eMail epubs / pdfs to your Kobo

PeterT · 01-30-2026, 10:49 PM

I was just browsing Threads and fell into the wormhole of reading old posts by mtamblyn (Kobo CEO) and he mentioned a means of emailing content to your Kobo (if it natively supports DropBox).

I haven't yet tried it yet but see https://www.kobo.com/blog/how-to-ema...s-to-your-kobo

Ah.. looks like unfortunately that feature requires a PAID dropbox account.

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Sirtel · 01-31-2026, 12:20 AM

Heh. I set up Dropbox on my Sage when I bought it in 2021 and have used it maybe 3 times since. I much prefer USB transfer. I do have a paid Dropbox account, but I'm not sure I want to bother with this. Things would be different if I spent a lot of time away from my computer and calibre library, but I don't these days.

And you can't sync your reading progress between Kobo ereaders via Dropbox, so that makes it pretty pointless for me.

JSWolf · 01-31-2026, 08:53 AM

What I do is when I go on vacation I bring my Surface Pro 2 with me and I have access to my entire calibre library.

I recently bought a new laptop to replace my slow Surface Pro 2. So that will be going with me next time I'm on vacation. I just have to finish setting it up.

Sirtel · 01-31-2026, 09:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

What I do is when I go on vacation I bring my Surface Pro 2 with me and I have access to my entire calibre library.

I recently bought a new laptop to replace my slow Surface Pro 2. So that will be going with me next time I'm on vacation. I just have to finish setting it up.

I also used to take either my Surface Pro 6 or a small, lightweight laptop with me if I had to be away from home for a while.

salamanderjuice · 01-31-2026, 10:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PeterT

I was just browsing Threads and fell into the wormhole of reading old posts by mtamblyn (Kobo CEO) and he mentioned a means of emailing content to your Kobo (if it natively supports DropBox).

I haven't yet tried it yet but see https://www.kobo.com/blog/how-to-ema...s-to-your-kobo

Ah.. looks like unfortunately that feature requires a PAID dropbox account.

Sent from my Pixel 9a using Tapatalk

Doesn't work for PDFs but I much prefer using Calibre-Web and it's Kobo sync. I upload a book to my Calibre-Web library and it syncs to my Kobo as if I bought it off Kobo.

tdanzie · 01-31-2026, 06:38 PM

Hi, how is this done?

Sirtel · 01-31-2026, 08:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tdanzie

Hi, how is this done?

What do you mean? The instructions are in the article.

tdanzie · 01-31-2026, 08:47 PM

I’m sorry, that question was directed to Salamanderjuice. “I upload a book to my Calibre-Web library and it syncs to my Kobo as if I bought it off Kobo”.

salamanderjuice · 02-01-2026, 07:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tdanzie

I’m sorry, that question was directed to Salamanderjuice. “I upload a book to my Calibre-Web library and it syncs to my Kobo as if I bought it off Kobo”.

Calibre-Web is a web interface over a Calibre database. Basically your Calibre-Web setup acts as the Kobo store. You hit sync and and it syncs books recently uploaded to Calibre-Web to Kobo. This is done by pointing the Kobo to not query the Kobo store URL but instead your Calibre-Web URL (See here).

Admittedly it's not the simplest to setup, but it works very well if you do.

JSWolf · 02-01-2026, 08:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by salamanderjuice

Calibre-Web is a web interface over a Calibre database. Basically your Calibre-Web setup acts as the Kobo store. You hit sync and and it syncs books recently uploaded to Calibre-Web to Kobo. This is done by pointing the Kobo to not query the Kobo store URL but instead your Calibre-Web URL (See here).

Admittedly it's not the simplest to setup, but it works very well if you do.

It doesn't work with calibre 9.

rantanplan · 02-01-2026, 08:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

It doesn't work at all with calibre 9 because the database changed and they diddled around with the database when they should not have.

I don’t know what you’re talking about, it has been fixed right away.

https://github.com/crocodilestick/Ca...mated/releases

PeterT · 02-01-2026, 12:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

It doesn't work at all with calibre 9 because the database changed and they diddled around with the database when they should not have.

I believe calibre-web was fixed. See this commit https://github.com/janeczku/calibre-...bbc25585185889 on the original calibre-web GitHub, or this one https://github.com/crocodilestick/Ca...b8e58578129d64 on Calibre Web Automated which appears to be under far more active development than the original.

https://github.com/crocodilestick/Calibre-Web-Automated version 4.0.2 and above contain the isbn fux

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Cactus Chef · 02-01-2026, 12:58 PM

Kinda strange that this wasn't advertised more, considering it's one of the main complaints from Kindle refugees that there's not an easy email-to-Kobo solution.

