Updating books

brianh · 02-13-2010, 02:21 PM

I have been creating my own books from short stories. I create the books on my Mac using custom html with BBEdit and then drop them into Calibre. From there, I edit the metadata and convert to mobi for my Kindle.

Some of these books I find necessary to edit as I read to correct html, misspellings, etc. I've found the process of removing the previous version from Calibre, adding/meta'ing/converting/syncing the new files laborious. Am I missing something in Calibre that would make this process much easier?

BTW, thank you for Calibre, Kovid.

B

pietvo · 02-13-2010, 02:25 PM

Actually, what I do in such cases is open the epub file as a zip file, edit the xhtml that is inside and store it back. I think that as long as you keep the xhtml valid the epub itself will also stay valid.

brianh · 02-13-2010, 02:41 PM

Actually, I use mobi for my Kindle. And the zip file does not open on my Mac.

GRiker · 02-13-2010, 02:43 PM

You don't need to delete the book entry in calibre. Select the book in the main window, click 'Edit meta information'. In the top right of the Edit Meta Information dialog is 'Available Formats'. Select the format you want to replace, click the trash can to remove that format. Click the 'Add new format...' button (book with +) to add the new version.

That should save you a little time, and retains cover/metadata information.

G

brianh · 02-13-2010, 03:50 PM

GRiker, I confirmed this works. In fact, it was not necessary to "trash" the original version, Calibre simply over-wrote it for me. For one book it appeared to generate the mobi file automatically, for the second I had to manually convert. Curious.

Thanks for this tip!

02-13-2010, 02:21 PM	#1
brianh Junior Member Posts: 5 Karma: 10 Join Date: Feb 2010 Device: Kindle 2	Updating books I have been creating my own books from short stories. I create the books on my Mac using custom html with BBEdit and then drop them into Calibre. From there, I edit the metadata and convert to mobi for my Kindle. Some of these books I find necessary to edit as I read to correct html, misspellings, etc. I've found the process of removing the previous version from Calibre, adding/meta'ing/converting/syncing the new files laborious. Am I missing something in Calibre that would make this process much easier? BTW, thank you for Calibre, Kovid. B

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02-13-2010, 02:25 PM	#2
pietvo Reader Posts: 519 Karma: 24612 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Utrecht, NL Device: Kobo Aura 2, iPhone, iPad	Actually, what I do in such cases is open the epub file as a zip file, edit the xhtml that is inside and store it back. I think that as long as you keep the xhtml valid the epub itself will also stay valid.

02-13-2010, 02:41 PM	#3
brianh Junior Member Posts: 5 Karma: 10 Join Date: Feb 2010 Device: Kindle 2	Actually, I use mobi for my Kindle. And the zip file does not open on my Mac.

02-13-2010, 02:43 PM	#4
GRiker Comparer of the Ephemeris Posts: 1,496 Karma: 424697 Join Date: Mar 2009 Device: iPad	You don't need to delete the book entry in calibre. Select the book in the main window, click 'Edit meta information'. In the top right of the Edit Meta Information dialog is 'Available Formats'. Select the format you want to replace, click the trash can to remove that format. Click the 'Add new format...' button (book with +) to add the new version. That should save you a little time, and retains cover/metadata information. G

02-13-2010, 03:50 PM	#5
brianh Junior Member Posts: 5 Karma: 10 Join Date: Feb 2010 Device: Kindle 2	GRiker, I confirmed this works. In fact, it was not necessary to "trash" the original version, Calibre simply over-wrote it for me. For one book it appeared to generate the mobi file automatically, for the second I had to manually convert. Curious. Thanks for this tip!

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