Updating database on Kobo Forma

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by maddz

How does the section cope with multiple translations of the same work?

I have 5 different translations of The Odyssey with different translators but Homer is always the first entry in the author list:

1. Homer & William Cullen Bryant
2. Homer & Robert Fitzgerald
3. Homer & Daniel Mendelsohn
4. Homer & E V Rieu & D C H Rieu
5. Homer & Emiliy Wilson

Obviously I want to distinguish them at a glance on the Kobo and not by opening them up and looking at the title page. I have several other works with different translators, but The Odyssey is the most 'prolific'.

The Save to Disk template only affects the file name not the metadata. When you reconnect your Kobo after the books are imported, the metadata update will also add the authors. I've attached an image for 3 files showing the files and what my Kobo shows.

For your purposes, you might want to change the {authors:sublist(0,1,&)} to {authors:sublist(0,2, & )} to allow showing the translator to prevent identical filenames. See the 2nd attached image for the effect on the filename. This will prevent identical filenames which are a big no-no.

You can also drop the sublist from the authors though I needed it due to several anthologies where the author list alone exceeded calibre's maximum path so the filenames started being truncated.

[maddz]

When I manage anthologies in Calibre, I log them under the editor(s) not the individual authors so I rarely have more than 2 authors there. Out of my 400 hundred anthologies, less than 10 have more than 2 entries.

What do I need to include the series & sub-series indexes? That I do need! Do I need to revert the calibre export template preference to {author_sort}/{series}/{series}-{series_index:>2s} {#subseries} {#subseries_index:>2s}:{title} - {authors} but leave the Kobo Touch driver as Ebooks/{author_sort:sublist(0,2,&)}/{title} - {authors:sublist(0,2,&)}?

[theducks]

Originally Posted by maddz

When I manage anthologies in Calibre, I log them under the editor(s) not the individual authors so I rarely have more than 2 authors there. Out of my 400 hundred anthologies, less than 10 have more than 2 entries.

What do I need to include the series & sub-series indexes? That I do need! Do I need to revert the calibre export template preference to {author_sort}/{series}/{series}-{series_index:>2s} {#subseries} {#subseries_index:>2s}:{title} - {authors} but leave the Kobo Touch driver as Ebooks/{author_sort:sublist(0,2,&)}/{title} - {authors:sublist(0,2,&)}?

I also put the Editors name in {authors} and the list of (story) authors is my #psudo4 (an Authors type column that gained additional use over the years)
If the Anthology has more than 2 series, I set it to "<various>" and enter what I consider my Favorite into m second Series like column.
I do not (DB) document any above 2

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by maddz

When I manage anthologies in Calibre, I log them under the editor(s) not the individual authors so I rarely have more than 2 authors there. Out of my 400 hundred anthologies, less than 10 have more than 2 entries.

What do I need to include the series & sub-series indexes? That I do need! Do I need to revert the calibre export template preference to {author_sort}/{series}/{series}-{series_index:>2s} {#subseries} {#subseries_index:>2s}:{title} - {authors} but leave the Kobo Touch driver as Ebooks/{author_sort:sublist(0,2,&)}/{title} - {authors:sublist(0,2,&)}?

The two templates are not used for the same purpose so you can set each as you need. For series/subseries, I structure that in calibre (for instance, Valdemar:Mage Winds with the series index for the individual series). A minor nit is to use ' & ' in the authors so you get David Weber & Eric Flint in the filename.

I like adding the entire author list to make it easy to find any books that an author has whether published under their name or as a participant in an anthology. That information is stored in the Kobo database whereas I seldom look at the book files on a Kobo so the filename on the Kobo is pretty much irrelevant.

If you are using an alternative renderer (Kobalt, KOReader or Plato), you might be more concerned about the filename though when I play with KOReader, I use it's ability to search calibre's metadata file stored in the root of a Kobo's exposed storage. Since Kobalt piggybacks off the Kobo firmware, it is able to use Kobo's full search capability again making filename irrelevant.

[maddz]

No, I'm using the standard renderer.

I must say the transfer process is a lot quicker when using the sub-directory: less than 3 minutes for 500 books whereas the transferring to the root directory took over 8 minutes for 500 books (in some cases over 9 minutes).

[maddz]

I have the subseries & index appearing in the subtitle field, but the series index is not appearing in the series field.

The KoboTouch save template is: Ebooks/{author_sort:sublist(0,2,&)}/{title} - {authors:sublist(0,2,&)} and the metadata tab has {#subseries:|| {#subseries_index} - } {#myshelves} {#hugonominees:|| - {#hugonominees}}

I also have set series information ticked but not force series ID. Should I have the latter ticked as well?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by maddz

I have the subseries & index appearing in the subtitle field, but the series index is not appearing in the series field.

