FB Reader and sort by series

[hard_boiled]

I have been using FB Reader for quite a while. The primary reason that I use it is that I like to read books that are in a series, and FB reader is the best reader that I have found that allows me to sort/search by series. I use calibre to sort/organize my ebooks, and I copy the books directly from the library to the file tree on my phone -- I don't use calibre or another program to copy them over. When I do this, I get a directory tree in my FB Reader library that is organized by author, then, by book. Each book directory contains 3 files -- the book (in .epub), the cover (.jpg), and the metadata file (.opf).

I have a Barnes and Noble Nook Simple Touch that has been rooted and I use FB Reader instead of the built in reader software (it is far superior). When I search by series, I have no problem.

However, when I have tried using FB Reader on my last 2 phones, I have a problem: I sort by series and find the books that I want. However, it isn't the .epub file that it sees -- it is the .opf file. If I select the book at this point, it simply loads the metadata fuel and shows…nothing. I have to use one of the other sorts or browse the file tree in order to find the .epub file and open it. It is very annoying.

I have FB Reader 1.8.2 installed on my android phone (Google Nexus 4 by LG running Android 4.3, while I also had this problem on a HTC One X running Android 4.2).

Has anyone else seen this problem? I find it hard to believe that I'm the only OCD person that wants to sort by series…

[jackie_w]

For starters you should only be copying the .epub file to your reading device. The .opf and cover.jpg files that calibre stores for each book are only meaningful to calibre. The .opf file contains a backup of calibre's metadata for the book. The metadata and cover used by most android reading apps is that which is stored inside the .epub.

If you use calibre's Save-to-disk option (rather than drag/drop or copy/paste) you would have the options to
- exclude saving .opf and cover.jpg
- use whatever folder/filenaming structure you like by setting the Save template
- calibre can update all its up-to-date metadata into the epub during the save

See calibre Prefs - Saving books to disk for more details.

Alternatively, if you haven't already, you might like to check out the android Calibre Companion app which is a very nice way of managing your books on android devices. You should still be able to use fbreader for the actual reading of each book, but I haven't tried it as I prefer Mantano, Moon+ or CoolReader myself.

[Dopedangel]

Originally Posted by hard_boiled

I have been using FB Reader for quite a while. The primary reason that I use it is that I like to read books that are in a series, and FB reader is the best reader that I have found that allows me to sort/search by series. I use calibre to sort/organize my ebooks, and I copy the books directly from the library to the file tree on my phone -- I don't use calibre or another program to copy them over. When I do this, I get a directory tree in my FB Reader library that is organized by author, then, by book. Each book directory contains 3 files -- the book (in .epub), the cover (.jpg), and the metadata file (.opf).

I have a Barnes and Noble Nook Simple Touch that has been rooted and I use FB Reader instead of the built in reader software (it is far superior). When I search by series, I have no problem.

However, when I have tried using FB Reader on my last 2 phones, I have a problem: I sort by series and find the books that I want. However, it isn't the .epub file that it sees -- it is the .opf file. If I select the book at this point, it simply loads the metadata fuel and shows…nothing. I have to use one of the other sorts or browse the file tree in order to find the .epub file and open it. It is very annoying.

I have FB Reader 1.8.2 installed on my android phone (Google Nexus 4 by LG running Android 4.3, while I also had this problem on a HTC One X running Android 4.2).

Has anyone else seen this problem? I find it hard to believe that I'm the only OCD person that wants to sort by series…

I use coolreader with my rooted nook touch and s4. The series are always sorted properly apart from the short stories. Although I dont use it much as I prefer to send files from calibre instead of copying as I can get detailed folder hierarchy.
Something like Genre\A\Author\Series\01 - Title.epub
But I have fbreader installed as well on my phone so I checked the series are sorting properly even the short stories that are in between books.
They are being sort as 1,2,3,3.2,3.5,4,5.

I think your problem is that you copied books directly instead of using sending to or saving to option so calibre didnt write the series metadata to the files.

[hard_boiled]

The first thing I tried when I started having the problem was deleting the .opf files. However, that doesn't work -- it looses all of the metadata. None of the books show up in search by series.

I know that the metadata is supposed to be in the .epub file as well, but maybe calibre isn't putting it in the .epub -- maybe it is just stashing it in the .opf? I'm not sure. I'll try loading up some of my .epubs in a Sigil and see what metadata is there.

I'll also try calibre companion. I haven't seen that one. Thanks for the info.

Originally Posted by jackie_w

For starters you should only be copying the .epub file to your reading device. The .opf and cover.jpg files that calibre stores for each book are only meaningful to calibre. The .opf file contains a backup of calibre's metadata for the book. The metadata and cover used by most android reading apps is that which is stored inside the .epub.

If you use calibre's Save-to-disk option (rather than drag/drop or copy/paste) you would have the options to
- exclude saving .opf and cover.jpg
- use whatever folder/filenaming structure you like by setting the Save template
- calibre can update all its up-to-date metadata into the epub during the save

See calibre Prefs - Saving books to disk for more details.

Alternatively, if you haven't already, you might like to check out the android Calibre Companion app which is a very nice way of managing your books on android devices. You should still be able to use fbreader for the actual reading of each book, but I haven't tried it as I prefer Mantano, Moon+ or CoolReader myself.

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by hard_boiled

The first thing I tried when I started having the problem was deleting the .opf files. However, that doesn't work -- it looses all of the metadata. None of the books show up in search by series.

I know that the metadata is supposed to be in the .epub file as well, but maybe calibre isn't putting it in the .epub -- maybe it is just stashing it in the .opf? I'm not sure. I'll try loading up some of my .epubs in a Sigil and see what metadata is there.

Perhaps I didn't explain well enough. When you add Series info to a book in calibre it is stored in the .opf file, but the epub itself is not updated.

When using calibre's Save-to-disk or Send-to-device the metadata contained in the calibre .opf file is used to update the metadata contained inside the epub's internal opf file - where your reading device should be able to find it.

However, using your PC's operating system copy and/or drag-drop will not do this metadata updating, consequently your epub may not contain all the calibre metadata (e.g. Series), therefore your reading device will not see it. No reading device is capable of directly reading the individual BookName.opf files contained in the calibre book directories, so there is no point copying them.