How-To Change Default Reader App Associated With Calibre

[Frank W]

Good morning folks,

I am using Calibre 2.5.5 on Ubuntu Desktop LTR 16.04. I am just in love with Calibre and the multitude of wondeful things in can do to help me manage my library of ebooks!

The only aspect of Calibre that I am not delighted with is the ebook reader that it comes integrated with. On my system it takes a long time to load and after it does load, it does not perform very well with larger files. A case in point would be the .MOBI version of The Linux Handbook, 2nd Edition.

I have worked around this shortcoming by installing a different ebook reader, Cool Readings 3, which I use in conjunction with Calibre, but I would prefer to integrate it into Calibre in place of the ebook reader already there.

If this is possible, would one of you kind souls please explain how I would go about doing that, understanding that I am not a coding wiz and am still pretty new to Linux in general and Ubuntu in particular.



Frank

[theducks]

Preferences: Behavior

tick = Use Calibre viewer
No tick = use OS file extension default (assumes one is set in the OS)

[PeterT]

Another idea; since calibre's built in eBook viewer is actually just an ePub viewer, and calibre does a basic conversion from any other format to ePub before viewing it, why not just do a one time conversion to ePub.

[Frank W]

Thank you for your solution. I could have about slapped myself for missing this on my own, but these things happen I suppose.

It is curious though that what you described is not what I saw under Preferences ---> Behavior. I was able to disable the internal viewer, but had to do so on an extention by extention basis. Moreover, there was no checkbox to mark to select the system's default ebook viewer. This leads me to wonder if we have different versions of Calibre or are on different O/S's? In any case, I thank you for your help!

[Frank W]

I thank you for your response as well Peter. Your suggestion might well solve the problem I am encountering trying to read ebooks not in the viewer's native ePub format and I shall tuck your solution away for future reference. For now, though, I will continue to use the Cool Readings 3 viewer.

[tempura]

Well, perhaps updating calibre to the latest one could help. I have Ubuntu 16.04 as well, the calibre in the official 2.55.0, though the latest one is 2.71.0, if you want to upgrade uninstall the package using apt-get and install using the instructions given on the calibre website here: http://calibre-ebook.com/download_linux

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by Frank W

It is curious though that what you described is not what I saw under Preferences ---> Behavior. I was able to disable the internal viewer, but had to do so on an extention by extention basis. Moreover, there was no checkbox to mark to select the system's default ebook viewer. This leads me to wonder if we have different versions of Calibre or are on different O/S's? In any case, I thank you for your help!

To eliminate confusion for those who may read this later.

You saw what everyone on every OS sees (see attached) and more specifically what TheDucks described in his post. If a check box next to an extension is checked it will use Calibre's internal viewer. If there is no check in the box then it will use whatever the system has designated as the default viewer for that extension. Calibre is essentially the same across the board and this preferences section hasn't been changed in years.

[GalacticHull]

Originally Posted by DoctorOhh

To eliminate confusion for those who may read this later.

You saw what everyone on every OS sees (see attached) and more specifically what TheDucks described in his post. If a check box next to an extension is checked it will use Calibre's internal viewer. If there is no check in the box then it will use whatever the system has designated as the default viewer for that extension. Calibre is essentially the same across the board and this preferences section hasn't been changed in years.

Thank you. I recently noticed Calibre, eager to add metadata, will add a bookmark file into an epub even if you've disabled it remembering the last page you were at. Terrible and unnecessary.

[PeterT]

What version of calibre, and how are you launching the viewer?

[kovidgoyal]

The relevant preference is not remember current page, it is the one immediately below it, named, surprisingly, "Keep a copy of bookmarks inside ebook file for easy sharing"

[GalacticHull]

Ha. Gotcha. Thank you.

[GalacticHull]

Also, kovidgoyal, I greatly appreciate what you do, and so apologize for coming across an ungrateful jerk.

[kovidgoyal]

No problem, it happens

[Tricross]

Originally Posted by DoctorOhh

To eliminate confusion for those who may read this later.

You saw what everyone on every OS sees (see attached) and more specifically what TheDucks described in his post. If a check box next to an extension is checked it will use Calibre's internal viewer. If there is no check in the box then it will use whatever the system has designated as the default viewer for that extension. Calibre is essentially the same across the board and this preferences section hasn't been changed in years.

If you are on a Windows 10 machine, using Microsoft Edge as your default epub reader works great. Edge is a very polished reader and now with this tweak to Calibre, double-clicking a book opens it in Edge. Exactly what I was looking for.