Using ebooks from my PC

shentar · 10-24-2019, 05:31 PM

I can transfer epub books easily enough from my PC to the reader but I cannot figure out how to make the Kobo tablet (a new forma) pick up the correct author name. I've tried putting them in a directory of the user name or appending the user name to the title in the formats
"title - ln, fn" (as generated by calibre) when using copy to device
"title - fn ln" (created by me with a file manager while connected).

In all cases the author appears as ln, fn under the title when listing by book, and listing by author gives two identical listings, one under ln and one under fn.

Oddly if I sort by author on first name or last name the list is always identical.

I have no idea where the kobo gets this info from but it does not appear to be from the filename. Are there hidden files I need to create/rename? This is not a problem when I only have half a dozen books on the device but it will me when I put more of my library there.

Thanks in advance

davidfor · 10-24-2019, 06:51 PM

Kobo gets the book details from the metadata inside the book. As you mention calibre, set the metadata correctly in the library and then send the book to the device from calibre. The book will be updated with the metadata during the send. If, for some reason you want to manually copy the books from the calibre library directory, you need to use the Embed metadata tool in calibre to update the actual files with the metadata. The filename will only be used if the book has no metadata. And then the filename will be used as the title and "Unknown" (or something like that) as the author.

As to sorting and the Author list, Kobo uses a comma as the separator between multiple authors. So, "LN, FN" is considered to be two authors "LN" and "FN". And for sorting, "FN LN" will be sorted using "LN".

Kobo also doesn't use calibres author_sort. If you want to use this, you can use a metadata plugboard in calibre to tweak the metadata when sending the book to the device.

The way Kobo handles the author and sorting has been discussed a lot. Searching the forum should find the suggestions.

shentar · 10-25-2019, 04:28 AM

Thanks, davidfor. I did search around a bit but there were a lot of very early posts and eventually I managed to get thoroughly confused. I remember there was one reference to metadata plugboards but I have never used them so I didn't pursue that for fear of confusing myself further.

Now that I understand the reason for the results I am getting I should be able to sort things out. I some years ago I set up calibre to handle my fairly large collection of ebooks exactly the way I wanted and since then have basically only added books to it, so I am very rusty with the cleverer tools available. If I can't persuade the Move to Device tool to do the metadata reformatting that I want I may simply create a small calibre library mirroring the contents of the kobo. That would also make up for the fact that so far I have been unable to persuade the kobo desktop to show me the contents of my reader.

davidfor · 10-25-2019, 06:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shentar

Thanks, davidfor. I did search around a bit but there were a lot of very early posts and eventually I managed to get thoroughly confused. I remember there was one reference to metadata plugboards but I have never used them so I didn't pursue that for fear of confusing myself further.

Apart from when the Authors list was added, this hasn't change much. Anything in the last three years should be right.

Quote:

Now that I understand the reason for the results I am getting I should be able to sort things out. I some years ago I set up calibre to handle my fairly large collection of ebooks exactly the way I wanted and since then have basically only added books to it, so I am very rusty with the cleverer tools available. If I can't persuade the Move to Device tool to do the metadata reformatting that I want I may simply create a small calibre library mirroring the contents of the kobo.

The metadata plugins and device templates don't affect anything else, so there is no real reason to split the libraries.

Quote:

That would also make up for the fact that so far I have been unable to persuade the kobo desktop to show me the contents of my reader.

The Kobo desktop application only shows books purchased from Kobo. For sideloaded books, you need to use other tools.

shentar · 10-25-2019, 11:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidfor

The Kobo desktop application only shows books purchased from Kobo. For sideloaded books, you need to use other tools.

I suspected that might be the case but I hoped they wouldn't be so small minded, or at least if they were they would say so in the user guide.

Thanks again

4691mls · 10-25-2019, 12:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidfor

The Kobo desktop application only shows books purchased from Kobo. For sideloaded books, you need to use other tools.

Quote:

Originally Posted by shentar

I suspected that might be the case but I hoped they wouldn't be so small minded, or at least if they were they would say so in the user guide.

