Calibre or Kobo? Re-adding books issue.

[SmokeAndMirrors]

So I had a series that I added to my KT via Calibre. The metadata in Calibre listing the series number doesn't show up on the KT (nor is it displayed in the Calibre library, for that matter). This makes it rather difficult to tell which book is what in the series.

So I removed the books from my KT, and changed the names to include the numbers - I added "#(numeral)" to the ends of all the titles. I then tried to re-add them to my KT.

They show up in Calibre, both on the library side and the device side, as being added. But when I unplug my KT they aren't there. And when I plug it back in and open up Calibre, the books are displayed as not being synced to my KT.

What the reason for this? Is it KT or Calibre? Is there some sort of hidden file I have to get rid of before it will re-add?

[PeterT]

Are you making use of the Metadata Plugboards to automate the title modification on the Kobo?

What I (and I think others do) is to:

1. Make sure books in Calibre have their Metadata set to include Series and Number info, and the Title set to just the books title. For instance, "A Spell for Chameleon" by Piers Anthony, I have flagged in series Xanth, and Number 1.00.
2. Configure the Calibre Metaboard Plugin to "massage" the title. See Metaboard Plugin thread. Mine is set to
   

   Format: epub
   Device: KOBO
   Source Template: {series:re(([^\s])[^\s]+(\s|$),\1)}{series_index:0>2s| - | - }{title}
   Destination Field: Title

   This changes the title of the book on the Kobo to the first letters of each word in the series, followed by a hyphen, the series #, another hyphen and the title.
   So the Piers Anthony book is listed on the Kobo as X - 01 - A Spell for Chameleon.
   Book 3 of the "Flavia de Luce" series "A Red Herring Without Mustard" comes over to the Kobo as FdL - 03 - A Red Herring Without Mustard.
   Books with no series info, come across as just the book.

Hope this helps.

[SmokeAndMirrors]

Originally Posted by PeterT

Are you making use of the Metadata Plugboards to automate the title modification on the Kobo?

What I (and I think others do) is to:

1. Make sure books in Calibre have their Metadata set to include Series and Number info, and the Title set to just the books title. For instance, "A Spell for Chameleon" by Piers Anthony, I have flagged in series Xanth, and Number 1.00.
2. Configure the Calibre Metaboard Plugin to "massage" the title. See Metaboard Plugin thread. Mine is set to
   
   This changes the title of the book on the Kobo to the first letters of each word in the series, followed by a hyphen, the series #, another hyphen and the title.
   So the Piers Anthony book is listed on the Kobo as X - 01 - A Spell for Chameleon.
   Book 3 of the "Flavia de Luce" series "A Red Herring Without Mustard" comes over to the Kobo as FdL - 03 - A Red Herring Without Mustard.
   Books with no series info, come across as just the book.

Hope this helps.

Thanks! This is definitely better than just sticking it in the title.

But what do I do now about being unable to re-add the books to my KT after I removed them?

[PeterT]

How did you drop the books originally?

If through Calibre (or ADE) did you unplug the Kobo Touch and allow it to update it's database before reloading the books?

[SmokeAndMirrors]

Originally Posted by PeterT

How did you drop the books originally?

If through Calibre (or ADE) did you unplug the Kobo Touch and allow it to update it's database before reloading the books?

Originally, I plugged in my KT, which Calibre detected. I highlighted the books in my library and clicked "send to device." I then ejected the KT in Calibre. I let it process everything, and it then returned to the home screen. The books were successfully added.

I removed them by plugging the KT into Calibre, again it was detected, and highlighting the books on the "device" side and deleting them from the device.

Without unplugging the KT, I then changed the file names of the books, tried to re-add them as I had the first time. As I said above, both the Calibre library and the KT device display in Calibre showed the books were added to the KT. When I unplugged it let it finish processing, they were not.

I tried restarting the KT, plugging it back in, and adding them again. Same result.

I then unplugged the KT, changed the book titles back the way they were, and added the Metadata plugboard as in your first post. Plugged in the KT, same result.

[PeterT]

Hmm... I think it is recommended (but not sure where it is written) to eject the Kobo before re-adding the books.

Not sure what we can do right now; I am certain a drastic approach of a factory reset on the unit would work, but I think there must be a less severe approach.

With luck, someone else will chime in here.

[SmokeAndMirrors]

Yeah. I might have screwed it up by doing that.

I'm going to try adding the numbers back in without a hash and just sideloading the files.

For future reference, can you sync altered metadata without removing the book?

[SmokeAndMirrors]

Ok, this is weird.

I opened up the KT from my file manager. The entire series is in there. But it's not displaying on the reader.

I tried deleting all of them (except one - I'm reading the first one), and then opening Calibre, and re-sending them.

Same as before. Says it's been sent, but doesn't show up on the KT.

I plugged it back in, went back to the file manager, and the books are there again.

WTF?

Other stuff that may be relevant: they're epub's, liberated, and I'm running Linux Mint.

Going to try deleting them again and sideloading without Calibre.

[SmokeAndMirrors]

Originally Posted by SmokeAndMirrors

Going to try deleting them again and sideloading without Calibre.

That works. They show up now. Still curious about the weird Calibre issue though.

[timlegge]

When I get a moment I will test it. I often delete books and resend them without unplugging it. It does need to be unplugged for the kobo to actually process them and add them to the database.

[PeterT]

Tim; I wonder though if the issue was he dropped the books, renamed them, and then re-added without ejecting.

[SmokeAndMirrors]

Thanks guys. I await your results, Tim.

Is it possible for my to sync altered metadata without removing and resending a book?

[RickyB]

Hi all, resurrecting this old thread...
I've used the method in post 2 above for some time to add the series info to books sideloaded to my KT using Calibre. Just recently, I noticed it has stopped working. Books just show with their 'plain' title.

KT is version 2.1.5; Calibre 0.9.6.

• I've checked the Metaboard plugin and its still there.
• The books have Series and Number fields in Calibre.
• Books have been removed; KT ejected; reconnect KT and added again.
• Signed out of the Kobo app on the desktop.

Am I right in understanding this plugin is applied when a book is transferred in Calibre? So I don't need to convert to epub again.

Any suggestions most welcome.

[PeterT]

With 0.9.x (and the new Kobo Touch driver) you have to ensure the metadata plugboard specified device KoboTouch and NOT Kobo.

Kobo refers to the WiFi and Original; KoboTouch to the Touch, Glo and Mini.

[RickyB]

Thank you PeterT, deleting the metadata plugboard & creating a new one with KOBOTOUCH as the Device worked