[tirion]

Originally Posted by BionicGecko

Indeed you do need to use "send-to-kindle" in order for syncing to work. Unfortunately books not purchased on Amazon and sent OTA like this will always be listed as "documents", there is no way around that. It's actually called the "Personal Document Service".

Alright, but I don't see that as an issue, as long as it does not have any negative effect on whispersyn and/or the availability of the book cover.

Originally Posted by BionicGecko

As for covers, it depends on how you convert your books. If in Calibre you choose "Both" as MOBI File Type, then your Kindle will actually receive an AZW3 file when you download it (unless it's a very old model). If you choose "Old", then you'll get an actual MOBI file. Covers do work on MOBI files, but not on AZW3. On the other hand, AZW3 supports better formatting options.

Well, don't have either the newest nor the oldest Kindle.
Is the setting "Both" a universal go, no matter the hardware?
Or is there benefit of "New", as long as the device is not too outdated for that option (and if so, how do I know that?)

Originally Posted by BionicGecko

Regarding your question, syncing the last page read has always been a bit hit-and-miss for me, regardless of the file type. Sorry I can't be of much help here, but I'm definitely listening if someone knows a way to make it more reliable!

Crap, so it actually is possible that this won't work well at all with books, not purchased from Amazon? :/

Originally Posted by odamizu

I had the same hit-or-miss syncing problem between iOS and Kindle devices with Calibre mobis.

What fixed it for me was switching from Calibre to KindleGen to do my conversions.

The easiest way to do this is to retrieve the epub file from your Calibre library, change the extension to .png or .txt (I seem to recall that .txt only works on Mac), then use Send to Kindle, and Amazon will run it through KindleGen for you and deliver it to all your devices. eink Kindles will get azw3; not sure what format iOS and Android get, but whatever it is works on my iOS devices.

If you use the Send to Kindle app, input Title & Author in dialog box. This is preferable to the Send to Kindle email address, which uses the filename for the title and the email address for the author.

Wait, let me see if you understood you correctly:
I create (or take if already at hand) the ePub version of the book in question.
Then I change the extension to ".png" (an image format?) or ".txt" and send it via eMail to the address of my Kindle.
That does the trick for you, to make whispersyn work more reliable?

Originally Posted by barryem

(...)I've found that it's fairly reliable if I'm careful. When I finish reading I sync. I sync before I begin on another device. Then I'm patient. It usually works. If I forget to sync when I'm done it often fails.

I've worked out a system to help with this. I make it a point to remember a short phrase from my current page when I quit. I make sure I remember it. The phrase from my current book is "older sister's husband". It's short and probably won't occur too many times. So when I begin reading I can use text search and it will probably show me less than a full page of that phrase, each with enough context that I can easily recognize the one I was reading.

I did a bit of experimenting on this when I first started doing it. It's typically about twice as fast as letting the device sync for me. Also it takes a bit of thought and effort so it's a bit more trouble and somewhat distracting. For that reason I mostly use it these days as a backup for the times the Kindle fails. I did use it exclusively for a while since it is faster.(...)

Well, that is a rather unique approach I have to admint But very creative, I give you that.
I just tried to work with the manual sync, but got nothing out of it unfortunately. At least not with this book. Other books do sync. Same conversion setting, same format, I dont get it..

The remembering part is a nice workaround actually, but not quite what I'm looking for.
Thanks for sharing, I think I will make use of it, though, every now and then.