Remove "Personal Document" tag WITHOUT losing annotations?

koudis226 · 04-27-2014, 04:39 AM

Hello all, first post here!

It's been about a year I've had my Paperwhite and I've pretty much fallen for it, totally changed my reading habbits. I had a lot of non-Amazon books and I imported them on my Kindle, some through Calibre and some through the send-to-kindle thing.

I found out how to remove the "Personal Document" tag on them so that they appear under "Books" and not as documents, but some of those books I have already started reading and have a lot of highlights and annotations on them, which I would rather not lose.

What I figured I'd have to do is:
a) Transfer from Kindle to Calibre (without losing annotations)
b) Batch convert to Mobi with [EBOK] tag (without losing annotations)
c) Transfer back to Kindle and replace the previous books (you guessed it, without losing anotations)

I tried it but ended up with duplicates and lost annotations and "Personal Document" tags and a whole other mess!

Any help would be gladly appreciated!

Cheers from Greece,
Dimitris

eschwartz · 04-27-2014, 12:25 PM

Conversion will create an entirely new book as far as the annotations are concerned. It completely changes the internal css and html markup, which is use to find the file offsets that identify annotations.

It is also unnecessary. calibre does not change the cdetype when converting -- the PDOC tag is added when you click send to device. Since you changed that setting under MOBI Output, it should preserve the EBOK tag. Just resend the book and it will be fixed.

To preserve annotations, make sure the resent book overwrites the old book. It must be saved to the exaxct same file location. Then the annotations files will match up to the book.

koudis226 · 04-28-2014, 02:14 PM

Thanks for the reply!

How do I make sure that the file I resend to the Kindle exactly replaces the previous one?

Also, is there any way I can back up the books somewhere in case something goes wrong (not necessarily with the transfer but in general) and I want to restore them with my notes? Is the cloud sync enough for backup purposes?

eschwartz · 04-28-2014, 02:31 PM

Amazon will backup data if the book came from them or you used the Personal Documents service.

I have my own elaborate backup method you can see here: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=235537
It also demonstrates my custom column for controlling the save location to replace the Amazon copy.

koudis226 · 04-29-2014, 06:38 AM

Is there no way I can sideload books, have them actually be displayed as books, and use Amazon's syncing (annotations, furthest page read etc) throughout devices (e.g Paperwhite and Android phone)?

hatde130113 · 04-30-2014, 02:41 PM

How to remove "Personal" tag under book cover? Help me. Thanks a lot!

katzz · 05-14-2014, 10:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hatde130113

How to remove "Personal" tag under book cover? Help me. Thanks a lot!

I have the same question. I just read through to at least 15 threads to get the backstory of these issues and still can't figure anything out.

Quote:

Originally Posted by koudis226

Is there no way I can sideload books, have them actually be displayed as books, and use Amazon's syncing (annotations, furthest page read etc) throughout devices (e.g Paperwhite and Android phone)?

Exactly what I what to know as well.

eschwartz · 05-14-2014, 12:45 PM

You would have to change the cdetype from PDOC to EBOK. Say, with Java Mobi Metadata Editor.

The fixed copy you create must be used to overwrite the copy sent by Amazon's servers, and should still sync since the ASIN is the same.

You'd have to manage the book yourself but the notes would sync.

johnoz123 · 05-14-2014, 05:28 PM

>>How to remove "Personal" tag under book cover? Help me. Thanks a lot!

Buy books from Amazon. Sideload books using Calibre -- they don't have the "Personal Doc" tag.

If you email or use Send to Kindle then there isn't a way to remove the "Personal" tag as far as I know. I think there used to be a way but I think that door has been effectively closed by Amazon.

johnoz123 · 05-14-2014, 05:38 PM

>> Is there no way I can sideload books, have them actually be displayed as books, and use Amazon's syncing (annotations, furthest page read etc) throughout devices (e.g Paperwhite and Android phone)?

Only if you purchase your books from Amazon.

If you get book from elsewhere Amazon considers them "Personal Docs" and you get the tag. If you want to sync a non Amazon book then you have to convert is to mobi and email it or use Send to Kindle. Only then will you be able to sync (furthest page read) it across multiple devices. This is also a fairly recent event. Most thread you read that say changing to ebok, etc no longer works on a PW and I think only ever worked on a Fire.

