Windows folder locations for Kobo ebooks?

[almagary]

Anybody know where (which Windows folder) ebooks purchased via the Kobo desktop app are stored?

Because of sync compatibility issues, I would like to use Calibre as exclusively as possible for book management, and sideload to the Kobo device using Calibre's Add Book function. However, I can't seem to find where exactly the epubs I bought via the app are on my PC (I'm running Windows Vista) so I can tell Calibre.

I have found where Calibre, Adobe Digital Editions, and Sony Reader store the ebooks they know about but not Kobo purchases. The books don't appear to be among any of My Documents. They don't display in Program Files/Kobo, and there is no Kobo folder under Program Data).

Thanks in advance!

[ltr]

When you manually download an epub book from the Kobo site after purchase or from your Kobo web library, it is saved in a directory of your choice as an acsm file.

Double clicking this .acsm file opens Adobe Digital Editions application and creates the DRM protected filename.epub file which is located automatically in:

C:\Users\username\My Documents\My Digital Editions\filename.epub

This book file can be dropped into the e-reader with ADE, Calibre, or Explorer.

Note that epub books that are dropped into the e-reader with ADE, Calibre, or Explorer go into the Kobo e-reader 'disk letter:\ ' root disk directory as an epub file.

Books that are Sync'd with the Kobo desktop application are stored in the sqlite.db database file located in the e-reader at disk letter:\.kobo\kepub
and in the PC at C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Kobo\Kobo Desktop Edition\kepub

ltr

[PeterT]

Originally Posted by ltr

Books that are Sync'd with the Kobo desktop application are stored in the sqlite.db database file located in the e-reader at disk letter:\.kobo\kepub
and in the PC at C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Kobo\Kobo Desktop Edition\Kobo.sqlite

With current versions of the Kobo Desktop application, they are actually stored in kEpub format in C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Kobo\Kobo Desktop Edition\kepub

Peter

[taming]

Peter is right .

Anyone using Kobo WiFi or Kobo-1 (any version above 1.4) will have kepub files. People with Kobo--1 who have updated through the desktop will continue to have the preloaded books in the sqlite directory. Doing the replace sqlite directory bit from the sticky will result in the preloaded books being in kepub format.

C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Kobo\Kobo Desktop Edition\kepub only has the files that are currently on the shelves in the kobo desktop application. If you remove a book from the app, it will also be gone from the file. You can use something like Allway Sync to create a backup through synchronization of any kepub that ever appears in the desktop application. Allway has a setting for a one way sync without "deletion propagation".


For Windows 7 Users: it made sense to me to create a "library" with the locations of the various ebook related files in it. Mine has the directories for ADE, Kindle for PC Books, Calibre, the kepub file Peter referenced, and the file I setup to sync using Allway. I also have an eread misc. folder.

[PeterT]

While I do currently have backups running on a daily basis of my PC's to a Windows Home Server, I think I will also try out Allway Sync to see how it works as well.

Thanks for the idea!

Allway Sync can be found at http://allwaysync.com

[taming]

Peter--I have daily backups as well on a server, but I don't keep all of the incrementals, so if I have a book in the app and then it is no longer there, eventually it will eventually not be on my server. More then that, it would be annoying to me to have to look for each book, one by one, even if I kept all the incremental backups.

[SensualPoet]

Thanks for the tip on where the kepubs are for Original Kobo and current desktop (1.8x). I am on Windows 7 and found it. Are the 100 free books still looked inside the SQL DB? I wish I could manipulate (ie delete but wit the option to later restore) those titles.

Or, identify them on Kobobooks as a group that I can restore as epubs/kepubs.

[taming]

SP: If you do a sqlite replacement for 1.8 (includes replacing the image and .kepub files as well as the Db), you will have the 100 free books as kepub files NOT in the sqlite DB. If you updated to 1.8.x via the SD card, the free books will be kepub.

[almagary]

Thanks all (especially to Ltr for total precision). I got most of the misc ebooks from various sources now under Calibre management. (It won't pick up those 100 freebies off the Kobo device--but no matter on that point.)

I find the Kobo bookstore/ADE use of "URLLink.acsm" non-intuitive. Downloaded files appear in the status bar of my Firefox, so I see downloading when it happens, but when I clicked to open the ACSMs, books appeared in "Reader Library." That had different content than ADE but I forgot that app is the Sony reader app.

(Aside: A lot of what Microsoft did to make DOS/Windows easier for Aunt Susan made it clumsier for people who grew up on CP/M, DOS, etc. Like MS inventing "My Documents" to mirrors some but not all of the files in C:\Users\username\My Documents\ especially C:\Users\username\AppData\Local. Sometimes you need to unlock the door to the subbasement to get things done in Windows.)

[kiwipippa]

Originally Posted by almagary

(Aside: A lot of what Microsoft did to make DOS/Windows easier for Aunt Susan made it clumsier for people who grew up on CP/M, DOS, etc. Like MS inventing "My Documents" to mirrors some but not all of the files in C:\Users\username\My Documents\ especially C:\Users\username\AppData\Local. Sometimes you need to unlock the door to the subbasement to get things done in Windows.)

I completely agree - I now find myself clicking through directories and folders trying to find stuff - and in Windows 7 Explorer doesn't show the full directory tree either. It's a pain.

And taming, thanks for the suggestion to set up a new library. I didn't even know you could do this in Windows 7 (sigh, I'm still back in the dark ages)