Calibre is no longer showing the On Device status for existing series on my Kindle

fogice · 10-31-2024, 10:36 AM

I've been doing this for years, but suddenly it isn't working properly. I've recently updated to the latest Calibre and MacOS.

In the past, if I transfered a book (e.g., The Twin Towers, book 2 of LOTR) and I looked at the Device view in Calibre, the Title would display as "The Twin Towers". Today, the Title in Calibre's Device view is "LOTR 02: The Twin Towers" (the display title as modified by my plugboard). Because of this, it doesn't match the Title in the Library, and therefore On Device is left unchecked.

Stranger still, I transfered a new book in a series today, and the Title and On Device worked properly. I quit and rebooted everything, and the old books are still wrong and the new books are still correct. On the Kindle in the Library view, both old and new Series properly display all titles in the style of "LOTR 02: The Twin Towers".

Any suggestions for a fix to this (other than retransferring hundreds of books)?

Calibre 7.20 on MacOS 15.1
Kindle Paperwhite 10th generation
Firmware 5.16.21 (4289730037)

ownedbycats · 10-31-2024, 11:47 AM

There's a file, I believe it's called something along the lines of metadata.calibre, that's kept on your device and Calibre uses it to keep track of books on device and their corresponding books in library. If it got deleted or damaged Calibre loses track of the previous matches.

It's possible to re-match them without resending to device. Go to device view and it'll be in the book context menu there. I'm afraid there's no real way to automate this that I'm aware of though.

theducks · 10-31-2024, 01:06 PM

I think that if that file is missing, Calibre does a full rescan (can take time on devices with large storage systems)

fogice · 10-31-2024, 02:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by theducks

I think that if that file is missing, Calibre does a full rescan (can take time on devices with large storage systems)

I suspect that this happened; it took a long time to connect the first time I plugged in today. Is ownedbycats correct that this would have to be a manual process to repair?

ownedbycats · 10-31-2024, 03:02 PM

Did any of the other books successfully match? Your post made it sound like it was only the plugboard books that failed to match, which follows my experience - the title and author has to be identical for an automatch (so it tends to stumble on books with multiple authors or those with additional fluff in the titles).

theducks · 10-31-2024, 03:04 PM

The rebuild, of a missing metadata.calibre IS the action.
If that is not working, the books themselves may be corrupted.

fogice · 10-31-2024, 03:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Did any of the other books successfully match? Your post made it sound like it was only the plugboard books that failed to match, which follows my experience - the title and author has to be identical for an automatch (so it tends to stumble on books with multiple authors or those with additional fluff in the titles).

It looks like all of the standalone books match, while all of the plugboard series books don't match. The rebuild grabbed the modified titles and so Calibre doesn't match them.

Quote:

Originally Posted by theducks

The rebuild, of a missing metadata.calibre IS the action.
If that is not working, the books themselves may be corrupted.

I don't think they are corrupted, they just don't match. It would be weird for all the series, and only the series, to get corrupted. Do you think a second rebuild could help? And if so, how do I trigger it?

I also noticed that there's a newer firmware available. I don't know if that might make everything worse

ownedbycats · 10-31-2024, 03:32 PM

Unless updating the firmware would delete the file again, it probably wouldn't have any effect.

Just go to device view and use the option in the book's context menus to match to library.

JSWolf · 10-31-2024, 07:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fogice

It looks like all of the standalone books match, while all of the plugboard series books don't match. The rebuild grabbed the modified titles and so Calibre doesn't match them.

I don't think they are corrupted, they just don't match. It would be weird for all the series, and only the series, to get corrupted. Do you think a second rebuild could help? And if so, how do I trigger it?

I also noticed that there's a newer firmware available. I don't know if that might make everything worse

Does the metadata match what calibre has in the library?Maybe the plugboard changed something that is causing the eBooks not to match.

ownedbycats · 10-31-2024, 07:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Does the metadata match what calibre has in the library?Maybe the plugboard changed something that is causing the eBooks not to match.

That's my guess — the plugboard changed the title and Calibre can't automatch that after losing the metadata.calibre.

fogice · 11-01-2024, 09:45 AM

Yeah, I'm thinking it worked like this:

When you plug a Kindle into Calibre the first time, it creates metadata.calibre on the device. Metadata.calibre has two fields, which I'll call realtitle and displaytitle. Both get filled with the same thing from the Kindle, which only has one field, kindletitle.

On future connects, Calibre writes realtitle as the Title field from Calibre, and displaytitle as the plugboard revised title.

When metadata.calibre is corrupted and needs to be recreated, it grabs kindletitle and puts that into both realtitle and displaytitle. That works great, unless plugboard has changed kindletitle, in which case the connection to the file in Calibre gets lost.

