Forma Dropbox on Forma not all it’s cracked up to be

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by MGlitch

erm, yes, as I said it's the Kobo end that has the issue, Dropbox is happy to have and send the file.

I appreciate that Calibre has to append .kepub. That's all well and good.

The issue now is that apparently everyone elses Calibre outputs .kepub.epub while mine is outputting just .kepub

And for the life of me I can not figure out why since, AFAIK, I am using the same tools they are.

Sorry, you are misunderstanding things. I don't think anyone has said they are getting files named with ".kepub.epub" except when they use one of the drivers to send kepubs to the device. Everything you have described so fare is working exactly as designed.

Firstly, the KoboTouchExtended driver can do the transformation from epub to kepub on the fly when sending the book to the device. And knows to rename the file appropriately.

The KoboTouch driver knows that it can send kepubs that are in the calibre library to the device. And it knows to rename the file appropriately.

If you convert to kepub in the library, or, otherwise add a kepub, calibre stores the book with the extension "kepub". All actions that calibre does with a kepub that do not include use of the above drivers, have no knowledge that these files should be treated differently to other books. Actions such as save-to-disk will update the metadata and then copy the file to the destination using the templates and metadata plugboards. Nothing in these tells calibre to rename the file to ".kepub.epub".

And whether that rename should happen depends on the purpose. If the purpose is to export the book to import to another calibre library, you don't want it to happen. If the purpose is to use it in some other way, then you need to decide what the name should be.

If you want to send a kepub to Dropbox so that the device will download it, you need to rename it to include ".kepub.epub". Unfortunately, I can't think of a good way to do this in calibre. The template used for save-to-disk will always add what calibre thinks is the extension for the books format to the end of the file name. To do this would need changes to calibre, or a plugin written to do it. Maybe someone can write a "Send kepub to Kobo Dropbox" plugin.

[MGlitch]

Originally Posted by davidfor

Sorry, you are misunderstanding things. I don't think anyone has said they are getting files named with ".kepub.epub" except when they use one of the drivers to send kepubs to the device. Everything you have described so fare is working exactly as designed.

Firstly, the KoboTouchExtended driver can do the transformation from epub to kepub on the fly when sending the book to the device. And knows to rename the file appropriately.

The KoboTouch driver knows that it can send kepubs that are in the calibre library to the device. And it knows to rename the file appropriately.

If you convert to kepub in the library, or, otherwise add a kepub, calibre stores the book with the extension "kepub". All actions that calibre does with a kepub that do not include use of the above drivers, have no knowledge that these files should be treated differently to other books. Actions such as save-to-disk will update the metadata and then copy the file to the destination using the templates and metadata plugboards. Nothing in these tells calibre to rename the file to ".kepub.epub".

And whether that rename should happen depends on the purpose. If the purpose is to export the book to import to another calibre library, you don't want it to happen. If the purpose is to use it in some other way, then you need to decide what the name should be.

If you want to send a kepub to Dropbox so that the device will download it, you need to rename it to include ".kepub.epub". Unfortunately, I can't think of a good way to do this in calibre. The template used for save-to-disk will always add what calibre thinks is the extension for the books format to the end of the file name. To do this would need changes to calibre, or a plugin written to do it. Maybe someone can write a "Send kepub to Kobo Dropbox" plugin.

Thank you, it's good to know I'm not going insane, I kept looking through the KTE instructions trying to decipher some new way to do what was there.

I'm not sure if there'd be enough interest to warrant a plugin. The use case is rather limited since it'd only be Forma users and people who used the user mod to add dropbox support. And even then the limitations in using dropbox as a middleman vs just using calibre are still there.

I can see dropbox support being handy for some and I think I was just going in with expectations that were too high.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by MGlitch

Thank you, it's good to know I'm not going insane, I kept looking through the KTE instructions trying to decipher some new way to do what was there.

I'm not sure if there'd be enough interest to warrant a plugin. The use case is rather limited since it'd only be Forma users and people who used the user mod to add dropbox support. And even then the limitations in using dropbox as a middleman vs just using calibre are still there.

If I find the time and inclination, I might look at doing it in the Kobo Utilities plugin. It might be possible to create something that wraps around save-to-disk and does the rename afterward the file has been exported.

[patrik]

davidfor, it would be very nice to have an easy way to get an ebook to the right dropbox directory, in kepub (automatic conversion if necessary) and with correct extension-name.

Hmm, maybe davidfor and NiLuJe can get together and spawn a little daemon that runs on the Forma, doing the db-magic adding series and collection info? (And if needed, the "save-ebook-to-dropbox"-plugin could add the necessary, if any, series & collection info in a new only-for-the-daemon file?)

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by patrik

davidfor, it would be very nice to have an easy way to get an ebook to the right dropbox directory, in kepub (automatic conversion if necessary) and with correct extension-name.

Hmm, maybe davidfor and NiLuJe can get together and spawn a little daemon that runs on the Forma, doing the db-magic adding series and collection info? (And if needed, the "save-ebook-to-dropbox"-plugin could add the necessary, if any, series & collection info in a new only-for-the-daemon file?)

Sorry, I don't use dropbox, so I'm not really interested in doing something here. You can get close by converting in calibre and either using save-to-disk to put the book on the Dropbox folder, or using the "Connect to folder" driver to treat the folder as a device. You would have to rename the books after you put them there, but, unless you are putting hundreds of books there, that isn't much work.

