Synchronize reading position in Calibre E-Book Viewer

[theducks]

Originally Posted by tarasiy

Sorry, you mentioned the synchronization as the second option. I've tried to do this, but without success. I couldn't also find a solution for that in internet. So could you please explain me, how exactly one can sync a particular epub file between computers (or to be precisely between an Android and a Windows device). Is the browser viewer necessary for this? Or is there another workaround? Many thanks in advance!

Simple
You don't

There are no standards across brands or platforms. It is all proprietary.

Kindle apps do Kindle books between those apps ONLY. I believe Kobo has a similar feature. Many apps are NOT cross platform, so no joy there

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

Or if you dont want to do that, you sync the epub file between computers and viewer position and bookmarks are automatically synced since calibre stores them inside the epub file.

Kovid is inferring two (or more) computers using the calibre viewer.

Originally Posted by tarasiy

Sorry, you mentioned the synchronization as the second option. I've tried to do this, but without success. I couldn't also find a solution for that in internet. So could you please explain me, how exactly one can sync a particular epub file between computers (or to be precisely between an Android and a Windows device). Is the browser viewer necessary for this? Or is there another workaround? Many thanks in advance!

You would use a file synchronisation tool, some of which operate between Windows and Android - but as previous poster wrote "there are no standards" so your Windows and Android ePub viewer programs are unlikely to be able to share information.

Here's a list comparing many file sync tools Comparison of file synchronization software - Wikipedia

BR

Good information in this thread. Similar to another poster, I used Calibre some years ago, got busy with life, and just recently came back to it. I would love to be able to sync basic reader metadata (reading position, context-specific comments, and highlights) on the same book in my Calibre library, then access it from multiple devices: PC, Android phone and tablet, and my new Kobo. But I'm realistic that this isn't happening anytime soon.

One workaround I've been using is manage all the ebooks and keep the source files in Calibre, but output a 'reading copy' of my whole library. That reading copy gets both posted on Google play books (where I can access with any device I have and leave notes, sync reading position, etc.) AND I sideload it to the Kobo for reading only. I dont' bother adding in notes/highlight in Kobo, since it wont sync with anything else.

If somebody has an alternative solution that doesn't involve anymore work than I'm doing now, I'm all ears. :-)

[attobuoy]

Here's my current workaround for reader syncing between Winodws and Android.

I use FBReader on Android, with the FB Reader server (https://books.fbreader.org/catalog) providing syncing across devices.

And since I can't find any way to sync FBReader with Calibre, I downloaded and installed the BlueStacks Android emulator to Windows, loaded FBReader into the BlueStacks Android environment, and voila! I can read via FBReader on my laptop, with syncing to my Android and iPad handhelds.

The BlueStacks emulator is slow to load, and needs tweaking with BSTweaker5 to get rid of some game suggestions, and works better if virutlaization is enbabled on the laptop. But it's the best route I've found.

[SpiritualMadMan]

Two things about Syncing... I currently copy my entire Calibre Library in multiple locations.

1. What about a file that can be quickly copied to a Flash drive that keeps the current read locations?

2. What about using the Home Folder on a Flash Drive? Would that work?

[franc]

Originally Posted by attobuoy

Here's my current workaround for reader syncing between Winodws and Android.

I use FBReader on Android, with the FB Reader server (https://books.fbreader.org/catalog) providing syncing across devices.

And since I can't find any way to sync FBReader with Calibre, I downloaded and installed the BlueStacks Android emulator to Windows, loaded FBReader into the BlueStacks Android environment, and voila! I can read via FBReader on my laptop, with syncing to my Android and iPad handhelds.

The BlueStacks emulator is slow to load, and needs tweaking with BSTweaker5 to get rid of some game suggestions, and works better if virutlaization is enbabled on the laptop. But it's the best route I've found.

If you go that far, I would suggest you use Genymotion emulator on windows, far better than the shitty Bluestacks.
On Mac Genymotion is slow motion, though

[attobuoy]

BlueStacks uses local bits while Genymotion is cloud-based. Seems like BlueStacks is the better solution when you have a poor internet connection, like while traveling or far from a wireless tower.

[sebbu]

Originally Posted by franc

I "only" need an interpreter of Calibres positioning and this Moonreader positioning file.

the epub.po contains :
< timestamp > * < chapter > @ < volume > # < number-of-char-over-the-top-of-the-screen > : < percentage-of-the-whole-book >
the number of char is after converting HTML to richtext, so it doesn’t include html tags, but it does include newlines not in the file.
It is the number of character that aren’t shown on screen because they’re already-read, aka you scrolled over them, so values are not incremental, but jumping around (in one of my tests, scrolling 3 lines gave the value 225.)

[sebbu]

Originally Posted by franc

I "only" need an interpreter of Calibres positioning and this Moonreader positioning file.

calibre seems to use http://idpf.org/epub/linking/cfi/epub-cfi.html in the last part of the META-INF/calibre-bookmarks.txt file for positionning, which is a little complex, but well-documented

[franc]

Originally Posted by sebbu

calibre seems to use http://idpf.org/epub/linking/cfi/epub-cfi.html in the last part of the META-INF/calibre-bookmarks.txt file for positionning, which is a little complex, but well-documented

Thank!
I had experimented a bit with the MoonReader positions but after several attempts I gave up. Never my own edited markers where accepted by MoonReader+, seems to be some special code in it, which serves as edit-blocker
The author of MoonReader (seany something) is absolutely not cooperative, ignores my answers about it.

[sebbu]

Well, the character count is very specific, and quite useless for me (i don't know how many characters are shown on the last page).
epub cfi is useable, but too complex, and doesn't answer my usecase (i don't know if the position is near enough the end to be the same [last] page).

I just wanted to know if i'm at the start of a chapter, in the middle or at the end. In both cases, i can detect the start, but not distinguish middle from end.
I ended up just assuming not start = end, so i update the chapter as read.

converting between the 2... i'ld need to parse the whole epub (and not just the position sync file), read the position, count the characters [cf previous post] in the chapter before the position, then update the .po file.

it *CAN* be done, but not just from the position sync file.

[J0539h]

I use Calibre to get the ePub onto my device, then upload it to my PocketBook Cloud so that I can get it on my other devices and have it sync my reading position on those other devices as well.

I found out today, that Cailbre modifies the ePub to contain the position data, and even though I can use Resilio Sync to wireless transfer that ePub to my devices, unfortunately, I dont have an eBook reader that would read that data.

[J0539h]

Option 2:

You can upload up to 1000 books to google and use their app to sync progress across Android devices.