Thanks again

I was surprised when I bought my Kobo reader to learn that the Kobo desktop software was for their books only. It doesn't seem like a very useful product. Sony's Reader for PC software worked with all my books no matter where they came from, including other stores and Overdrive library.

I didn't even bother to download the Kobo software. I wonder how many people do. I suppose there may be some people who just stick with Kobo books, but with so many other sources for epubs I can't imagine relying on only one store.

shentar · 10-25-2019, 01:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 4691mls

I was surprised when I bought my Kobo reader to learn that the Kobo desktop software was for their books only. It doesn't seem like a very useful product. Sony's Reader for PC software worked with all my books no matter where they came from, including other stores and Overdrive library.

I didn't even bother to download the Kobo software. I wonder how many people do. I suppose there may be some people who just stick with Kobo books, but with so many other sources for epubs I can't imagine relying on only one store.

I downloaded and installed it because I was expecting some management functions but what it offers is underwhelming if you already have a significant number of ebooks.
Apparently I can get a few quid off my first purchase. Then I'll probably delete the desktop app. Hardware good, software bad. Too often the case.

Sirtel · 10-25-2019, 01:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 4691mls

I didn't even bother to download the Kobo software. I wonder how many people do.

Same here. There's no reason to bother. Calibre does the job far better, imho.

DNSB · 10-25-2019, 11:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 4691mls

I didn't even bother to download the Kobo software. I wonder how many people do. I suppose there may be some people who just stick with Kobo books, but with so many other sources for epubs I can't imagine relying on only one store.

I'm one of those people who use the Kobo desktop app. Not everyday but from time to time, it has it's uses. Most often when setting up a Kobo ereader.

Butterfly1234 · 11-24-2019, 05:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidfor

Apart from when the Authors list was added, this hasn't change much. Anything in the last three years should be right.

The metadata plugins and device templates don't affect anything else, so there is no real reason to split the libraries.

The Kobo desktop application only shows books purchased from Kobo. For sideloaded books, you need to use other tools.

Hello!
I have a remark about sideloaded and purchased books.
When I connect my Kobo Clara to my pc, only the sideloaded books are shown, not the ones I purched by Kobo on the website. Is this normal?
Thanks for a swift answer already!
Am totally new here, and new to the Kobo.

Butterfly1234 · 11-24-2019, 05:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 4691mls

I was surprised when I bought my Kobo reader to learn that the Kobo desktop software was for their books only. It doesn't seem like a very useful product. Sony's Reader for PC software worked with all my books no matter where they came from, including other stores and Overdrive library.

I didn't even bother to download the Kobo software. I wonder how many people do. I suppose there may be some people who just stick with Kobo books, but with so many other sources for epubs I can't imagine relying on only one store.

Hello! I didn't even know there was software to be downloaded in the first place! How lucky I am to have come to this forum.
But for sorting my books, it would not help me, it seems.

davidfor · 11-24-2019, 06:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Butterfly1234

Hello!
I have a remark about sideloaded and purchased books.
When I connect my Kobo Clara to my pc, only the sideloaded books are shown, not the ones I purched by Kobo on the website. Is this normal?
Thanks for a swift answer already!
Am totally new here, and new to the Kobo.

Shown where? If you use calibre, it should, it should show all the books on the device in the device list. And the should be matched to books in the calibre library if you have them.

If you are looking at the device as a disk, the purchased book are in the directory ".kobo/kepub". The don't have an extension and their names are not effectively random.

DNSB · 11-24-2019, 11:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Butterfly1234

Hello!
I have a remark about sideloaded and purchased books.
When I connect my Kobo Clara to my pc, only the sideloaded books are shown, not the ones I purched by Kobo on the website. Is this normal?
Thanks for a swift answer already!
Am totally new here, and new to the Kobo.

The books purchased from Kobo get synced to the .kobo\kepub directory on your ereader. The filenames look similar to a GUID with no file extension -- someone may be able to look at a file named "f88911a1-72f0-45c8-9b76-af0a8ebae53c" and say, "oh, that's The Last Centurion by John Ringo" but I've never met her.

