changing book format

[barlowrm]

Dear all,

I would like to know how to manage sync/replace across different formats of the same book. It's maybe clearer if I make an example:

1) in CC, I set the format priority to be epub (first), PDF (second)

2) from calibre, I send to cc a bunch of books. the format is chosen by cc according to my preferences (so, pdf only when there is no epub)

3) after some time, I find good quality epub versions of those same books for which I only had the pdf, and add them to calibre

At this point, what I do is to manually remove the pdfs from cc and re-transfer from calibre.

What would be really nice, however, is for cc/calibre to realize that a higher-priority format has become available, and ask me if I want to get rid of the pdf versions in cc and replace it with the epubs. Is this currently supported?

Thanks for your help,

Andrea.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by barlowrm

What would be really nice, however, is for cc/calibre to realize that a higher-priority format has become available, and ask me if I want to get rid of the pdf versions in cc and replace it with the epubs. Is this currently supported?

No, this isn't directly supported. Only calibre has the requisite knowledge (that other formats exist) and there isn't any way in calibre to test for the situation you describe.

However, you can use the Reading List plugin to get most of the way there. First set up the reading list plugin

1. Install the plugin if needed.
2. Connect as a wireless device.
3. In Reading List settings, devices tab, choose "Add connected device".
4. In the plugin, create a new list. Set the list type to "Manually add". Set the Device to Sync to the correct device. Choose "Add/Overwrite". Check "Sync as soon as connected". Check "Clear this list".
5. Disconnect

When you add a higher-priority format to a book, also add it to the reading list you created above.

At some point when you connect as a wireless device, the plugin will automatically send (replace) the books you added to the list. The plugin will send the highest-priority format available. In your case that will result in two books on the device, the original PDF and the new EPUB, and change the On Device column to "Main (2 books)". To remove the extra books in CC, do the following while still connected:

1. In calibre, search for ondevice:books. This will find all books with more than one format in CC.
2. Select a book or books. I prefer to work on one book at a time. Tap the "Delete" key or use one of the many other methods to delete the book.
3. Calibre will ask you whether you want to delete the book from the library, from the device, or both. Choose "Device".
4. You will see a list of formats in CC for the selected book. Uncheck the formats you want to keep (usually the EPUB) and choose OK.
5. calibre will rerun the search. Repeat these steps until no books remain.

[barlowrm]

Dear chaley,

just to report that I tried yesterday the procedure you suggested, and it works perfectly.

Thanks for your help,

Andrea.