Side-loaded pdfs not displaying title, author, covers correctly in some cases on Kobo

Liudprand · 06-30-2022, 07:59 PM

It's basically all in the title.

I have quite a few side-loaded epub files, and if I run into these problems, they're generally fixable by converting from epub to mobi and back again (albeit not perhaps the most sophisticated solution!).

But I've just side-loaded a few pdfs onto my Kobo Libra 2, and have the following issues:

1. One or two books show what I guess were the original covers, not the ones I downloaded and added in the metadata.

2. Several of the books show completely wrong author and title information. In one case, the author is given as "Unknown" and the title is the ISBN-10 of the book in question - even though I can't find that in any of the metadata either via Calibre or via Windows Explorer.

To be clear: all details are correct when I view the books in Calibre - it's only when they arrive on the reader that everything goes south.

Obviously, there's no option with a pdf of using my favourite method of conversion to another format and then converting back again.

Any suggestions would be gratefully received...

davidfor · 06-30-2022, 11:15 PM

Honestly, this is probably working as designed. Or working as broken by the various parties involved, but, mainly Adobe.

But, just to check, by "all details are correct when I view the books in Calibre", do you mean when looking at the PDF book detail calibre? Or have you actually opened the book with a PDF viewer and checked it that way? I suspect the former.

The issue is the PDF format. Calibre cannot update all of the metadata in PDFs when sending them to the device. That means the title you see on the Kobo device is what was in the PDF when you added it to calibre. Opening the PDF on the PC will show this.

The same basically applies to cover. Except in that case, what Kobo is render the start of the PDF and take the first page as the cover. Calibre would have to rebuild the PDF to change this.

There are some workarounds. The KoboTouch driver can generate and send the cover to the Kobo device separately to the book. This will mean the device does not do the cover generation from the book. And the driver can also update the metadata for the book directly to the database. That means you need to send the book to the device, disconnect and let the device import the book and then connect again. At that point, the driver can update any metadata differences between the calibre library and what the device pulled from the book during the import. This will also update other metadata that the device does not read, such as the series information. If you don't want to do that automatically, my Kobo Utilities plugin has function to do both the cover updating and the metadata updates.

Liudprand · 07-01-2022, 10:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidfor

The KoboTouch driver can generate and send the cover to the Kobo device separately to the book. This will mean the device does not do the cover generation from the book. And the driver can also update the metadata for the book directly to the database. That means you need to send the book to the device, disconnect and let the device import the book and then connect again. At that point, the driver can update any metadata differences between the calibre library and what the device pulled from the book during the import. This will also update other metadata that the device does not read, such as the series information.

Thanks very much for this. So, I generally use the KoboTouch Extended driver. Does this mean that all I have to do is temporarily switch to the KoboTouch driver and then connect/disconnect the device, as you suggest, and it will automatically fix all metadata? Or is there some setting I have to change?

Liudprand · 07-01-2022, 11:14 AM

Actually, I've done exactly that, which seems to have resolved the issue.

Thanks again.

Liudprand · 07-01-2022, 11:16 AM

Correction: it didn't work for the covers, but it solved the issue with the author & title information.

davidfor · 07-01-2022, 10:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Liudprand

Thanks very much for this. So, I generally use the KoboTouch Extended driver. Does this mean that all I have to do is temporarily switch to the KoboTouch driver and then connect/disconnect the device, as you suggest, and it will automatically fix all metadata? Or is there some setting I have to change?

You don't need to switch. The hint is in the name, "extended". Most of the function in the extended driver is supplied by the KoboTouch driver. But, they are configured separately.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Liudprand

Actually, I've done exactly that, which seems to have resolved the issue.

Good.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Liudprand

Correction: it didn't work for the covers, but it solved the issue with the author & title information.

The drivers do not automatically update the covers. They are sent to the device when you send books to the device. And it does not update the book. It sets the images used in the UI including the sleep cover. If you want to update the covers for books already on the devices, you can use my Kobo Utilities plugin.

Liudprand · 07-06-2022, 02:38 PM

Thanks - hadn't spotted that option in Kobo Utilities...

06-30-2022, 07:59 PM	#1
Liudprand Zealot Posts: 133 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2021 Device: Kobo Libra 2	Side-loaded pdfs not displaying title, author, covers correctly in some cases on Kobo It's basically all in the title. I have quite a few side-loaded epub files, and if I run into these problems, they're generally fixable by converting from epub to mobi and back again (albeit not perhaps the most sophisticated solution!). But I've just side-loaded a few pdfs onto my Kobo Libra 2, and have the following issues: 1. One or two books show what I guess were the original covers, not the ones I downloaded and added in the metadata. 2. Several of the books show completely wrong author and title information. In one case, the author is given as "Unknown" and the title is the ISBN-10 of the book in question - even though I can't find that in any of the metadata either via Calibre or via Windows Explorer. To be clear: all details are correct when I view the books in Calibre - it's only when they arrive on the reader that everything goes south. Obviously, there's no option with a pdf of using my favourite method of conversion to another format and then converting back again. Any suggestions would be gratefully received...

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06-30-2022, 11:15 PM	#2
davidfor Grand Sorcerer Posts: 24,905 Karma: 47303824 Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Sydney, Australia Device: Kobo:Touch,Glo, AuraH2O, GloHD,AuraONE, ClaraHD, Libra H2O; tolinoepos	Honestly, this is probably working as designed. Or working as broken by the various parties involved, but, mainly Adobe. But, just to check, by "all details are correct when I view the books in Calibre", do you mean when looking at the PDF book detail calibre? Or have you actually opened the book with a PDF viewer and checked it that way? I suspect the former. The issue is the PDF format. Calibre cannot update all of the metadata in PDFs when sending them to the device. That means the title you see on the Kobo device is what was in the PDF when you added it to calibre. Opening the PDF on the PC will show this. The same basically applies to cover. Except in that case, what Kobo is render the start of the PDF and take the first page as the cover. Calibre would have to rebuild the PDF to change this. There are some workarounds. The KoboTouch driver can generate and send the cover to the Kobo device separately to the book. This will mean the device does not do the cover generation from the book. And the driver can also update the metadata for the book directly to the database. That means you need to send the book to the device, disconnect and let the device import the book and then connect again. At that point, the driver can update any metadata differences between the calibre library and what the device pulled from the book during the import. This will also update other metadata that the device does not read, such as the series information. If you don't want to do that automatically, my Kobo Utilities plugin has function to do both the cover updating and the metadata updates.

07-01-2022, 11:14 AM	#4
Liudprand Zealot Posts: 133 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2021 Device: Kobo Libra 2	Actually, I've done exactly that, which seems to have resolved the issue. Thanks again.

07-01-2022, 11:16 AM	#5
Liudprand Zealot Posts: 133 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2021 Device: Kobo Libra 2	Correction: it didn't work for the covers, but it solved the issue with the author & title information.

07-06-2022, 02:38 PM	#7
Liudprand Zealot Posts: 133 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2021 Device: Kobo Libra 2	Thanks - hadn't spotted that option in Kobo Utilities...

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