Frequently Asked Questions (and answers too!)

[JSWolf]

The Kindle Touch was the last eInk Kindle released that had sound. After that, Amazon took away the sound capability.

[halfprice.anyite]

I have some accounts on Kobobooks, some of them I have bought but almost they was from my friends shared for me.
Can I use this account to exchange ebooks with others?
Thank you!

[throsu]

Hi!
Is there a possibility to make sub-folders in a "Collection" folder?
I am working on a Kobo H2O with 3.12 firmware.
Thanks!

[PeterT]

Nope. Collections are a single level only.

[throsu]

Originally Posted by PeterT

Nope. Collections are a single level only.

Thanks a lot!

[D..]

I have always used Calibre to load my Kobo Touch & its replacement Kobo Aura [epubs] but no matter what I try, I cannot get my authors surnames listed alphabet. I use the Kobo alphabetically on the Aura. I use Epub Kobo Touch plugboard - {series}{series_index:0>2s| - | - }{title}/ which includes series correctly on a reload, fine but the author are still all over the place. Both Calibre & the Aura are up to date & I sort the metadata on each author surname, christian name both in author column and author sort. On the aura, I might get two books by the same author listed and then a few others and the remaining two books by the first author. They are never in correct alphabetical sequence. In the plugboard I have tried author and author sort, neither works they are always mixed up. Help please, do not know where I am going wrong and what I can alter next - thanks

[Jellby]

Originally Posted by D..

I have always used Calibre to load my Kobo Touch & its replacement Kobo Aura [epubs] but no matter what I try, I cannot get my authors surnames listed alphabet.

The Kobo has its own ideas about sorting. Have a look at my solution, which involves replacing spaces with non-breaking spaces, so they look the same, but the Kobo doesn't "see" the different parts of the name.

[Alpha o]

Any way to get rid of the dictionaries permanently? I don't use them. Desktop keeps downloading them. I haven't synced the Glo.

Can you sort out what you want to see in the store? I do not want to see any romances or fiction best sellers. I do not want a book club. I usually do how-to books and sci-fi.
There are non-fiction books on the best seller list so a non-fiction list would be OK. I can figure out on my own what to read.

If you use wifi, can you change the search engine? I refuse to use Google.

I got the Glo to accept and use Adobe DRM. I loaded the Illustrated Guide to Astronomical Wonders in. It opens. That came from O'Reilly Press.
I tried a freebie recipe which had DRM. Can you get that into Calibre or do I sideload it via the card?

I am looking at 2 books I want, but will wait until next week to get. Both are probably protected by some sort of DRM. Where do I back these up so Kobo can't accidentally delete? I do read the same book over quite a few times.

Thanks.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Alpha o

Any way to get rid of the dictionaries permanently? I don't use them. Desktop keeps downloading them. I haven't synced the Glo.

You can select what dictionaries you want. So, don't select any. This is on the languages page of the settings.

Can you sort out what you want to see in the store? I do not want to see any romances or fiction best sellers. I do not want a book club. I usually do how-to books and sci-fi.
There are non-fiction books on the best seller list so a non-fiction list would be OK. I can figure out on my own what to read.

You can search and there are categories you can go through. But I don't use the shop on the device enough to see how configurable it is or if it changes depending on what you do.

If you use wifi, can you change the search engine? I refuse to use Google.

You can set any page you want as the home page.

I got the Glo to accept and use Adobe DRM. I loaded the Illustrated Guide to Astronomical Wonders in. It opens. That came from O'Reilly Press.
I tried a freebie recipe which had DRM. Can you get that into Calibre or do I sideload it via the card?

I am looking at 2 books I want, but will wait until next week to get. Both are probably protected by some sort of DRM. Where do I back these up so Kobo can't accidentally delete? I do read the same book over quite a few times.

To get a DRM protected book into calibre, you need to strip the DRM. There are tools that will do this including plugins for calibre. For Adobe DRM, see https://apprenticealf.wordpress.com/. For Kobo, search for "obok drm".

[Alpha o]

It's the desktop app for the reader that keeps loading the dictionaries and putting all the junk in. It syncs every time I open it. It has nothing to sync to. I deleted all the "free" books and dictionaries from the Kobo itself.

I don't have the actual Kobo reader for reading on the computer.

I don't see any preferences in it. Sign in and stay signed in, or sign out, it seems to make no difference. It can't sync to the reader as the reader isn't plugged in. But every time I open it, it syncs to something. I tried using the pushpin to put up books I would like. That doesn't work on my laptop. You also have to use the app to see the drives. I would prefer buying books on the laptop and downloading. I do the same with Google Play.

Since the Kobo is licensed for DRM, I suppose I can just use the ext. card for book. That's what I did with Illustrated. Now Illustrated does show up in Calibre. It did register the Kobo reader for ADE, and I didn't strip out DRM.

