Aura H2O How to get epubs to work on H2O (probably other Kobos too)

RonBurgandy · 02-13-2015, 08:47 PM

<Edit: It seems putting epubs on the Kobo H20 isn't as hard as I thought. My problems may have been mainly from getting the epubs from project gutenberg. See below posts for their comments.>

Hi, I'm new here. I just got my Kobo Aura H2O, and figured out how to get it working right with normal epubs - mine were downloaded free from www.gutenberg.org. This fixes issues of not being able to make margins smaller, and not being able to change line spacing.

*This does not tell you how to remove the page number at bottom of page. I like having it, so I never tried to remove it.

Here's what you do!

1. Download Calibre on your computer.

2. Download your epubs from gutenberg, etc. on to your computer.

3. Open Calibre, and click top left button "add books". Select where the epubs were downloaded to and click "open" (on a Mac).

4. Hit Command-P on Mac, or Control-P on a PC (I assume), or click Prefences in the top bar, then click Preferences again.

Under Import / Export, click "Saving books to disk"

In the top left, uncheck two items - "Save cover separately" and "Save metadata in separate OPF file"

Under "Save template", you'll see this:
{author_sort}/{title}/{title} - {authors}

change it to this:
{title} - {authors}

Click Apply.

Close Preferences window.

5. Select your epub, and click the "Convert books" button near the top left of the screen.

6. Click "Look and Feel" and change "Minimum line height" to 0%

Click "Page Setup" and change "Output Profile" to Kindle Voyage. This has the same screen resolution as the Aura H2O. (You're changing the top list, leave the list on the bottom the same, on "Default Input Profile").

If you're using a different version of the Kobo, I'd assume you'd select "Kobo Reader" or whichever device has the same resolution as yours.

In the same screen towards the bottom you'll see: "Margins". Change Top and Bottom from 5pt to 0. This gives you more reading room by reducing excess extra space at the top and bottom of the display. Leave Left and Right Margins the same, at 5pt. That way the text won't be right against the sides of the display.

Click "OK"

7. Wait for conversion to finish (Wait for it to say "Jobs: 0" instead of "Jobs:1" at bottom right of screen),

Select the epub you converted. Right click and select "Save to disk", "Save only EPUB format to disk in a single directory" and select where you would like to save it to. (dropbox, to a sd card, to your documents)

OR

Click the little down arrow next to the "Save to disk" button near the top of the screen. Click "Save only EPUB format to disk in a single directory" and select where you would like to save it to.

8. Done! Now just upload/transfer epub to your Kobo! Use your usb cable, or Dropbox, or use Calibre as a server and download from there.

This allows for epubs to be formatted nicely, AND you can change the margins, line spacing, etc.

<NOTE: EPUBS sometimes display little grey page numbers on the sides of the screen and cover up a word or two of text if your margins are small. Go to settings, reading settings, and uncheck the box that says "Show Adobe EPUB page numbers". Big thanks to robko for letting me know.>

I'd also like to thank these sources:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/arc.../t-158904.html
http://dearauthor.com/ebooks/getting...are-functions/

robko · 02-13-2015, 11:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RonBurgandy

<NOTE: I found out that epubs, due to adobe ADE, sometimes display page numbers within the text itself of the books you read, either obscuring words or popping up in the middle of sentences.

There is a setting that allows you to turn off epub page numbers. Can't remember exactly where you find it, but it's there.

RonBurgandy · 02-13-2015, 11:53 PM

Thank you!! Robko, in reading settings you can turn off show Adobe EPUB numbers. I'll edit my post to mention it. Now I don't have to switch to kepubs!

davidfor · 02-14-2015, 12:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RonBurgandy

Hi, I'm new here. I just got my Kobo Aura H2O, and figured out how to get it working right with normal epubs - mine were downloaded free from www.gutenberg.org. This fixes issues of not being able to make margins smaller, and not being able to change line spacing.

