Best practices for sideloading all books from Calibre, even ones bought from Kobo?

[rosalita]

Whew, this got really long, so apologies in advance and thanks to anyone who reads all the way to the end:

I've owned a Kobo e-reader since 2011 and currently own a GloHD and a Forma. I acquired the majority of my books from Kobo, and until now I've downloaded them from the device or through sync shortly after purchasing. The rest have been sideloaded using Calibre, and that always works smoothly.

Now that I've got a new iMac and can use the current version of Calibre, I've been more focused about making sure all of my ebooks are in Calibre, if only as a backup in case they disappear from the Kindle or Kobo storefronts (this has happened to a couple of books for me, though nothing I paid money for). But the other reason I'd like to exclusively use Calibre to move books on and off my Kobos is the superior series handling.

So ... I downloaded every one of my 500+ books from my Kobo account, and imported them into Calibre. I set the series information as appropriate, and transferred a subset back to my Kobo. Everything worked beautifully, EXCEPT I still have multiple listings for the same series with slightly different names (this happens with Kobo-purchased books because they are not consistent in how they name series, or perhaps because books are coming from different publishers who have different naming conventions for the same series).

I am guessing I need to wipe off everything that was downloaded from Kobo in order to start with a clean slate and then only load books from Calibre. If so, what's the best way to do that? And how do I keep Kobo from automatically downloading new purchases? I don't want to turn off wifi because I use Overdrive on my Forma.

Thanks for whatever advice you can give me!

[rashkae]

Oof,, tricky question, frankly, I would create a new account for Overdrive, (will need a new e-mail address, but that should be easy,), and register my kobo with the new account, but keep buying book sin the old account, used exclusively wit whatever software you strip drm with.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by rosalita

Whew, this got really long, so apologies in advance and thanks to anyone who reads all the way to the end:

I've owned a Kobo e-reader since 2011 and currently own a GloHD and a Forma. I acquired the majority of my books from Kobo, and until now I've downloaded them from the device or through sync shortly after purchasing. The rest have been sideloaded using Calibre, and that always works smoothly.

Now that I've got a new iMac and can use the current version of Calibre, I've been more focused about making sure all of my ebooks are in Calibre, if only as a backup in case they disappear from the Kindle or Kobo storefronts (this has happened to a couple of books for me, though nothing I paid money for). But the other reason I'd like to exclusively use Calibre to move books on and off my Kobos is the superior series handling.

So ... I downloaded every one of my 500+ books from my Kobo account, and imported them into Calibre. I set the series information as appropriate, and transferred a subset back to my Kobo. Everything worked beautifully, EXCEPT I still have multiple listings for the same series with slightly different names (this happens with Kobo-purchased books because they are not consistent in how they name series, or perhaps because books are coming from different publishers who have different naming conventions for the same series).

I am guessing I need to wipe off everything that was downloaded from Kobo in order to start with a clean slate and then only load books from Calibre. If so, what's the best way to do that? And how do I keep Kobo from automatically downloading new purchases? I don't want to turn off wifi because I use Overdrive on my Forma.

Thanks for whatever advice you can give me!

Start off by downloading all of your Kobo eBooks in ePub. That's the best place to start. Then make sure you have installed the DeDRM plugin from Apprentice Alf's blog. Then create a new library and load all of your ePub. Any that need the DRM removed will have the DRM removed. Then you can make sure the series is correct by editing the metadata. Then when you send your eBooks to your Kobo, you'll have the correct series information, title, and author(s).

It's not difficult and once done, you'll be able to have DRM free eBooks.

[rosalita]

Originally Posted by rashkae

Oof,, tricky question, frankly, I would create a new account for Overdrive, (will need a new e-mail address, but that should be easy,), and register my kobo with the new account, but keep buying book sin the old account, used exclusively wit whatever software you strip drm with.

It might come to that but I'd like to avoid losing my circulation history inOverdrive if possible. Not to mention my place in line on the books For which I've placed holds. I'd also have to create a new email account just for that, which also doesn't thrill me.

[rosalita]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Start off by downloading all of your Kobo eBooks in ePub. That's the best place to start. Then make sure you have installed the DeDRM plugin from Apprentice Alf's blog. Then create a new library and load all of your ePub. Any that need the DRM removed will have the DRM removed. Then you can make sure the series is correct by editing the metadata. Then when you send your eBooks to your Kobo, you'll have the correct series information, title, and author(s).

It's not difficult and once done, you'll be able to have DRM free eBooks.

