Making the illustrated cover page in the e-book viewer bigger

[Heathside Boy]

I have all seven Harry Potter books in e-pub format (converted from PDF).

Every one of them has now a front cover for the first page inside the e-book viewer. All of them except one, takes up the whole screen as a front, first-page. This is what I want.

One of them does not take up the whole page and instead is inset with large white margins around it.

I have tried to get another cover from the metadata, but it does not give me any other options.

Does anybody know how I can make the cover that I have already the full size of the page and do away with the white margins around it?

Another question is; if I download a cover to my computer from the web, does anybody know how I can then add that cover to my Calibre's metadata and also the first page of my e-book viewer?

Thanks

HB

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Heathside Boy

Every one of them has now a front cover for the first page inside the e-book viewer. All of them except one, takes up the whole screen as a front, first-page. This is what I want.

One of them does not take up the whole page and instead is inset with large white margins around it.

I have tried to get another cover from the metadata, but it does not give me any other options.

Does anybody know how I can make the cover that I have already the full size of the page and do away with the white margins around it?

For this, I normally use Sigil to edit the epub and adjust the tags that display the cover image.

Another question is; if I download a cover to my computer from the web, does anybody know how I can then add that cover to my Calibre's metadata and also the first page of my e-book viewer?

There is a lot of discussion of this here. One way is to do a epub to epub conversion. The Modify Epub plugin will also do it if the epub already has a cover in it.

[wallcraft]

If the problem is the image size, or white space on the actual image, then use Calibre's "Tweak Book" option (right click on the book) to find the image and any image editor to change it (on Windows I use IrfanView).

It may be easier to use davidfor's suggestion of finding a good cover and adding it to Calibre as the cover (edit metadata -> change cover -> Browse) and then using the Modify Epub plugin to add it to your ebook (you need to add the plugin, and it will typically then be found via right click, like the "Tweak Book" option). As davidfor said, an epub to epub conversion will also do this.

[travger]

Depends how big the actual picture is. For me it happens often when I add pdf to Calibre. Then I open cover.jpg (Irfanview), cut it down and save again in same folder. I'm sure same thing can be made in epub - Explode > open cover > cut&save >copy jpg > rebuild > E > paste cover.

[Heathside Boy]

Thank you for all your responses but I actually found out how to do this with trial and error and without needing any plug-ins or Sigil.

If one of you have already, indirectly described this in your description answer, then I apologise but this is what I did.

I thought it may be useful to put down here for other readers.

Putting your own front book cover in the Calibre library AND the first page of the e-book viewer.

1. Download a suitable book cover from the web to your "Pictures" library.

2. Open Calibre and highlight the book in the Calibre library you want to generate the new front cover to.

3. Right click to open the 'context menu'

4. Click on, 'Open containing folder.'

5. Delete the original 'cover.jpg' within this folder.

6. Copy & Paste the newly downloaded jpg book front cover now in your pictures library to the folder where you just deleted the original 'cover.jpg.'

7. Rename the newly pasted, downloaded jpg front cover to 'cover.jpg'

8. This should then change how the book looks in your Calibre library. (You will have to close Calibre and reopen it to see the changes.)

9. Once you have re-opened Calibre, highlight the same book and right click to open the context menu.'

10. Click on, 'Convert books'

11. Click on, 'Convert individually'

12. Click on the 'Structure Detection' tab

13. Then make sure the 'Insert metadata as page at start of book' is checked and then click 'OK'

14. I also went back to the same location following numbers 9, 10, 11 above and then clicked the 'Search & Replace' tab

You should then find your newly downloaded book cover as the first, full page in the e-book viewer as well as in the Calibre library itself.

Thanks

HB

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Heathside Boy

Putting your own front book cover in the Calibre library AND the first page of the e-book viewer.

1. Download a suitable book cover from the web to your "Pictures" library.

2. Open Calibre and highlight the book in the Calibre library you want to generate the new front cover to.

Thanks

HB

You are working way too hard

Drag your downloaded cover onto the old cover image in either the Metadata editor OR the Book details pane. Done: Calibre takes care of the naming.

