Quick Guide to Shelf Management with calibre 0.9.1 & above (Touch / Glo / Mini /Aura)

[PeterT]

Have you double checked the date / time on the device?

[chilady1]

Originally Posted by PeterT

Have you double checked the date / time on the device?

Peter not sure if that question is directed to me but if so, the date/time showing on the device is correct.

[PeterT]

It was... sorry I should have been clearer. Sorry.

[Mellobob]

I was scratching my head on how to do this. The instructions I could find were all for complex schemes---All I wanted was to automatically create a shelf for each author. So, for other dummies like me, here it is:

1. In Calibre go to the <preferences> tab and,

2. Click on the <plugins> icon under the <advanced> line,

3. Find the <device interface plugins> and open it by clicking the little arrow on the left,

4. Find the entry for KoboTouch (not Kobo Reader!) and click on that to high light it,

5. Click on <Customize plugin> at the bottom center,

6. Under the message "Kobo firmware ... supports shelves.." enter the single word "authors". This is the name of the column to use for your shelves. Note: Don't use any "#" or other character. Just the word "authors" in lower case (no quotes).

5. Right beside that is a checkbox "Create Bookshelves". Make sure that is checked.

Press <OK> to get out of the device dialog, press <APPLY> to get out of advances and then <Close> the prefs dialog.

You're done.

[LN1246]

Hello everyone,
I hope you will forgive my bad english and give me a hand with my problems.

I bought a Kobo Aura in december 2013 and learnt how to manage my ebooks and collections (sorted by tag, novel / SF...) with Calibre. I thought it was a good idea to buy an other reader (the same one, but with the 3.8.0 firmware) for my friend's birthday. I want to use Calibre to fill the new reader exactly the same way (no DRM restriction among my books, of course).

So, I updated Calibre (2.3, dowloaded today), then began by the reader configuration: I selected the Create Bookshelves and Delete Empty Bookshelves options. In the area for shelf info, I typed "tags" (and I have tried with "#tags" also, even though "tags" alone was sufficient with my first Kobo Aura).
I proceeded as usual with a few books, then another pair of books. The books and names of the series appeared correctly. But the shelves weren't created. I turned the reader off many times. Read again your guide to Shelf Management, and started the procedure again, with no result.
What has possibly changed between the 3.1.1 and the 3.8.0 version ? The procedure to create shelves by tags works with the old version and I still can't with the new one... Help and thank you!

[davidfor]

LN1246: Nothing has changed, it should work and it does work here. The most likely thing is that you don't have metadata management set to automatic on the "Sending books to device" page of the preferences. But, if you have the option to update the series info set and that is happening, then the metadata management is set correctly.

The correct name to use for the column is "tags". If you are using more than one column, make sure you have a comma separating the names.

If all that is correct, I need to see a debug log. Run calibre in debug mode (right click on the preferences button and select "Restart in debug mode"). Then, connect the device, wait for the initial sync to happen and close calibre. Calibre will display the debug log. Post the complete log. I'll be able to see any errors and anything unusual happening.

[LN1246]

Hello David for, and thank you for your fast reply !
To be sure, I installed Calibre on another PC, and tried the procedure with the two device possibilities (Kobo Aura / Kobo). Be sure my reader is configurated as explained above : Create Bookshelves, Delete Empty Bookshelves and Set series information. I only chose "tags" for the column managment.

So, here is the debug log :

calibre 2.3 [64bit] isfrozen: True is64bit: True
Windows-7-6.1.7601-SP1 Windows ('64bit', 'WindowsPE')
('Windows', '7', '6.1.7601')
Python 2.7.8
Windows: ('7', '6.1.7601', 'SP1', 'Multiprocessor Free')
Starting up...
Started up in 3.66 seconds with 1096 books
Job: 1 Get device information started
DeviceJob: 1 Get device information done, calling callback
DeviceJob: 1 Get device information callback returned
Job: 2 Set library information started
DeviceJob: 2 Set library information done, calling callback
DeviceJob: 2 Job:Set library information 2callback returned
Job:Set library information 3 finished
Get list of books on device started
DEBUG: 0.0No details available.
KoboTouch:books - oncard='None'
JobEBUG: 0.0 1KoboTouch:books - oncard='None', prefix='G:\'
Get device information finished
No details available.
DEBUG: 0.0 Kobo device: Kobo Aura
DEBUG: 0.0 Version of driver: (2, 1, 7) Has kepubs: True
DEBUG: 0.0 Version of firmware: (3, 8, 0) Has kepubs: True
DEBUG: 0.0 Firmware supports cover image tree: True
DEBUG: 0.0 KoboTouch:books - opts.extra_customization= [u'tags', True, True, False, False, False, False, False, False, True, False, False, u'']
DEBUG: 0.0 KoboTouch:books - prefs['manage_device_metadata']= manual
DEBUG: 0.0 KoboTouch:books - set_debugging_title to ''
DEBUG: 0.0 KoboTouch:books - length bl=0
C:\Program Files\Calibre2\pylib.zip\dateutil\parser.py:339: UnicodeWarning: Unicode equal comparison failed to convert both arguments to Unicode - interpreting them as being unequal
DEBUG: 0.1 KoboTouch:books - length bl after sync=11
DEBUG: 0.1 KoboTouch:books - reading device database
DEBUG: 0.3 Database Version=104
DEBUG: 0.3 KoboTouch:books - shelf list: []
DEBUG: 0.3 KoboTouch:books - query= SELECT Title, Attribution, DateCreated, ContentID, MimeType, ContentType, ImageID, ReadStatus, ___ExpirationStatus, FavouritesIndex, Accessibility, IsDownloaded, Series, SeriesNumber, ___UserID, ExternalId FROM content where BookID is Null and ((Accessibility = -1 and IsDownloaded in ('true', 1 )) or (Accessibility in (1,2) and IsDownloaded in ('true', 1)) ) and not ((___ExpirationStatus=3 or ___ExpirationStatus is Null) and ContentType = 6) AND (externalId IS NULL OR externalId = '') AND contentId NOT LIKE 'file:///mnt/sd/%'
DEBUG: 0.6 KoboTouch:books - about to sync_booklists
DEBUG: 0.6 USBMS: starting sync_booklists
DEBUG: 0.7 USBMS: finished sync_booklists
DEBUG: 0.7 KoboTouch:books - have done sync_booklists
DEBUG: 0.7 KoboTouch:books - end - oncard='None'
DEBUG: 0.7 KoboTouch:books - oncard='carda'
DEBUG: 0.7 KoboTouch:books - Asked to process 'carda', but do not have one!
DEBUG: 0.7 KoboTouch:books - oncard='cardb'
DEBUG: 0.7 KoboTouch:books - Asked to process 'cardb', but do not have one!
DeviceJob: 3 Get list of books on device done, calling callback
DeviceJob: metadata_downloaded: Starting set_books_in_library
DeviceJob: set_books_in_library: books to process= 11
DeviceJob: set_books_in_library finished: time= 0.0
DeviceJob: metadata_downloaded: updating views
DeviceJob: metadata_downloaded: syncing
DeviceJob: metadata_downloaded: refreshing ondevice
DeviceJob: metadata_downloaded: sending metadata_available signal
DeviceJob: 3 Get list of books on device callback returned
Job: 2 Set library information finished
No details available.
Job: 3 Get list of books on device finished
No details available.