Given that the cheapest Dropbox premium plan is $10/mth, I'm not signing up just for that. Even with the *free* Dropbox account I setup for my Sage, I find myself not using it very often, purely because I don't like having to pre-convert my EPUBs to KEPUBs before uploading it to DropBox or else get an inferior reading experience. I really like Calibre's on-the-fly conversion to KEPUB during transfer that keeps my library free of duplicate copies.

Sirtel · 02-01-2026, 01:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cactus Chef

Kinda strange that this wasn't advertised more, considering it's one of the main complaints from Kindle refugees that there's not an easy email-to-Kobo solution.

Given that the cheapest Dropbox premium plan is $10/mth, I'm not signing up just for that. Even with the *free* Dropbox account I setup for my Sage, I find myself not using it very often, purely because I don't like having to pre-convert my EPUBs to KEPUBs before uploading it to DropBox or else get an inferior reading experience. I really like Calibre's on-the-fly conversion to KEPUB during transfer that keeps my library free of duplicate copies.

Not to mention that you won't get the series information, synopsis or automatic collections with Dropbox downloads. And I like to pre-set my favorite font for new books via Kobo Utilities; can't do this either with Dropbox.

tdanzie · 02-01-2026, 01:36 PM

Thanks everyone, I will take a look into Calibre-web.

01-30-2026, 10:49 PM	#1
PeterT Grand Sorcerer Posts: 13,806 Karma: 80104714 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Toronto Device: Libra H2O, Libra Colour	eMail epubs / pdfs to your Kobo I was just browsing Threads and fell into the wormhole of reading old posts by mtamblyn (Kobo CEO) and he mentioned a means of emailing content to your Kobo (if it natively supports DropBox). I haven't yet tried it yet but see https://www.kobo.com/blog/how-to-ema...s-to-your-kobo Ah.. looks like unfortunately that feature requires a PAID dropbox account. Sent from my Pixel 9a using Tapatalk

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01-31-2026, 12:20 AM	#2
Sirtel Grand Sorcerer Posts: 14,626 Karma: 245099999 Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: Estonia Device: Kobo Sage & Libra 2	Heh. I set up Dropbox on my Sage when I bought it in 2021 and have used it maybe 3 times since. I much prefer USB transfer. I do have a paid Dropbox account, but I'm not sure I want to bother with this. Things would be different if I spent a lot of time away from my computer and calibre library, but I don't these days. And you can't sync your reading progress between Kobo ereaders via Dropbox, so that makes it pretty pointless for me.

01-31-2026, 08:53 AM	#3
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 81,978 Karma: 150266009 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	What I do is when I go on vacation I bring my Surface Pro 2 with me and I have access to my entire calibre library. I recently bought a new laptop to replace my slow Surface Pro 2. So that will be going with me next time I'm on vacation. I just have to finish setting it up.

01-31-2026, 06:38 PM	#6
tdanzie Connoisseur Posts: 76 Karma: 26804 Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Texas Device: iPad Pro, Kobo H2O, Kindle Voyage, Kobo Aura One	Hi, how is this done?

01-31-2026, 08:47 PM	#8
tdanzie Connoisseur Posts: 76 Karma: 26804 Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Texas Device: iPad Pro, Kobo H2O, Kindle Voyage, Kobo Aura One	I’m sorry, that question was directed to Salamanderjuice. “I upload a book to my Calibre-Web library and it syncs to my Kobo as if I bought it off Kobo”.

02-01-2026, 12:58 PM	#13
Cactus Chef Guru Posts: 740 Karma: 9445786 Join Date: Apr 2019 Location: East Coast, United States Device: Kobo Sage, Kobo Clara HD, Galaxy Tab S5e, Kindle 4th Gen	Kinda strange that this wasn't advertised more, considering it's one of the main complaints from Kindle refugees that there's not an easy email-to-Kobo solution. Given that the cheapest Dropbox premium plan is $10/mth, I'm not signing up just for that. Even with the free Dropbox account I setup for my Sage, I find myself not using it very often, purely because I don't like having to pre-convert my EPUBs to KEPUBs before uploading it to DropBox or else get an inferior reading experience. I really like Calibre's on-the-fly conversion to KEPUB during transfer that keeps my library free of duplicate copies.

02-01-2026, 01:36 PM	#15
tdanzie Connoisseur Posts: 76 Karma: 26804 Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Texas Device: iPad Pro, Kobo H2O, Kindle Voyage, Kobo Aura One	Thanks everyone, I will take a look into Calibre-web.