Error in azw3 books with reduced margins after conversion with Calibre

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by mg10

I test It: convert epub to azw3 with default settings on Calibre and no extra CSS, and after converting, edit the azw3 adding the CSS code. Then transfer it to pw. Apparently it works when paging after opening the book first time, but once I change to another book and return to this again or after several movements of pages it starts failing. It's frustrating. Are you using it with latest firmware?

the Kindle is not on the newest firmware. But I do this to all eBooks on the Kindle. So none of the eBooks have a different L/R margin.

[DNSB]

Using a Kindle Paperwhite 10th Gen with firmware 5.16.6. I added the following CSS to the ePub file's stylesheet using Sigil before converting them to azw3 in calibre 7.5.1 (note that I wrapped the extra CSS in a media query).

@media amzn-kf8 {
  html {
    margin-left: -50px;
    margin-right: -50px;
    break-inside: avoid !important;
  }
}

I did this with 3 books (Sigil User's Guide, calibre User's Guide and Fated Blades by Ilona Andrews). I opened all of them on the Paperwhite, paged around, switched to some other ebooks and back. So far nothing other than the narrower margins on those 3 were seen.

[mg10]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Using a Kindle Paperwhite 10th Gen with firmware 5.16.6. I added the following CSS to the ePub file's stylesheet using Sigil before converting them to azw3 in calibre 7.5.1 (note that I wrapped the extra CSS in a media query).

@media amzn-kf8 {
  html {
    margin-left: -50px;
    margin-right: -50px;
    break-inside: avoid !important;
  }
}

I did this with 3 books (Sigil User's Guide, calibre User's Guide and Fated Blades by Ilona Andrews). I opened all of them on the Paperwhite, paged around, switched to some other ebooks and back. So far nothing other than the narrower margins on those 3 were seen.

Yes, finally this worked. Converting it with Sigil and sending it to pw with Calibre (to avoid problems with cover), worked perfectly. I suppose it's an issue with Calibre.
Thanks

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by mg10

Yes, finally this worked. Converting it with Sigil and sending it to pw with Calibre (to avoid problems with cover), worked perfectly. I suppose it's an issue with Calibre.
Thanks

It's not an issue with calibre. It's user error.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

It's not an issue with calibre. It's user error.

Jon, it seems to be odd that when I modify the epub in Sigil before sending it to my PW using calibre, it does work. When I modify the book in calibre before sending it to my PW, it has issues. I haven't tried without the media query which may have something to do with the issue. OTOH, dropping the Sigil modified epub on Kindle Preview and sending the dual mobi to my PW works.

I do notice that the CSS in the calibre generated azw3 is in alphabetical order while the CSS in the Kindle Preview generated azw3 is in the same order as appears in the epub other than changing the media query to all.

@media all{
  html {
    margin-left: -50px;
    margin-right: -50px;
    break-inside: avoid !important;
  }
}

body {
  display: block;
  font-size: 1em;
  margin: 0 0 0 0;
  padding: 0 0 0 0;
  text-indent: 0;
  widows: 1;
  orphans: 1;
}

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Jon, it seems to be odd that when I modify the epub in Sigil before sending it to my PW using calibre, it does work. When I modify the book in calibre before sending it to my PW, it has issues. I haven't tried without the media query which may have something to do with the issue. OTOH, dropping the Sigil modified epub on Kindle Preview and sending the dual mobi to my PW works.

I do notice that the CSS in the calibre generated azw3 is in alphabetical order while the CSS in the Kindle Preview generated azw3 is in the same order as appears in the epub other than changing the media query to all.

@media all{
  html {
    margin-left: -50px;
    margin-right: -50px;
    break-inside: avoid !important;
  }
}

body {
  display: block;
  font-size: 1em;
  margin: 0 0 0 0;
  padding: 0 0 0 0;
  text-indent: 0;
  widows: 1;
  orphans: 1;
}

I don't bother to modify the ePub. I add the CSS to the KF8, save it, and then add the soft hyphens via Hyphenate This! and it works.

[DNSB]

It seems your method does not work happily on a Scribe.

