# What is reading order?

Source: https://epublab.com/glossary/reading-order/ (updated 2026-11-03)

Reading order is the sequence in which text is meant to be read: column by column, with side notes, captions and footnotes placed where they belong. In an EPUB it is set by the spine and the order of elements in each document.

## Why it matters when you convert a PDF to EPUB

A PDF stores text in drawing order, which can jump between columns, headers and captions. Recovering the reading order is the hardest part of converting multi-column documents: reading straight across two columns mixes two unrelated sentences on every line.