[kobo] Making sure Calibre remembers which books have been sent to device?

iandol · 06-21-2022, 07:02 AM

I have a Kobo Nia, and the latest version of Calibre with Kobo Utilities using the extended driver. I connect via USB, sometimes connecting while using Nickel, and sometimes when running KOReader. Once connected Calibre shows green tick marks on books it knows it has "Sent to device". I send EPubs and do not convert them to Kepub.

The problem I have is that (since around April 9th) this has stopped showing on books that were sent to device. New books I send to device show the green mark when first sent, but when I disconnect and reconnect the green mark disappears even though the book is present on the device and had been previously sent there by Calibre.

How can I "force" Calibre to recognise that this book is already on the device? I've tried running "Refresh the list of books on the device" from the plugin menu to no effect. I've "checked" the database is ok, and it is.

davidfor · 06-21-2022, 10:21 AM

The first thing that comes to mind, as you sometimes connect from KOReader, is that you are not letting the Kobo software, called nickel, import the books. The driver reads the database for books on the device. This is populated when you eject the device and nickel looks for new books and imports them into the database. If you only connect from KOReader, that will not happen. I don't think exiting from KOReader back to nickel would trigger the import. There are other ways to do it, but, connecting while running nickel is the best.

The next likely thing is that the database on the device is corrupt. The device may import the books, but, the database does not get updated properly and hence, the next time you connect, the books are not seen. But, if this was the case, I would expect that you would see errors when connecting to calibre and the databases is read. Exactly what you see does depend on how the database is corrupt, so sometimes it calibre does not see the error. But, you can run a full database check with the Kobo Utilities

The last thought is, with the timing of when this happened, it could also be related to issues with firmware version 4.32. That had issues with presenting the book partition to the PC when connecting. These meant that the partition would be loaded read-only when you eject. And that caused a lot of problems, such as what you are seeing. Firmware 4.33 was released earlier in the month and that fixes these problems.

Also, as you are not sending books to the device as kepubs, why are you using the KoboTouchExtended driver? The purpose of this is to transform books to kepubs. There is almost no reason to use it if you are not using kepubs. The built-in KoboTouch driver should be enough.

iandol · 06-21-2022, 07:34 PM

Dear David, I think a combination of your first point regarding KOReader alongside some issues with 4.32 may have been at fault. I have manually cleaned up my storage then forced a full rescan with NickelMenu's commands, and you are indeed correct that now Calibre "recognises" the books I had added.

I used the extended driver as I initially was using the kepub conversion for reading using the kobo software, but I realised I preferred some typography things with epubs and then spent more time in KOReader and Plato. Is there a downside to use the extended driver if one doesn't convert to kepub?

Finally, thank you for a comprehensive and helpful reply!

davidfor · 06-21-2022, 11:29 PM

It's always good to hear one of my guesses was right

As to the extended driver, there isn't any real issue with using it and turning off the kepub options. For me, the biggest issue would be remembering why I had it in six months time. And part of the reason I asked is that there are some people out there that say you must install the extended driver and say it in such a way that implies calibre will not work with Kobo device without it.

06-21-2022, 07:02 AM	#1
iandol Enthusiast Posts: 40 Karma: 216612 Join Date: Feb 2022 Device: Kobo Nia	[kobo] Making sure Calibre remembers which books have been sent to device? I have a Kobo Nia, and the latest version of Calibre with Kobo Utilities using the extended driver. I connect via USB, sometimes connecting while using Nickel, and sometimes when running KOReader. Once connected Calibre shows green tick marks on books it knows it has "Sent to device". I send EPubs and do not convert them to Kepub. The problem I have is that (since around April 9th) this has stopped showing on books that were sent to device. New books I send to device show the green mark when first sent, but when I disconnect and reconnect the green mark disappears even though the book is present on the device and had been previously sent there by Calibre. How can I "force" Calibre to recognise that this book is already on the device? I've tried running "Refresh the list of books on the device" from the plugin menu to no effect. I've "checked" the database is ok, and it is. Last edited by iandol; 06-21-2022 at 07:04 AM.

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06-21-2022, 10:21 AM	#2
davidfor Grand Sorcerer Posts: 24,905 Karma: 47303824 Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Sydney, Australia Device: Kobo:Touch,Glo, AuraH2O, GloHD,AuraONE, ClaraHD, Libra H2O; tolinoepos	The first thing that comes to mind, as you sometimes connect from KOReader, is that you are not letting the Kobo software, called nickel, import the books. The driver reads the database for books on the device. This is populated when you eject the device and nickel looks for new books and imports them into the database. If you only connect from KOReader, that will not happen. I don't think exiting from KOReader back to nickel would trigger the import. There are other ways to do it, but, connecting while running nickel is the best. The next likely thing is that the database on the device is corrupt. The device may import the books, but, the database does not get updated properly and hence, the next time you connect, the books are not seen. But, if this was the case, I would expect that you would see errors when connecting to calibre and the databases is read. Exactly what you see does depend on how the database is corrupt, so sometimes it calibre does not see the error. But, you can run a full database check with the Kobo Utilities The last thought is, with the timing of when this happened, it could also be related to issues with firmware version 4.32. That had issues with presenting the book partition to the PC when connecting. These meant that the partition would be loaded read-only when you eject. And that caused a lot of problems, such as what you are seeing. Firmware 4.33 was released earlier in the month and that fixes these problems. Also, as you are not sending books to the device as kepubs, why are you using the KoboTouchExtended driver? The purpose of this is to transform books to kepubs. There is almost no reason to use it if you are not using kepubs. The built-in KoboTouch driver should be enough.

06-21-2022, 07:34 PM	#3
iandol Enthusiast Posts: 40 Karma: 216612 Join Date: Feb 2022 Device: Kobo Nia	Dear David, I think a combination of your first point regarding KOReader alongside some issues with 4.32 may have been at fault. I have manually cleaned up my storage then forced a full rescan with NickelMenu's commands, and you are indeed correct that now Calibre "recognises" the books I had added. I used the extended driver as I initially was using the kepub conversion for reading using the kobo software, but I realised I preferred some typography things with epubs and then spent more time in KOReader and Plato. Is there a downside to use the extended driver if one doesn't convert to kepub? Finally, thank you for a comprehensive and helpful reply!

06-21-2022, 11:29 PM	#4
davidfor Grand Sorcerer Posts: 24,905 Karma: 47303824 Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Sydney, Australia Device: Kobo:Touch,Glo, AuraH2O, GloHD,AuraONE, ClaraHD, Libra H2O; tolinoepos	It's always good to hear one of my guesses was right As to the extended driver, there isn't any real issue with using it and turning off the kepub options. For me, the biggest issue would be remembering why I had it in six months time. And part of the reason I asked is that there are some people out there that say you must install the extended driver and say it in such a way that implies calibre will not work with Kobo device without it.

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