Unfortunately, the Match Book to Library operation has to be done manually one by one. This will be tedious.

ownedbycats · 11-01-2024, 11:51 AM

Yeah, unfortunately there isn't any real way to speed up that process. If it was a Kobo, it might be easier to re-send them with the 'don't treat replacements as new books' enabled. But I don't know if something like that exists on Kindle and losing all the reading positions would be annoying.

10-31-2024, 10:36 AM	#1
fogice Addict Posts: 254 Karma: 49504 Join Date: May 2014 Device: Kobo Libra 2	Calibre is no longer showing the On Device status for existing series on my Kindle I've been doing this for years, but suddenly it isn't working properly. I've recently updated to the latest Calibre and MacOS. In the past, if I transfered a book (e.g., The Twin Towers, book 2 of LOTR) and I looked at the Device view in Calibre, the Title would display as "The Twin Towers". Today, the Title in Calibre's Device view is "LOTR 02: The Twin Towers" (the display title as modified by my plugboard). Because of this, it doesn't match the Title in the Library, and therefore On Device is left unchecked. Stranger still, I transfered a new book in a series today, and the Title and On Device worked properly. I quit and rebooted everything, and the old books are still wrong and the new books are still correct. On the Kindle in the Library view, both old and new Series properly display all titles in the style of "LOTR 02: The Twin Towers". Any suggestions for a fix to this (other than retransferring hundreds of books)? Calibre 7.20 on MacOS 15.1 Kindle Paperwhite 10th generation Firmware 5.16.21 (4289730037)

10-31-2024, 11:47 AM	#2
ownedbycats Custom User Title Posts: 10,969 Karma: 75337983 Join Date: Oct 2018 Location: Canada Device: Kobo Libra H2O, formerly Aura HD	There's a file, I believe it's called something along the lines of metadata.calibre, that's kept on your device and Calibre uses it to keep track of books on device and their corresponding books in library. If it got deleted or damaged Calibre loses track of the previous matches. It's possible to re-match them without resending to device. Go to device view and it'll be in the book context menu there. I'm afraid there's no real way to automate this that I'm aware of though. Last edited by ownedbycats; 10-31-2024 at 12:26 PM.

10-31-2024, 03:02 PM	#5
ownedbycats Custom User Title Posts: 10,969 Karma: 75337983 Join Date: Oct 2018 Location: Canada Device: Kobo Libra H2O, formerly Aura HD	Did any of the other books successfully match? Your post made it sound like it was only the plugboard books that failed to match, which follows my experience - the title and author has to be identical for an automatch (so it tends to stumble on books with multiple authors or those with additional fluff in the titles). Last edited by ownedbycats; 10-31-2024 at 03:06 PM.

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10-31-2024, 01:06 PM	#3
theducks Well trained by Cats Posts: 31,047 Karma: 60358908 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: The Central Coast of California Device: Kobo Libra2,Kobo Aura2v1, K4NT(Fixed: New Bat.), Galaxy Tab A	I think that if that file is missing, Calibre does a full rescan (can take time on devices with large storage systems)

10-31-2024, 03:04 PM	#6
theducks Well trained by Cats Posts: 31,047 Karma: 60358908 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: The Central Coast of California Device: Kobo Libra2,Kobo Aura2v1, K4NT(Fixed: New Bat.), Galaxy Tab A	The rebuild, of a missing metadata.calibre IS the action. If that is not working, the books themselves may be corrupted.

10-31-2024, 03:32 PM	#8
ownedbycats Custom User Title Posts: 10,969 Karma: 75337983 Join Date: Oct 2018 Location: Canada Device: Kobo Libra H2O, formerly Aura HD	Unless updating the firmware would delete the file again, it probably wouldn't have any effect. Just go to device view and use the option in the book's context menus to match to library.

11-01-2024, 09:45 AM	#11
fogice Addict Posts: 254 Karma: 49504 Join Date: May 2014 Device: Kobo Libra 2	Yeah, I'm thinking it worked like this: When you plug a Kindle into Calibre the first time, it creates metadata.calibre on the device. Metadata.calibre has two fields, which I'll call realtitle and displaytitle. Both get filled with the same thing from the Kindle, which only has one field, kindletitle. On future connects, Calibre writes realtitle as the Title field from Calibre, and displaytitle as the plugboard revised title. When metadata.calibre is corrupted and needs to be recreated, it grabs kindletitle and puts that into both realtitle and displaytitle. That works great, unless plugboard has changed kindletitle, in which case the connection to the file in Calibre gets lost. Unfortunately, the Match Book to Library operation has to be done manually one by one. This will be tedious.

11-01-2024, 11:51 AM	#12
ownedbycats Custom User Title Posts: 10,969 Karma: 75337983 Join Date: Oct 2018 Location: Canada Device: Kobo Libra H2O, formerly Aura HD	Yeah, unfortunately there isn't any real way to speed up that process. If it was a Kobo, it might be easier to re-send them with the 'don't treat replacements as new books' enabled. But I don't know if something like that exists on Kindle and losing all the reading positions would be annoying.

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