metadata export to Kindle (Paperwhite) caused duplicates

johnspartan · 05-26-2018, 04:37 PM

Or at least, that's what it appears. I used Calibre to download metadata for all my books; they are all books that have been sideloaded .mobis. I pushed the newly metadata-ed books out to the Kindle (it's a paperwhite, brand new), however, now about 70%? but not all, of the books show in the Calibre library to have "Main (2 books)" under the On Device column. I guess I thought only the new metadata would get synced out to the Kindle content, not book copies. However, since it didn't duplicate 100% of the books, not sure what happened there.

Anyway, what's odd is that if I disconnect the Kindle from my pc, and look at the Kindle display, all those 70% have duplicates. But! - if I browse the Kindle Documents folder from my pc via Windows Explorer - there are only one of each instance.

???

Things I've already tried: running the Calibre 'find duplicates' plugin in any search variation reveals no duplicates. If I manually use the Kindle and start deleting duplicates from the Kindle screen by hand, then reconnect to Calibre - the duplicates are gone.

Suggestions?

Gracias mobireaders.

theducks · 05-26-2018, 05:50 PM

Kindles log books into their internal DB. Some metadata changed, so the K thinks there are new books, but can't figure out that the old entry needs to be deleted.

johnspartan · 05-26-2018, 05:57 PM

Thanks! So in the case of say, updating a bunch of metadata via Calibre, would it make more sense to say

1. verify all books are on your pc of choice in Calibre library
2. update all the metadata and/or edit it however you like
3. Completely wipe all the contents of the Kindle, then repush all the stuff back to the Kindle from Calibre

instead of attempting to correct what may already be on a Kindle device?

theducks · 05-26-2018, 07:07 PM

Wipe is like using a Nuke to remove a weed

Even if you remove individual books, you run the chance of losing you reading status, annotations linked to that book.

johnspartan · 05-26-2018, 07:54 PM

That's true, but I can't see any other way to do a mass metadata update. Not that one hopefully has to do it very often.

If Calibre's Device -> 'update cached metadata on device' looked like it did something, I probably wouldn't have ended up in this state.

But if you don't care about annotations or reading status, seems like it wouldn't be a big deal, other than just taking some time to send it over.

Presumably once I get all my books squared away this time, as long as I make sure each additional one I stick on the Kindle in the future looks ok, I'll be fine. Fortunately, total, I only have around 200 books in the Calibre library (though I have more that have not been added yet).

05-26-2018, 04:37 PM	#1
johnspartan Junior Member Posts: 5 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2018 Device: kindle	metadata export to Kindle (Paperwhite) caused duplicates Or at least, that's what it appears. I used Calibre to download metadata for all my books; they are all books that have been sideloaded .mobis. I pushed the newly metadata-ed books out to the Kindle (it's a paperwhite, brand new), however, now about 70%? but not all, of the books show in the Calibre library to have "Main (2 books)" under the On Device column. I guess I thought only the new metadata would get synced out to the Kindle content, not book copies. However, since it didn't duplicate 100% of the books, not sure what happened there. Anyway, what's odd is that if I disconnect the Kindle from my pc, and look at the Kindle display, all those 70% have duplicates. But! - if I browse the Kindle Documents folder from my pc via Windows Explorer - there are only one of each instance. ??? Things I've already tried: running the Calibre 'find duplicates' plugin in any search variation reveals no duplicates. If I manually use the Kindle and start deleting duplicates from the Kindle screen by hand, then reconnect to Calibre - the duplicates are gone. Suggestions? Gracias mobireaders.

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05-26-2018, 05:50 PM	#2
theducks Well trained by Cats Posts: 29,800 Karma: 54830978 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: The Central Coast of California Device: Kobo Libra2,Kobo Aura2v1, K4NT(Fixed: New Bat.), Galaxy Tab A	Kindles log books into their internal DB. Some metadata changed, so the K thinks there are new books, but can't figure out that the old entry needs to be deleted.

05-26-2018, 05:57 PM	#3
johnspartan Junior Member Posts: 5 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2018 Device: kindle	Thanks! So in the case of say, updating a bunch of metadata via Calibre, would it make more sense to say 1. verify all books are on your pc of choice in Calibre library 2. update all the metadata and/or edit it however you like 3. Completely wipe all the contents of the Kindle, then repush all the stuff back to the Kindle from Calibre instead of attempting to correct what may already be on a Kindle device?

05-26-2018, 07:07 PM	#4
theducks Well trained by Cats Posts: 29,800 Karma: 54830978 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: The Central Coast of California Device: Kobo Libra2,Kobo Aura2v1, K4NT(Fixed: New Bat.), Galaxy Tab A	Wipe is like using a Nuke to remove a weed Even if you remove individual books, you run the chance of losing you reading status, annotations linked to that book.

05-26-2018, 07:54 PM	#5
johnspartan Junior Member Posts: 5 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2018 Device: kindle	That's true, but I can't see any other way to do a mass metadata update. Not that one hopefully has to do it very often. If Calibre's Device -> 'update cached metadata on device' looked like it did something, I probably wouldn't have ended up in this state. But if you don't care about annotations or reading status, seems like it wouldn't be a big deal, other than just taking some time to send it over. Presumably once I get all my books squared away this time, as long as I make sure each additional one I stick on the Kindle in the future looks ok, I'll be fine. Fortunately, total, I only have around 200 books in the Calibre library (though I have more that have not been added yet).