MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Sync to Furthest Page Read not working with sideloaded AZW3 files

CheriePie · 04-10-2013, 06:24 PM

I apologize if this has been covered elsewhere in this forum. I searched and it didn't turn up anything recent.

So here's my situation: I consistently read on 2 different Kindles: my Paperwhite and my Fire HD 8.9, and thus rely on the Sync to Furthest Page Read feature to sync me up between the two devices all the time.

This feature works fine in almost all circumstances EXCEPT when I'm using a sideloaded AZW3 file that's been converted with Calibre. (And YES, the book's metadata is using the Amazon ID in the ID field pointing to the ASIN of the Kindle version of the book. This is what makes it work with Calibre-converted MOBI files.)

AZW3 files coming directly from Amazon sync fine across both devices. As do MOBI files converted with Calibre and sideloaded to both devices. But if I use the AZW3 output format in Calibre, then nope.

With the AZW3 format book, when trying to Sync Furthest Page Read, my PW will report: "Unable to retrieve the furthest location read. If this is the first time you have opened this book, your device will update your location when you close the book or your device goes to sleep." Well it's not the first time I've opened the book and the device has been to sleep several times since I have so obviously that error message is fairly meaningless.

Likewise on my Fire, the error message: "You are currently at the furthest read location across all your devices." when obviously I'm not means this is just another meaningless error as well.

NOW, if I take those same files and reconvert them in Calibre to MOBI files, the syncing starts to work again.

Sooooo.... I'm thinking that there might be some important metadata Calibre isn't storing when writing AZW3 files, especially since the AZW3 files coming from Amazon, both books and personal docs, sync fine.

Any ideas? For now, I have had to resort to downgrading any of my sideloaded AZW3 files to MOBI so the sync will continue to work, but I'd love to get this worked out so that I don't lose any advanced Kindle 8 formatting if a specific book is using it.

04-10-2013, 06:24 PM	#1
CheriePie Connoisseur Posts: 91 Karma: 6020 Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Silicon Valley, CA Device: Kindle Voyage, Samsung Galaxy S23+, Galaxy Tab S6	Sync to Furthest Page Read works with (sideloaded) MOBI but not with AZW3 I apologize if this has been covered elsewhere in this forum. I searched and it didn't turn up anything recent. So here's my situation: I consistently read on 2 different Kindles: my Paperwhite and my Fire HD 8.9, and thus rely on the Sync to Furthest Page Read feature to sync me up between the two devices all the time. This feature works fine in almost all circumstances EXCEPT when I'm using a sideloaded AZW3 file that's been converted with Calibre. (And YES, the book's metadata is using the Amazon ID in the ID field pointing to the ASIN of the Kindle version of the book. This is what makes it work with Calibre-converted MOBI files.) AZW3 files coming directly from Amazon sync fine across both devices. As do MOBI files converted with Calibre and sideloaded to both devices. But if I use the AZW3 output format in Calibre, then nope. With the AZW3 format book, when trying to Sync Furthest Page Read, my PW will report: "Unable to retrieve the furthest location read. If this is the first time you have opened this book, your device will update your location when you close the book or your device goes to sleep." Well it's not the first time I've opened the book and the device has been to sleep several times since I have so obviously that error message is fairly meaningless. Likewise on my Fire, the error message: "You are currently at the furthest read location across all your devices." when obviously I'm not means this is just another meaningless error as well. NOW, if I take those same files and reconvert them in Calibre to MOBI files, the syncing starts to work again. Sooooo.... I'm thinking that there might be some important metadata Calibre isn't storing when writing AZW3 files, especially since the AZW3 files coming from Amazon, both books and personal docs, sync fine. Any ideas? For now, I have had to resort to downgrading any of my sideloaded AZW3 files to MOBI so the sync will continue to work, but I'd love to get this worked out so that I don't lose any advanced Kindle 8 formatting if a specific book is using it. Last edited by CheriePie; 04-10-2013 at 08:02 PM. Reason: updated title to make issue clearer