[GUI Plugin] Kobo Utilities

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by serpyke

I may be mistaken, but if I used the plugin to delete the book covers from the device and then again to send the covers from my library to the books on the device... shouldn't the covers inside the books have been changed as well as those in the directories referenced by DNSB? All the books I put on the Kobo had covers measuring at least 800 x 1200 pixels, and in Calibre's preview of the books on the device, those covers are displayed as just over 300 x 500; so I assumed that it was showing one of the files in that directories and not the covers inside the books. Sorry if I'm mixing things up, but I'm not really sure how it works, to be honest.

Use either the editor to change the book's cover or use the Modify ePub plugin to change the book's cover. Then resend the book to your Kobo. But make sure you have "Do not treat replacements as new books" checked in the KoboTouch driver. With this option checked, when you send the eBook again to your Kobo to overwrite the existing copy, the Kobo will not treat it as a new book.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by serpyke

But then, would I lose my reading statistics if I delete a book from Kobo and then send it again, either original or sideloaded?

Thanks for the help.

If you delete and re-add then I would guess "yes", assuming you are talking about statistics stored on the device. I don't know what happens with stats in calibre such as those maintained by the Reading Goal plugin.

However, if the Kobo driver's option "Do not treat replacements as new books" is checked then based on the option's tooltip I would think not. I've never done it so I can't be more precise. Perhaps someone with experience can provide more insight. EDIT: I see that JSWolf has already been "more precise".

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by chaley

If you delete and re-add then I would guess "yes", assuming you are talking about statistics stored on the device. I don't know what happens with stats in calibre such as those maintained by the Reading Goal plugin.

However, if the Kobo driver's option "Do not treat replacements as new books" is checked then based on the option's tooltip I would think not. I've never done it so I can't be more precise. Perhaps someone with experience can provide more insight. EDIT: I see that JSWolf has already been "more precise".

The Reading Goal plugin gets it's data from calibre. For example, when Kobo Utilities updates the reading stats then Reading Goal can update the pages read and mark the book as finished if it is finished. It doesn't get info off of the device.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The Reading Goal plugin gets it's data from calibre. For example, when Kobo Utilities updates the reading stats then Reading Goal can update the pages read and mark the book as finished if it is finished. It doesn't get info off of the device.

Clearly it is getting info off the device. If the book is deleted and added again, the progress will fly back to zero. Unless something else is going on such as restoring reading positions, KU will update calibre and Reading Goal will see that update.

[DNSB]

If you know you haven't modified the Table of Contents, renamed files, etc., you could check the Do not treat replacements as new books on the 2nd tab of the KoboTouch driver configuration. This will preserve reading statistics. I backup the Kobo reading statistics into calibre which I find useful after a factory reset to restore (this is an option in the Kobo Utilities plugin customization).

I don't use Embed Metadata so I'm not sure if it would update the cover in the ebook. You could use Polish or Modify ePub instead.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by DNSB

If you know you haven't modified the Table of Contents, renamed files, etc., you could check the Do not treat replacements as new books on the 2nd tab of the KoboTouch driver configuration. This will preserve reading statistics. I backup the Kobo reading statistics into calibre which I find useful after a factory reset to restore (this is an option in the Kobo Utilities plugin customization).

I don't use Embed Metadata so I'm not sure if it would update the cover in the ebook. You could use Polish or Modify ePub instead.

Using Modify ePub makes less changes to to the ePub then Polish does.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Using Modify ePub makes less changes to to the ePub then Polish does.

Depends on which options you have checked. I use both though Modify ePub is my normal choice.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by chaley

Clearly it is getting info off the device. If the book is deleted and added again, the progress will fly back to zero. Unless something else is going on such as restoring reading positions, KU will update calibre and Reading Goal will see that update.

Kobo Utilities is getting the info from the device. But Reading Goal is using that info that's stored in calbre.

If you use the option in KoboTouch Do not treat replacements as new books you can send the version with the replaced cover and Kobo will treat the new version as the same eBook and you will not lose your reading place, bookmarks, and highlights. Buy doing this, you do not have to delete the eBooks that's alread on the device. IT will just overwrite it and the device will treat it as the same eBook.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Depends on which options you have checked. I use both though Modify ePub is my normal choice.

When I'm editing my eBook, I'll make sure the cover is what I want or the best available cover I can find if the included cover is not good enough (too small or generic).

[DNSB]

For me, once I have the book in calibre and updated the metadata and cover, I use Modify ePub to embed the metadata and cover before editing. I do use a Sigil saved search that replaces the calibre cover code with my preferred code.

[Majutsushi]

I think I have fixed the issue where updating the ToC would sometimes result in a 'UNIQUE constraint failed' error. I would really appreciate it if people who have encountered the error could give the attached version of the plugin a try to see if it fixes the issue for them. If it does then I can release the fix as a new version.