The KoboTouch save template is: Ebooks/{author_sort:sublist(0,2,&)}/{title} - {authors:sublist(0,2,&)} and the metadata tab has {#subseries:|| {#subseries_index} - } {#myshelves} {#hugonominees:|| - {#hugonominees}}

I also have set series information ticked but not force series ID. Should I have the latter ticked as well?

Ebooks/{title} - {authors:sublist(0,2,&)} and the metadata tab has {#subseries:|| {#subseries_index} - } {#myshelves} {#hugonominees:|| - {#hugonominees}}

That's a lot better without all of those excess unnecessary subdirectories.

[maddz]

Still not showing the series index. I don't understand why!

[PeterT]

Originally Posted by DNSB

If you are using an alternative renderer (Kobalt, KOReader or Plato), you might be more concerned about the filename though when I play with KOReader, I use it's ability to search calibre's metadata file stored in the root of a Kobo's exposed storage. Since Kobalt piggybacks off the Kobo firmware, it is able to use Kobo's full search capability again making filename irrelevant.

I thought Kobalt used the Kobo database to manage content so surely it should follow the same logic as the native Kobo interface

[DNSB]

I've seen several messages elsewhere where people seem to want Kobalt to have the same file/directory browsing capability as KOReader. Mostly people who seem to have decided that calibre is not for them.

Kobalt does adds itself as a replacement renderer in place of RMSDK or TENG so you can use the native Kobo search/library/etc. to select a book to read using it. Takes me back a lot of years to when Ken Maltby and I had several disagreements about whether search or a carefully curated directory structure was the best way to locate books.

[maddz]

OK, done a bit of testing.

- After sending to device, and letting the new content import, I have no series information.
- Reconnecting, and updating cached metadata from the device menu adds the calibre main series data with the index visible. However, there's still a lot of '/' visible in the title list.
- Reconnecting, then using Kobo Utilities to update metadata in device library data cleans up the '/' but removes the series index.

I am now baffled. Why is Kobo Utilities apparently deleting the series index on the device? I don't want to include the main series data in the repurposed subtitle field; there's already a lot of data there.

[WhatCheer]

Hi, folks.

Thanks for this discussion! Sorry in advance for the less than savvy way I'm sure I'll be wording this.

I've now changed by template in the Calibre preferences for sending books to devices to "Ebooks / {author_sort}/{title} - {authors}" (I just added ebooks as a subfolder rather than trying anything fancy with organization because that scares me a bit.)

Now that the ebooks subfolder has been created and I've moved a few books into it via Calibre / send to my device, can I just move the other author folders in the main folder into the ebooks subfolder from the device disk on my desktop (not sure if I'm saying that right but hopefully folks will know what I mean), or do I need to reload everything via Calibre / send to my device? Thank you!

[JSWolf]

change your template to...

Ebooks /{title} - {authors}"

[maddz]

Definitely something weird with my set up:

I'm still running Calibre 7.26, and have Kobo Utilities 3.7.2 (downgraded from the latest version)

Both KoboTouch drivers are configured identically:
File Formats tab the Save template = Ebooks/{title} - {authors} {series}{series_index:| - | - }
Collections tab has #myshelves for the collections column, and Create collections and Delete empty collections ticked, as well as Upload covers and Do not treat replacements as new books. Other fields are unchecked or blank.
Metadata tab has Update metadata on device checked, along with Set series information, Update metadata on book details pages and Subtitle with the value {#subseries:|| {#subseries_index} - } {#myshelves} {#hugonominees:|| - {#hugonominees}}. Again, nothing else is ticked or filled in.

I send books to the device, disconnect, allow them to import, then reconnect. Then in the Device menu I click update cached metadata on device. Disconnect.

What I see is books with no series set are prefixed by //- : followed by title - Author, books with series have title - author, series, series index, and if there is a subseries, I see that and the index in the subtitle field. Then the author appears again in the last field.

If I reconnect, and use Kobo Utilities to update metadata, I get
Title
Subtitle template information which will always include the collections prefixed by subseries & subseries index if any
Series (if any) BUT NO SERIES INDEX
Author

How can I see the series index when updating metadata using Kobo Utilities? I always used to before I upgraded the plug-in earlier in the month.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by WhatCheer

Now that the ebooks subfolder has been created and I've moved a few books into it via Calibre / send to my device, can I just move the other author folders in the main folder into the ebooks subfolder from the device disk on my desktop (not sure if I'm saying that right but hopefully folks will know what I mean), or do I need to reload everything via Calibre / send to my device? Thank you!

If you try to move the books, your Kobo's database will not know they have been moved. The last time I did this for a friend, we backed up the reading status/etc., deleted the books on the device from calibre and then resent them. It took a while for the books to be sent in blocks and then re-imported but it was worth the time. Their first pass moving the directories directly caused issues where books were duplicated in the database.