[mg10]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

It's not an issue with calibre. It's user error.

Well, it could be, of course, but the only thing that I modify in Calibre for the coversion is the extra CSS. I apply the same to my Scribe (with an earlier firmware) and it works perfectly. I don't think there's much margin for error without touching more things, but, sure I can be doing something wrong.
Today I'll restore te pw and test it again, but I already did this previously and got the same result. As with Sigil it works, I'll upgrade my Scribe and test both procedures with it. I'll share the results.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by mg10

Well, it could be, of course, but the only thing that I modify in Calibre for the coversion is the extra CSS. I apply the same to my Scribe (with an earlier firmware) and it works perfectly. I don't think there's much margin for error without touching more things, but, sure I can be doing something wrong.
Today I'll restore te pw and test it again, but I already did this previously and got the same result. As with Sigil it works, I'll upgrade my Scribe and test both procedures with it. I'll share the results.

You edit the eBook and add the negative margins at the top of the main CSS. That's how it works. Are you sure where the extra CSS is landing in the CSS? Is it in the main CSS? Is it at the top? Has it been changed at all?

[mg10]

Well, finally I decided to upgrade my Scribe to 5.16.6.1 and it works ok, not the same behavior than PW. It works with my uploaded books. However, now I have problems with covers in thumbnail view. The uploaded books have their corresponding thumbnails but for the new that I upload, always appears the generic cover. All of them have the ids information...
I use Calibre to upload them by usb.
It seems that it wasn't a good idea to upgrade...
Is there a solution for this issue?

[DNSB]

Going by previous posts, there is no solution since when Amazon switched to using a MTP connection instead of a USBMS connection, they removed access to the directory. Don't want someone corrupting those cover thumbnails...

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by mg10

Well, finally I decided to upgrade my Scribe to 5.16.6.1 and it works ok, not the same behavior than PW. It works with my uploaded books. However, now I have problems with covers in thumbnail view. The uploaded books have their corresponding thumbnails but for the new that I upload, always appears the generic cover. All of them have the ids information...
I use Calibre to upload them by usb.
It seems that it wasn't a good idea to upgrade...
Is there a solution for this issue?

There is a possible solution. But you might not like it.

The solution is to keep WiFi off and never turn it on.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by mg10

Please, is it possible to move this thread to Kindle Developer's Corner? I think it fits better there and will be more active. Thanks

Moved.

[mg10]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Going by previous posts, there is no solution since when Amazon switched to using a MTP connection instead of a USBMS connection, they removed access to the directory. Don't want someone corrupting those cover thumbnails...

I've been testing and found a procedure to solve the issue with thumbnails, at least temporarily:

Firstly, I use Sigil to generate de thumbnail while converting proccess, or you can create the file with correct dimensions.
In Calibre:
Convert the ebook (in my case from epub to azw3)
Transfer it to the Kindle
After disconnect the kindle from pc, the generic thumbnail appears
Connect again the kindle to pc
With file explorer:
Go to Kindle Scribe\Internal Storage\thumbnails\
Sort the content by date. You will see the last file generated after transfering the book and disconnecting the device from pc. The format should be:

thumbnail_....._EBOK_portrait.jpg.tmp.partial

Line ends with ".tmp.partial"
This line corresponds to the last uploaded ebook. It's 0 KB of size.
Select and copy the entire name including the first extension "thumbnail_0b....._portrait.jpg". With the same format that the rest of files.
Rename the thumbnail file created with Sigil or your own method, with the copied text.
Copy the renamed file to this folder and delete the "partial" file.
After disconnecting from pc you will see the correct thumbnail.

I hope this helps whoever wants to see the thumbnails ok

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Going by previous posts, there is no solution since when Amazon switched to using a MTP connection instead of a USBMS connection, they removed access to the directory. Don't want someone corrupting those cover thumbnails...

No, that folder is still accessible using MTP.

The issue is that calibre uses separate drivers for Kindle devices and MTP devices. Only the Kindle device driver has the code to handle Kindle thumbnails. Fixing this requires significant changes to the calibre MTP driver or the creation of a new Kindle-MTP driver..