Apologies for noob question.

Yoji · 02-20-2025, 10:25 AM

Apologies.. you all probably sick of this question... but everything I have read says it should work.. but does not for me.. so here goes (and go easy on me.. its my wifes kindle.. I am no expert).

So wife has paperwhite 11th generation (circa 2022).. in UK..
its on latest firmware .. 5.17.1.0.3(4351900007)
And using Calibre 7.26

So I read the popup when opening calibre.. and when I look at a book in library.. it shows the book cover perfectly..
When I look in device (in Calibre) it shows the book.. but cover is blank/generic.
So I did as the Calibre pop up says.. and disconnected.. and then reconnected and it did not correct automatically.. so I selected a random book in the device level... and pressed the "update the metadata" option in the device options.. and the book cover flashed up correctly.. but then was immediately blanked out again, so it looks like its the kindle itself blanking it (i.e. not something it does when online, I was in airplane mode for the tests).
No amount of connecting/disconnecting/reconnecting seems to fix it.
( I should say.. I only viewing in Calibre.. I dare not mess in the kindle itself.. if I lose my wifes place, she will kill me, and she complains its hard enough to manage at the best of times).

So is this the current state of play and it the same for everyone? or am I doing something wrong? If so, anyone have a nice clear and simple description of how to fix?

And on that (and just seeing the rumours of amazon removing the upload via USB option).. any recommendations re..."Dont be online.. ever, to make sure Amazon dont mess it up any more?"? I would be quite happy to do that and just download book manually for my wife if needs be..so whats "best practice"

Thanks in advance for your indulgance and sage advice.

ownedbycats · 02-20-2025, 01:18 PM

https://manual.calibre-ebook.com/faq...-generic-cover

Yoji · 02-20-2025, 01:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

https://manual.calibre-ebook.com/faq...-generic-cover

Thanks.. but you clearly did not read my post..
I seem to have done all it says in your link.. and as I said.. it not working..
So please recheck and advise
Thanks in advance.

Sirtel · 02-20-2025, 02:42 PM

Is the book a direct download from Amazon or loaded from Calibre?

Yoji · 02-20-2025, 03:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Is the book a direct download from Amazon or loaded from Calibre?

External file.. imported into Caibre via USB cable as a MOBI (the one I was testing).

Sirtel · 02-20-2025, 04:20 PM

And it has no cover on the Kindle? If that's the case, remove the book from the Kindle, convert it again to MOBI and set it to PDOC instead of EBOK in the conversion settings.

Yoji · 02-20-2025, 04:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sirtel

And it has no cover on the Kindle? If that's the case, remove the book from the Kindle, convert it again to MOBI and set it to PDOC instead of EBOK in the conversion settings.

Sorry (as I said, I am no expert).. as I said, its already a MOBI, there was no conversion, it was downloaded as a MOBI.. and just transfered to the Kindle..
The Calibre library shows the book cover just fine (does that not suggest it has all the info/metadata required?)..

I will ask my wife to leave the Kindle in a state where I can see the books on the kindle itself.. and just double check which covers are actually showing (may be its the device view in Calibre thats wrong?) and confirm, before we go too deep down this rabbit hole.
But I would say/ask... I am just a normal user.. so whats going on/wrong to require converting a file thats already a MOBI... and change to PDOC instead of EBOK? If I recall some of the support threads I read ... a PDOC will mean its classified as a personal doc and so will not appear in book lists etc.... thats not what my wife will want.. and sounds like a kludge solution...
What all the official info seems to say... you just need reconnect and it will be sorted?
So has something changed?.. such that official fixes are no longer working?

May be someone who knows what they are doing can test.. just hearing someone with same/similar setup saying its all working fine and I must be an idiot would be helpful.

Sirtel · 02-20-2025, 05:26 PM

Yes, Amazon has changed the way book covers show or not. Years ago, a sideloaded book had to be marked as EBOK for the cover to show; now it has to be marked as PDOC. If you downloaded it from the internet, chances are it's marked as EBOK and that's why you'd need to reconvert.

