I can't see the books on my Kindle PaperWhite

[jamawg]

I can't see the books on my Kindle PaperWhite.

It started when I stupidly copied a book across manually using Widnows rather than Calibre.

I have since factory reset the device, whcih I would epxect to undo any harm I had done.

But when I use Calibre to download again the books do not show up on the Kindle book list (they are present on the device if I look at it as a Widnows drive).

Can anyone help? I can't use my Kindle at all :-(

[kovidgoyal]

Your Kindle is probably indexing the files, just wait a little while. Or there is a book that it cannot read, try sending books one by one.

[jamawg]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

Your Kindle is probably indexing the files, just wait a little while. Or there is a book that it cannot read, try sending books one by one.

Thanks for the reply. Waiting did help, once before, but this time I am waiting a few days for 20 books.

Thanks for the tip about updating one by one, althtough it will be annoying if I have to do that every time. I would prefer to send only .MOBI versions, even if my library also contains the original .PDF which was converted to make a .MOBI

[itimpi]

Originally Posted by jamawg

Thanks for the tip about updating one by one, althtough it will be annoying if I have to do that every time. I would prefer to send only .MOBI versions, even if my library also contains the original .PDF which was converted to make a .MOBI

You might want to check the configuration settings for the Kindle device driver to check that the .mobi files are set to be a higher priority than any .pdf files. If you never want the .pdf files you could even unset that as an allowed file type for the Kindle.

[jamawg]

itimpi, thanks for the tips. I guess I haven't fully explored all of the options, that sounds very helpful

kovidgoyal, you were correct, it was an "invalid" .MOBI file. What confused me was that the Kindle was showing no books at all, so maybe it thought that all were invalid? Or it thought that the first one was invalid then it didn't proceed further?

I created a new Calibre library of one 5 books. I copied one, ejected the Kindle and saw the book. I did that twice more and saw three books.

Then I decided to send the two remaining books at once. Calibre & Windows Explorer showed 5 books on the Kindle, but the Kindle itself only showed 4, so I am guessing that it thought that one book was invalid.

Unfortunately, I deleted the book from my Calibre library and then found thta I don't have the file anywhere on disk, so I can't send it to you to examine. But if this happens again, I will send you the offending file.

Thanks for helping.

[kovidgoyal]

Just do a mobi to mobi conversion when you have such a problem. That will fix it in most cases.

[Dr@ven]

I've had this same issue. How do I determine which file is invalid? I've already tried converting all my files from .mobi to .azw3(i think that's one off the Calibre list) then back to .mobi.

waiting hours didn't fix the issue.

[GoSharks]

@Dr@ven-
You can just do a mobi to mobi conversion. Then...
After deleting all of the books off of your PW, add one you're certain is not corrupted to make sure everything works. Then start adding them back in small increments (depending on your total...5-10 books at a time perhaps) until it fails...at which point you will have an easier time nailing down the culprit. Tedious, yes. Effective, usually. If anyone has a better way to identify a corrupted file that is not being fixed by a mobi to mobi conversion please chime in.

[Dr@ven]

@GoSharks-
Thanks, I figured I would have to do it that way, but was hoping someone had the old 'just click this option trick'. Will post if that doesn't work. Again thanks for all the help!

[Dr@ven]

okay so I uninstalled Calibre .9.23 and reinstalled with .9.24, reloaded all books (52) in 5 book intervals. Everything seems to be working just fine. I don't know if this is the new update (fixing the issue), I just updated to .9.23 recently. Either way, I'm happy to see everything is working normal again.

[einkerem]

I just replaced a kindle 3g with a PW. (the 3g totally died a frozen death). I used the current Calibre to transfer books and had a similar experience - no books showing up even though Calibre showed them as did my file manager.

I created a working directory of 8 books, converted them all to Azw3, deleted everything else and grew impatient waiting for them to convert to mobi.( I figured the extra step would totally clean up any potential problems.) I right clicked my mouse to transfer a specific format and ejected after the first book. It showed up. I then repeated the process with two more books and they showed up. So I did the last 5 in one fell swoop.

It worked!!!! Thank you very much

[Tamas Varga]

Hello,

I have the same problem as the others. But I tried all the above suggested and still no luck.
I tried to convert the format from and to mobi, or pdf or Azw3 and the problem is still stands. I can't see the book.

I deleted all the books from the reader, then I tried to copy it manually then with the calibre. I checked the file was there but the book still not appeared.

I can send the book to someone to check whether the problem is with my reader or with the book as well.

Does anyone have other suggestions?
Thanks a lot in advance!

[Jim R]

I have encountered a problem with books not being seen on the Kindle Paper-white after transfer using Calibre.
Having studied many of the posts on this forum, I tried all of the suggestions I could find and eventually discovered that conversion to AZW3 partly solved the problem but only for single (one at a time) transfers. To reinstate the ability to make multiple (bulk) transfers, I had to configure the device such that AZW3 format was the highest priority. Once this was done, problem solved.
Thanks to all the other posts that put me on the right path.