Synchronize reading position in Calibre E-Book Viewer

franc · 04-12-2018, 02:50 PM

Hallo

is it possible to sync the position of the book, where I stop reading to another device (where the same book is present) through internet, e.g. Google Drive or DropBox etc.?

I read mostly on my phone with Moon+ Reader Pro but sometimes I continue reading the same book on my MacBook with Calibre's E-Book Reader (vs 3.19).
I would like to sync the reading position on both devices.
Is that possible?

Or at least from Calibre on MacBook (through internet) to Calibre on PC?
Maybe with a plugin?

Thank
frank

kovidgoyal · 04-12-2018, 09:44 PM

Use the browser viewer that is part of the calibre content server and syncing is automatic but you have to keep calibre running on some computer for that.

Or if you dont want to do that, you sync the epub file between computers and viewer position and bookmarks are automatically synced since calibre stores them inside the epub file.

franc · 04-13-2018, 01:57 AM

Thank you!

Hm.
I don't know anything about syncing the position of reading at the moment but isn't it only a very little piece of data?
Moon Reader stores it on Google Drive so I need to read it from there and put it into the ePub file of Calibre that is what I primitively think but I guess I am wrong.
I would need an add-on which does this for me but I do not know anything about calibre add-on neither

Could that be possible?

kovidgoyal · 04-13-2018, 02:05 AM

No that's not possible. Like I said use the browser viewer that is part of the calibre content server if you want cross device position sync.

franc · 04-13-2018, 02:09 AM

But how could I bring the position into moon reader with that browser viewer?

davidfor · 04-13-2018, 03:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by franc

Thank you!

Hm.
I don't know anything about syncing the position of reading at the moment but isn't it only a very little piece of data?
Moon Reader stores it on Google Drive so I need to read it from there and put it into the ePub file of Calibre that is what I primitively think but I guess I am wrong.
I would need an add-on which does this for me but I do not know anything about calibre add-on neither

Could that be possible?

There are two problem with syncing reading positions. Once is copying them from one place to another. For that you need some process somewhere that will read one storage and copy it to the other place.

The other problem is the format of the reading position. There is no standard. Each device or app does it in their own way. And each format is different. Converting the reading position for one book format to another is something I don't even want to consider.

There are some possibilities. Copying the reading position between like devices is probably possible. I have a plugin that will do this for Kobo devices. And devices/apps that use the Adobe RMSDK probably use similar methods and it might be possible to convert between them if the reading position can be accessed. I'm pretty sure I could convert the reading position between an epub on a Kobo and a Sony device. But, that's from looking at the database and not actually trying. And I have tested converting to the format that calibre uses in the viewer, and I got pretty close (one of us can't count, probably me). When the viewer gets annotations support, I'll probably revisit this. I haven't looked at what the the calibre server does, but I suspect it is in a place that isn't easily reachable.

It sounds easy. But, there are enough issues that each time I look at it, I just shake my head and back away.

franc · 04-13-2018, 05:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidfor

... I have a plugin that will do this for Kobo devices...

What is the name your plugin that I can find it and maybe take it as a start?
Maybe I can adapt it to my needs...
Thank!!

mpbish · 04-13-2018, 05:33 AM

Just jumping into this thread too if that's ok?

I can't seem to have the server sync across devices (browsers). Is this supposed to work?

Reading the same book on the following devices.

- Desktop Chrome / Opera / Firefox
- Android phone - Safari
- Android Tablet - Safari

Hitting the manual sync button doesn't seem to do anything. What am I doing wrong? Do I need to login to sync? Using version 3.21.0

Help would be appreciated. This could replace my amazon app in many cases.

Cheers

Mark

kovidgoyal · 04-13-2018, 05:42 AM

Yes you need to setup user accounts and login for syncing to work.

mpbish · 04-13-2018, 05:58 AM

That is perfect, thank you so much for this.

I've tested and it's working really well!

Just need syncing highlighting and I'm in utopia!

Thank you again!

davidfor · 04-13-2018, 07:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by franc

What is the name your plugin that I can find it and maybe take it as a start?
Maybe I can adapt it to my needs...

