Download Books from Cloud

[Blackadder]

Sorry if this has been mentioned/discussed/answered before.

Father Christmas bought me a nice shiny Glo HD, was using the Sony PRS-650. It's all very exciting having a light and wifi and with that in mind I have a question.

If books are stored in a cloud service, box.com for example or Google Drive. Can you download them from there directly (via wifi) to the Kobo, instead of connecting to PC via USB.

[Cesca]

I tried downloading books from Dropbox and it worked, but I can't say I enjoyed the experience. You'll find the web browser in the Settings section of your Kobo. Give it a try. I've become a convert to Calibre on my Mac and prefer sideloading books by USB. It's faster.

[GeoffR]

Originally Posted by Blackadder

If books are stored in a cloud service, box.com for example or Google Drive. Can you download them from there directly (via wifi) to the Kobo, instead of connecting to PC via USB.

In general you can use the device's built-in web browser to download books, but the browser has some limitations and doesn't work with every website. To find out of it works with a particular website just try it.

With some sites there are some tricks you might need to make it work, for example I find with recent changes to dropbox I now need to switch from the mobile version to the desktop version to download books.

Also, be aware that there are some advantages to using the USB cable instead of wi-fi if you have Calibre. Although you can transfer via wi-fi using Calibre's content server, if you use the USB cable instead then Calibre has direct access to the device's database and can transfer better cover images, extra metadata such as series and index (on the next connection though, not at the same time as the book is sent.), and other things.

Edit: Here is a screenshot from my Glo showing two instances of the same book. The top one is what I get when downloading via wi-fi or by a simple copy over USB; the one at the bottom was loaded via USB with Calibre, using its ability to set the series/index metadata and send cover images.

[Blackadder]

Thanks for the quick replies.

I have tried the web browser but it's not great. I did wonder if this was the only way but rather hoped for something better.

Think I'll stick with USB, worked fine with the Sony so no big deal really.

[Blossom]

I've tried Google Drive and Box and could not get them to work. Dropbox is the only one that works and only in desktop mode. It's a pita to have to log in each time but at least it does work most of the time.

[Blackadder]

Originally Posted by GeoffR

In general you can use the device's built-in web browser to download books, but the browser has some limitations and doesn't work with every website. To find out of it works with a particular website just try it.

With some sites there are some tricks you might need to make it work, for example I find with recent changes to dropbox I now need to switch from the mobile version to the desktop version to download books.

Also, be aware that there are some advantages to using the USB cable instead of wi-fi if you have Calibre. Although you can transfer via wi-fi using Calibre's content server, if you use the USB cable instead then Calibre has direct access to the device's database and can transfer better cover images, extra metadata such as series and index (on the next connection though, not at the same time as the book is sent.), and other things.

Edit: Here is a screenshot from my Glo showing two instances of the same book. The top one is what I get when downloading via wi-fi or by a simple copy over USB; the one at the bottom was loaded via USB with Calibre, using its ability to set the series/index metadata and send cover images.

I'll carry on using Calibre, just need to figure out how to do the series and collections

[meeera]

Originally Posted by Blackadder

I'll carry on using Calibre, just need to figure out how to do the series and collections

There's a sticky post in this forum with a step-by-step.