04-27-2014, 04:39 AM	#1
koudis226 Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Apr 2014 Device: Kindle Paperwhite	Remove "Personal Document" tag WITHOUT losing annotations? Hello all, first post here! It's been about a year I've had my Paperwhite and I've pretty much fallen for it, totally changed my reading habbits. I had a lot of non-Amazon books and I imported them on my Kindle, some through Calibre and some through the send-to-kindle thing. I found out how to remove the "Personal Document" tag on them so that they appear under "Books" and not as documents, but some of those books I have already started reading and have a lot of highlights and annotations on them, which I would rather not lose. What I figured I'd have to do is: a) Transfer from Kindle to Calibre (without losing annotations) b) Batch convert to Mobi with [EBOK] tag (without losing annotations) c) Transfer back to Kindle and replace the previous books (you guessed it, without losing anotations) I tried it but ended up with duplicates and lost annotations and "Personal Document" tags and a whole other mess! Any help would be gladly appreciated! Cheers from Greece, Dimitris

04-27-2014, 12:25 PM	#2
eschwartz Ex-Helpdesk Junkie Posts: 19,422 Karma: 85397180 Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: The Beaten Path, USA, Roundworld, This Side of Infinity Device: Kindle Touch fw5.3.7 (Wifi only)	Conversion will create an entirely new book as far as the annotations are concerned. It completely changes the internal css and html markup, which is use to find the file offsets that identify annotations. It is also unnecessary. calibre does not change the cdetype when converting -- the PDOC tag is added when you click send to device. Since you changed that setting under MOBI Output, it should preserve the EBOK tag. Just resend the book and it will be fixed. To preserve annotations, make sure the resent book overwrites the old book. It must be saved to the exaxct same file location. Then the annotations files will match up to the book. Last edited by eschwartz; 04-27-2014 at 12:28 PM. Reason: typing-on-a-kindle-touch typos

04-28-2014, 02:31 PM	#4
eschwartz Ex-Helpdesk Junkie Posts: 19,422 Karma: 85397180 Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: The Beaten Path, USA, Roundworld, This Side of Infinity Device: Kindle Touch fw5.3.7 (Wifi only)	Amazon will backup data if the book came from them or you used the Personal Documents service. I have my own elaborate backup method you can see here: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=235537 It also demonstrates my custom column for controlling the save location to replace the Amazon copy. Last edited by eschwartz; 04-28-2014 at 02:33 PM.

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04-28-2014, 02:14 PM	#3
koudis226 Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Apr 2014 Device: Kindle Paperwhite	Thanks for the reply! How do I make sure that the file I resend to the Kindle exactly replaces the previous one? Also, is there any way I can back up the books somewhere in case something goes wrong (not necessarily with the transfer but in general) and I want to restore them with my notes? Is the cloud sync enough for backup purposes?

04-29-2014, 06:38 AM	#5
koudis226 Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Apr 2014 Device: Kindle Paperwhite	Is there no way I can sideload books, have them actually be displayed as books, and use Amazon's syncing (annotations, furthest page read etc) throughout devices (e.g Paperwhite and Android phone)?

04-30-2014, 02:41 PM	#6
hatde130113 Enthusiast Posts: 28 Karma: 12500 Join Date: Mar 2014 Device: Kindle Paperwhite gen 2	How to remove "Personal" tag under book cover? Help me. Thanks a lot!

05-14-2014, 12:45 PM	#8
eschwartz Ex-Helpdesk Junkie Posts: 19,422 Karma: 85397180 Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: The Beaten Path, USA, Roundworld, This Side of Infinity Device: Kindle Touch fw5.3.7 (Wifi only)	You would have to change the cdetype from PDOC to EBOK. Say, with Java Mobi Metadata Editor. The fixed copy you create must be used to overwrite the copy sent by Amazon's servers, and should still sync since the ASIN is the same. You'd have to manage the book yourself but the notes would sync.

05-14-2014, 05:28 PM	#9
johnoz123 Enthusiast Posts: 29 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2010 Device: Kindle Voyage	>>How to remove "Personal" tag under book cover? Help me. Thanks a lot! Buy books from Amazon. Sideload books using Calibre -- they don't have the "Personal Doc" tag. If you email or use Send to Kindle then there isn't a way to remove the "Personal" tag as far as I know. I think there used to be a way but I think that door has been effectively closed by Amazon.

05-14-2014, 05:38 PM	#10
johnoz123 Enthusiast Posts: 29 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2010 Device: Kindle Voyage	>> Is there no way I can sideload books, have them actually be displayed as books, and use Amazon's syncing (annotations, furthest page read etc) throughout devices (e.g Paperwhite and Android phone)? Only if you purchase your books from Amazon. If you get book from elsewhere Amazon considers them "Personal Docs" and you get the tag. If you want to sync a non Amazon book then you have to convert is to mobi and email it or use Send to Kindle. Only then will you be able to sync (furthest page read) it across multiple devices. This is also a fairly recent event. Most thread you read that say changing to ebok, etc no longer works on a PW and I think only ever worked on a Fire.