Clara HD Weird HomeScreen Tile Christmas Curse

[Chellebnz]

Hi all,


I have a very strange issue with my Kobo Clara and I apologise in advance for the long post.

Usually after viewing one of my “collections” such as “Thriller” for example and returning to the homescreen, a tile for that collection will have automatically generated on the homescreen.

However...

I recently decided to download 4 Christmas themed books (2 Kobo kepubs, 1 library book via overdrive and 1 sideloaded ePub).
So I created a new collection and named it “Christmas”. It shows up perfectly normal under my collections view, as well as on the kobo app on my iPhone after syncing.
But after viewing this collection on my Clara, upon returning to my homescreen there is just a blank white space where there would usually be a tile generated.

So...

I deleted the collection and then recreated it. Still no joy.
I deleted all 4 books and re downloaded them, adding them again to the “Christmas” collection. Still not generating a “Christmas” tile on my home screen. I deleted the collection on the Clara, synced the device and then created the collection on my iPhone via the kobo app and then synced it and my Clara again. Still nothing on homescreen after viewing it in the My Books list.
So it’s creating the collection ok. It’s syncing to kobo ok. It just won’t generate a homescreen tile/thumbnail for that particular collection.
I’ve also restarted the device and synced copious amounts.

Now it gets weirder...

If I add some other random books to the collection such as a thriller and a mystery, Lo and behold the “Christmas” collection shows on the homescreen.
As soon as I remove the extra books though it won’t show up again.

Also, if I rename the collection to something like “Thriller” but keep only the 4 Christmas books, AGAIN it suddenly shows on homescreen! As soon as I rename it back to Christmas or Christmas Stories or similar it won’t show up.

I am totally stumped. It’s as if the name of the collection itself is somehow cursed hahaha! It’s a Christmas curse!

But seriously, it’s doing my head in. Anyone had similar happen? Any ideas? All help very much appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Michelle

[Calenorn]

Is there a minimum number of books in a collection that will cause it to be included as a home screen tile?

[Chellebnz]

Originally Posted by Calenorn

Is there a minimum number of books in a collection that will cause it to be included as a home screen tile?

I’m not sure whether the minimum is 2 or 3 but I have one collection which only has one book so far and that definitely doesn’t show up on the homescreeen.

I have several collections which have only three books each and they all do show up.

So this Christmas collection with 4 books should definitely show based on that.

[JSWolf]

You can't have tiles on your Kobo Clara HD home screen as the earliest firmware the Clara came with is 4.8.11090 and 4.8 does not have tiles.

[jackie_w]

I have a vague memory that it might not be simply the number of books in the Collection that needs to be big enough but it's possibly the number of unread (i.e. unopened) books in that Collection that needs to be big enough.

Where 'big enough' is >3 (or is it >4???).

[Calenorn]

Originally Posted by jackie_w

I have a vague memory that it might not be simply the number of books in the Collection that needs to be big enough but it's possibly the number of unread (i.e. unopened) books in that Collection that needs to be big enough.

Where 'big enough' is >3 (or is it >4???).

Ooh! Then that's easy to test. Just change each book to 'unread' and see what happens!

[Chellebnz]

Originally Posted by jackie_w

I have a vague memory that it might not be simply the number of books in the Collection that needs to be big enough but it's possibly the number of unread (i.e. unopened) books in that Collection that needs to be big enough.

Where 'big enough' is >3 (or is it >4???).

WOW! THANK YOU! I just tested your theory.
Marked all 4 books as finished and the collection showed on the homescreen.
Then I marked all 4 books unread and the collection showed on the homescreen.
Then I started reading 1 book and the collection stopped showing on home screen so I marked another as finished and it’s shown up again on homescreen.

So it definitely seems to have something to do with the amount of unread books, or you have to have at least 1 finished for it to work properly.

I’m still not entirely sure what the exact combination is but thank you so much! 🥳☺️

Originally Posted by Calenorn

Ooh! Then that's easy to test. Just change each book to 'unread' and see what happens!

🙏🏻😁

[Chellebnz]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

You can't have tiles on your Kobo Clara HD home screen as the earliest firmware the Clara came with is 4.8.11090 and 4.8 does not have tiles.

I’m not sure I understand sorry... when I say “tiles” I just mean the blocks of books which show up under the currently reading list at the right hand side of “My Books” on the homescreen. It will show either a collection, an author or the Wishlist depending on what was accessed most recently.