You should have a look at the MR library. If the book is there, it will be a much better version than the PG version. And you shouldn't need the extra options in the convert

Quote:

4. Hit Command-P on Mac, or Control-P on a PC (I assume), or click Prefences in the top bar, then click Preferences again.

Under Import / Export, click "Saving books to disk"

In the top left, uncheck two items - "Save cover separately" and "Save metadata in separate OPF file"

Under "Save template", you'll see this:
{author_sort}/{title}/{title} - {authors}

change it to this:
{title} - {authors}

Click Apply.

Close Preferences window.

Personally, I always use "Send to device". For that, I set the save template in the device configuration.

Quote:

5. Select your epub, and click the "Convert books" button near the top left of the screen.

6. Click "Look and Feel" and change "Minimum line height" to 0%

Click "Page Setup" and change "Output Profile" to Kindle Voyage. This has the same screen resolution as the Aura H2O. (You're changing the top list, leave the list on the bottom the same, on "Default Input Profile").

If you're using a different version of the Kobo, I'd assume you'd select "Kobo Reader" or whichever device has the same resolution as yours.

I recommend selecting "Tablet" as the output profile. The only thing this does is set the maximum size for an image in the book. If the images are larger than the size specified in the profile, it is resized. But, this means if you have multiple devices, or upgrade to a higher resolution device, you will need to go back to the original and reconvert for the device. Using the Tablet output profile will mean the images are not resized and it is up to the device to do it. This is the better long term choice.

Quote:

In the same screen towards the bottom you'll see: "Margins". Change Top and Bottom from 5pt to 0. This gives you more reading room by reducing excess extra space at the top and bottom of the display. Leave Left and Right Margins the same, at 5pt. That way the text won't be right against the sides of the display.

Click "OK"

7. Wait for conversion to finish (Wait for it to say "Jobs: 0" instead of "Jobs:1" at bottom right of screen),

Select the epub you converted. Right click and select "Save to disk", "Save only EPUB format to disk in a single directory" and select where you would like to save it to. (dropbox, to a sd card, to your documents)

OR

Click the little down arrow next to the "Save to disk" button near the top of the screen. Click "Save only EPUB format to disk in a single directory" and select where you would like to save it to.

8. Done! Now just upload/transfer epub to your Kobo! Use your usb cable, or Dropbox, or use Calibre as a server and download from there.

This allows for epubs to be formatted nicely, AND you can change the margins, line spacing, etc.

Or use "Send to device" when it is connected.

Athropos · 02-14-2015, 01:14 AM

Or you could simply drag and drop the files onto the reader?

Except for a few files, I've never had issues while setting margin and line spacing in my epubs. Note that I have an HD, not an H2O, but since firmwares are essentially the same...

I'm trying to imagine what a newcomer would think seeing such a long post just to be able to read an epub on a Kobo.

davidfor · 02-14-2015, 03:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Athropos

Or you could simply drag and drop the files onto the reader?

Except for a few files, I've never had issues while setting margin and line spacing in my epubs. Note that I have an HD, not an H2O, but since firmwares are essentially the same...

I'm trying to imagine what a newcomer would think seeing such a long post just to be able to read an epub on a Kobo.

Yes, that's a good point. I am a heavy a calibre user, but, my usual response to a new user asking what to do is:

- Connect the ereader to the PC
- Copy a few books to the ereader
- Eject the ereader
- Read the books
- While you read, fiddle a little bit and think about what you like and don't like.

That should give a good basis to decide on the setup they like.

dickloraine · 02-14-2015, 06:52 AM

If someone is interested, I have modified the ModifyEpub plugin to include some extra options to delete font-family, line-hight, align-left and align-justify. That does what the OP wants, but without a conversion.

Brazen_NL · 02-14-2015, 07:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dickloraine

If someone is interested, I have modified the ModifyEpub plugin to include some extra options to delete font-family, line-hight, align-left and align-justify. That does what the OP wants, but without a conversion.

Very nice. Thanks!