No need to tell that no bookshelf has been created yet...
Thank you so much for your help !

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by LN1246

Hello David for, and thank you for your fast reply !
To be sure, I installed Calibre on another PC, and tried the procedure with the two device possibilities (Kobo Aura / Kobo). Be sure my reader is configurated as explained above : Create Bookshelves, Delete Empty Bookshelves and Set series information. I only chose "tags" for the column managment.

So, here is the debug log :


DEBUG: 0.0 Kobo device: Kobo Aura
DEBUG: 0.0 Version of driver: (2, 1, 7) Has kepubs: True
DEBUG: 0.0 Version of firmware: (3, 8, 0) Has kepubs: True
DEBUG: 0.0 Firmware supports cover image tree: True
DEBUG: 0.0 KoboTouch:books - opts.extra_customization= [u'tags', True, True, False, False, False, False, False, False, True, False, False, u'']
DEBUG: 0.0 KoboTouch:books - prefs['manage_device_metadata']= manual
DEBUG: 0.0 KoboTouch:books - set_debugging_title to ''
No details available.

No need to tell that no bookshelf has been created yet...
Thank you so much for your help !

The marked line tells me that my first thought was correct. Metadata management is set to manual. Open the preferences, go to the "Sending books to devices" page and change the the setting of "Metadata management" to "Automatic management". Then restart calibre and connect the device. The shelves should be created.

[LN1246]

Thank you so much, Davidfor. You're my new god !!!

[toeragamuffin]

Hi all. When I try to put a book into several shelves by inserting coma & space between their names it does not place two shelf labels but instead creates a new shelf with the full description. For example, writing 'shortlist, scifi' in the calibre bookshelf column (without the speech marks obviously), doesn't put the book into a shelf called shortlist and a shelf called scifi, it makes a new shelf called shortlist, scifi. How do i put a book into more then one shelf?

[mwerle]

Hi,

First of all, great info here. Secondly, could whoever "owns" this thread update the first post as some of the info there seems to be obsolete now.

For example, it's no longer necessary to make a "My Shelves" custom column, and other columns such as "series" work as well now.

Also it seems to be required now to set the "Metadata management" policy to "automatic". When I tried the other two options (generally I don't like automatic things happening) I didn't get any shelves created/populated on the Device.

Cheers,

[PeterT]

Its never been required to use My Shelves, and Series has always worked.

I do plan on updating that post soon, just need to get back from holiday and see what could be added.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by mwerle

For example, it's no longer necessary to make a "My Shelves" custom column, and other columns such as "series" work as well now.

You mean, "series" should be shown as an example of a column that can be to create shelves? Just like the post already has? It does say "In the area for shelf info, type #myshelves, series."

Also it seems to be required now to set the "Metadata management" policy to "automatic". When I tried the other two options (generally I don't like automatic things happening) I didn't get any shelves created/populated on the Device.

No it doesn't. This has not changed. Reread that section of the post. It was working how it is described there the last time I checked. If it doesn't now, it's a bug. If it isn't working right, please tell me. Post what is happening and what you think should happen. A debug log showing this will help. Or raise a calibre bug against the driver with the details.

[wwaldo]

I have been trying to get Calibre to manage and send my book shelves to my kobo Aura HD. I can send books with no problems, however the shelve information does not transfer. I believe I have everything setup correct as shown below.

[davidfor]

wwaldo: Those settings look good. What do you have for "Metadata management" on the "Sending books to devices" page of the preferences? Is should be set to automatic.