Series prefix in Kindle personal documents

buschap · 07-30-2014, 04:07 PM

I've looked through the forums for a thread dealing with this and didn't see one, but please accept my apologies if this replicates something already covered. And also if this is a double-post. I believe my earlier attempt to post it didn't get submitted.

I'm working on putting some of my documents on the Kindle personal document service in order to use the cross-device synchronization.

I've got various epubs that I'm converting to dual-format mobi files in order to e-mail them to the PDS.

I've got a Calibre plugboard that adds the series name to the start of a title when I use the "save to disk" button. From there, I e-mail the mobi files via my gmail account to my Kindle account. (I happen to do this via gmail's web interface, as Calibre stores the password in clear text, so I prefer not to configure e-mail directly in Calibre, but I don't believe this affects the outcome.)

Once e-mailed, some documents get the series prefix and some don't. Viewing the mobi metadata with the Java metadata viewer shows that all the e-mailed documents have the series correctly set, and the format of the documents coming back from Amazon doesn't seem to affect the outcome. (The are almost always azw3, but I sometimes get an azw, though I don't know why.)

Here's an example workflow:
I have the three Gary Wolf Roger Rabbit books. They are DRM-free epubs from Smashwords and Kobo. I have the series set in Calibre. I convert to "both" style mobi files, and choose "save to disk" to activate the plugboard. I e-mail all three documents to PDS, and two arrive with just the title, and one (the second one), arrives with [Roger Rabbit 02] in front of the title.

If anyone has any experience with or insight into this, I'd appreciate it.

HarryT · 07-30-2014, 04:39 PM

Metadata plugboards don't work with dual-format Mobi files. Are you sure that they really are all dual format?

buschap · 07-30-2014, 08:54 PM

Thanks, Harry.

I'd forgotten about the issues with plugboard and dual-mobis. I do for sure have Calibre set to generate "both" for mobi files, and am pretty sure that's what I'm getting since the PDS accepts the documents and I usually get an azw3 back.

So I guess it's not so much why it isn't working sometimes, but rather why it's ever working. Amazon must just have a whim about where it looks for the metadata.

In any case, I guess I'll go back to sending the books over USB. It's a little less fussy all around, and I don't want to read on my tablet all that often.

07-30-2014, 04:07 PM	#1
buschap Junior Member Posts: 4 Karma: 10 Join Date: Apr 2014 Device: Kindle Paperwhite 2	Series prefix in Kindle personal documents I've looked through the forums for a thread dealing with this and didn't see one, but please accept my apologies if this replicates something already covered. And also if this is a double-post. I believe my earlier attempt to post it didn't get submitted. I'm working on putting some of my documents on the Kindle personal document service in order to use the cross-device synchronization. I've got various epubs that I'm converting to dual-format mobi files in order to e-mail them to the PDS. I've got a Calibre plugboard that adds the series name to the start of a title when I use the "save to disk" button. From there, I e-mail the mobi files via my gmail account to my Kindle account. (I happen to do this via gmail's web interface, as Calibre stores the password in clear text, so I prefer not to configure e-mail directly in Calibre, but I don't believe this affects the outcome.) Once e-mailed, some documents get the series prefix and some don't. Viewing the mobi metadata with the Java metadata viewer shows that all the e-mailed documents have the series correctly set, and the format of the documents coming back from Amazon doesn't seem to affect the outcome. (The are almost always azw3, but I sometimes get an azw, though I don't know why.) Here's an example workflow: I have the three Gary Wolf Roger Rabbit books. They are DRM-free epubs from Smashwords and Kobo. I have the series set in Calibre. I convert to "both" style mobi files, and choose "save to disk" to activate the plugboard. I e-mail all three documents to PDS, and two arrive with just the title, and one (the second one), arrives with [Roger Rabbit 02] in front of the title. If anyone has any experience with or insight into this, I'd appreciate it.

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07-30-2014, 04:39 PM	#2
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383099 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	Metadata plugboards don't work with dual-format Mobi files. Are you sure that they really are all dual format?

07-30-2014, 08:54 PM	#3
buschap Junior Member Posts: 4 Karma: 10 Join Date: Apr 2014 Device: Kindle Paperwhite 2	Thanks, Harry. I'd forgotten about the issues with plugboard and dual-mobis. I do for sure have Calibre set to generate "both" for mobi files, and am pretty sure that's what I'm getting since the PDS accepts the documents and I usually get an azw3 back. So I guess it's not so much why it isn't working sometimes, but rather why it's ever working. Amazon must just have a whim about where it looks for the metadata. In any case, I guess I'll go back to sending the books over USB. It's a little less fussy all around, and I don't want to read on my tablet all that often.

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