I've done all that, as I mentioned in my post, and it all works beautifully. The issue, which I probably didn't explain clearly, is that the books on my devices that were already downloaded from Kobo retain the incorrect series info. I'm also wondering how to avoid having purchased books download automatically when my device syncs, since I'm now going to be sideloading everything.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by rosalita

I've done all that, as I mentioned in my post, and it all works beautifully. The issue, which I probably didn't explain clearly, is that the books on my devices that were already downloaded from Kobo retain the incorrect series info. I'm also wondering how to avoid having purchased books download automatically when my device syncs, since I'm now going to be sideloading everything.

You can try moving the books to your archive on the Kobo site. It's a pain since the capability to move multiple books was removed a while back.

[rosalita]

Originally Posted by DNSB

You can try moving the books to your archive on the Kobo site. It's a pain since the capability to move multiple books was removed a while back.

Oh, I hadn't thought of the archive — that's a definite possibility. Moving them one by one will be a pain but perhaps I can do them in sessions while I'm waiting on hold on the phone, or doing Zoom staff meetings when I don't have my camera turned on,

That won't solve the problem of new books automatically syncing to my devices unless I remember to immediately move them into the archive as soon as I buy one. And if an occasional books slips through ... well, I don't buy that many* books so I should be able to keep on top of them.

* I know, sounds funny to say that after noting I have 500+ in my Kobo library! But since I only buy when they are on sale, there are long stretches when I'm not buying anything.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by rosalita

Oh, I hadn't thought of the archive — that's a definite possibility. Moving them one by one will be a pain but perhaps I can do them in sessions while I'm waiting on hold on the phone, or doing Zoom staff meetings when I don't have my camera turned on,

That won't solve the problem of new books automatically syncing to my devices unless I remember to immediately move them into the archive as soon as I buy one. And if an occasional books slips through ... well, I don't buy that many* books so I should be able to keep on top of them.

* I know, sounds funny to say that after noting I have 500+ in my Kobo library! But since I only buy when they are on sale, there are long stretches when I'm not buying anything.

You can remove the books to the archive in bulk on the device. And letting them download to the device once is a good way to help to make sure you got them all.

If you really don't want the books downloaded from Kobo, then the simplest thing to do is to create a separate account for the device. Buy books using the current account, read sideloaded versions using a different account. Wanting to use Overdrive complicates it. But, the connection between the OD and Kobo account is not based on the email address. I think, but, have not tested, that if you sign into a new Kobo account on the device, and sign into your OD/Library account, the OD books will follow you to this account on the device.

[rosalita]

Originally Posted by davidfor

You can remove the books to the archive in bulk on the device. And letting them download to the device once is a good way to help to make sure you got them all.

If you really don't want the books downloaded from Kobo, then the simplest thing to do is to create a separate account for the device. Buy books using the current account, read sideloaded versions using a different account. Wanting to use Overdrive complicates it. But, the connection between the OD and Kobo account is not based on the email address. I think, but, have not tested, that if you sign into a new Kobo account on the device, and sign into your OD/Library account, the OD books will follow you to this account on the device.

Ah, I found the way to remove books to the archive in one fell swoop on my Forma — thanks for the tip as I had never explored that bulk-edit functionality before. That saved me lots and lots of time.

I may have to experiment with creating another Kobo account as you suggest and see if it does allow me to keep using my current Overdrive account. That would be the most elegant solution if it works.

Many thanks to everyone who contributed to helping me solve this problem. I've learned so much over the years from the knowledgeable folks in this forum. It's really increased my satisfaction with using my Kobo and also getting the most out of Calibre (still just scratching the surface there).

[Xenophon]

Originally Posted by rosalita

Ah, I found the way to remove books to the archive in one fell swoop on my Forma — thanks for the tip as I had never explored that bulk-edit functionality before. That saved me lots and lots of time.

Would you please enlighten a fellow Forma owner? Otherwise I'll have to poke around on the device, and will probably wind up crashing the Forma in one swell foop!

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Xenophon

Would you please enlighten a fellow Forma owner? Otherwise I'll have to poke around on the device, and will probably wind up crashing the Forma in one swell foop!

In the book lists, there is a menu button at the top right of the list. On that menu is "Manage books". That can do multiple select and remove the books. The list it shows is whatever books are in the list you were viewing.

[the.Mtn.Man]

Can you manage DRM encumbered files using Calibre? Of course you could always do a thing which must not be discussed, and then Calibre will be able to deal with the files just fine.