JSWolf · 02-14-2015, 08:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dickloraine

If someone is interested, I have modified the ModifyEpub plugin to include some extra options to delete font-family, line-hight, align-left and align-justify. That does what the OP wants, but without a conversion.

You do not want to remove font-family if there are embedded fonts without also removing the embedded fonts. That means removing the fonts from the CSS and also removing the fonts from the ePub as well.

RonBurgandy · 02-14-2015, 11:47 AM

Thanks everyone, I'll try those things you mentioned. Maybe the problems I was having were mainly because I got the ebooks from gutenberg. I'll try the ones from the mobileread library.

ewphoenix123 · 02-14-2015, 01:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dickloraine

If someone is interested, I have modified the ModifyEpub plugin to include some extra options to delete font-family, line-hight, align-left and align-justify. That does what the OP wants, but without a conversion.

You should make a thread for that in the dev forum, I have been trying for ages to find a quick way to get rid of lineheight and unnecessary aligns for ages, and I'm sure I'm not alone with that.

Anak · 02-14-2015, 02:38 PM

How to get epubs to work on H2O (probably other Kobos too)

Just drag and drop epubs or kepubs from your computer to your Kobo ereader. It is that simple.
This applies to regular epubs (DRM and DRM free). To read DRM epubs the Kobo device needs to be authorized with a Adobe Digital Editions Account.

Converting epubs to kepubs is a different question.

dickloraine · 02-14-2015, 04:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

You do not want to remove font-family if there are embedded fonts without also removing the embedded fonts. That means removing the fonts from the CSS and also removing the fonts from the ePub as well.

Of course. But ModifyEpub already removes fonts. But it does not remove font-family. I have only listed what you could do in addition to what the plugin can do on it own. I added it as an extra option on purpose. Some people may use the remove font function of ModifyEpub in its current form. Remove font-family is added as an option right below remove fonts and should be used with it. Why remove font-family? Because the Kobo epub renderer does not change fonts, if there are font-families in the book css. Same with line-height.

JSWolf · 02-14-2015, 04:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anak

How to get epubs to work on H2O (probably other Kobos too)

Just drag and drop epubs or kepubs from your computer to your Kobo ereader. It is that simple.
This applies to regular epubs (DRM and DRM free). To read DRM epubs the Kobo device needs to be authorized with a Adobe Digital Editions Account.

Converting epubs to kepubs is a different question.

Better idea, use Calibre with the Kobo Utilities plugin. Also go see Apprentice Alf on how to remove the DRM.

dickloraine · 02-14-2015, 04:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ewphoenix123

You should make a thread for that in the dev forum, I have been trying for ages to find a quick way to get rid of lineheight and unnecessary aligns for ages, and I'm sure I'm not alone with that.

I'm no programmer and have nearly no knowledge about python. Luckily I have a basic understanding of programming and was able to understand where to enter what code (copy pasted and modified) . But I'm not 100% sure my regex captures all cases. Maybe I post in the plugin forum somewhen the next days if enough people find this useful. But someone who has a thorough understanding of regex and python should look over my added code.