It is the Kobo Utilities plugin. It has a lot more than just fetching and restoring the reading status, and these come from a database, but the concepts could be useful. And if there is a way to use similar storage for the position, it would be good.

franc · 04-13-2018, 08:06 AM

Thanks!
Oh, indeed, your plugin is a big one

I had a look into Moon Reader's sync file (on Google Drive / DropBox), called name_of_book.epub.po and this is very a simple file, contains just that, e.g.:

Code:

1469998681113*14@0#2952:23.0%

and after reading a page it was:

Code:

1469998681113*14@0#9043:23.5%

or:

Code:

1469998681113*15@0#26438:27.5%

Only to change the percentage at the end in Google Drive doesnt make Moon+ to jump there.

I "only" need an interpreter of Calibres positioning and this Moonreader positioning file.

EDIT: I even don't know how Calibre puts its reading position

Kovid said:

Quote:

...calibre stores them inside the epub file...

So that is a start. So within Calbire I edit the epub and I found under:
META-INF/calibre_bookmarks.txt
the content:

Code:

calibre_current_page_bookmark*|!|?|*17*|!|?|*/2/4/234/1:242

which I strongly aspect as the right information

I asked the developer of Moon+ Reader how these .po-files work. Hopefully he tells.
If he tells maybe I am able to translate those two formats to each other and update the po file in Google Drive with a plugin. Then I guess I would use the Kobo plugin as a base to develop, but maybe I am widely overestimating myself and underestimating that task :O

EDIT 2018-05-15: The Dev. never told me his secrets, didn't want to

I thought I discovered the scheme, the long numbers were just time-tags (unix-style) and tried to emulate some own reading positions, but this always failed, never I got that working, so I concluded that there is some secret thing in Moonreader to check if the position is really put by Moonreader.
I gave up then

polarwind · 08-18-2018, 09:07 AM

I would like to add my comments to this topic. If it is more appropriate to start a new topic then please let me know.

After being away from the Calibre Scene for about 2 years, I just started to start using the Calibre server again. I have about 4-500 books on the server, mainly epub format.

Devices that are used on the network are Windows PCs (Calibre server), Android tablets and phones, and iPad3.

As like most users I downloaded and installed FBreader, and the FBreader Calibre addon. I connected to the Calibre server and downloaded a book. I used the FBreader build-in feature to sync with the FBreader Book Network (on Google Drive). From what I read the reading position is synced over this network. But then again, I see that Google Drive is not supported. Does this mean that the FBreader Book Network is a big no-no ? Please your comments on this.

I read in this topic that the browser is the best way to sync the reader position. But it looks like I can not zoom in when using my browser. (bad eye sight, to small font on phone screen, or to small cartoon text bubbles ). I can zoom my browser to f.ex. 200%, but scrolling the page is taking to big "steps". Also features like night screen is nice to have. So until then it looks like the browser reader is not very functional for me.

Another issue is that the latest iOS on my iPad3 is 9.3.5. Your browser reader requires 10.x which is not available for me unless I buy a new iPad...

As you can see, I'm struggling to get reader position sync to work for me. What are my options? Bricking my iPad is not one of them

davidfor · 08-19-2018, 01:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by polarwind

As you can see, I'm struggling to get reader position sync to work for me. What are my options? Bricking my iPad is not one of them

Nothing has changed in respect to this since the earlier posts. Kovid is working on the revamped viewer. Until that is out, it is unlikely anything will have changed. And then it will need code on the from other developers to integrate with calibre.

tarasiy · 12-29-2018, 01:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

Or if you dont want to do that, you sync the epub file between computers and viewer position and bookmarks are automatically synced since calibre stores them inside the epub file.

Sorry, you mentioned the synchronization as the second option. I've tried to do this, but without success. I couldn't also find a solution for that in internet. So could you please explain me, how exactly one can sync a particular epub file between computers (or to be precisely between an Android and a Windows device). Is the browser viewer necessary for this? Or is there another workaround? Many thanks in advance!

