Kobo Glo / Shelf syncing

FencepostErr1r · 07-22-2013, 03:27 PM

Hello everybody,
I followed the sticky guide on how to let Calibre create shelfs from tags.
This works:
1. Connect Kobo
2. Send already tagged / shelved books to device main memory
3. Disconnect & let the Kobo to it's thing.
4. Huzzah! Shelfs.
5. Move book to another shelf or assign an additional shelf.

This doesn't work (this takes place after the above):
6. Connect Kobo
7. Let Calibre do it's thing
8. Check if changes are reflected in my library - NOPE
9. Disconnect Kobo
10. Dear Lord of the dust bunnies under my bed - the changes on my Kobo have been reverted.

TL;DR:
Is the automatic metadata management supposed to overwrite any changes with the libraries contents, or is this a bug?
Please don't tell me that there is no two-way sync, I might finally pop that aneurysm my Kindle gave me when I found out that I cant manage my shelfs from the Webinterface.

I already tried these things:
- Factory Reset of Kobo
- Double checked the guide mentioned above

Thanks for helping,

-FencepostErr1r

PeterT · 07-22-2013, 04:08 PM

Shelf management is one way only; calibre to Kobo.

Any changes made on the device itself will be undone the next time it is attached and updated by calibre.

FencepostErr1r · 07-22-2013, 04:12 PM

Thanks for your reply...
I noticed that it is somewhat specific. Does this mean that there is a way to get two-way syncing using tags? If so, how do I set them on the device?

Thanks,

-FencepostErr1r

PeterT · 07-22-2013, 04:21 PM

No... as I said it's one way only. calibre -> Kobo.

Any changes made on the Kobo directly will be undone on the next sync with calibre.

FencepostErr1r · 07-22-2013, 04:26 PM

Well, this is disappointing.
Are there any devices that support two-way syncing or is this a Calibre limitation?

-FencepostErr1r

PeterT · 07-22-2013, 04:34 PM

I'm not sure I wouild say it's a limitation; more of an implementation choice by whoever creates the plugin.

I for one though have NO interest at all in a two way sync, and in fact see it as causing far FAR more issues than it solves.

Maybe davidfor (the author of the current Kobo device driver) will see this and chime in.... He is in Australia so it will be a few hours until he pokes his head in.

FencepostErr1r · 07-22-2013, 04:51 PM

Thanks!
Now I can go to sleep (I'm from Germany).

-FencepostErr1r

speakingtohe · 07-22-2013, 05:03 PM

I'm probably confused. Pardon my confusion. I thought that there was some sort of exclusion list that calibre would not remove those shelves. Plus the remove shelf checkbox could possibly be set to not remove any shelves.

I've never made shelves on the Kobo as calibre did it flawlessly already when I bought my first Kobo. The Kobo drivers are great. Still if I labored long and hard to make a shelf on the Kobo I might be a bit disappointed if it disappeared, especially if I didn't know how to quickly recreate it using calibre.

PeterT · 07-22-2013, 05:18 PM

The checkbox serves to allow the deletion of shelves that are empty on the Kobo; no more, no less.

And no; there is no list of shelves to ignore on the device.

Uschiekid · 07-22-2013, 09:15 PM

However, if the book isn't in calibre, you can put it on a shelf using the device and calibre will leave it alone. This is for instance useful for things like library books which are sideloaded with ADE. I add them to a shelf using the device. Calibre leaves them alone. Same with kepubs that don't have an equivalent epub present in calibre.

Ken Maltby · 07-22-2013, 09:32 PM

Or a shelf of Launcher/fmon PNGs.

Luck;
Ken

davidfor · 07-23-2013, 12:38 AM

As PeterT said, the shelf management is one way, from calibre to the device. Doing it two way is a lot harder as there has to some way to know if the book on the shelf on the device was added there or removed in calibre. Yes it is possible, but I haven't had a real need to do it.

The only other thing is that it doesn't affect books that are not in the current library. If you sideload them some other way, or they have come from Kobo and don't match a book in the library, the shelf status is not changed.

FencepostErr1r · 07-23-2013, 03:34 AM

Good morning David!
Perhaps I'm using my Kobo in the wrong way... Here is what I need to accomplish.
I start out with a couple dozens of self published ebooks, mostly from Fanfiction sites.
Since these books/stories are sort of short (mostly below 10-15K words), I load anything that I didn't read onto my device.
In the following weeks, it may happen that I'm not near my Calibre Library - which is fine, because reading is a way for me to get away from my computer and the associated distractions / annoyances. (I'm any IT guy and reading is my "Me Time")
While I'm not able to sync my device with the library, I'd like to be able to mark individual books as read or schedule their deletion from my library.
In my use case, there will never be any changes in my library that are more important than the content of my device.

Would it be easier to implement an option to designate a sync master? This way, I would be able to deliberately choose to overwrite the libraries metadata, thus solving my problem.

If there is an existing way of handling this, please let me know.