If you use calibre, it will show the books purchased from Kobo that match books in your library in the library view and all of them in the device view.

ps67 · 11-25-2019, 12:16 PM

Kobo Desktop is not completely useless: after a factory reset and another two or three times the wi fi of my Kobo did not work so I was obliged to use it to enter my Kobo login and to synchronize.

But for the rest: unless You want to read Your books from it Kobo Desktop is not very useful. To purchase books the Kobo site and the Kobo device are more comfortable.

10-24-2019, 05:31 PM	#1
shentar Member Posts: 22 Karma: 510 Join Date: Jul 2011 Device: kindle	Using ebooks from my PC I can transfer epub books easily enough from my PC to the reader but I cannot figure out how to make the Kobo tablet (a new forma) pick up the correct author name. I've tried putting them in a directory of the user name or appending the user name to the title in the formats "title - ln, fn" (as generated by calibre) when using copy to device "title - fn ln" (created by me with a file manager while connected). In all cases the author appears as ln, fn under the title when listing by book, and listing by author gives two identical listings, one under ln and one under fn. Oddly if I sort by author on first name or last name the list is always identical. I have no idea where the kobo gets this info from but it does not appear to be from the filename. Are there hidden files I need to create/rename? This is not a problem when I only have half a dozen books on the device but it will me when I put more of my library there. Thanks in advance

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Night Shade ebooks rights reverted on Baen Ebooks	gbm	News	15	08-22-2013 05:27 PM
Three free Kindle-related ebooks: Guide, Selling ebooks, Fire add'g 3rd party content	jj2me	Deals and Resources (No Self-Promotion or Affiliate Links)	1	05-13-2012 04:10 PM
Mobigen Mass Batch conversion of HTML-Single-File ebooks to .mobi ebooks	cklammer	Kindle Formats	9	11-20-2009 03:00 AM

10-24-2019, 06:51 PM	#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	Kobo gets the book details from the metadata inside the book. As you mention calibre, set the metadata correctly in the library and then send the book to the device from calibre. The book will be updated with the metadata during the send. If, for some reason you want to manually copy the books from the calibre library directory, you need to use the Embed metadata tool in calibre to update the actual files with the metadata. The filename will only be used if the book has no metadata. And then the filename will be used as the title and "Unknown" (or something like that) as the author. As to sorting and the Author list, Kobo uses a comma as the separator between multiple authors. So, "LN, FN" is considered to be two authors "LN" and "FN". And for sorting, "FN LN" will be sorted using "LN". Kobo also doesn't use calibres author_sort. If you want to use this, you can use a metadata plugboard in calibre to tweak the metadata when sending the book to the device. The way Kobo handles the author and sorting has been discussed a lot. Searching the forum should find the suggestions.

10-25-2019, 04:28 AM	#3
shentar Member Posts: 22 Karma: 510 Join Date: Jul 2011 Device: kindle	Thanks, davidfor. I did search around a bit but there were a lot of very early posts and eventually I managed to get thoroughly confused. I remember there was one reference to metadata plugboards but I have never used them so I didn't pursue that for fear of confusing myself further. Now that I understand the reason for the results I am getting I should be able to sort things out. I some years ago I set up calibre to handle my fairly large collection of ebooks exactly the way I wanted and since then have basically only added books to it, so I am very rusty with the cleverer tools available. If I can't persuade the Move to Device tool to do the metadata reformatting that I want I may simply create a small calibre library mirroring the contents of the kobo. That would also make up for the fact that so far I have been unable to persuade the kobo desktop to show me the contents of my reader.

11-25-2019, 12:16 PM	#14
ps67 Guru Posts: 755 Karma: 7025494 Join Date: Aug 2017 Location: Italy Device: Kindle Paperwhite, Kobo Elipsa, Pocketbook Inkpad 4, Inkpad Color	Kobo Desktop is not completely useless: after a factory reset and another two or three times the wi fi of my Kobo did not work so I was obliged to use it to enter my Kobo login and to synchronize. But for the rest: unless You want to read Your books from it Kobo Desktop is not very useful. To purchase books the Kobo site and the Kobo device are more comfortable.