[travger]

You don't need even to download the cover (at least with Firefox). I often use 'Copy image' from right-click menu and then paste it on the old cover in Edit Metadata window. Change is immediate (if you don't click 'cancel ).
To see the change in library view it is sufficient to click on some other book and back, no need for restart.
This takes care of Calibre cover.

I have a feeling that if you convert and add first page, then sometimes you can end up with two covers. Just something to check.

[Heathside Boy]

ducks and travger,

too easy!!! I never realised you could just drag and drop to change the cover page like that.

And I was feeling very pleased with myself after finding out how to fix my own question. Oh well, that's how you learn.

Just another question on this subject.

I dragged the cover page that I wanted straight from my pictures library to straight on top of the cover page that was showing in the Metadata editor and it changed straight away as you stated. I had to click the 'OK' button for it to stick. That took care of that.

Regarding the first page in the actual e-book viewer, this was different. I did exactly the same and dragged the cover I wanted to the first page in the e-book viewer (before I maximised the actual e-book viewer) and it did change to the new cover. However, there was no obvious 'OK' button here to make it stick. So when I closed the e-book viewer and then opened it again, the new cover had changed back to the original cover that was there.

Is there a button in here that I need to click after I have dragged and dropped a new cover in the e-book viewer first page to make it stick? If not, what is the most economical way to change it here?

Thanks

HB

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Heathside Boy

ducks and travger,


Regarding the first page in the actual e-book viewer, this was different. I did exactly the same and dragged the cover I wanted to the first page in the e-book viewer (before I maximised the actual e-book viewer) and it did change to the new cover. However, there was no obvious 'OK' button here to make it stick. So when I closed the e-book viewer and then opened it again, the new cover had changed back to the original cover that was there.

Is there a button in here that I need to click after I have dragged and dropped a new cover in the e-book viewer first page to make it stick? If not, what is the most economical way to change it here?

Thanks

HB

I did not know you could even do that
But as you found out, that is temporary.

The cover INSIDE the book is still the same.
You could do another conversion (not advised if you have edited the 'converted' book.
OR
you could use the 'Modify EPUB' plugin by Kiwidude to Update the Cover/Jacket

[Heathside Boy]

Originally Posted by theducks

OR
you could use the 'Modify EPUB' plugin by Kiwidude to Update the Cover/Jacket

Ah but I did manage to do this as previously pointed out without needing any plug-ins.

If you follow points 9 - 14 in my earlier post, this did the trick and put the book cover that was showing in the Calibre library as the first page in the e-book viewer.

Unless anyone else has a better idea, this must be the most economical way of doing it.

Thanks

HB

[kiwidude]

@Heathside Boy - theDucks was responding to your experimenting with drag/dropping a cover into the ebook viewer. As you found it achieves nothing - the ebook viewer is a read-only version of the epub.

So your only options are either to do a conversion (like you documented) or to use the Modify ePub plugin. I would argue if you work with ePubs the plugin is the more "economical" way, because there are situations where you don't actually want to do an epub->epub conversion. If you aren't careful when you do a conversion you can screw up your book - you need to carefully review your settings before you go ahead. And even then calibre will still do some bad things to some epub conversions, resulting in changes to the book that may not be desired like splits in places you definitely don't want them, margins being removed where you don't want them to be etc.

Whereas Modify ePub does not touch the ePub structure or css styles (outside of what specific options you choose) and hence is a "safer" approach. However it should also be said that Modify ePub is not always able to replace the cover as it uses the same logic as "Save to disk" does and needs the cover to be "identified" correctly within the ePub. Maybe one day we will make that more inclusive to guarantee a cover will get in there but thats just the way it is at the moment.

So basically if you want to shut your brain off and insert a metadata jacket/update a cover, Modify ePub is the least mental effort. But if you want to guarantee the cover is inserted inside, you currently have to do a conversion (and accept the risks of doing so).