02-13-2015, 08:47 PM	#1
RonBurgandy Newbie Posts: 6 Karma: 12 Join Date: Feb 2015 Location: NY Device: Kobo Aura H2O	How to get epubs to work on H2O (probably other Kobos too) <Edit: It seems putting epubs on the Kobo H20 isn't as hard as I thought. My problems may have been mainly from getting the epubs from project gutenberg. See below posts for their comments.> Hi, I'm new here. I just got my Kobo Aura H2O, and figured out how to get it working right with normal epubs - mine were downloaded free from www.gutenberg.org. This fixes issues of not being able to make margins smaller, and not being able to change line spacing. This does not tell you how to remove the page number at bottom of page. I like having it, so I never tried to remove it. Here's what you do! 1. Download Calibre on your computer. 2. Download your epubs from gutenberg, etc. on to your computer. 3. Open Calibre, and click top left button "add books". Select where the epubs were downloaded to and click "open" (on a Mac). 4. Hit Command-P on Mac, or Control-P on a PC (I assume), or click Prefences in the top bar, then click Preferences again. Under Import / Export, click "Saving books to disk" In the top left, uncheck two items - "Save cover separately" and "Save metadata in separate OPF file" Under "Save template", you'll see this: {author_sort}/{title}/{title} - {authors} change it to this: {title} - {authors} Click Apply. Close Preferences window. 5. Select your epub, and click the "Convert books" button near the top left of the screen. 6. Click "Look and Feel" and change "Minimum line height" to 0% Click "Page Setup" and change "Output Profile" to Kindle Voyage. This has the same screen resolution as the Aura H2O. (You're changing the top list, leave the list on the bottom the same, on "Default Input Profile"). If you're using a different version of the Kobo, I'd assume you'd select "Kobo Reader" or whichever device has the same resolution as yours. In the same screen towards the bottom you'll see: "Margins". Change Top and Bottom from 5pt to 0. This gives you more reading room by reducing excess extra space at the top and bottom of the display. Leave Left and Right Margins the same, at 5pt. That way the text won't be right against the sides of the display. Click "OK" 7. Wait for conversion to finish (Wait for it to say "Jobs: 0" instead of "Jobs:1" at bottom right of screen), Select the epub you converted. Right click and select "Save to disk", "Save only EPUB format to disk in a single directory" and select where you would like to save it to. (dropbox, to a sd card, to your documents) OR Click the little down arrow next to the "Save to disk" button near the top of the screen. Click "Save only EPUB format to disk in a single directory" and select where you would like to save it to. 8. Done! Now just upload/transfer epub to your Kobo! Use your usb cable, or Dropbox, or use Calibre as a server and download from there. This allows for epubs to be formatted nicely, AND you can change the margins, line spacing, etc. <NOTE: EPUBS sometimes display little grey page numbers on the sides of the screen and cover up a word or two of text if your margins are small. Go to settings, reading settings, and uncheck the box that says "Show Adobe EPUB page numbers". Big thanks to robko for letting me know.> I'd also like to thank these sources: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/arc.../t-158904.html http://dearauthor.com/ebooks/getting...are-functions/ Last edited by RonBurgandy; 02-14-2015 at 11:48 AM. Reason: Fix mentioned for ADE page numbering issue*

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02-13-2015, 11:53 PM	#3
RonBurgandy Newbie Posts: 6 Karma: 12 Join Date: Feb 2015 Location: NY Device: Kobo Aura H2O	Thank you!! Robko, in reading settings you can turn off show Adobe EPUB numbers. I'll edit my post to mention it. Now I don't have to switch to kepubs!

02-14-2015, 01:14 AM	#5
Athropos Connoisseur Posts: 56 Karma: 13144 Join Date: Nov 2013 Device: Aura HD	Or you could simply drag and drop the files onto the reader? Except for a few files, I've never had issues while setting margin and line spacing in my epubs. Note that I have an HD, not an H2O, but since firmwares are essentially the same... I'm trying to imagine what a newcomer would think seeing such a long post just to be able to read an epub on a Kobo.

02-14-2015, 11:47 AM	#10
RonBurgandy Newbie Posts: 6 Karma: 12 Join Date: Feb 2015 Location: NY Device: Kobo Aura H2O	Thanks everyone, I'll try those things you mentioned. Maybe the problems I was having were mainly because I got the ebooks from gutenberg. I'll try the ones from the mobileread library.

02-14-2015, 02:38 PM	#12
Anak Fanatic Posts: 598 Karma: 641742 Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: DE Device: Kobo Glo	How to get epubs to work on H2O (probably other Kobos too) Just drag and drop epubs or kepubs from your computer to your Kobo ereader. It is that simple. This applies to regular epubs (DRM and DRM free). To read DRM epubs the Kobo device needs to be authorized with a Adobe Digital Editions Account. Converting epubs to kepubs is a different question.

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