zip` and `dom` extensions your host already has.
Turn Book outlines into actual books
The Book Integration submodule is the flagship feature. If your organization already maintains structured long-form content in Book outlines, you get publishing for free:
- The entire book tree becomes a multi-chapter ebook with a hierarchical table of contents that mirrors your outline.
- Real publishing metadata -- author, ISBN, publisher, cover image, edition, rights -- is read from fields on your book's root node via a configurable field mapping. Your editors keep working exactly as they do today.
- A "Download ePub" tab appears on every node in the book.
Accessibility is not an afterthought
Every generated ebook includes schema.org accessibility metadata (access modes, features, structural navigation) per the EPUB Accessibility specification, plus an ePub 2 NCX fallback for older reading systems -- relevant if you have Section 508, WCAG, or European Accessibility Act obligations for the documents you publish.
Features
- One-click downloads: a "Download ePub" tab on nodes, a route for any content entity, and Drush commands (`epub:generate`, `epub:generate-book`) for automation.
- You control what's exported: a dedicated "ePub" view mode lets each content type define exactly which fields appear in ebook output, independent of the web display.
- Clean output: rendered HTML is converted to valid XHTML with Drupal UI (tabs, contextual links, admin links) stripped automatically. Local images are embedded; SVG and MathML are preserved for charts and equations.
- Fixed-layout support: produce pixel-perfect, pre-paginated ebooks (dashboards, illustrated content, children's books) -- book-wide or per chapter, with viewport, spread, and orientation control.
- Your branding: ship a sensible default stylesheet or point the module at your own CSS.
- Markdown submodule: attach `.md` files to any file field and offer them as ePub downloads, with YAML front matter for metadata and automatic chapter splitting on headings.
Requirements
- Drupal 11.1+, PHP 8.3+ with `zip`, `dom`, and `libxml`
- andileco/php-epub (installed automatically via Composer)
- Book Integration submodule: the Book module
- Markdown submodule: `league/commonmark`
Installation
```
composer require drupal/epub_generator
drush en epub_generator epub_generator_book
```
Then configure defaults at Administration > Configuration > Content authoring > ePub Generator and map your book metadata fields under ePub Book Field Mapping.
AI Acknowledgement
AI was instrumental in the development of this module, but I reviewed and tested it thoroughly.