Yoji · 02-20-2025, 05:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Yes, Amazon has changed the way book covers show or not. Years ago, a sideloaded book had to be marked as EBOK for the cover to show; now it has to be marked as PDOC. If you downloaded it from the internet, chances are it's marked as EBOK and that's why you'd need to reconvert.

Your advice does not fit with the Calibre support docs
https://manual.calibre-ebook.com/faq...-generic-cover
Is that info wrong/out of date and needs updating? There is no mention of the source of the file being relevant.. i.e. it seems relevant for any file.
The other similar topics for kindle colorsoft or kindle on PC do seem to support the situation you describe..

So Calibre has not found a way to create/convert to a ebook format that can be used on a Kindle e-ink like mine and not exhibit this problem? if I use any other format (EPUB) that the same? or ... DO I have any options? or stuck with personal docs or no book covers?

Sirtel · 02-20-2025, 06:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yoji

Your advice does not fit with the Calibre support docs
https://manual.calibre-ebook.com/faq...-generic-cover
Is that info wrong/out of date and needs updating? There is no mention of the source of the file being relevant.. i.e. it seems relevant for any file.
The other similar topics for kindle colorsoft or kindle on PC do seem to support the situation you describe..

So Calibre has not found a way to create/convert to a ebook format that can be used on a Kindle e-ink like mine and not exhibit this problem? if I use any other format (EPUB) that the same? or ... DO I have any options? or stuck with personal docs or no book covers?

That piece in the support docs is more than 10 years old. Amazon has changed many things since then.

It's simple: the book needs to be tagged as PDOC. Format doesn't matter; you can convert to KFX, but you'll still need the PDOC tag. And Kindles cannot read the EPUB format (Amazon will convert an epub to a Kindle format if you email it).

If you don't want the PDOC tag, but want the cover, you should use some other ereader, not a Kindle.

Dal Bhat · 02-20-2025, 07:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sirtel

but you'll still need the PDOC tag.

Where do you see that a book has this?

Sirtel · 02-20-2025, 07:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dal Bhat

Where do you see that a book has this?

With the Quality Check plugin (Check Mobi -> check missing EBOK cdetype). There are probably other ways too.

Yoji · 02-21-2025, 08:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sirtel

That piece in the support docs is more than 10 years old. Amazon has changed many things since then.

It's simple: the book needs to be tagged as PDOC. Format doesn't matter; you can convert to KFX, but you'll still need the PDOC tag. And Kindles cannot read the EPUB format (Amazon will convert an epub to a Kindle format if you email it).

If you don't want the PDOC tag, but want the cover, you should use some other ereader, not a Kindle.

OK.. well thats interesting..
Firstly.. the 7.26 message that pops up says..
"Amazon has broken display of covers for books sent to the kindle by USB cable. To workaround it, you have to either keep your kindle in airplane mode or:
1. Send the books to kindle
2. Disconnect the kindle and wait for the covers to be deleted by Amazon
3 reconnect the kindle and calibre will restore tyhe covers.
After this the covers for those books should stay put Click here for details."

The "Click here" links to exactly the article I linked you above.. that you say is 10 years old... but if linked in 7.26, surely we can expect it to be current?

Anyway - the interesting bit, is that I got mad.. and nuked all books on my wifes Kindle (Nuke = copied them all to her Calibre library, then deleted all from her device).
I then readded just the 12 books she not read, by copying back from Calibre library to her device by USB cable.
But now... the book covers are remaining in place for the MOBI books I downloaded to start this whole thread... they are not being removed. Her Kindle is not in airplane mode... it is connected to wireless..
Its been 20 mins and they still there... be interesting to see if they stay long term.
But from the current advice above... it looks like its now working.
I made no changes to Calibre config.. so books are showing as books.
I have no idea what has changed to mean the advice seems to be working now.
But does look like the "It's simple: the book needs to be tagged as PDOC. Format doesn't matter" is bogus.

Will post back if covers disappear again.

Sirtel · 02-21-2025, 08:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yoji

But does look like the "It's simple: the book needs to be tagged as PDOC. Format doesn't matter" is bogus.

