Spaces inserted between paragraphs in Synopsis in Kobo Reader

[codychan]

I've frustrated by a problem of Kobo Device for a long time.

I manage my ebooks in Kobo Reader(Forma) using Calibre, and I will add some comments in the book using Calibre in the Comments section

There are weird space problems after sending books into Kobo Reader inside the Synopsis section.

For example,
1. There is no space between paragraphs inside the Comments section of Calibre, but three blank lines will be inserted between paragraphs in Synopsis section on Kobo Reader after books are sent.
2. There is no space between items in a list inside the Comments section of Calibre, but one blank line will be inserted between paragraphs in Synopsis section on Kobo Reader after books are sent.

When the comment in the Comments section is long such as containing multiple paragraphs, the text in the Synopsis section will be splited into several pages (which will be inside one page normally) because of the unnecessary blank lines, it is quite frustrated to see it. Is it able to keep the format in Comments section inside Calibre after sending books into Kobo Reader, maybe add a new request for KoboPatch if currently not available?

BTW: the text in the Comments section inside Calibre is already converted into plain text.

[davidfor]

There is a problem with the way current calibre versions store the comments and the way the Kobo devices parse them. It is a known problem and has been discussed a couple of times. See Kobo Aura HD: Extra paragraph breaks in Synopsis. for an explanation and a workaround.

But, if you are stripping the HTML tags out, then it will be only how the device is handling the line breaks. How are you doing that? If you edit the comments in calibre through the metadata editor, it will always save it as HTML, not plain text.

[Quoth]

Yes, I found it even created multiple pages in the synopsis unless <p>text</p> was using <br/> instead. At one stage there was an update in Calibre where the comments br was automatically replaced by <p> </p> when you edited and then I think that was fixed.

But I've not looked at it since last year.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Yes, I found it even created multiple pages in the synopsis unless <p>text</p> was using <br/> instead. At one stage there was an update in Calibre where the comments br was automatically replaced by <p> </p> when you edited and then I think that was fixed.

But I've not looked at it since last year.

I replace all <p> tags with <br> in my comments. Manually, because search/replace in bulk metadata edit refuses to do it.

It's a damn nuisance in my view. But empty paragraphs on my Libra are even more of a nuisance.

[codychan]

Originally Posted by davidfor

There is a problem with the way current calibre versions store the comments and the way the Kobo devices parse them. It is a known problem and has been discussed a couple of times. See Kobo Aura HD: Extra paragraph breaks in Synopsis. for an explanation and a workaround.

But, if you are stripping the HTML tags out, then it will be only how the device is handling the line breaks. How are you doing that? If you edit the comments in calibre through the metadata editor, it will always save it as HTML, not plain text.

Yes, I looked it up before this post, and I didn't pay attention to that thread since I don't know how to do the following instruction.

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

For FFF, I actually have this. I don't know if it affects things:

add_to_replace_metadata:
## Changes breaks to paragraphs in comments for better formatting
 description=><br/>=></p><p>
 description=><p>=><p align="justify">

I set a plugboard to anyformat:KOBO = ([{comments}] -> comments) and then ran a "update cached metadata." It didn't remove the extra breaks though. Did I do it wrong?

I don't understand the meaning FFF and plugboard, and then he said "I changed it to KOBOTOUCHEXTENDED", have no idea what it means.

And basically according to your reply, this is the problem Kobo device, Kobo doesn't handle it properly like Calibre Comments section.

----
UPDATE:
I found a plugin called `Clean Comments`, it is not perfect, but it is usable, at least I tried it for a book's Comments section, the space between in a list is gone, the blank lines between paragraphs become only one blank line.

[Rid]

I pretty much do what Sirtel does when I create or modify a book. For the rest I just rely on the plugboards in Calibre, it does fix the majority of them.

For me I copy synopsis to a text file to make the changes then its copied to the epub metadata. In the Calibre html it makes it into 1 paragraph. On my kobo it works with a manual sideload, Calibre 5.27 (with kobotouchextended and plugboards mod), and with Calibre 4.23 (with all standard settings and plugins).

This does annoys me a lot but ahh well what can you do....

This is what I put into the epub metadata

blah blah with space below.<br/><br/>blah blah no space below.<br/>blah blah.