I know I can change the home page. I've done it on all devices. However, on my phone there is a way to choose search engine. I generally use Duck as it is the least invasive.
My workaround is to put a bookmark to Duck or Startpage and search with those.
Will that work on the Kobo?

Where can I store books out of Kobo's (the store) reach? I usually use plain epub and can send book to tablet via dropbox.

I'm still not fond of Calibre. I don't need its library. The books folder on the computer does just as well.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Alpha o

It's the desktop app for the reader that keeps loading the dictionaries and putting all the junk in. It syncs every time I open it. It has nothing to sync to. I deleted all the "free" books and dictionaries from the Kobo itself.

I don't have the actual Kobo reader for reading on the computer.

I don't see any preferences in it.

Sorry, I wasn't paying attention. No, there are very few options. But, from what I can see, the desktop app and devices share a lot of background code. The database it uses is the same and the config file exists as well. It's probably possible to make the same changes that the device has to get rid of some things.

Sign in and stay signed in, or sign out, it seems to make no difference. It can't sync to the reader as the reader isn't plugged in. But every time I open it, it syncs to something.

It doesn't sync everything for me, but it does take a lot longer than what I expect.

I tried using the pushpin to put up books I would like. That doesn't work on my laptop.

I'll check when I get home, but I know it has worked in the past. I normally do this on the device.

You also have to use the app to see the drives.

What do you mean? In windows the device is mounted as an MSD and both the main memory and SD card are mounted as driver letters. This works without any need to start the

I would prefer buying books on the laptop and downloading. I do the same with Google Play.

I normally buy from the PC using the web then let the device download it. And download to the PC from the Kobo library. If I buy elsewhere, it's

Since the Kobo is licensed for DRM, I suppose I can just use the ext. card for book. That's what I did with Illustrated. Now Illustrated does show up in Calibre. It did register the Kobo reader for ADE, and I didn't strip out DRM.

I'm not quite sure what you mean. You can add DRM protected books to calibre, but, some functions (such as conversion) won't work. I haven't tried sending a DRM protected book from calibre to the Kobo devices, but, I think it should work if the device is authorised. And I'm not sure what happens with the SD card and DRM protected books.

I know I can change the home page. I've done it on all devices. However, on my phone there is a way to choose search engine. I generally use Duck as it is the least invasive.
My workaround is to put a bookmark to Duck or Startpage and search with those.
Will that work on the Kobo?

Do you mean searching from within a book? If so, I don't know. It probably means patching the firmware to use a different URL for search. But, it's possible the URL is in the config file or can be overridden by an option in the config file. I have looked to see.

Where can I store books out of Kobo's (the store) reach? I usually use plain epub and can send book to tablet via dropbox.

Again, I'm not sure what you mean. If the books aren't on the device, they aren't in Kobo's reach. If they are, then they are in Kobo's reach. As to dropbox, you can still use that and use the browser to reach it. I don't use it, but it has been discussed.

I'm still not fond of Calibre. I don't need its library. The books folder on the computer does just as well.

That's perfectly reasonable. If you don't need the extra management functions, then stick with what you like.

[PeterT]

What version of Desktop do you have?

[Alpha o]

3.12.0. Came with the Glo and hasn't offered to update itself.

Browsers use search engines. On the computer you have the choice of Google, Bing, Yahoo, Yandex, Duck Duck Go, Wikipedia and a few more. That wifi bit that you go online with in the Kobo is a browser. It says the search engine is Google.

Google is wanting too much info lately, so I've decided not to cooperate. I have an Android phone and tablet.

The Glo is a nice reader. It's reading what I have with no problem.

I'll be getting a refurb cheap Kindle for recipes in the kitchen. I'm sloppy when I cook.
I see Kobo had a couple of free recipes along with some other crafts, I'd want to transfer these to the junk reader. I have absolutely no room for any more hard cover books.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Alpha o

Browsers use search engines. On the computer you have the choice of Google, Bing, Yahoo, Yandex, Duck Duck Go, Wikipedia and a few more. That wifi bit that you go online with in the Kobo is a browser. It says the search engine is Google.

Browsers use search engines but they can all be turned off. If you do, you forgo the ability to type something in the location bar that isn't a URL and have it take you to a likely site or display a list of possibilities. For the Kobo browser, as far as I can tell, it doesn't have any built-in search. If I type something that isn't a URL in and press go, it doesn't do anything. The default home page is Google and that is what I use for searching. But, that can be changed. There are some Google analytics stuff happening, but there have been instructions posted to disable that.

[Alpha o]

I can add the url of any other search engine as a bookmark and avoid Google.

I've done this on Android devices. On the computer, I use Pale Moon and I can just delete Google from the search engine list and add the search engines of my choice.

I just wondered if Kobo would do the same.