Collections not showing on Kobo Touch

[ChrisOfTheOT]

Afternoon peeps - please be gentle with me.

I've followed the Wiki page about shelves/collections but the custom shelves from calibre do not show on my Kobo. I note from the logs that two plug-ins 'fail to initialise', but have no idea what difference that makes.

(The metadata 'manage automatically' option is checked, as stipulated.)

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Chris

[davidfor]

The log does not show the device being connected. It finishes when calibre has finished starting up. You need to plug it in, let the device job run and then eject the device. Post a log after that and I should be able to see what is happening.

[ChrisOfTheOT]

Many thanks for the response David: it's much appreciated indeed.

[davidfor]

The log shows the options used are:

DEBUG:    0.0 KoboTouch:books - driver options= Driver:KoboTouchExtended, Options - format_map: ['kepub', 'epub', 'cbr', 'cbz', 'pdf', 'txt'], use_subdirs: True, read_metadata: True, use_author_sort: False, save_template: {author_sort}/{title} - {authors}, extra_customization: [], manage_collections: True, collections_columns: #myshelves, series, create_collections: True, delete_empty_collections: True, ignore_collections_names: , upload_covers: True, dithered_covers: False, keep_cover_aspect: True, upload_grayscale: True, letterbox_fs_covers: False, letterbox_fs_covers_color: #000000, png_covers: False, show_archived_books: False, show_previews: False, show_recommendations: False, update_series: True, update_core_metadata: True, update_purchased_kepubs: False, update_device_metadata: True, update_subtitle: False, subtitle_template: , modify_css: False, override_kobo_replace_existing: True, support_newer_firmware: False, debugging_title: , driver_version: 3.4.4, extra_features: True, upload_encumbered: False, skip_failed: False, hyphenate: False, smarten_punctuation: False, clean_markup: False, full_page_numbers: False, disable_hyphenation: False, file_copy_dir: , hyphenate_chars: 6, hyphenate_chars_before: 3, hyphenate_chars_after: 3, hyphenate_limit_lines: 2
DEBUG:    0.0 KoboTouch:books - prefs['manage_device_metadata']= on_connect

Firstly, that means you are using the KoboTouchExtended driver. And the columns being used for the collections are a custom column called "#myshelves" and the "series" column.

Firstly, are they they columns you want to create collections from? You have the same as the example used on the Wiki page. That means you want a collection for the series you have on the device, and for the values in the custom column called "#myshelves". Is that correct? And have you created that custom column?

Further down the log is:

DEBUG:    1.0 KTCollectionsBookList:get_collections - start - collection_attributes= ['#myshelves', 'series']
DEBUG:    1.0 KTCollectionsBookList:get_collections - collection_attributes= ['#myshelves', 'series']
DEBUG:    1.0 KTCollectionsBookList:get_collections - end
DEBUG:    1.1 KoboTouch:update_device_database_collections - category='Harley' books=1
DEBUG:    1.1 KoboTouch:update_device_database_collections - end for category='Harley'
DEBUG:    1.1 KoboTouch:update_device_database_collections - managing bookshelves and series.

That says that the driver has found one book to put into a collection called "Harley". Which means the driver appears to have worked. Is this collection not showing on the device after you eject it?

To clarify something, the driver only makes changes for books that are on the device and matched to a book in the calibre library. That means that when the device is connected, there will be a green tick against the book in the library. The driver will look at these books and the values that are in the collection columns and put the books in collections for those values. That means that, with the configuration you are using, if a book is in a series called "A Wonderful Series", a collection called "A Wonderful Series" is created and the book is put in that collection. Or, if for a book you set the value of the #myshelves column to "Read Next", when you connect the device the book will be put in a collection called "Read Next". If you remove that value from the book and connect the device again, the book will be removed from that collection, and, if there are no other books in the collection, the collection will be deleted.

As far as I can see it is working. But, there is only one book that has a collection. I cannot see if this is because books on the device are not matching to books in the library. Or that there is only one book that has a value in either of the two columns you are using for collections.

[ChrisOfTheOT]

Originally Posted by davidfor

... You have the same as the example used on the Wiki page. That means you want a collection for the series you have on the device, and for the values in the custom column called "#myshelves". Is that correct? And have you created that custom column?

... As far as I can see it is working. But, there is only one book that has a collection. I cannot see if this is because books on the device are not matching to books in the library. Or that there is only one book that has a value in either of the two columns you are using for collections.

Afternoon David - many thanks again for your help here, I do appreciate it.

I think the custom collections are working fine now: having read some more of your advise to others, I didn't realise that the Kobo had to be re-connected to calibre after the collections editing process, and that the 'jobs' had to run through before re-ejecting. My mistake (and ignorance...). I did only have one collection with a single book in it as I was trying it all out.

I also note that you have worked tirelessly with calibre and to support us users. That is extremely generous of you David: again, I can't thank you enough. Reading is very important to me - especially with my mental health to manage - so struggling with the Kobo was really detrimental, on any number of levels! Anyway, your work benefits me greatly, and I'm sure many others too, so a big thank you from me.

THANK YOU, DAVID!

Cheers,

Chris