How do I put Author folders in my Kobo Mini?

[dwesty]

My BeBook broke and I have finally replaced it with a Kobo Mini.

Fortunately, I had all my books backed up on the PC, arranged in folders by author name- for example, I have a Stephen King folder with 12 books in etc.

Having dropped the folders in to the Kobo Mini it appears that the books are in but the folders have disappeared meaning I have all my books loose and unsorted.

It surely must be possible to organise my books into folders- at least I bloody hope so!

Any help out there?

[ottdmk]

Kobo doesn't use a folder structure on the hard disk. They use a database that holds metadata, including author.

Your best bet is to look in the Sticky section of the forum and use Calibre to set up shelves for you.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by dwesty

My BeBook broke and I have finally replaced it with a Kobo Mini.

Fortunately, I had all my books backed up on the PC, arranged in folders by author name- for example, I have a Stephen King folder with 12 books in etc.

Having dropped the folders in to the Kobo Mini it appears that the books are in but the folders have disappeared meaning I have all my books loose and unsorted.

It surely must be possible to organise my books into folders- at least I bloody hope so!

Any help out there?

Directory structures are not used by Kobo. Their equivalent is shelves. You can create shelves and add books to them on the Kobo itself by tapping on the Library icon, then on shelves. Tap on the triple bar icon at the end of the Sort: Shelf Name line to add a new shelf. Once you have the shelf created, you can select the shelf and then add books to it. A bit of a pain at the best of times.

The easiest way to handle shelves is using a program called Calibre which can with a bit of setup automatically generate your shelves for you.


A couple of alternatives, are that you can sort the library view by author or you can use the search function.

I prefer not to use shelves and use the search function instead.You can search on title, author or series information -- from the home screen, tap on search, select library and then start typing your search term. From the library screen, you can tap at the top of the screen (pretty much where it says Library) and bring up the search bar from there.

Regards,
David

[paola]

Originally Posted by dwesty

My BeBook broke and I have finally replaced it with a Kobo Mini.

Fortunately, I had all my books backed up on the PC, arranged in folders by author name- for example, I have a Stephen King folder with 12 books in etc.

Having dropped the folders in to the Kobo Mini it appears that the books are in but the folders have disappeared meaning I have all my books loose and unsorted.

It surely must be possible to organise my books into folders- at least I bloody hope so!

Any help out there?

the two answers cover everything already - let me only add that, as a former Pocketbook user used to folders arranged by authors, the switch to shelves when moving to a Mini has been painless, so best of luck to you!

[dwesty]

Thanks for the help folks, but I think I'll be immediately selling this brand new Kobo Mini and hunting around for a second hand BeBook. I've emailed them (see below) but looking around on the internet it appears their support is pretty nonexistant. I phoned their helpline and got through to Scottish Power!

Hi Kobo,

I've just bought a new Kobo Mini to replace my broken BeBook One.

All my books were organised (by author's name) into folders on my SD card (a few hundred books). I also had a folder for recently read books and one for books earmarked for reading soon etc.

I transferred the folders into the Kobo and found to my horror that the folders are not displayed, so every single book is in one giant folder.

If a folder support option cannot be worked out with your firmware very soon, I am going to have to sell it and buy another BeBook.

I am not interested in putting ebooks on pretend 'shelves'. Shelves are for real books. I want the freedom to organise my documents in the only sensible way- personalised folders.

Would you buy a computer that didn't give the option to put documents into folders? It's ridiculous.

Please reply soon.

[PeterT]

@Dwesty: Have you looked at using calibre to manage the material on your device?

The Kobo's DO support shelves / collections, and these are very easily managed via calibre. See this thread for detailed instructions on enabling this within calibre, this for support on calibre itself, and finally this for downloads of calibre.

[PeterT]

Finally if you want to just use the folders on the device to browse / select, you might like to look at Koreader running on Kobos (all of them, hopefully!), where among other features, it has a browser to browse through the file system you have designed, and use it to locate material.

[PeterT]

Additionally, you are somewhat naive if you expect a reply from Kobo (or any manufacturer) that is more than just a canned, support response.

[Ken Maltby]

You could try Giorgio's Koreader port, or Sergey's CoolReader port, both use the folder structure we are used to. I am using Koreader for my large collection arranged like you described on my external uSD card, and am increasingly pleased with it on my AuraHD. I have seen posts where Mini users are also able to use it. You can put your existing folders into a hidden folder, and avoid Kobo's lengthy and finicky processing.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...82&postcount=3

Luck;
Ken

[meeera]

Originally Posted by dwesty

I am not interested in putting ebooks on pretend 'shelves'. Shelves are for real books.

And folders are for real paper documents. Both are metaphors when we're in the digital realm. It's just that one ("shelves"/"collections") can be more flexible than the other ("folders").

But I get that the changeover, or the hacking, takes time and effort. Sell it and re-buy something you've researched, if you're not wanting that.