[patrik]

Sure, you do enough Kobo-stuff.

It's no problem manually copying the files, and rename them. That's quick. What I would like to be able to skip is to manually have to convert to kepub and keep (unless explicitly deleting them) the files in Calibre. (The kobotouchextended driver spoiled me. )

But I can copy the epub I want to some temp directory, and then run a script that converts them to kepub, renames them, and moves them to the dropbox directory. Fairly simple.

What I would miss is the series and collection info getting transfered. But I can live with that, for those books I really want it for, I can transfer via wire.

[stumped]

Ok , having read all, I see there is no magic plugin solution yet, and limited enthusiasm for creating one.
I get that is forma only for now. It maybe kobo will roll out to other devices eventually? Thus more people may become interested.
A list of best recommended steps to follow in the meantime will be much appreciated, steps that start with calibre and end with.kepub.epub files getting to the correct Dropbox folder

[patrik]

This is what I do:

- In Calibre, right-click on book, choose "Open containing folder". (This opens a new file manager.)
- In folder, "copy" epub (ctrl-c)
Click on bookmarked directory (in the file manager)
Paste (ctrl-v).
Close file manager.
- Run a script I made. (which takes all epub-files in the tmp-directory, uses kepubify to convert to kepub and place the resulting .kepub.epub in the dropbox-directory for Kobo, and remove the epub.
- Sync on Forma

Works well. I would like to get the series and collection info transferred as well, but don't know how to do that.

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by stumped

Ok , having read all, I see there is no magic plugin solution yet, and limited enthusiasm for creating one.
I get that is forma only for now. It maybe kobo will roll out to other devices eventually? Thus more people may become interested.
A list of best recommended steps to follow in the meantime will be much appreciated, steps that start with calibre and end with.kepub.epub files getting to the correct Dropbox folder

Assuming one already has kepub files stored in the Calibre library, just save specific format to disk. Then just run a script or batch file renamer to change the extension to kepub.epub.

On DOS, that's as simple as (assuming flat folder structure):

ren *.kepub *.kepub.epub

[stumped]

Thanks, but you lose me at "run a script".
Is there a really really simple procedure please
I can do basic windows stuff like create, choose folders... But I never learned anything about scripts
I have extended kobo driver plugin already. But I need a other plugin? To get calibre to convert and store the kepub conversions?
I'd like to generate a big batch of kepub.epub and put them in dropbox for future use without sending them directly to kobo. I like to have only a handful of books in progress on the actual kobo

[patrik]

It is really simple. I'm sure you can get some windows-user to create a script from what I wrote and use that.

But if you want to do everything manually, you can install kepub-output-plugin in Calibre. Run that for the book.

Either:
- open containing folder, copy the kepub to the dropbox directory
or
- use the Calibre function save to disk, and save the kepub to the dropbox directory.

Rename the file to .kepub.epub, and you're done.

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by stumped

Thanks, but you lose me at "run a script".
Is there a really really simple procedure please
I can do basic windows stuff like create, choose folders... But I never learned anything about scripts
I have extended kobo driver plugin already. But I need a other plugin? To get calibre to convert and store the kepub conversions?
I'd like to generate a big batch of kepub.epub and put them in dropbox for future use without sending them directly to kobo. I like to have only a handful of books in progress on the actual kobo

Extract the attached zip file to the Kobo Dropbox folder. There are two batch files included. You just double-click (or single-click depending on how you have Windows setup) the file you want to run.

1. renames all files in the same folder as the batch script and all its subfolders from .kepub to .kepub.epub for Kobo
2. renames all files in the same folder as the batch script and all its subfolders from .kepub.epub to .kepub for Calibre

Then assuming you already have the ebooks stored as kepub in your Calibre library:

1. Save to disk -> Save single format to disk... -> select KEPUB and save to your Kobo Dropbox folder.
2. Run the batch file "rename2kepub-epub-for-kobo.bat" inside your Kobo Dropbox folder (Windows may hide the ".bat" part)

To minimize on Dropbox uploads and downloads, you can also do the Calibre Save to disk and run the batch rename script on a temporary folder. Then just move the files from the temp folder to the Kobo Dropbox folder after they've already been renamed to kepub.epub.

[rashkae]

It's an extra step.. but would it not make sense to just export the epubs from calibre, and run kepubify on the folder? Seems to be exactly the kind of thing it lives for.

[patrik]

Originally Posted by rashkae

It's an extra step.. but would it not make sense to just export the epubs from calibre, and run kepubify on the folder? Seems to be exactly the kind of thing it lives for.

As you can see above, that's what I do, and since I do it automatically it's not an extra step. And it saves me the trouble (and space) to create kepubs within Calibre.

[stumped]

Originally Posted by patrik

It is really simple. I'm sure you can get some windows-user to create a script from what I wrote and use that.

But if you want to do everything manually, you can install kepub-output-plugin in Calibre. Run that for the book.

Either:
- open containing folder, copy the kepub to the dropbox directory
or
- use the Calibre function save to disk, and save the kepub to the dropbox directory.

Rename the file to .kepub.epub, and you're done.

Thanks to all. That looks like the plugin I need, because no kepubs get saved after the on the fly kobo driver conversion

I should then be able to to the bat file rename thing ok.

Actually , I just realised that I already use a freeware batch renamer utility, I use it for polishing series and episode naming formats for Plex, so I can probably set that up to change file extensions to kepub.epub