Page numbers not functional on Kindle Touch

[kindleuser]

For some reason, I cannot jump to any page number the way I used to be able to do it on my Kindle Keyboard. The books are .mobi files downloaded from Project Gutenberg. I reconverted them using Calibre so that I could get an ASIN in the file. Synchronization across platforms works.

Here's what I have tried:

• I made sure that Calibre is sending the .apnx file down to the same folder as the .mobi file. i.e. I checked the "Send page number information when sending books" but not the "Use slower but more accurate page number generation".
• There is a .sdr folder. I copied the .apnx file to that folder as well.

None of the page numbers are visible when the information bar shows up at the bottom. Also, when I try to Go To a "Page or Location", the "Page" button is not available.

I know that these books used to work on my Kindle Keyboard (I don't have it any more to try it out again).

Can someone please help me figure out what I'm doing wrong?

Thanks,
MT

[joehunt]

See shinew's posts below to add page numbers for the Touch.

[shinew]

Page number plugin works for the touch. Make sure you're creating the APNX based on the converted mobi, not the original mobi. You should also have the APNX file named the same as the converted mobi file.

[SCION]

So, you have to use the plugin for page numbers? The .apnx file that calibre automatically creates without the plugin is no good? I'm asking because I have these files on my Touch without using the plugin, but page numbers don't show.

[joehunt]

Originally Posted by shinew

Page number plugin works for the touch. Make sure you're creating the APNX based on the converted mobi, not the original mobi. You should also have the APNX file named the same as the converted mobi file.

I have tried this numerous times and page numbers simply do not show up on Touch for me.

These are mostly mobi files which have been converted from epub (so it is a converted mobi). An APNX file is created and transferred to the Kindle, but page numbers do not appear on the device.

[shinew]

I can confirm that the APNX works because I use it myself sometimes for books that don't come with page number. I don't use calibre to manage my library so not sure what you've done wrong there.

To eliminate most of the variables, try the steps below:
1) connect your Touch & open Calibre
2) chose your APNX plugin -> "generate from file" -> selected the mobi/azw book on your kindle, not on your computer
3) when it asks you where to save the file, also choose the book's SDR folder on your kindle
4) unmount the Touch and reload the book.

If the above works for you, at least you'll know that the plugin works. So all you'll need to do is figure which steps you were doing went wrong before.

[HarryT]

What is the purpose of the "SDR" folder?

[shinew]

Originally Posted by HarryT

What is the purpose of the "SDR" folder?

to store sidecar files for the book.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by shinew

to store sidecar files for the book.

I'm sorry to be dense, but what are "sidecar files"? Does it refer to "auxiliary" files, such as the APNX file?

[SCION]

Originally Posted by SCION

So, you have to use the plugin for page numbers? The .apnx file that calibre automatically creates without the plugin is no good? I'm asking because I have these files on my Touch without using the plugin, but page numbers don't show.

OK, it works. Thank you shinew! I had to manually move the .apnx files to the corresponding SDR folder. Hmmm....wonder why Calibre doesn't do this? It provides the .apnx file and the SDR folder for each book, but doesn't place the file in the folder.

Again, no plugin is needed.

[shinew]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I'm sorry to be dense, but what are "sidecar files"? Does it refer to "auxiliary" files, such as the APNX file?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidecar_file
yea, so are other types of files such as x-ray, shared highlights and others, and possibly more in the future...

[shinew]

Originally Posted by SCION

OK, it works. Thank you shinew! I had to manually move the .apnx files to the corresponding SDR folder. Hmmm....wonder why Calibre doesn't do this? It provides the .apnx file and the SDR folder for each book, but doesn't place the file in the folder.

Again, no plugin is needed.

cool, so Calibre probably has it built-in or something. The reason it doesn't place it in the .sdr folder is probably because for previous generation of Kindles, there're no SDR folders(I don't have K3 or earlier ones on hand, so someone else can check). But as there're more & more sidecar files developed(added x-ray for the Touch), Amazon probably want to put them all in a single corresponding folder for organization purpose, which makes sense...
Calibre will probably update to reflect the changes in the near future.

[joehunt]

Thank you shinew - I've never been so pleased to be wrong As scion said, it's just a matter of moving the apnx file to the sdr folder. One thing I did notice though is that when you remove a book from the Kindle, the sdr folder remains.

Have you by any chance come up with a way to reduce page margins on the touch?

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by shinew

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidecar_file
yea, so are other types of files such as x-ray, shared highlights and others, and possibly more in the future...

Thank you - that makes sense.

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by SCION

OK, it works. Thank you shinew! I had to manually move the .apnx files to the corresponding SDR folder. Hmmm....wonder why Calibre doesn't do this? It provides the .apnx file and the SDR folder for each book, but doesn't place the file in the folder.

Again, no plugin is needed.

Calibre has not yet delivered support for Kindle Touch, and so does not know about the SDR folder.

At any rate, I use Personal Documents service now for all 3rd party content I put on KT, even if it starts out in calibre. I'd rather have no .apnx file than one that calibre has generated. And I like having notes/highlights backed up.