How do I get covers to show in the Mobipocket Reader Desktop 6.2 Beta. I have a few .prc format BAEN e-books that show in this reader with cover images in the .prc. But, the covers do not show in the Reader library. I have downloaded images of the covers. I have converted images to .gif format. I placed the images in the Covers folder and in the Covers/Bookshelf folder both by the original ISPN number name and by book title. But, the covers still do not show on the Mobipocket Library shelf. I get the default image for every book. I can not find help for this problem on the Mobipocket web-site. What can I do to get the covers to show in the Library bookshelf?

How do I get covers to show in the Mobipocket Reader Desktop 6.2 Beta. I have a few .prc format BAEN e-books that show in this reader with cover images in the .prc. But, the covers do not show in the Reader library. I have downloaded images of the covers. I have converted images to .gif format. I placed the images in the Covers folder and in the Covers/Bookshelf folder both by the original ISPN number name and by book title. But, the covers still do not show on the Mobipocket Library shelf. I get the default image for every book. I can not find help for this problem on the Mobipocket web-site. What can I do to get the covers to show in the Library bookshelf?

Sometimes covers don't show, and I can't make them show (like for prc files someone else made - I'm not sure what they're doing but their covers don't show in the desktop reader and I can't make them).

But other times the cover won't show, or the previous cover will show even though I changed it.

The way I make them show is to delete the book from the reader, open the folder and delete the cover image and image from the sub-folder "Bookshelf" and then when I put the prc file back into reader, it correctly extracts the correct cover image. This works for prc files I make, and for prc files I have bought.

It seems it won't overwrite an image already linked to a file. You have to delete the file, then delete the covers, then reinstall the file.

Many prc files are not true MobiPocket files and then you will not see the cover in the library view. You can use my mobi2mobi program to add covers and convert the file to a true MobiPocket file. Se the discussion in the Mobiperl thread in the Content section.

tompe,

I have unzipped and saved mobiperl-0.02.tar (http://www.ida.liu.se/~tompe/mobiperl/mobiperl-0.02.tar)in the MobiPocket folder, but I have no idea how to open or use .tar files. Will you instruct me? I would like to see the covers on the library shelves if possible.

Susan

Many prc files are not true MobiPocket files and then you will not see the cover in the library view. You can use my mobi2mobi program to add covers and convert the file to a true MobiPocket file. Se the discussion in the Mobiperl thread in the Content section.

Check http://www.ida.liu.se/~tompe/mobiperl

The current version is 0.0.25.

This page contains some information and links to the manual page for mobi2mobi. There are Windows binaries available. To tar file contains the Perl files and you must have a system with Perl installed to use them and you have to install some additional Perl modules.

This post http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showpost.php?p=132961&postcount=65
give an example of how to add cover image and thumbnail.

This old lady never learned to knit or Perl :( Thanks for trying to help me.

Susan

Check http://www.ida.liu.se/~tompe/mobiperl

The current version is 0.0.25.

This page contains some information and links to the manual page for mobi2mobi. There are Windows binaries available. To tar file contains the Perl files and you must have a system with Perl installed to use them and you have to install some additional Perl modules.

This post http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showpost.php?p=132961&postcount=65
give an example of how to add cover image and thumbnail.

How do I get covers to show in the Mobipocket Reader Desktop 6.2 Beta. I have a few .prc format BAEN e-books that show in this reader with cover images in the .prc. But, the covers do not show in the Reader library. I have downloaded images of the covers. I have converted images to .gif format. I placed the images in the Covers folder and in the Covers/Bookshelf folder both by the original ISPN number name and by book title. But, the covers still do not show on the Mobipocket Library shelf. I get the default image for every book. I can not find help for this problem on the Mobipocket web-site. What can I do to get the covers to show in the Library bookshelf?

If you make the .PRC file yourself using "Mobipocket Creator" (free download here (http://www.mobipocket.com/en/DownloadSoft/default.asp?Language=EN)) then you can add a cover image to the file at the second page of Mobipocket Creator (i.e. after you have "imported" the file). There is a frame on the right with a drop down menu under "View". One of the options is "Cover Image". Format can be JPEG, GIF, PNG or BMP.

Books downloaded from Baen can be downloaded again in any of their formats, e.g. HTML, so you could add their book's image or one of your own.

Unfortunately if you have a DRMed .PRC with no image, you're out of luck.

This works for .PRC files read with "Mobipocket Reader" on a PC as well as on my Palm TX. Don'y have my Gen 3 yet so I'm not sure about that. Hope this helps some.

Unfortunately if you have a DRMed .PRC with no image, you're out of luck.


My mobi2mobi can manipulate and add cover images to a DRM:ed book.

If you make the .PRC file yourself using "Mobipocket Creator" (free download here (http://www.mobipocket.com/en/DownloadSoft/default.asp?Language=EN)) then you can add a cover image to the file at the second page of Mobipocket Creator (i.e. after you have "imported" the file. There is a frame on the right with a drop down menu under "View". one of the options is "Cover Image". Format can be JPEG, GIF, PNG or BMP.