When the epub is added to Calibre, it looks like this.

<div><p>blah blah with space below.<br><br>blah blah no space below.<br>blah blah.</p></div>

[Rid]

Originally Posted by codychan

I don't understand the meaning FFF and plugboard, and then he said "I changed it to KOBOTOUCHEXTENDED", have no idea what it means.

I am using the 'KoboTouchExteneded' plugin and have the 'KoboTouch' plugin disabled.

My plugbooards look like this;

any format:KOBOTOUCHEXTENDED = ([{comments}] -> comments)

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by codychan

Yes, I looked it up before this post, and I didn't pay attention to that thread since I don't know how to do the following instruction.


I don't understand the meaning FFF and plugboard, and then he said "I changed it to KOBOTOUCHEXTENDED", have no idea what it means.

"FFF"is "FanFicFare" which is a plugin to download fanfiction and build epubs from them. That part you can safely ignore.

The plugboard is set in the "Metadata plugbpoard" page of the calibre preferences. Different plugboards can be used for different devices or actions such save-to-disk. The way calibre parses the comments when used in a plugboard means that extra whitespace is removed. That include new-lines between tags.

And basically according to your reply, this is the problem Kobo device, Kobo doesn't handle it properly like Calibre Comments section.

To be fair, it means that Kobo handles it differently than calibre. And while it is inconsistent with other places that HTML tags are used (ignoring whitespace between tags), strictly, the rules are up to them as to what to do. I disagree with how they do it and have reported it as a problem. I recommend that you do the same.

----
UPDATE:
I found a plugin called `Clean Comments`, it is not perfect, but it is usable, at least I tried it for a book's Comments section, the space between in a list is gone, the blank lines between paragraphs become only one blank line.

"Clean Comment" will remove all tags from the comments. Which makes me wonder what you were doing before. You said "already converted into plain text". But I suspect that means you removed any styles using the metadata editor. Or, you were removing them in the "HTML source" view. If the latter, then some tags will be put back when the changes are saved. "Clean Comment" will remove them, but, they may get added again if you edit the metadata of the book again.

[codychan]

Originally Posted by Rid

I am using the 'KoboTouchExteneded' plugin and have the 'KoboTouch' plugin disabled.

My plugbooards look like this;

any format:KOBOTOUCHEXTENDED = ([{comments}] -> comments)

I have already used KoboTouchExteneded and disabled KoboTouch for a long time.

And Thanks, as @davidfor mentioned, I successfully create one in plugboards like you.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by codychan

I have already used KoboTouchExteneded and disabled KoboTouch for a long time.

For the record, there will be no difference for this between the book formats. The synopsis is treated the same no matter the format.

[codychan]

Originally Posted by davidfor

"FFF"is "FanFicFare" which is a plugin to download fanfiction and build epubs from them. That part you can safely ignore.

The plugboard is set in the "Metadata plugbpoard" page of the calibre preferences. Different plugboards can be used for different devices or actions such save-to-disk. The way calibre parses the comments when used in a plugboard means that extra whitespace is removed. That include new-lines between tags.

To be fair, it means that Kobo handles it differently than calibre. And while it is inconsistent with other places that HTML tags are used (ignoring whitespace between tags), strictly, the rules are up to them as to what to do. I disagree with how they do it and have reported it as a problem. I recommend that you do the same.


"Clean Comment" will remove all tags from the comments. Which makes me wonder what you were doing before. You said "already converted into plain text". But I suspect that means you removed any styles using the metadata editor. Or, you were removing them in the "HTML source" view. If the latter, then some tags will be put back when the changes are saved. "Clean Comment" will remove them, but, they may get added again if you edit the metadata of the book again.

Thanks for your reply, "Clean Comment" works for simple comments, if the comment contains a lot of complicated tags such as color, font size, or any other fancy css stuff, this plugin shouldn't be used.

The "already converted into plain text" means I select the text in the Normal view and click the Remove formatting button or add some simple comments using Edit Metadata inside the Normal view like I write text in a simple text editor and paste it into the Normal view, I didn't pay attention to the HTML source before.

Now I know the plugboards, and the suggested

any format:KOBOTOUCHEXTENDED = ([{comments}] -> comments)

works very well.

Thanks. I'll mark this issue solved.