Convert ePub to KePub (400 books, already on Kobo)?

[A random blob]

Hello

So on my Kobo I have around 400 transferred ePub books and I love them. Recently I found out about KePubs and I wanted to convert my already existing epubs to kepub. But, I don't want to remove 400 books from kobo then transfer 400 new kebpubs back to it. It'll really put a lot of stress on it.

Is there any way of converting them while they're on the Kobo ereader


The Kobo is Glo HD.

Thank you

[MGlitch]

You might be able to with calibre but you’d still need to remove the 400 ePub books or you’d have 800 books taking up space even assuming the Kobo doesn’t read them as multiple books which it likely would meaning your library would be a mess.

Removing them and adding them won’t stress your Kobo.

[A random blob]

Originally Posted by MGlitch

You might be able to with calibre but you’d still need to remove the 400 ePub books or you’d have 800 books taking up space even assuming the Kobo doesn’t read them as multiple books which it likely would meaning your library would be a mess.

Removing them and adding them won’t stress your Kobo.

That's great to hear, thank you!

Is there any way to keep my current progress? Like markings, notes, read (finihshed) books etc.

I also have quite a few groups (collections) which I custom arranged by hand which I would feel really bad losing

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by A random blob

Is there any way to keep my current progress? Like markings, notes, read (finihshed) books etc.

In the past, I have started books, but didn't like the formatting. So I edited books on the PC and used Calibre to remove the book and then add it again and it kept my reading position. Granted that was removing a kepub and then adding the same kepub back. If you remove an ePub and add a kepub, I'm not sure if the behavior will be the same.

[A random blob]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

In the past, I have started books, but didn't like the formatting. So I edited books on the PC and used Calibre to remove the book and then add it again and it kept my reading position. Granted that was removing a kepub and then adding the same kepub back. If you remove an ePub and add a kepub, I'm not sure if the behavior will be the same.

Awesome, so if I try with one book, it should be fine with others then? Would that be ok?

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by A random blob

Hello

So on my Kobo I have around 400 transferred ePub books and I love them. Recently I found out about KePubs and I wanted to convert my already existing epubs to kepub. But, I don't want to remove 400 books from kobo then transfer 400 new kebpubs back to it. It'll really put a lot of stress on it.

Is there any way of converting them while they're on the Kobo ereader

There is no way to convert them on the device without adding them as a new book. If you don't have the books elsewhere, you could probably run kepubify on them while the device is connected. That will create kepubs from the epubs, but, it doesn't replace them, or remove the epub version (at least I don't think there is an option to remove them). If you are already a calibre user, you can just use that.

And adding 400 new books is not a problem for the device at all. If you only have 400 books on the device, you are at the lower end of the number of books. Doubling that is not a worry. You can start getting concerned when you hit five figures.

Originally Posted by A random blob

Is there any way to keep my current progress? Like markings, notes, read (finihshed) books etc.

The device will treat the new kepubs as completely new books. If you use my Kobo Utilities plugin, you can store the reading status and position for the ePubs. You can then restore the reading status, but not the position. The locations are stored differently for ePubs and kepubs. There isn't a method to convert between them.

Similarly for annotations. There aren't any methods to export the annotations and apply them to a different format. If you want to store the annotations, you can use the Annotations plugin to store them in a column in calibre.

I also have quite a few groups (collections) which I custom arranged by hand which I would feel really bad losing

Again, not really. The books are not the same books, so they have to be added to collections separately. This would be the easiest of these to hack in the database, but, it would still be some work.

There is a solution if you are a calibre user. Again, my Kobo Utilities plugin has a function to fetch the collections from the device and store them in calibre. You can then use the driver to send those collections back to the device after you put the kepub versions of the book on the device.

Originally Posted by A random blob

Awesome, so if I try with one book, it should be fine with others then? Would that be ok?

What @ZodWallop is doing only works because the same format is being sent back to the device with exactly the same name. And calibre is being used. It can fool the device into thinking the book hasn't changed. But, it doesn't work if a different format is being used.

And yes, you should try a few books and see if you do prefer the kepub format.

[Quoth]

I've been changing the books I originally loaded as kepubs to epubs. There are pluses and minuses. I prefer the rendering to match the epubs on non-Kobo and be closer to Kindle azw3/KF8, which seems to be the case with epub.

I also don't like the idea of single vendor formats, which is why I convert all the Amazon ebooks I buy from azw to epub and read them on my Sony PRS350 or Kobo Aura H2O, though I have the PW3.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by davidfor

And yes, you should try a few books and see if you do prefer the kepub format.

Good advice!

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by A random blob

That's great to hear, thank you!

Is there any way to keep my current progress? Like markings, notes, read (finihshed) books etc.