Books downloaded from Baen can be downloaded again in any of their formats, e.g. HTML, so you could add their book's image or one of your own.

Unfortunately if you have a DRMed .PRC with no image, you're out of luck.

This works for .PRC files read with "Mobipocket Reader" on a PC as well as on my Palm TX. Don'y have my Gen 3 yet so I'm not sure about that. Hope this helps some.

Yes, covers added that way show up just fine on the Gen3.

Thank you,

With "Mobipocket Creator" I can place a book cover with the .opf files I create from HTML. I am still a bit confused. The "Mobipocket Creator" will not recognize Mobipocket .prc files (of course, it did not create them!). Unfortunately, the "Mobipocket Reader" will recognize .prc files but not the .opf files created by the "Creator". :smack: I hope the NAEB Cybook Gen3 I ordered will read the .opf files. That format name is not specified in the software specs.

Susan
Taking baby steps on the way to e-literacy!

Thank you,

With "Mobipocket Creator" I can place a book cover with the .opf files I create from HTML. I am still a bit confused. The "Mobipocket Creator" will not recognize Mobipocket .prc files (of course, it did not create them!). Unfortunately, the "Mobipocket Reader" will recognize .prc files but not the .opf files created by the "Creator". :smack: I hope the NAEB Cybook Gen3 I ordered will read the .opf files. That format name is not specified in the software specs.

Susan
Taking baby steps on the way to e-literacy!

Susan,
I'm not the expert on this but as I understand it, the OPF file is a variation of HTML. If that is the case then maybe the Cybook will read it but you may need to change the extension. I'll find out when I get my NAEB Cybook Gen3.

Are you trying to use the OPF files in Mobipocket Reader? That is just an interim product of Mobipocket Creator. If that is the case, you need to select the HTML file and click the "Build" icon to get the finished .prc file. That is also on the second page of Creator (upper right).

Got it! :2thumbsup MobiPocket Creator's Step 5: Build the ebook converts the .opf to .prc. Everything should work properly now. I'll build my e-library! I can hardly wait to get my NAEB Cybook to try it. Thank you all!

Susan


Susan,
I'm not the expert on this but as I understand it, the OPF file is a variation of HTML. If that is the case then maybe the Cybook will read it but you may need to change the extension. I'll find out when I get my NAEB Cybook Gen3.

Are you trying to use the OPF files in Mobipocket Reader? That is just an interim product of Mobipocket Creator. If that is the case, you need to select the HTML file and click the "Build" icon to get the finished .prc file. That is also on the second page of Creator (upper right).

the opf file, all the html files are produced by Creator - as someone already pointed out - as an intermediate stage. At this point it would be possible to manually edit those files before building the finished .prc file.
E.g. I had an html file where Chapters were formatted using the <h2> tag. In Creator I could automagically have it create an TOC for me taking all <h2> headings from the html. Unluckily there were other parts also formatted as <h2> and so I took those out in the intermediate files and built the book afterwards.

Of course it might an easier way to edit the html file before importing it into Creator, that depends on how many changes are necessary.

Another thing I stumbled over and which might be useful information for people working with creator: Images in the html file (i.e. <img src=... ) are not copied to the working directory of Creator and are therefore not present in the intermediary files. The tag is converted just fine so if you manually copy the pictures to the directory where the other intermediary files are located then the pictures will apear in the .prc files as expected. Otherwise you get missing links to the images which might even crash the Cybook.

-SNIP-
Images in the html file (i.e. <img src=... ) are not copied to the working directory of Creator and are therefore not present in the intermediary files. The tag is converted just fine so if you manually copy the pictures to the directory where the other intermediary files are located then the pictures will apear in the .prc files as expected. Otherwise you get missing links to the images which might even crash the Cybook.

Thank you! I have created my first e-book (of my personal genealogical research:)). The picture of my pivotal ancestor showed up once I included the image in the same directory. Will this also work when I get my NAEB Cybook and load my homemade e-book in it?

Another thing I stumbled over and which might be useful information for people working with creator: Images in the html file (i.e. <img src=... ) are not copied to the working directory of Creator and are therefore not present in the intermediary files. The tag is converted just fine so if you manually copy the pictures to the directory where the other intermediary files are located then the pictures will apear in the .prc files as expected. Otherwise you get missing links to the images which might even crash the Cybook.

You should not add linked image files to the "file list" in MobiPocket Creator - if you do, they get added to the eBook twice. For a book which consists of a single HTML file with linked images, all that should be referenced in the OPF is the HTML file. The image files should be present in the same folder, but not referenced in the OPF's file list.