-FencepostErr1r

meeera · 07-23-2013, 04:39 AM

FencepostErr1r: There are no doubt multiple ways of doing this, but how I would manage it is this: Before putting the stories in your device, give them a tag of some sort in Calibre ("sent-to-device", or whatever). As you finish them on your Kobo, delete them on the Kobo (go to the book in Library, long press, choose Delete).

Then when you re-connect your device to Calibre, view only the "sent-to-device" shelf. Sort them by clicking on the top of the "On Device" column. The ones that don't have a green tick on them are your Finished books. Then do whatever you want with them from there! (delete, archive, tag, whatever.)

It's quicker to do than it is to type out...

FencepostErr1r · 07-23-2013, 05:51 AM

Thanks meeera, but I'm not yet giving up on my goal to get the metadata I generated on the device into my Library.

Let me reiterate.

Forget merging or conflict resolution!
Simply take the existing tags / shelves on the device and apply them to the books in my library.
Of course this would remove books that have been deleted on my reader from Calibre.
But who cares? Actually this would be great!
I could pop a 16 Gig Card into my reader and mirror my Calibre Library onto the device. (Storage capacity has become dirt cheap, remember?)

If there is any e-Paper device that let's me manage my content that way I'll go and try it out.

But this would mean shelling out another couple hundred bucks to get another reader, with other problems.

I'd really like to invest into improving the existing software, for everyone else!

Yes, this is me saying - Shut up and take my money, I mean if that's ok with you?
Is there any preferred way to post bounties for features in Calibre / Kobo Driver Plugins?

-FencepostErr1r

07-22-2013, 03:27 PM	#1
FencepostErr1r Enthusiast Posts: 28 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jul 2013 Device: Kobo Glo	Kobo Glo / Shelf syncing Hello everybody, I followed the sticky guide on how to let Calibre create shelfs from tags. This works: 1. Connect Kobo 2. Send already tagged / shelved books to device main memory 3. Disconnect & let the Kobo to it's thing. 4. Huzzah! Shelfs. 5. Move book to another shelf or assign an additional shelf. This doesn't work (this takes place after the above): 6. Connect Kobo 7. Let Calibre do it's thing 8. Check if changes are reflected in my library - NOPE 9. Disconnect Kobo 10. Dear Lord of the dust bunnies under my bed - the changes on my Kobo have been reverted. TL;DR: Is the automatic metadata management supposed to overwrite any changes with the libraries contents, or is this a bug? Please don't tell me that there is no two-way sync, I might finally pop that aneurysm my Kindle gave me when I found out that I cant manage my shelfs from the Webinterface. I already tried these things: - Factory Reset of Kobo - Double checked the guide mentioned above Thanks for helping, -FencepostErr1r

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07-22-2013, 04:08 PM	#2
PeterT Grand Sorcerer Posts: 13,379 Karma: 78877538 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Toronto Device: Libra H2O, Libra Colour	Shelf management is one way only; calibre to Kobo. Any changes made on the device itself will be undone the next time it is attached and updated by calibre.

07-22-2013, 04:12 PM	#3
FencepostErr1r Enthusiast Posts: 28 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jul 2013 Device: Kobo Glo	Thanks for your reply... I noticed that it is somewhat specific. Does this mean that there is a way to get two-way syncing using tags? If so, how do I set them on the device? Thanks, -FencepostErr1r

07-22-2013, 04:21 PM	#4
PeterT Grand Sorcerer Posts: 13,379 Karma: 78877538 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Toronto Device: Libra H2O, Libra Colour	No... as I said it's one way only. calibre -> Kobo. Any changes made on the Kobo directly will be undone on the next sync with calibre.

07-22-2013, 04:26 PM	#5
FencepostErr1r Enthusiast Posts: 28 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jul 2013 Device: Kobo Glo	Well, this is disappointing. Are there any devices that support two-way syncing or is this a Calibre limitation? -FencepostErr1r

07-22-2013, 04:34 PM	#6
PeterT Grand Sorcerer Posts: 13,379 Karma: 78877538 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Toronto Device: Libra H2O, Libra Colour	I'm not sure I wouild say it's a limitation; more of an implementation choice by whoever creates the plugin. I for one though have NO interest at all in a two way sync, and in fact see it as causing far FAR more issues than it solves. Maybe davidfor (the author of the current Kobo device driver) will see this and chime in.... He is in Australia so it will be a few hours until he pokes his head in.

07-22-2013, 04:51 PM	#7
FencepostErr1r Enthusiast Posts: 28 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jul 2013 Device: Kobo Glo	Thanks! Now I can go to sleep (I'm from Germany). -FencepostErr1r

07-22-2013, 05:03 PM	#8
speakingtohe Wizard Posts: 4,812 Karma: 26912940 Join Date: Apr 2010 Device: sony PRS-T1 and T3, Kobo Mini and Aura HD, Tablet	I'm probably confused. Pardon my confusion. I thought that there was some sort of exclusion list that calibre would not remove those shelves. Plus the remove shelf checkbox could possibly be set to not remove any shelves. I've never made shelves on the Kobo as calibre did it flawlessly already when I bought my first Kobo. The Kobo drivers are great. Still if I labored long and hard to make a shelf on the Kobo I might be a bit disappointed if it disappeared, especially if I didn't know how to quickly recreate it using calibre.