I also have quite a few groups (collections) which I custom arranged by hand which I would feel really bad losing

The solution is to setup the collections in Calibre for those books you put in collections by hand. Remove just the books you have not read or have not started to read and add them back in. Leave the books in ePub that you are reading, have read, and have notes. Otherwise, you will screw up those books.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by davidfor

What @ZodWallop is doing only works because the same format is being sent back to the device with exactly the same name. And calibre is being used. It can fool the device into thinking the book hasn't changed. But, it doesn't work if a different format is being used.

And yes, you should try a few books and see if you do prefer the kepub format.

Sending the same eBook also doesn't work if you've made too many changes or depending on what the change(s) is/are. I've done that and ended up having to delete the eBook and add it back in fresh.

[rashkae]

Originally Posted by FrustratedReader

I've been changing the books I originally loaded as kepubs to epubs. There are pluses and minuses. I prefer the rendering to match the epubs on non-Kobo and be closer to Kindle azw3/KF8, which seems to be the case with epub.

I also don't like the idea of single vendor formats, which is why I convert all the Amazon ebooks I buy from azw to epub and read them on my Sony PRS350 or Kobo Aura H2O, though I have the PW3.

You want it to be closer to azw3, but you convert to epub and read on the H20..... you're just a bundle of contradictions aren't you? In any case, one of the nice things about 'kepub' is it's still, at the end of the day, just an epub. You can load them as is in any epub reader software, (or on the kobo itself, rename the file to remove the .kepub. in the filename, leaving only .epub.)

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by rashkae

You want it to be closer to azw3, but you convert to epub and read on the H20..... you're just a bundle of contradictions aren't you? In any case, one of the nice things about 'kepub' is it's still, at the end of the day, just an epub. You can load them as is in any epub reader software, (or on the kobo itself, rename the file to remove the .kepub. in the filename, leaving only .epub.)

I've done a comparison on KePub vs. ePub (both directly from Kobo) and the formatting is slightly different with KePub. I do not recall if it was better or worse.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by rashkae

You want it to be closer to azw3, but you convert to epub and read on the H20..... you're just a bundle of contradictions aren't you? In any case, one of the nice things about 'kepub' is it's still, at the end of the day, just an epub. You can load them as is in any epub reader software, (or on the kobo itself, rename the file to remove the .kepub. in the filename, leaving only .epub.)

Maybe 1% of my books are bought from Amazon.
A lot of my ebook reading is proofing from wordprocessor source, converted direct to epub for my Kobo. My best beta reader uses a Kindle.
Some is from Gutenberg, which has minimal formatting and needs the paragraph spacing changed. They have a strange idea that paragraph breaks need extra vertical space AND a first line indent.
I use no indent on first paragraph after a break of any kind, with some vertical space. Other body paragraphs have a 1st line indent and no extra vertical space. I found that kepubs from some sources have an incorrect first line indent. The same sources converted to old mobi, azw3/KF8, epubs (on any ereader) are all correct.

Most of my other reading is on paper.

A kepub is NOT an epub! Not as far as uploading to Smashwords or Amazon or the epub based ereaders I have. No doubt that's why the Kobo extended Driver on Calibre leaves the epubs unchanged in library and does on the fly conversion, which is not the same as some Kobo kepubs, as they will have no formating not in the epub.
Similarly an Amazon KFX has no advantage for the user compared with azw/KF8 when the source uploaded to Amazon was an epub2.
I know nothing about epub3. The epub2 and AZW3/KFX both allow an ebook via Calibre almost identical to the Wordprocessor view on screen or paper proof, if set to a similar size page.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by FrustratedReader

A kepub is NOT an epub! Not as far as uploading to Smashwords or Amazon or the epub based ereaders I have. No doubt that's why the Kobo extended Driver on Calibre leaves the epubs unchanged in library and does on the fly conversion,

The extended driver does the kepub transformation on the fly because at the time it was developed, there was little point in storing kepub anywhere other than on a Kobo device. Nothing else uses them, and while the spans added don't really harm anything, they are a nuisance if you edit the book.

which is not the same as some Kobo kepubs, as they will have no formating not in the epub.

No idea what you mean here. Are you comparing Kobo produced kepubs against those generated by the extended driver? If so, most purchased kepubs I have seen pretty well match the epub they also make available. Occasionally, I see differences, but, it is obvious that different versions of the book were supplied to Kobo versus what went to the ACSM servers.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by FrustratedReader

Similarly an Amazon KFX has no advantage for the user compared with azw/KF8 when the source uploaded to Amazon was an epub2.

The problem (IMHO) is that KFX is not actually needed. Adobe did all the typesetting using ADE and ePub stayed the same. No changes were needed for ePub to have "enhanced typesetting". Amazon could have done the same for KF8. But they created KFX so they can keep them encrypted and not have true DRM free eBooks where you get the source code. KFX is the format that Amazon uses for kerning and hyphenation. But it's already proven that youdon't need KFX to do this as KF8 could do this if Amazon wanted to allow it.

I think any eBook that's DRM free should not be able to be converted to KFX as KFX is not DRM free. The only reason KFX can be dealt with outside of a Kindle or Kindle app is because of the work of some on MR.