11-14-2012, 03:01 PM | #1 |
Nameless Being
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Book Cover not displaying
Hi
Looking for some help please - not sure if this is just Paperwhite or all Kindles? Apologies if posted in wrong place or asked before......... but Have very recently got hold of a Paperwhite - already own a number of ebooks in mobi or epub format so have used calibre, where necessary, to convert to mobi and then have transferred via usb to the Kindle. So far so good, can read the books all fine ........... but The book covers do not show, even though they are embedded in each file. I've also in frustration added separate jpegs for each cover to each folder - all to no avail? A stupid question perhaps but do they have to be B&W or grayscale and is the Kindle sensitive to size? They are all 600x800 which appears to be the standard. Is there a 'naming' requirement? Anyone else had this or know the answers please, would be much obliged for some help. |
11-14-2012, 03:05 PM | #2 |
Grand Sorcerer
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11-14-2012, 03:59 PM | #3 | |
Nameless Being
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Thanks
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Will be redoing a few and trying again - perhaps tomorrow, head hurts and I still have to read a book !! |
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11-14-2012, 04:11 PM | #4 |
Grand Sorcerer
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Good luck At times it does seem all of us get tied down in the details of moving material to eReaders and forget why we have them... To Read!
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11-14-2012, 05:55 PM | #5 |
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You didn't mention exactly how you sent your files, so I'll also add that you'll need a somewhat recent version of Calibre for the side-loading of the cover thumbnails to work properly when using 'Send To Device' with a PaperWhite .
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11-15-2012, 09:03 AM | #6 |
Nameless Being
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Sorry but what else is there to tell you? Oh calibre 0.9.6
Since yesterday I've spent a good few hours converting - trying lots of methods given on this site. Now have a book cover as per the original BUT has a white flash across the base of the book that says 'Personal' in it !!?? Furthermore having changed the pic size to 600x800mm it still shows in a reduced size compared to books purchased from Amazon. So, someone, anyone, please explain in very simple language, step by step, if possible as to WTF I'm doing wrong? Never had this much grief with a piece of plastic tech b4 - been reading ebooks for more years than my eyes care to remember, starting with a Palm - never was it this much hassle - and I simply refuse to repurchase books that I already own !! Last edited by purplepancake; 11-15-2012 at 09:21 AM. |
11-15-2012, 11:58 AM | #7 |
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@purplepancake:
Let's take it from the top: 1/ Delete the wonky books you have on right now (either via the UI, or over USB). 2/ If you deleted manually over USB, also remove the corresponding thumbnails in the system/thumbnails folder. 3/ If you manually deleted over USB, unplug & eject once before going any further, to let the Kindle catch up and update its internal catalog. 4/ Make sure your stuff was converted *without* the 'Enable sharing' in the MOBI output settings, and that the tag set to trigger the PDOC flag isn't part of the tags of your books. Reconvert if needed. 5/ Send books via Calibre's "Send To Device". 6/ Unplug & eject. You get covers & no PDOC banner. If you still get a PDOC banner, check 4/. |
11-15-2012, 04:48 PM | #8 |
Nameless Being
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@NiLuJe
Thanks for the help. You might find this hard to believe - I do, but I've done exactly that - all the steps. And thanks, yes the covers are visible BUT still have the white banner over the foot of the cover saying Personal. Additionally the covers are smaller than the native Kindle covers - this is not really an issue but the banner is a pain that I would love to get rid of. Any further suggestions would be appreciated. Am now considering stripping the meta data on each book and re-inserting. This was mentioned on a Linux site and at the moment I need to do some more investigating as I cannot see how it would cross over. |
11-15-2012, 06:06 PM | #9 |
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@purplepancake: If you end up with smaller covers and a PDOC banner, it means that your files don't have an ASIN set (exth 113) in the metadata, which, if you're using Calibre to build your mobi/azw3, means they were built *WITH* the 'Enable sharing' setting checked. (If those files were built by KindleGen, on the other hand, then it's perfectly normal. Convert via Calibre, of tweak the metadata manually to add an ASIN [I think there's a plugin for that, used by some Fire users [It's a feature of the Quality Check plugin, I think?]]).
