Looking to improve my Kobo Sage experience

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Claude_C

My wife says that I’m sometimes a bit lost... I never believed her. But maybe she's sometimes right.

Simply put, there are three options to send kepubs to your Kobo:

1) the extended driver
2) conversion via the kepub output plugin
3) kepubify (where you convert outside Calibre)

All three are completely separate and different options and have nothing else to do with one another than that they all send a kepub to your device. IMO the extended driver is the simplest option and I've almost always used that.

[Gone]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

IMO the extended driver is the simplest option and I've almost always used that.

All those years, I had two plugins that were doing the same thing, converting ePub to KePub on the fly ?

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Claude_C

All those years, I had two plugins that were doing the same thing, converting ePub to KePub on the fly ?

Hmm. Do you have any kepubs in your library? Did you convert your epubs to kepubs in the usual way? If no to both, then you've used the extended driver and the kepub output plugin is just sitting there, doing nothing.

[Gone]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

If no to both, then you've used the extended driver and the kepub output plugin is just sitting there, doing nothing.

No to both...

I just can't believe it...

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Claude_C

No to both...

I just can't believe it...

Kindles are so much simpler, aren't they?

The amount of things you can set up, adjust or customize with a Kobo is pretty bewildering. I think I spent a few days tinkering and reading various threads here when I bought my first Kobo. And I made notes for myself, lest I forget exactly what I did. Sometimes I still consult those notes, when I've changed something and don't remember how things were before.

[Sirtel]

The kepub output plugin is necessary if you want to send your books as kepubs via Dropbox (unless you use kepubify). Then you need to convert your epubs to kepubs in the usual way, and change the file extension to kepub.epub before uploading them to Dropbox (as you can't download them to your Kobo when the file extension is .kepub).

I've only used Dropbox on my Sage a few times, and haven't enabled it on my Libra at all. For me it's easier to use the USB connection for loading books - using Dropbox is too time-consuming. You, on the other hand, as a Send-to-Kindle fan, may prefer using Dropbox.

[Aleron Ives]

To be fair, this complexity is coming from Calibre, not Kobo. You don't have to use Calibre or convert your books to KEPUB if you want a less complex experience. Obviously for the picky folk around here, that would never do, though.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Aleron Ives

To be fair, this complexity is coming from Calibre, not Kobo. You don't have to use Calibre or convert your books to KEPUB if you want a less complex experience. Obviously for the picky folk around here, that would never do, though.

Of course. You can easily use your Kobo as it is out of the box, no argument there. That's why I wrote "the amount of things you can set up...", not "have to set up".

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Claude_C

From the plugin offical page here :

Deleted message content. Read to end of thread before replying was not done.

[Gone]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Kindles are so much simpler, aren't they?

The amount of things you can set up, adjust or customize with a Kobo is pretty bewildering. I think I spent a few days tinkering and reading various threads here when I bought my first Kobo. And I made notes for myself, lest I forget exactly what I did. Sometimes I still consult those notes, when I've changed something and don't remember how things were before.

I just added one thing to my list : Don't add Kepub output plugin.

[Gone]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

The kepub output plugin is necessary if you want to send your books as kepubs via Dropbox (unless you use kepubify). Then you need to convert your epubs to kepubs in the usual way, and change the file extension to kepub.epub before uploading them to Dropbox (as you can't download them to your Kobo when the file extension is .kepub).

I've only used Dropbox on my Sage a few times, and haven't enabled it on my Libra at all. For me it's easier to use the USB connection for loading books - using Dropbox is too time-consuming. You, on the other hand, as a Send-to-Kindle fan, may prefer using Dropbox.

Oh! That's another thing I didn't know! I decided to re-pre-order the Libra Colour... and I wasn't going to use Dropbox, because I prefer to use KePub over plain ePub. With the Kindle, I appreciate sending the ePub by email from Calibre. I don't really mind connecting my device to my computer. I will test Dropbox and see. Thanks again.

[Gone]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Deleted message content. Read to end of thread before replying was not done.

I edited my previous wrong posts.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Claude_C

Oh! That's another thing I didn't know! I decided to re-pre-order the Libra Colour... and I wasn't going to use Dropbox, because I prefer to use KePub over plain ePub. With the Kindle, I appreciate sending the ePub by email from Calibre. I don't really mind connecting my device to my computer. I will test Dropbox and see. Thanks again.

If you are going to use Dropbox, you will need to make sure the filename/extension ends in .kepub.epub to trigger use of the Webkit based renderer.

[Gone]

Originally Posted by DNSB

If you are going to use Dropbox, you will need to make sure the filename/extension ends in .kepub.epub to trigger use of the Webkit based renderer.

To import kepub on the Kobo?

Or do you mean to read the kepub in the web interface of Dropbox? (Not a good idea, I think.)

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Claude_C

To import kepub on the Kobo?

Or do you mean to read the kepub in the web interface of Dropbox? (Not a good idea, I think.)

To read on the Kobo. The Kobo ereader does not know what a .kepub file is. You need the double extension to have it handled properly.

From Sideloading for Testing Purposes on the KoboLabs epub-spec site on Github.

Kobo encourages the testing of content on all its reading platforms by sideloading. Content should display identically whether sideloaded or downloaded to a device from the Kobo store. Instances where this is not the case can be reported to renderingissues@kobo.com and the EPUB in question will be logged for investigation.

Here’s how to sideload content on Kobo's reading platforms:

eInk

Connect the device to your computer via USB.
Find the drive on your computer in Finder or Windows Explorer.
Drag your EPUB onto the device. To trigger the Kobo WebKit, change the file extension to .kepub.epub. To trigger the Kobo WebKit for a Fixed Layout title, change the extension to .fxl.kepub.epub. (If the extension is left unchanged it will render using the Adobe Digital Editions WebKit. This is the default display engine for sideloaded content to enable bookmarking, searching and highlighting.)
Disconnect your device. The file will automatically appear in your library.

Sideloaded EPUBs with the ".fxl.kepub.epub" or ".kepub.epub" will disable bookmarking and note keeping. Thumbnails for covers may not display. Otherwise the reading experience and content display will be identical to how the file would display when loaded through the store. Leaving the extension as ".epub" will enable bookmarking and note keeping and will trigger the ADE display engine.