Kindle Collections and Calibre

[LeviGarrett]

Looking for the link to instructions on how to get eBooks transferred to my Kindle from Calibre into the existing collections please. I have looked everywhere but where the directions are...

I had to replace my Kindle. Created the collections on the new Kindle and then went into Calibre and sent only those eBooks that had collections "assigned" to them in Calibre, previously imported from my old Kindle. I thought they would automatically send them directly into the appropriate collection. They did not and now I am right in the same place if I had simply transferred them to the main memrory...

There has to be a way to do it, I just can't find it. Please help.


Levi.

[DustyDisks]

Seems like the very best place to ask your question is at the Caliber sub forum here.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=166

Good luck!

[ixtab]

You have to use the Kindle Collections Plugin. Just read and follow the instructions in the first post, everything is extensively documented.

[LeviGarrett]

Thanks for the reply, but the link you provide does not answer the quesiton whatsoever. I already have the plugin and had it when using my old Kindle. At that time I imported the collections. Now I have a newer Kindle and want to transfer them to the new machine. How? I read a while back you had to create the collection manually on the Kindle first. Did that. In my library they are "assigned" to collections. Want to transfer them to the device and into identical collections, but they don't end up in collections. Looking at the device either from within Calibre or the device itself, they are simply dumped on the Kindle... Not much point to having the plugin in if you can't manage the collections.

[LeviGarrett]

Thanks for the reply, but the link you provide does not answer the quesiton whatsoever. I already have the plugin and had it when using my old Kindle. At that time I imported the collections. Now I have a newer Kindle and want to transfer them to the new machine. How? I read a while back you had to create the collection manually on the Kindle first. Did that. In my library they are "assigned" to collections. Want to transfer them to the device and into identical collections, but they don't end up in collections. Looking at the device either from within Calibre or the device itself, they are simply dumped on the Kindle... Not much point to having the plugin in if you can't manage the collections.

So where you say it is extensively documented, that's where I ask you WHERE? The reason for my initial post above... I can't find it and have been looking for about two hours. In that time I could have sorted them on my Kindle itself! :-)

[ixtab]

The link exactly answers the question that you asked, and the plugin provides exactly the features that you asked for. You simply have to read the documentation and use it correctly.

(No, you don't have to create the collections on the device beforehand - you can simply manage them using the plugin, then have it create/update the collections to the Kindle.)

Just read and follow the instructions under the "Create Collections on your Kindle automatically using Calibre data" heading, possibly starting with the "First use" one, then looking at the more advanced options and choosing the one which best applies to your setup.

[LeviGarrett]

And after seeing the spoiler button...

These are the most convaluted instructions on the planet!

Start Calibre - DUH!

Connect the Kindle via USB to your PC _ DUH!

Click on the Kindle Collections icon in Calibre to see a drop down menu of options - OK

Select Customize to choose which collections to create from Calibre (set the Action column to "Create") - OK

Click OK to save your customizations - REALLY? So if I wanted to do like I asked above, I assume I select "create" under the Importer Kindle Collections column?

Run Preview to see what collections will be created/modified (edit Customizations again as necessary) - AND I GET... wait for it, an error message saying NO Calibre columns have been selected in Customization... Please set the Action to Creat (Which I already did...)


This is a really simple request for which I have screwed around for several hours now. Is there not a simple way to move files which are already in collections, into collections on my Kindle? I must be a complete freakin' idiot, cause so far, two+ hours of surfing and an hour of this forum has revealed nothing but frustration... I asked for some instructions or a link to some instructions (thinking they was some already out there) and the only reply was, follow the instructions...

You say they exactly spell out the instructions. Maybe I'm too stupid to follow those instructions.

After dicking around with the Kindle Collection button and it categories... I was able to get it to transfer about half of my books into the right collections, and can't figure out how get the other in their collections... This plugin is not very friendly nor are the instructions.

I develop learning programs and instructions for a sophisticated piece of software so I know a little of what I am talking about. These instructions are a waste of time and if I spent the time simpy moving the 1200 files into the collections manually, I'd be done by now.

[ixtab]

Ah whatever - I'm not going to hold your hand and do all the work for you, especially not with the rude attitude that you're exposing. Interestingly enough, these instructions seem to be good enough for hundreds of thousands of other users, just not for you.

