Can't sync ebooks with the same title/author from two different publishers

[jxall]

[running Calibre 4.70 on Windows 10; auto-conversion from EPUB to KEPUB enabled via KoboTouchExtended plugin]

I believe this problem has a very simple solution but I couldn't find it anywhere on the Internet.

I have 5 couples of 'duplicate' EPUBS: in every one of them the ebook was published by two different publishers, and this is correctly detected by Calibre.
However, when I select all ten ebooks (i.e. the 5 couples of 'duplicates') and send them to my Kobo, only one copy per couple will get to the device.

And if I select the 5 'un-synced' ebooks and try to send them again to the device, Calibre will start the operation to convert them in KEPUBS, but the transfer will fail again with no alert appearing on the screen.

This behaviour is different from other instances, where Calibre recognizes two ebooks having the same title or being identical and asks me whether I want to add the ebook anyway or to cancel the transfer.

How do I fix this?

[BetterRed]

I also have a handful of real duplicates (same author and title, but different publisher/source).

What I've done is to append '[xxxx]' to the title, where the 'xxxx' identifies the publisher/source e.g. "Blah Blah [LRB]" and "Blah Blah [Granta]". If the Title contains a '[' the book gets a 'duplicate' icon.

But that's in the library, from which I sideload to Android devices so I can't speak to Kobo.

BR

[jxall]

So you just edit the title of the ebook within the 'Title' column of Calibre library?

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by jxall

So you just edit the title of the ebook within the 'Title' column of Calibre library?

Yep, I press F2 in the relevant Title cells in the Book List and append the relevant '[xxxx]' values.

BR

[jxall]

It works, thank you very very much!

Isn't it strange that Calibre doesn't show the usual pop-up window to ask me what should I do with these specific duplicates?

I have sent dozens of similar 'duplicates' to my Kobo, but these ones must be special for some reason. If I compare their info all the basic stuff is identical, except for the 'Publisher', 'Year and 'uuid' fields, which contain clearly different values...

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by jxall

It works, thank you very very much!

Isn't it strange that Calibre doesn't show the usual pop-up window to ask me what should I do with these specific duplicates?

Not sure what you mean here. Calibre has options about what to do with duplicate books, but they only used when adding the book to the library. And maybe when you rename a book. Nothing is done when sending a book to a device.

I have sent dozens of similar 'duplicates' to my Kobo, but these ones must be special for some reason. If I compare their info all the basic stuff is identical, except for the 'Publisher', 'Year and 'uuid' fields, which contain clearly different values...

The problem is probably in the save template you use in the driver. it is probably producing the same file name for both books in the pair. When they are sent to the device, the second one replaces the first one. Hence, only one book there when you disconnect.

The default save template looks like:

{author_sort}/{title} - {authors}

You could change this to include whatever is elsewhere in the metadata of the books that make them unique. For example, to use the publisher, the save template could be:

{author_sort}/{title} - {publisher} - {authors}

That only affects the file name on the device. The title and author will still be shown as whatever is in the library. The publisher should be seen in the details of the book. If you want to see the publisher in the library list, you can use a metadata plugboard to set the title when sending the book to the device. This could be:

{title} - {publisher}

Unfortunately, that would put the publisher at the end of the title of all books, not just the books with multiple editions. Another way, would be to use the subtitle field on the device. This is done via the driver configuration. On the "Metadata, on device & advanced" tab, make sure that "Update metadata on the device" is checked, then check the "Subtitle" option. The template field will be enabled. In this field put:

{publisher}

And press the OK button to save the changes.

With these options, the driver will update the metadata in the database on a Kobo device each time it is connected. Unfortunately, it cannot do this when you first send the book to the device. You need to disconnect the device, let it import the new books and then reconnect it. Calibre will do the metadata updates and when you disconnect it, the publisher will be shown in the list for each book. It will be shown like:

Book title
Publisher
SERIES NAME 1
Author

Again, the publisher will be shown for all books. Not ideal, but, personally I'd prefer it to having the publisher in the title.

Both of those are examples of what could be done. Exactly what the best thing to use is up to you. Maybe the publisher plus the published date for the book might be better.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by jxall

Isn't it strange that Calibre doesn't show the usual pop-up window to ask me what should I do with these specific duplicates?

When adding books calibre checks the Titles (case insensitive), maybe the Titles are not quite the same - an aigu v a grave accent, an apostrophe v a quote, but . . ..