Check that your files were built properly (*without* 'Enable sharing') (you can even go so far as to check the metadata of the files on your device with MobiUnpack if you're still not convinced), and that you're using Calibre's "Send To Device" over USB in a recent Calibre version. (Don't forget the delete/unplug thing if you're doing this on the same books over and over, the Kindle gets confused (and breaks the thumbnails, basically) when you switch files without letting it know they were gone first). Last edited by NiLuJe; 11-15-2012 at 06:10 PM. |
11-16-2012, 05:47 AM | #10 |
Nameless Being
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@NiLuJe
Many thanks - I'll go back to the beginning and re-visit each step. Sounds spot on - I did not check/change the ASIN. |
11-20-2012, 06:19 PM | #11 |
Nameless Being
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Revisit: Book Cover not displaying
Ok, the struggle continues - now faced with a full sized generic cover, no white banner at foot, instead white box central giving the title and Author info. The book opens and functions - though I haven't checked the bookmark.
To get here I did the following - so Please if you see an error/omission point it out - or obviously a better way to achieve a full sized cover, no banner etc or as it should be !! Steps taken: Started by removing/deleting all? traces of earlier attempts on the Kindle and also scrubbed the calibre library on the pc. Used Mobi MetaData to change/add the ASIN (nb deleted existing one that was very long and bore no similarity to the Amazon Kindle ASIN). Left in the ISBN was this correct? Converted in calibre 0.9.6: In 'Meta Data' removed existing cover and pointed to new cover which was/is 600x800 pixels, jpg, same as original just added a serial number of my own. Displays in calibre no prob and has previously displayed on the paperwhite albeit with the banner. Conversion was mobi input to mobi output - used 'page setup' to change setting to paperwhite as output. In 'mobi output' Used 'both'. Did not select 'share' Did change to [EBOK] Then converted and 'sent to machine main memory' via USB cable..... I think that was all the steps. As a small sidebar is there a difference between sending to the Kindle and simply dragging/pasting the file, as in another drive on the system? Does the 'send to' actually do something other than just act as a transfer method? Thanks in anticipation. |
11-20-2012, 07:49 PM | #12 | ||||
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(And which file did you edit? If you edited the file on your device, that explains everything: don't.) Quote:
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Useless, just set it to a a string that you're pretty sure will never be used in a tag (personally, I'm using something in the vein of +PDOC, but that's because I actually rely on it sometimes, but that's another subject). Yes, it actually sideloads the thumbnails. Hence my insistence on telling you to use Calibre's "Send To Device". Last edited by NiLuJe; 11-20-2012 at 07:51 PM. |
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11-21-2012, 04:36 AM | #13 | ||||||
Nameless Being
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And Yes I used send to device. Quote:
Sorry should have made this clearer - the book in question is one of a series. I wanted a visual as to which order they are read in. So I edited the jpg to add a 'number' visually in the image so to speak. Edited pics before for this reason and never had a problem. Quote:
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As a matter of interest only, what is the difference between 'sending to' and dragging or pasting the mobi to the paperwhite, the end result is that it bypasses the Amazon servers but what else happens? "Send to device" used since you first insisted. Thanks again for your time. |
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11-21-2012, 07:39 AM | #14 | |||
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@purplepancake:
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When you sideload manually, you're basically just dropping the mobi file 'as-is' straight out of the build process (be it from Calibre or KG). On the other hand, Calibre's "Send to Device" will do more than that: it will refresh the metadata (embedded cover & thumbnail included) in the file, and will also, depending on the device & settings, send some sidecar files: usually, the APNX file for the page numbers, and the external thumbnail on the Touch/PW. Last edited by NiLuJe; 11-21-2012 at 07:42 AM. |
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11-21-2012, 06:29 PM | #15 | |
Nameless Being
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Thanks @NiLuJe - nearly there !!
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and now drum roll it all works, the right size, no banners at foot or middle. Many thanks for all your help. BTW I picked up from somewhere that the jpeg size on the kpw should be 600x800 - well after a fair bit of trial and error this needs to be bigger, or it will affect the cover size on the Home 'page' etc which was part of my 'problem'. I'm suggesting 960x1280 as being good for most purposes. Anyway in the end, with your help, I got there, once again thanks for your help - it has been much appreciated by me and who knows maybe of equal help to others passing as well. So now ........... for a change !! |
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