And maybe, just maybe, you want to learn how to express yourself politely first. There's no point in discrediting the developer's effort, and with your "here I am, I demand that you solve my problems now" attitude, you're not likely to get a lot of help. We're not a paid helpdesk, and while we do try to help people - yes, I tried, twice - we don't like to be treated like workforce.

Anyway, since you apparently know what you are talking about, and are developing sophisticated software yourself: why don't you just write a better software with better instructions?

I'm out of this thread.

[LeviGarrett]

Wait a minute? I read your post word for word, follow the insturctions word for word, and chase my tail for hours becaue the instructions give me the error messages I posted above. I was looking for something I don't have to spend hours to figure out. Yet you misread my post on a couple of occasions then claim you are holding my hand and doing it for me... and I'm rude? I spoke of how I haven't been able to figure these out and that the instructions are not clear, not once did I refer to you. and I'm rude?

I appreciate that you vounteer your time. Thanks for the initial link.

[Blossom]

All I did was backup my Documents folder on my old Kindle and Added it to my new Kindle. I then imported the collections from the old Kindle to the new Kindle. It works fine for me.

In order for the collections to show the books from the previous Kindle the exact same files with the same attributes have to be used.

You can use Kindle For PC if you find the Calibre plugin too confusing to use. Just add your books to Kindle For PC by putting them in Kindle Content folder on your computer then add the collections you want and organize the books into the collections. You can then copy the books from the Kindle content folder onto to your new Kindle and import the collections to your Kindle device from Kindle for PC. (This is found in the Archives Items section)

The files must be exact copies for this to work!

Note: These are non Amazon books.
Amazon books with DRM are device specific and must be resent to the new Kindle.

[pidgeon92]

You didn't mention which Kindle you have? The plugin does not work on the Touch.

I haven't used this plug-in before, but after reading this thread I decided to give it a go on my K3. I made a single set, based on books that are in a Series. I found that

a) the books need to be on the Kindle when setting up the collections, or they won't create properly

b) the Kindle needs to be restarted after loading the collections onto the Kindle.

Before I did (a), I didn't understand why there were only 12 collections created when I have 64 series'. Then it occurred to me that most of the books were not on the Kindle. I had no trouble setting up the set of collections once I put all of the books that had a series listed onto the Kindle. I ejected the Kindle and restarted it and all of the collections are there, with the books neatly within the collections.

I found the instructions to be reasonably clear. Calibre did crash the first time I tried to create the collections.

The collections do not need to be created on the Kindle first. The plugin creates them. I imagine that creating the collection on the Kindle first and then using the plugin to create the same collection would result in duplicate collection names? I might test this theory later.

[NiLuJe]

@pidgeon92: Actually, it does work with the Touch now, with the help of ixtab's Collections Manager Kindlet .

How/when did Calibre crash? Did you happen to save the traceback?

@LeviGarrett: For the initial setup, you really *do* need to save the settings once, before running a preview/create. The column settings aren't read/saved on the fly.
Given your attitude, don't expect any more hand-holding from me either, though. Consider this one a freebie .

[pidgeon92]

Originally Posted by NiLuJe

@pidgeon92: Actually, it does work with the Touch now, with the help of ixtab's Collections Manager Kindlet .

How/when did Calibre crash? Did you happen to save the traceback?

Is that an entirely new plugin? I shall google it.

Calibre crashed when I tried to "customize creations" and then clicked the OK button. The app closed, and I got the crash popup on my iMac. I didn't save the traceback, but if it crashes again I'll post it here.

[LeviGarrett]

So it is a Kindle Keyboard, I have purchased 7 of them now... What I found made a difference was that I had to import the collections off Kindle A. That was previously done. But then I had to select the device to be looking at Kindle B and not the library in order for this to work without an error message, which ultimately resulted in a no go... Correct me if I'm wrong here, but I received the above error message otherwise.

So thereafter, you must reset right away. I think the key here is that you can't try this while looking at the library, which the instructions don't mention. There might have been other things, but that was now a couple of days ago and I am working from an overloaded memory.

Thanks for the positive responses.

[NiLuJe]

@LeviGarrett: What error message? I told you, you just need to save the preferences *once* (per device) before doing anything, which is exactly what the popup is telling you. It has nothing to do with what part of Calibre's UI you were looking at in the BG.