[Heathside Boy]

Originally Posted by kiwidude

I would argue if you work with ePubs the plugin is the more "economical" way,

Kiwidude,

Okay, I bow to your expertise. In that case, could you tell me where I get the plug-in and exactly what I need to do to use it so that it changes the first page inside the e-book viewer to a cover I have downloaded from the web please?

I did not realise I would be jeopardising the actual e-book itself with the actions I explained in my previous post. I am but a novice in this respect and as I explained in my previous post, these were all trial and error actions, but I did get it to work. At the same time, I heed your warning and the last thing I want is to damage any of the e-book inside.

Thanks

HB

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Heathside Boy

Kiwidude,

Okay, I bow to your expertise. In that case, could you tell me where I get the plug-in and exactly what I need to do to use it so that it changes the first page inside the e-book viewer to a cover I have downloaded from the web please?

I did not realise I would be jeopardising the actual e-book itself with the actions I explained in my previous post. I am but a novice in this respect and as I explained in my previous post, these were all trial and error actions, but I did get it to work. At the same time, I heed your warning and the last thing I want is to damage any of the e-book inside.

Thanks

HB

Preferences(menu) Get Plugins...:

[kiwidude]

theDucks gave you the short answer. I will give you a longer version

There is a whole subforum dedicated to plugins - take a look at the sticky posts within it for more info.

In the Modify ePub plugin as theDucks mentioned above if you want to replace a cover use the "Update metadata" option, and you will also see there is an option up the top right of the plugin screen of "Add/replace metadata jacket". Note that the adding/inserting metadata jacket functionality should "always" work with this plugin regardless of the ePub, it is the replacing of covers using "Update metadata" that will sometimes not be able to work for the reasons I mentioned above.

To answer your other "fears" I may have given you, doing an ePub->ePub (or any other) conversion is just a case of rolling the dice. Perhaps 9 out of 10 times it won't be give you the slightest issue (depending on your conversion settings and whether the book has been converted by calibre previously). And that 10th time it might not be an issue you personally care about. You can either accept that a small % of the time it may give you a less than ideal result and live with it (what most users do to be honest, be it due to ignorance or convenience). Or you can try to mitigate the risk by avoiding conversions unless you absolutely need to do them (preferred approach of others).

It all depends on the source of your books and how much you care about "preserving" them in the state they were originally edited (I am assuming retail ebooks here). Calibre has a habit of splitting pages where it shouldn't (I am not talking about the 260k limit, I mean between images that start chapters and the chapter text as an example). Depending on how the covers are defined you can end up with blank pages or pages with a questionmark due to a removed image. Margins are another thing that calibre loves to play with - which in many cases is a good thing but there are situations where you don't want them removed as the text is intentionally indented in the original.

These are not "life or death" things and some are recoverable with a bit of Sigil editing but for some people it is easier just to avoid it ever happening.

[Heathside Boy]

Kiwi dude,

Thank you so much for the excellent advice that I have now saved. Suffice to say, I'm still none the wiser and it will take me a bit of time to sift what you have actually stated in the advice you have given. This is not pouring scorn on the way you have described your advice, it's just me

Once I have made sense of it all, I may very well post again to ask a bunch of dumb questions that you have probably already answered I hope you will forgive me if that happens. That also goes for everybody else who has supplied help here.

Just to recap, the particular book I wanted to change in this case started off in PDF format. I simply changed it from that to e-Pub format to begin with.

The changing of the book cover in the Calibre library itself is not so much a problem now. It's the changing of the first page in the e-book viewer itself. Does your plug-in help in any way for this to be changed or have you already explained this in your earlier post? If you have, then I apologise and I will have to look a bit more closely at the post in more detail and then report back if necessary.

Please excuse me as I am fairly new to all this. Having said all that, I am willing to learn as I think e-books and Calibre are the greatest things since sliced bread.

Thanks

HB