07-22-2013, 05:18 PM	#9
PeterT Grand Sorcerer Posts: 13,379 Karma: 78877538 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Toronto Device: Libra H2O, Libra Colour	The checkbox serves to allow the deletion of shelves that are empty on the Kobo; no more, no less. And no; there is no list of shelves to ignore on the device.

07-22-2013, 09:15 PM	#10
Uschiekid Tenrec Posts: 724 Karma: 1076988 Join Date: Oct 2012 Device: Kobo Aura One, Kobo Glo	However, if the book isn't in calibre, you can put it on a shelf using the device and calibre will leave it alone. This is for instance useful for things like library books which are sideloaded with ADE. I add them to a shelf using the device. Calibre leaves them alone. Same with kepubs that don't have an equivalent epub present in calibre.

07-22-2013, 09:32 PM	#11
Ken Maltby Wizard Posts: 4,466 Karma: 6900052 Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: The Heart of Texas Device: Boox Note2, AuraHD, PDA,	Or a shelf of Launcher/fmon PNGs. Luck; Ken

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07-23-2013, 12:38 AM	#12
davidfor Grand Sorcerer Posts: 24,905 Karma: 47303824 Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Sydney, Australia Device: Kobo:Touch,Glo, AuraH2O, GloHD,AuraONE, ClaraHD, Libra H2O; tolinoepos	As PeterT said, the shelf management is one way, from calibre to the device. Doing it two way is a lot harder as there has to some way to know if the book on the shelf on the device was added there or removed in calibre. Yes it is possible, but I haven't had a real need to do it. The only other thing is that it doesn't affect books that are not in the current library. If you sideload them some other way, or they have come from Kobo and don't match a book in the library, the shelf status is not changed.

07-23-2013, 03:34 AM	#13
FencepostErr1r Enthusiast Posts: 28 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jul 2013 Device: Kobo Glo	Good morning David! Perhaps I'm using my Kobo in the wrong way... Here is what I need to accomplish. I start out with a couple dozens of self published ebooks, mostly from Fanfiction sites. Since these books/stories are sort of short (mostly below 10-15K words), I load anything that I didn't read onto my device. In the following weeks, it may happen that I'm not near my Calibre Library - which is fine, because reading is a way for me to get away from my computer and the associated distractions / annoyances. (I'm any IT guy and reading is my "Me Time") While I'm not able to sync my device with the library, I'd like to be able to mark individual books as read or schedule their deletion from my library. In my use case, there will never be any changes in my library that are more important than the content of my device. Would it be easier to implement an option to designate a sync master? This way, I would be able to deliberately choose to overwrite the libraries metadata, thus solving my problem. If there is an existing way of handling this, please let me know. -FencepostErr1r

07-23-2013, 04:39 AM	#14
meeera Grand Sorcerer Posts: 5,803 Karma: 68407974 Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: Australia Device: Kobo Libra 2, iPadMini4, iPad4, MBP; support other Kobo/Kindles	FencepostErr1r: There are no doubt multiple ways of doing this, but how I would manage it is this: Before putting the stories in your device, give them a tag of some sort in Calibre ("sent-to-device", or whatever). As you finish them on your Kobo, delete them on the Kobo (go to the book in Library, long press, choose Delete). Then when you re-connect your device to Calibre, view only the "sent-to-device" shelf. Sort them by clicking on the top of the "On Device" column. The ones that don't have a green tick on them are your Finished books. Then do whatever you want with them from there! (delete, archive, tag, whatever.) It's quicker to do than it is to type out...

07-23-2013, 05:51 AM	#15
FencepostErr1r Enthusiast Posts: 28 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jul 2013 Device: Kobo Glo	Thanks meeera, but I'm not yet giving up on my goal to get the metadata I generated on the device into my Library. Let me reiterate. Forget merging or conflict resolution! Simply take the existing tags / shelves on the device and apply them to the books in my library. Of course this would remove books that have been deleted on my reader from Calibre. But who cares? Actually this would be great! I could pop a 16 Gig Card into my reader and mirror my Calibre Library onto the device. (Storage capacity has become dirt cheap, remember?) If there is any e-Paper device that let's me manage my content that way I'll go and try it out. But this would mean shelling out another couple hundred bucks to get another reader, with other problems. I'd really like to invest into improving the existing software, for everyone else! Yes, this is me saying - Shut up and take my money, I mean if that's ok with you? Is there any preferred way to post bounties for features in Calibre / Kobo Driver Plugins? -FencepostErr1r