Aura ONE Official Kobo dictionaries won't show up

[Luck64]

Hi there.
Yesterday I downgraded mi Kobo Aura 1 to 4.19.14123 since the last update felt really buggy. Now I'm trying to add the dictionaries I had before the reset, but I'm having trouble adding them.
When I go to Settings > Languages and dictionaries, the screen shows "0 dictionaries installed". I then tap "Edit" but no dictionaries will show up on the list (I'm connected to my wifi network, the Kobo Store loads just fine).
I then tried to download them manually, and add them to the kobo/dict folder. That worked partially: when I highlight a word, a definition is show from a dictionary automatically chosen, but I can't chose the dictionary I want to use, the list is empty (when tapped, it just shows a little dot on the top of the language name).
Any ideas on how to fix this?
Thank you for your time.

[geek1011]

Are you able to install a custom dictionary with a custom suffix manually (see https://pgaskin.net/dictutil/dicthtml/install.html)?

[Luck64]

I'm sorry. I'm not able to install dictutil neither on linux nor on windows, I've been trying for the last hour to make it work.
On linux I can clone the git repository but I can't install it. There's no makefile and on the documentation I can't find any instruction on how to install it. On windows, when I run the .exe nothing happens, and cmd won't recognize the command.

[geek1011]

Originally Posted by Luck64

I'm sorry. I'm not able to install dictutil neither on linux nor on windows, I've been trying for the last hour to make it work.
On linux I can clone the git repository but I can't install it. There's no makefile and on the documentation I can't find any instruction on how to install it. On windows, when I run the .exe nothing happens, and cmd won't recognize the command.

You need to run the .exe from the command line like (in PowerShell) ".\dictutil-windows.exe install dicthtml-wb.zip".

[Luck64]

Thank you!
It looks like it copies the .zip but fails to update the database and shows and error. Here's what it returns.

Copying dictzip.
Wrote dictzip to "K:.kobo\\dict\\dicthtml-es.zip".
Updating ExtraLocales.
No need; replacing built-in dictionary.
Updating database.
.\dictutil-windows.exe : Error: update database: check dictionary table: not found, and version < 4.20.14123.
At line:1 char:1
+ .\dictutil-windows.exe install dicthtml-es.zip
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (Error: update d...n < 4.20.14123.:String) [], RemoteException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : NativeCommandError

I'm going to try manually editing the .sqlite file

[davidfor]

Did you download without a factory reset or signing out of the Kobo account? If so, you have probably lost the Dictionary table from the database. This is no longer needed and isn't created in the recent firmware versions.

The following is the definition. Running this with your favourite SQLite tools should fix it.

CREATE TABLE Dictionary (
	Suffix		TEXT,
	Name		TEXT,
	Installed	BOOL,
	Size		TEXT,
	LastModified	TEXT,
	IsSynced	BOOL,
	PRIMARY KEY(Suffix)
)

I don't think you need to insert anything. That should be done during a sync.

[JSWolf]

delete post

[Luck64]

Thank you for your reply. As you said, the problem sure is the dictionary database. I could solve this by updating it to the latest firmware, download all the dictionaries I wanted and then downgrading it again. It somehow kept the dictionaries intact.
Thank you again.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Luck64

Thank you for your reply. As you said, the problem sure is the dictionary database. I could solve this by updating it to the latest firmware, download all the dictionaries I wanted and then downgrading it again. It somehow kept the dictionaries intact.

That will depend on what you did. The later firmware doesn't remove the Dictionary table, it just stops using it. If you had done a factory reset and gone straight to 4.22.x, you would not have the table. Downloading without a factory reset or signing out of the Kobo account would not trigger creation of the table.

If you have a working system with the Dictionary table and update or download, the table will be there. The next sync will just populate it, or ignore it depending on the firmware version.

The complication to this is that the table has become less important over the last few firmware versions. I think with 4.19.x, it is used for syncing, but, not when doing a look up. Or, it might be the other way round. I think that if you have the dictionary files, but no Dictionary table, it will work for a bit, but, sooner or later it will stop working. I'll admit to not having tested this. I just use the supplied dictionaries and don't fiddle with them.