04-12-2018, 02:50 PM	#1
franc Connoisseur Posts: 68 Karma: 10 Join Date: Feb 2010 Device: none	Synchronize reading position in Calibre E-Book Viewer Hallo is it possible to sync the position of the book, where I stop reading to another device (where the same book is present) through internet, e.g. Google Drive or DropBox etc.? I read mostly on my phone with Moon+ Reader Pro but sometimes I continue reading the same book on my MacBook with Calibre's E-Book Reader (vs 3.19). I would like to sync the reading position on both devices. Is that possible? Or at least from Calibre on MacBook (through internet) to Calibre on PC? Maybe with a plugin? Thank frank

08-18-2018, 09:07 AM	#13
polarwind Member Posts: 15 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2016 Device: android, ipad	I would like to add my comments to this topic. If it is more appropriate to start a new topic then please let me know. After being away from the Calibre Scene for about 2 years, I just started to start using the Calibre server again. I have about 4-500 books on the server, mainly epub format. Devices that are used on the network are Windows PCs (Calibre server), Android tablets and phones, and iPad3. As like most users I downloaded and installed FBreader, and the FBreader Calibre addon. I connected to the Calibre server and downloaded a book. I used the FBreader build-in feature to sync with the FBreader Book Network (on Google Drive). From what I read the reading position is synced over this network. But then again, I see that Google Drive is not supported. Does this mean that the FBreader Book Network is a big no-no ? Please your comments on this. I read in this topic that the browser is the best way to sync the reader position. But it looks like I can not zoom in when using my browser. (bad eye sight, to small font on phone screen, or to small cartoon text bubbles ). I can zoom my browser to f.ex. 200%, but scrolling the page is taking to big "steps". Also features like night screen is nice to have. So until then it looks like the browser reader is not very functional for me. Another issue is that the latest iOS on my iPad3 is 9.3.5. Your browser reader requires 10.x which is not available for me unless I buy a new iPad... As you can see, I'm struggling to get reader position sync to work for me. What are my options? Bricking my iPad is not one of them Last edited by polarwind; 08-18-2018 at 10:26 AM.

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04-12-2018, 09:44 PM	#2
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 45,185 Karma: 27110894 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	Use the browser viewer that is part of the calibre content server and syncing is automatic but you have to keep calibre running on some computer for that. Or if you dont want to do that, you sync the epub file between computers and viewer position and bookmarks are automatically synced since calibre stores them inside the epub file.

04-13-2018, 01:57 AM	#3
franc Connoisseur Posts: 68 Karma: 10 Join Date: Feb 2010 Device: none	Thank you! Hm. I don't know anything about syncing the position of reading at the moment but isn't it only a very little piece of data? Moon Reader stores it on Google Drive so I need to read it from there and put it into the ePub file of Calibre that is what I primitively think but I guess I am wrong. I would need an add-on which does this for me but I do not know anything about calibre add-on neither Could that be possible?

04-13-2018, 02:05 AM	#4
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 45,185 Karma: 27110894 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	No that's not possible. Like I said use the browser viewer that is part of the calibre content server if you want cross device position sync.

04-13-2018, 02:09 AM	#5
franc Connoisseur Posts: 68 Karma: 10 Join Date: Feb 2010 Device: none	But how could I bring the position into moon reader with that browser viewer?

04-13-2018, 05:33 AM	#8
mpbish Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Apr 2018 Device: Kindle	Just jumping into this thread too if that's ok? I can't seem to have the server sync across devices (browsers). Is this supposed to work? Reading the same book on the following devices. - Desktop Chrome / Opera / Firefox - Android phone - Safari - Android Tablet - Safari Hitting the manual sync button doesn't seem to do anything. What am I doing wrong? Do I need to login to sync? Using version 3.21.0 Help would be appreciated. This could replace my amazon app in many cases. Cheers Mark

04-13-2018, 05:42 AM	#9
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 45,185 Karma: 27110894 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	Yes you need to setup user accounts and login for syncing to work.

04-13-2018, 05:58 AM	#10
mpbish Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Apr 2018 Device: Kindle	That is perfect, thank you so much for this. I've tested and it's working really well! Just need syncing highlighting and I'm in utopia! Thank you again!

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