[koboy]

Originally Posted by Chellebnz

I’m not sure I understand sorry... when I say “tiles” I just mean the blocks of books which show up under the currently reading list at the right hand side of “My Books” on the homescreen. It will show either a collection, an author or the Wishlist depending on what was accessed most recently.

the older firmware versions with the old style homescreen let you have multiple collections showing not just the last one you accessed. the old firmware's don't/won't work on the newer devices like your Clara HD.

best wishes koboy

[MGlitch]

Originally Posted by Chellebnz

I’m not sure I understand sorry... when I say “tiles” I just mean the blocks of books which show up under the currently reading list at the right hand side of “My Books” on the homescreen. It will show either a collection, an author or the Wishlist depending on what was accessed most recently.

Don't mind Jon he gets overly focused on terminology. It's pretty obvious to everyone else what you meant.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Chellebnz

I’m not sure I understand sorry... when I say “tiles” I just mean the blocks of books which show up under the currently reading list at the right hand side of “My Books” on the homescreen. It will show either a collection, an author or the Wishlist depending on what was accessed most recently.

It's just that you said tiles and that was on the older UI for older firmware that won't work on the Clara HD. The older UI supported tiles. The current firmware doesn't have tiles. That where the confusion came to be.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

It's just that you said tiles and that was on the older UI for older firmware that won't work on the Clara HD. The older UI supported tiles. The current firmware doesn't have tiles. That where the confusion came to be.

Jon: People haven't stopped calling them tiles. I haven't seen a better word to describe them. And I'm pretty sure that's the term Kobo is using. The real way to prevent confusion is to explicitly state the firmware version that someone is having problems with.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Chellebnz

WOW! THANK YOU! I just tested your theory.
Marked all 4 books as finished and the collection showed on the homescreen.
Then I marked all 4 books unread and the collection showed on the homescreen.
Then I started reading 1 book and the collection stopped showing on home screen so I marked another as finished and it’s shown up again on homescreen.

So it definitely seems to have something to do with the amount of unread books, or you have to have at least 1 finished for it to work properly.

The tiles that appear on the home screen are based on what you have recently done. Finish a book in a collection will usually display it. Open a book from inside the collection, can show it. Otherwise, it is fairly random, but, will tend towards showing a collection that has some unread books in it, and you have had some interaction with. I had the rules down for the previous version of the home screen, but, they aren't quite so clear for this one.

[Chellebnz]

Originally Posted by koboy

the older firmware versions with the old style homescreen let you have multiple collections showing not just the last one you accessed. the old firmware's don't/won't work on the newer devices like your Clara HD.

best wishes koboy

Ah I see. Yep I’m just talking about the most recent firmware. Yes there is only one extra “tile” on the homescreen but I guess the term “tiles” was a bit confusing here. ☺️

Originally Posted by MGlitch

Don't mind Jon he gets overly focused on terminology. It's pretty obvious to everyone else what you meant.

🙏🏻😁

Originally Posted by JSWolf

It's just that you said tiles and that was on the older UI for older firmware that won't work on the Clara HD. The older UI supported tiles. The current firmware doesn't have tiles. That where the confusion came to be.

I understand... thank you for clearing the confusion up for me. ☺️

Originally Posted by davidfor

Jon: People haven't stopped calling them tiles. I haven't seen a better word to describe them. And I'm pretty sure that's the term Kobo is using. The real way to prevent confusion is to explicitly state the firmware version that someone is having problems with.

I honestly thought they were still called tiles too. Ya learn something new everyday! 🥳

Originally Posted by davidfor

The tiles that appear on the home screen are based on what you have recently done. Finish a book in a collection will usually display it. Open a book from inside the collection, can show it. Otherwise, it is fairly random, but, will tend towards showing a collection that has some unread books in it, and you have had some interaction with. I had the rules down for the previous version of the home screen, but, they aren't quite so clear for this one.

Yep, I’m just glad the mystery has been solved as to why a particular collection may not show on the homescreen after recently accessing it. 🙏🏻🤓

[Chellebnz]

Upon further reading of my “Christmas” collection, I now have 1 finished, 1 unread and two currently reading. The collection again, isn’t showing on the home page, so it seems it’s not as simple as having 1 book finished unless there are at least 2 unread as well.
This is based on only 4 books in the collection so far.
But I’m confused. I don’t understand this behaviour at all. Why does it not just show up on the homescreen regardless of how many are finished and/or unread? Surely if you have a collection with several books and are currently reading at least 1 of them this makes sense?
Strange. I give up. For now.