First decide whether conversion is appropriate
EPUB is strongest when the document is mostly continuous text. Apple describes reflowable EPUB as content that adapts to device size, orientation and reader settings. That is useful for essays and book chapters, but not every academic PDF has a clear linear reading order.
Before uploading, try selecting a paragraph in the PDF. If the selection follows the words in order, the file contains usable text. If each page behaves like one image, it is probably a scan. MyEbook does not perform OCR, so scan it with an OCR tool first.
Watch the parts that usually break
Multiple columns
A converter may read across both columns or place a sidebar in the middle of the main argument. Test several pages rather than checking only the first one.
Equations, tables and figures
Dense tables and mathematical notation are tied to the original page geometry. They may become images, wrap badly or lose alignment in a reflowable book.
Citations and page numbers
EPUB pagination changes with font size and screen width. Keep the PDF whenever you need stable page references for a citation.
A safer workflow
- Confirm that the PDF contains selectable text and is not DRM-protected.
- Open the PDF-to-EPUB converter, choose EPUB and run the conversion.
- Open the result in your preferred iPad reader and inspect headings, columns, equations, references and image captions.
- Retain the original PDF beside the EPUB for page-accurate citations.