Sideloading a book from the Kobo Store

[ownedbycats]

I have a poorly-formatted book from the Kobo Store. I fixed up my personal copy of the ePub.

However, in the past I recall having some sort of issue when I tried to overwrite the Kobo book with a sideloaded copy. It's been a few years so the details are fuzzy but I remember ending up with multiple copies of the book on the device, the book disappearing entirely when I tried to remove the phantom copies, then having to repair account to get it back. Also weird sync issues.

Has anybody else done this recently? If so, how does it work?

[Karellen]

Do you have the setting in the screenshot enabled...

[ownedbycats]

It's checked.

[MGlitch]

Also make sure the kobo store version is archived, you have to actually take steps that way to get it to resync to your device.

Since you don't, I presume, want to read the broken copy, only the good one, preventing the bad one being on the device would solve the problem.

[Sirtel]

I sideload everything, including my Kobo purchases. I just don't download anything directly and archive all my Kobo purchases to stop them from downloading automatically. Works like a charm, no issues.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

I sideload everything, including my Kobo purchases. I just don't download anything directly and archive all my Kobo purchases to stop them from downloading automatically. Works like a charm, no issues.

I do the same thing. I don't sync.

[shalym]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

I sideload everything, including my Kobo purchases. I just don't download anything directly and archive all my Kobo purchases to stop them from downloading automatically. Works like a charm, no issues.

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I do the same thing. I don't sync.

Since ownedbycats presumably *does* sync their books, are these responses truly helpful, or are you just making statements, and not trying to be helpful?

Shari

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by shalym

Since ownedbycats presumably *does* sync their books, are these responses truly helpful, or are you just making statements, and not trying to be helpful?

Shari

What works best is either syncing everything or sideloading everything. Mixing the two can be problematic, particularly if you try to do it with the same books. Your ereader will get confused almost inevitably, and there is no real cure other than to keep syncing and sideloading strictly apart.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

What works best is either syncing everything or sideloading everything. Mixing the two can be problematic, particularly if you try to do it with the same books. Your ereader will get confused almost inevitably, and there is no real cure other than to keep syncing and sideloading strictly apart.

Well said!

[ownedbycats]

That's what I was afraid of, lol.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

That's what I was afraid of, lol.

I'm curious, why is syncing so important to you? AFAIK you only read on one device (correct me if I'm wrong in that), so the most common reason for syncing is absent. Not wanting to bother with the USB transfer all the time? I can understand that, although in my case it's the other way around (I don't want to bother with wifi and syncing).

[John F]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

... Mixing the two can be problematic, particularly if you try to do it with the same books. Your ereader will get confused almost inevitably, and there is no real cure other than to keep syncing and sideloading strictly apart.

I don't recall any posts complaining about mixing sideloading and syncing for different books?

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by John F

I don't recall any posts complaining about mixing sideloading and syncing for different books?

Only the usual complaints about font size differences (as sideloaded books are usually epub). Which can be fixed with patching, of course. In the case of Kindles, there's the well known issue of coverless sideloaded books (which can be fixed with keeping your Kindle in the permanent airplane mode, but then you can't sync).

[ownedbycats]

Part of it is laziness and automatically downloading new books. Also marking books as 'read' when I'm looking in My Books on the Kobo Store.

Yes, I use the patch to fix the font size issue.

I'll try archiving my book and sideloading. Hopefully it'll work.

[JSWolf]

IMHO, if you do side load, it's best to download from Kobo as ePub. You then have the choice if you want ePub or KePub.

Also, you get to fix any incorrect metadata and make sure your series data is correct. You cannot do this if you sync.