It's not bogus; it has been reported by several Kindle users. But maybe it only applies to MTP Kindles then (which the PW5 is not). Amazon is constantly playing games with sideloaded books, so it's not always easy to know which of their changes apply to which device.

Quoth · 02-21-2025, 08:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sirtel

It's not bogus; it has been reported by several Kindle users. But maybe it only applies to MTP Kindles then (which the PW5 is not). Amazon is constantly playing games with sideloaded books, so it's not always easy to know which of their changes apply to which device.

Technically Amazon are breaking the law in some countries by interfering with bought or PD content or 3rd party loans on a privately owned computing device.

If you or I did it, we'd be prosecuted.

I'm not sure that even how KU loans works is legal everywhere. It's certainly an immoral invasion of privacy and it doesn't need to work like that. Their own lack of checking content for KU was an invitation to scammers. No title should be on KU without human review and higher quality standards than regular Kindle, and Amazon KU should be like other libraries, having to buy a copy for each simultaneous loan.

So though I still have 4 Kindle readers, I won't buy another and only read on Kobo ereader (not app), or non-Kindle app on Android.

02-20-2025, 10:25 AM	#1
Yoji Junior Member Posts: 6 Karma: 10 Join Date: Feb 2025 Device: Kindle Paperwhite 11	Apologies for noob question. Apologies.. you all probably sick of this question... but everything I have read says it should work.. but does not for me.. so here goes (and go easy on me.. its my wifes kindle.. I am no expert). So wife has paperwhite 11th generation (circa 2022).. in UK.. its on latest firmware .. 5.17.1.0.3(4351900007) And using Calibre 7.26 So I read the popup when opening calibre.. and when I look at a book in library.. it shows the book cover perfectly.. When I look in device (in Calibre) it shows the book.. but cover is blank/generic. So I did as the Calibre pop up says.. and disconnected.. and then reconnected and it did not correct automatically.. so I selected a random book in the device level... and pressed the "update the metadata" option in the device options.. and the book cover flashed up correctly.. but then was immediately blanked out again, so it looks like its the kindle itself blanking it (i.e. not something it does when online, I was in airplane mode for the tests). No amount of connecting/disconnecting/reconnecting seems to fix it. ( I should say.. I only viewing in Calibre.. I dare not mess in the kindle itself.. if I lose my wifes place, she will kill me, and she complains its hard enough to manage at the best of times). So is this the current state of play and it the same for everyone? or am I doing something wrong? If so, anyone have a nice clear and simple description of how to fix? And on that (and just seeing the rumours of amazon removing the upload via USB option).. any recommendations re..."Dont be online.. ever, to make sure Amazon dont mess it up any more?"? I would be quite happy to do that and just download book manually for my wife if needs be..so whats "best practice" Thanks in advance for your indulgance and sage advice.

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02-20-2025, 01:18 PM	#2
ownedbycats Custom User Title Posts: 10,942 Karma: 74999999 Join Date: Oct 2018 Location: Canada Device: Kobo Libra H2O, formerly Aura HD	https://manual.calibre-ebook.com/faq...-generic-cover

02-20-2025, 02:42 PM	#4
Sirtel Grand Sorcerer Posts: 13,430 Karma: 239219453 Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: Estonia Device: Kobo Sage & Libra 2	Is the book a direct download from Amazon or loaded from Calibre?

02-20-2025, 04:20 PM	#6
Sirtel Grand Sorcerer Posts: 13,430 Karma: 239219453 Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: Estonia Device: Kobo Sage & Libra 2	And it has no cover on the Kindle? If that's the case, remove the book from the Kindle, convert it again to MOBI and set it to PDOC instead of EBOK in the conversion settings.

02-20-2025, 05:26 PM	#8
Sirtel Grand Sorcerer Posts: 13,430 Karma: 239219453 Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: Estonia Device: Kobo Sage & Libra 2	Yes, Amazon has changed the way book covers show or not. Years ago, a sideloaded book had to be marked as EBOK for the cover to show; now it has to be marked as PDOC. If you downloaded it from the internet, chances are it's marked as EBOK and that's why you'd need to reconvert.

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