Or maybe one of the books was 'added' via a Copy to Library operation, I don't think calibre checks for duplicates in that case.

As I said I can't speak to the Kobo side of the equation.

BR

[PeterT]

Originally Posted by davidfor

Not sure what you mean here. Calibre has options about what to do with duplicate books, but they only used when adding the book to the library. And maybe when you rename a book. Nothing is done when sending a book to a device.





The problem is probably in the save template you use in the driver. it is probably producing the same file name for both books in the pair. When they are sent to the device, the second one replaces the first one. Hence, only one book there when you disconnect.



The default save template looks like:

{author_sort}/{title} - {authors}

You could change this to include whatever is elsewhere in the metadata of the books that make them unique. For example, to use the publisher, the save template could be:

{author_sort}/{title} - {publisher} - {authors}

That only affects the file name on the device. The title and author will still be shown as whatever is in the library. The publisher should be seen in the details of the book. If you want to see the publisher in the library list, you can use a metadata plugboard to set the title when sending the book to the device. This could be:

{title} - {publisher}

Unfortunately, that would put the publisher at the end of the title of all books, not just the books with multiple editions. Another way, would be to use the subtitle field on the device. This is done via the driver configuration. On the "Metadata, on device & advanced" tab, make sure that "Update metadata on the device" is checked, then check the "Subtitle" option. The template field will be enabled. In this field put:

{publisher}

And press the OK button to save the changes.



With these options, the driver will update the metadata in the database on a Kobo device each time it is connected. Unfortunately, it cannot do this when you first send the book to the device. You need to disconnect the device, let it import the new books and then reconnect it. Calibre will do the metadata updates and when you disconnect it, the publisher will be shown in the list for each book. It will be shown like:

Book title

Publisher

SERIES NAME 1

Author

Again, the publisher will be shown for all books. Not ideal, but, personally I'd prefer it to having the publisher in the title.



Both of those are examples of what could be done. Exactly what the best thing to use is up to you. Maybe the publisher plus the published date for the book might be better.

I wonder if you could add the book's I'd number from calibre to the template?

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by PeterT

I wonder if you could add the book's I'd number from calibre to the template?

Using the id in the template would be almost guaranteed to be unique. It would only be a problem if someone was using multiple libraries and had the same book as exactly the same id. Which I probably have as I have copied a library to another location and then used it.

The save template could be something like:

{author_sort}/{title} - {authors} - {id}

[jxall]

Originally Posted by davidfor

Not sure what you mean here. Calibre has options about what to do with duplicate books, but they only used when adding the book to the library. And maybe when you rename a book. Nothing is done when sending a book to a device.


The problem is probably in the save template you use in the driver. it is probably producing the same file name for both books in the pair. When they are sent to the device, the second one replaces the first one. Hence, only one book there when you disconnect.

Spot on! Thanks a lot to you and the rest of the users as well!
I was indeed wrong when I wrote that Calibre notified me in case I was uploading duplicate books to the device: like you say, Calibre only sends pop-up notifications when I add ebooks with the same title to the library. You'll have to excuse me as I am in the middle of a learning curve, because I got my first ereader only ten days ago.

Now, I didn't try it in person but I am convinced that editing the template in KoboTouchExtended definitely does the trick I needed.

The only reason why I won't edit the save template is that I already have one thousand KEPUBs with related reading stats and highlights loaded on my device, and I'm afraid to upset the future syncs in case I have to re-send the whole Calibre library to Kobo (the future saving directories will differ from the current ones and they could lead to duplicates and other headaches).

It's a real pity that 'publisher' or 'id' fields are not in KoboUtilities save template by default. In my current situation I don't have other choice but to go on and repeat BetterRed's effective and innocuous trick if this rare instance happens again in the future.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by jxall

It's a real pity that 'publisher' or 'id' fields are not in KoboUtilities save template by default. In my current situation I don't have other choice but to go on and repeat BetterRed's effective and innocuous trick if this rare instance happens again in the future.

Most people have no need for publisher or id in the filename when sending to the device. Most people would just pick one of those two books to read and not bother with the other one. I know I would not be wanting to load both books on my H2O. I'd only want one of them.

That's where customization comes in. You can customize for your needs and anyone that doesn't have more specific needs can leave things be.

[mbovenka]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

Or maybe one of the books was 'added' via a Copy to Library operation, I don't think calibre checks for duplicates in that case.

Yes, it does.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by mbovenka

Yes, it does.

Calibre does not check for duplicates on the Reader.