You should not add linked image files to the "file list" in MobiPocket Creator - if you do, they get added to the eBook twice. For a book which consists of a single HTML file with linked images, all that should be referenced in the OPF is the HTML file. The image files should be present in the same folder, but not referenced in the OPF's file list.

When you say file list do you mean in the manifest and in the spine then? This seems like a bug in MobiPocket Creator then. According to the specification of opf files I read all files should be added in the manifest. And if a file is missing from the spine you should automatically append the missing files in the tools that uses the opf file.

When you unpack a file with clit you get the image files in the manifest. If you run MobiPocket Creator on that opf file do you really get two images?

When you say file list do you mean in the manifest and in the spine then?

Yes, exactly.

This seems like a bug in MobiPocket Creator then. According to the specification of opf files I read all files should be added in the manifest. And if a file is missing from the spine you should automatically append the missing files in the tools that uses the opf file.

When you unpack a file with clit you get the image files in the manifest. If you run MobiPocket Creator on that opf file do you really get two images?

I don't know what happens with those, but when you create a book manually using MobiPocket Creator, from an HTML file with embedded links to pictures, then if you add the image file to the "Publication Files" page of Mobi Creator, you'll find that the size of the resulting book will increase by DOUBLE the size of the image file.

Eg, suppose you have a book which, without pictures, is 1MB in size, and you add a picture to it (using an <IMG> link) which is 100kb in size. Ignoring picture resizing for the moment, if you just rebuild the book, you'll find that the size of the book increases to 1.1MB, as you'd expect.

If, however, you add the picture to the "Publication Files" page and then re-build the book, you'll find that it's now 1.2MB in size - the picture is being included in the book TWICE - once by the <IMG> link and again by it being in the manifest.

I don't know if this is a bug or not, but it's certainly the way that it works - try it and see!

.
I don't know if this is a bug or not, but it's certainly the way that it works - try it and see!

It seems to be lazy programming. The document will work as expected but be larger than it have to be. It might even be that for an opf document the correct behaviour is to ignore links to images that are not in the manifest. I will have to check this and make sure that lit2mobi and opf2mobi works in a reasonable way.

The reason I noticed it myself is that when I first added pictures to some of my Dickens books, the resulting files were enormous, because some of those books have many MB of pictures, and at first I added all the pictures to the "Publication Files" page of Mobi Creator. When I realised that the pictures were being added twice, I removed the pictures from the manifest, and the books still displayed the pictures correctly, and were the size I expected them to be.

The way that is works is actually extremely convenient, because all my books consist of a single HTML file with linked pictures. That means that, provided I use the same name every time for my book file (I call it "book.html") I can simply re-use the same "opf" file every time - all I have to do is load it in Mobi Creator and change the meta-data for the new book!

Can confirm what Harry states above. What I meant with my statement about adding the pictures manually was meant a little differently, though:

When I import an HTML file (from some directory) with linked pictures (in same directory or subfolder) I experienced the problem that the HTML was copied to the Creator working directory but not the pictures. That way when I built the book I would not see the pictures in Mobipocket Reader but instead get an error message that the picture could not be found (on the Cybook I would not get any errors, obviously, but when trying to display the picture it would either just omit the picture or crash.
After some fiddling I found out that the HTML is parsed correctly and the references to the pictures were embedded correctly only the fact that the pictures were not present in the working directory when building the book prevented them from being there. This can be remedied by just copying the pictures manually into the Creator working directory of the current book (=where the HTML is located) after all the settings and editing in Creator are done and *before* pressing the "Build" button.

Adding the files from within Creator (i.e. via "Add file") will copy the file to the working directory also but - as Harry mentioned - that would give you a double. I experienced this when importing an HTML which had the cover embedded as a picture at the top. After adding the cover image in Creator (via the menu) I had the cover image two times at the beginning of the book. I had to remove the <img src=...> tag from the HTML before importing to get rid of the double.

When I import an HTML file (from some directory) with linked pictures (in same directory or subfolder) I experienced the problem that the HTML was copied to the Creator working directory but not the pictures.

Yes, that's absolutely right - you have to copy the image files manually. It doesn't matter when you copy them; they just have to be there at the time that you build the book.

After adding the cover image in Creator (via the menu) I had the cover image two times at the beginning of the book. I had to remove the <img src=...> tag from the HTML before importing to get rid of the double.

That's right - the cover image should not be linked in the HTML - just add it using the "Cover Image" page of Mobi Creator.

As I say, what I do is to use standard names for as much as I can - I always call the book file "book.html" and the cover image "cover.jpg". That way I can just copy the opf file from a previous book, double click it to open it in Mobi Creator, and edit the metadata. I don't have to create it from scratch every time.

That's right - the cover image should not be linked in the HTML - just add it using the "Cover Image" page of Mobi Creator.

I think you should link it also otherwise for example FBReader will not show the cover image. On the other hand if you do not link it maybe you stimulate people to fix FBReader so it handles real MobiPocket files with respect to cover image.