Sync read status between library and Kobo?

[MrSumOne]

I set up a read column in Calibre and I have a Kobo Aura 2 that keeps track of when I have completed a book. Is there some way to sync the read status from my Calibre library to the Kobo and vice versa? Thanks.

[PeterT]

Check out the Kobo utilities plugin

Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk

[MrSumOne]

Originally Posted by PeterT

Check out the Kobo utilities plugin

The option "Change reading status in the device library" is greyed out. Do you know why?

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by MrSumOne

The option "Change reading status in the device library" is greyed out. Do you know why?

Where and when are you seeing that? If a Kobo device is connected and recognized by calibre, then that menu option should be enabled. You also need to be using either built-in KoboTouch driver or the KoboTouchExtended driver for this to happen. If you connect by some other method, it won't be enabled.

That might not be the function you want to use. That is a simplistic setting of the reading status for books on the device. When it opens, you will be given options to set the reading status to one of 'Read', 'Reading' or 'Unread'. This will set the status for all selected books to that status. And the time read will be set to now.

There is more complete function that can fetch the reading status from Kobo device and store them in the library. You can restore the status to the ereader or another with the same books on it. This needs to be configured in the plugin as it uses several custom columns for the status (last read date, percent read, reading location and status). The details for doing this are in the help in the plugin.

[MrSumOne]

Originally Posted by davidfor

Where and when are you seeing that?

In Calibre when I click on the drop down next to KoboUtilities. See image:

https://imgur.com/wIz6ga9

This is using the KoboTouchExtended driver.

As for the functionality I'm looking for, I sometimes have books that I've finished on the Kobo and want it to be marked finished in Calibre, or sometimes I have finished a book on my computer, Calibre marks it as complete, and I want my Kobo to also have it marked as finished. So I'm hoping I can have it sync both ways, but I'm happy with just having it one way if possible.

You mentioned the plugin options, having to configure them to use the columns that I made for my read status. How would I do that? I see in the plugin that there is a section for setting your custom columns, but it doesn't give me an option to select my read column. Is there some more configuration that I have to do?

Thanks for the reply.

[MrSumOne]

Just want to update. I found the thread here:

This seems to work quite nicely. Thank you.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by MrSumOne

In Calibre when I click on the drop down next to KoboUtilities. See image:

https://imgur.com/wIz6ga9

This is using the KoboTouchExtended driver.

That's a bit strange if the device is connected. There can be some timing involved.If you open it as the device is being recognised, you might have different options enabled. But, if all the device jobs have finished, it shouldn't look like that. I'll have a look to see if I can see what is happening.

As for the functionality I'm looking for, I sometimes have books that I've finished on the Kobo and want it to be marked finished in Calibre, or sometimes I have finished a book on my computer, Calibre marks it as complete, and I want my Kobo to also have it marked as finished. So I'm hoping I can have it sync both ways, but I'm happy with just having it one way if possible.

You mentioned the plugin options, having to configure them to use the columns that I made for my read status. How would I do that? I see in the plugin that there is a section for setting your custom columns, but it doesn't give me an option to select my read column. Is there some more configuration that I have to do?

Thanks for the reply.

Originally Posted by MrSumOne

Just want to update. I found the thread here:

This seems to work quite nicely. Thank you.

That's good. @PeterT does do a good job of explaining these things.

[MrSumOne]

Originally Posted by davidfor

That's a bit strange if the device is connected. There can be some timing involved.If you open it as the device is being recognised, you might have different options enabled. But, if all the device jobs have finished, it shouldn't look like that. I'll have a look to see if I can see what is happening.

Yeah, it's connected properly and no jobs running. Not sure why it's greyed out like in the picture.

Do you know if I can somehow make a column that is a Yes/No type built from other columns? Like when another column reaches 100% read percentage, it will change another column to yes? Is that even possible?

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by MrSumOne

Do you know if I can somehow make a column that is a Yes/No type built from other columns? Like when another column reaches 100% read percentage, it will change another column to yes? Is that even possible?

I don't remember if a column built from other columns can output like a Yes/No column. But, I don't think so. You can definitely produce a "Y" or an "N".

What are you trying to achieve? Is it visual? Do you want a green tick or something for read? If so, you can use a column icon added to a column to show this. I use something like this:


The column with the icons is my percent read column. It show the number when I am reading the book. When if is finished, it show the green tick and the number is hidden. And the open book means I am reading it. And the star means I plan to rate it on whatever site I want to rate it. I have other icons for a couple of other things. I think there are six, but, I don't think they will all show at the same time. The other column shown is a status. There is overlap with the percent read, but, it has other statuses not shown and is used to create collections on the device.

There are also column colours. With that you can set the text to a different colour based on values. At sometime I experimented with this and used different colours for the lengths of the books.

If it is a visual effect that you want, either of these could be used. If it is something else, it can probably be done, but, we need some information about it.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by davidfor

I don't remember if a column built from other columns can output like a Yes/No column. But, I don't think so. You can definitely produce a "Y" or an "N".

Composite columns that aren't tags-like have the option "Show checkmarks". It will also show the text. If you don't want the text then use column icons "Icon with no text" to show the checkmarks.

EDIT: Correction: if it shows a checkmark then it doesn't show the text.

[MrSumOne]

Originally Posted by davidfor

I use something like this:

Yes, that's what I'm looking for. How did you do it?

[davidfor]

Those are done using Column Icons. Which are set in the preferences, under Look & feel on the "Column icons" tab.

There you can create rules to set the icon. The rules can be simple or advanced.

The simple rules are created by selecting various options. For example, the green tick is from a rule that looks like:

Set the icon with no text of Kobo % Read to ok.png
if the following conditions are met:
 If the Kobo % Read column is equal to value: 100

That is done through the dialog and selecting the appropriate options.

The reading icon uses an advanced rule with code in it like:

program:
	test(
		or(
			and(
				cmp(field('#kobo_percent_read'), 0, '', '', 'Y'),
				cmp(field('#kobo_percent_read'), 100, 'Y', '', '')
			),
			str_in_list(field('#status'), ',', 'Reading', 'y', '')
			),
	'bookmarks.png',
	'')

That is in calibre's template code and is basically testing if the percent read is between 0 and 100 or the status column has the value "Reading" to use the icon "bookmark.png".

When creating the rules there are options for whether to include the columns text and whether to allow adding multiple columns. You need to play with them a bit to get the desired effects. I did this long enough ago that I don't remember exactly how the different combinations work.

[ownedbycats]

@davidfor: Where did you get the open book icon? I've tried a few, but had trouble finding one that scaled down without becoming unrecognizable.

[MrSumOne]

@davidfor Thank you very much, I will play around with that. Is there documentation somewhere for calibre scripting?

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by MrSumOne

Is there documentation somewhere for calibre scripting?

See Template language in Tutorial section of: https://manual.calibre-ebook.com/

BR