Problems with Calibre and Kindle PWv1

CRussel · 02-13-2014, 01:30 PM

Kovid, et al -- I've been struggling with transferring sideloaded books to my Kindle PaperWhite (original version) for a while. Books transferred via Amazon work fine, and books that I dragged and dropped onto the Documents folder of the PaperWhite worked fine. But often, when I transferred books via Calibre, the books would not show up on the PaperWhite. Oh, Calibre could see that they were there, and I could find them on the device via Windows Explorer, but they weren't visible from the Kindle itself. Very frustrating, obviously.

(Background details: Windows 8.1, 64-bit;Kindle fw version: 5.3.9, not jailbroken;#of Collections:20; #of books on the Kindle: 162 (mostly AZW3, a few MOBI);Calibre version: 1.23 - Windows 64bit)

When I called Amazon tech support, they complained about the subfolders, and seemed to think that was the cause. Now I've been using Calibre and it's been putting subfolders on my Kindles since my first K2, and it's NEVER been a problem. But something is definitely going on, and the folders appear to be the issue. I'm guessing that there's a bug in their latest firmware version, but they're not admitting it. To please them, I turned off the subfolders on the device plugin. That fixed the problem -- books sent to the Kindle via Calibre are now seen without issue. Which, of course, doesn't explain the fact that there are 150+ books on the Kindle that ARE in subfolders, and are seen just fine.

I really prefer subfolders - it makes it a lot easier to find stuff on the Kindle and it's just "neater". But I'm going to leave the setting off for the moment, obviously.

Is there any thought about possible causes? A bad folder name perhaps? What should I look for, cause I'm definitely finding a problem otherwise. I'd prefer not to wipe the Kindle and start over (It's such a PAIN to get everything back in their Collections), but I'll do that if we have a reason to believe that will help.

Thanks,

kovidgoyal · 02-13-2014, 09:43 PM

I have an original PW and books in sub folders work fine for me firmware version 5.3.9 what firmware version are you at?

CRussel · 02-14-2014, 12:24 AM

Version 5.3.9 -- as I said above. This is fairly new behaviour, I have a bunch of books on there in subdirectories. But no new ones work.

kovidgoyal · 02-14-2014, 01:08 AM

I'd guess that there is some book on there that is causing the Kindle indexer to hang/abort and it is in a sub directory. Therefore the indexer finishes indexibng everything in the root, then moves into sub directories where it encounters the problem book and aborts, leaving the rest of the books in sub directories un-indexed.

CRussel · 02-14-2014, 01:18 AM

Is there any way to narrow down which book or books it is?

eschwartz · 02-14-2014, 01:24 AM

You could put half the books on the device, if all are indexed it's in the other half, put half of THOSE on, repeat till you figure out which one.

At every point exclude the books which definitely got indexed.

02-13-2014, 01:30 PM	#1
CRussel (he/him/his) Posts: 12,282 Karma: 80074820 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Sunshine Coast, BC Device: Oasis (Gen3),Paperwhite (Gen10), Voyage, Paperwhite(orig), Fire HD 8	Problems with Calibre and Kindle PWv1 Kovid, et al -- I've been struggling with transferring sideloaded books to my Kindle PaperWhite (original version) for a while. Books transferred via Amazon work fine, and books that I dragged and dropped onto the Documents folder of the PaperWhite worked fine. But often, when I transferred books via Calibre, the books would not show up on the PaperWhite. Oh, Calibre could see that they were there, and I could find them on the device via Windows Explorer, but they weren't visible from the Kindle itself. Very frustrating, obviously. (Background details: Windows 8.1, 64-bit;Kindle fw version: 5.3.9, not jailbroken;#of Collections:20; #of books on the Kindle: 162 (mostly AZW3, a few MOBI);Calibre version: 1.23 - Windows 64bit) When I called Amazon tech support, they complained about the subfolders, and seemed to think that was the cause. Now I've been using Calibre and it's been putting subfolders on my Kindles since my first K2, and it's NEVER been a problem. But something is definitely going on, and the folders appear to be the issue. I'm guessing that there's a bug in their latest firmware version, but they're not admitting it. To please them, I turned off the subfolders on the device plugin. That fixed the problem -- books sent to the Kindle via Calibre are now seen without issue. Which, of course, doesn't explain the fact that there are 150+ books on the Kindle that ARE in subfolders, and are seen just fine. I really prefer subfolders - it makes it a lot easier to find stuff on the Kindle and it's just "neater". But I'm going to leave the setting off for the moment, obviously. Is there any thought about possible causes? A bad folder name perhaps? What should I look for, cause I'm definitely finding a problem otherwise. I'd prefer not to wipe the Kindle and start over (It's such a PAIN to get everything back in their Collections), but I'll do that if we have a reason to believe that will help. Thanks,

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02-13-2014, 09:43 PM	#2
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 45,159 Karma: 27110894 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	I have an original PW and books in sub folders work fine for me firmware version 5.3.9 what firmware version are you at?

02-14-2014, 12:24 AM	#3
CRussel (he/him/his) Posts: 12,282 Karma: 80074820 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Sunshine Coast, BC Device: Oasis (Gen3),Paperwhite (Gen10), Voyage, Paperwhite(orig), Fire HD 8	Version 5.3.9 -- as I said above. This is fairly new behaviour, I have a bunch of books on there in subdirectories. But no new ones work.

02-14-2014, 01:08 AM	#4
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 45,159 Karma: 27110894 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	I'd guess that there is some book on there that is causing the Kindle indexer to hang/abort and it is in a sub directory. Therefore the indexer finishes indexibng everything in the root, then moves into sub directories where it encounters the problem book and aborts, leaving the rest of the books in sub directories un-indexed.

02-14-2014, 01:18 AM	#5
CRussel (he/him/his) Posts: 12,282 Karma: 80074820 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Sunshine Coast, BC Device: Oasis (Gen3),Paperwhite (Gen10), Voyage, Paperwhite(orig), Fire HD 8	Is there any way to narrow down which book or books it is?

02-14-2014, 01:24 AM	#6
eschwartz Ex-Helpdesk Junkie Posts: 19,421 Karma: 85400180 Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: The Beaten Path, USA, Roundworld, This Side of Infinity Device: Kindle Touch fw5.3.7 (Wifi only)	You could put half the books on the device, if all are indexed it's in the other half, put half of THOSE on, repeat till you figure out which one. At every point exclude the books which definitely got indexed.