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OPF-014Critical Ingestion Error

Manifest Item Referenced but Missing in Archive

A file listed in content.opf <manifest> does not exist in the ZIP archive.

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Fix all OPF-014 errors in your EPUB automatically

PreFlight audits the physical archive against the manifest, identifies phantom or ghost items, and cleanly strips nonexistent references while keeping valid assets intact.

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What This Error Means in Plain English

Your book's manifest is like an airline passenger manifest. It claims a file exists (such as a font, css file, or image), but that file is missing from the EPUB container.

Why Retailers & EAA Regulations Block This File

Retailers will reject the file because reading systems may crash or display broken icons when attempting to preload missing assets.

Technical Specification: During package validation, each <item href="..."> in <manifest> is cross-checked against the actual entries in the ZIP container. If a referenced relative path does not exist, OPF-014 is raised.

XML Structure Comparison

Non-Compliant / Rejected
<item id="ornament" href="images/old-ornament.png" media-type="image/png" />
Compliant / Accepted
<!-- Nonexistent reference removed safely by PreFlight -->

Manual Fix Instructions (for Sigil / Calibre)

  1. Open content.opf and locate the <item> ID flagged in the error log.
  2. Verify if the file was deleted or renamed in your images or styles folder.
  3. Either restore the missing asset into the ZIP or remove the defunct <item> tag from content.opf.