Calibre Sync for Android & iOS

[gandoe]

Ah....so Calibre Companion did update the metadata.calibre device file when connected with Smart Device, but it appears that Calibre Sync does not?

So is there another connection type (such as WebDav or Calibre-Web OPDS) which do provide which an updated view of the files on the device?

In my use case, I only sync a limited number of books out of my total library, which are next in my reading lists queue (mostly). And different devices (Boox Note2 e-reader vs. Samsung Tab S10+) will have mostly different titles, to optimize the reading and display capabilities of each. So I've come relay on frequent additions and removals to different devices to manage my reading flows. It becomes more challenging when I don't have a direct view of the files on each device.

Hope to hear back soon from the CS support team. Thanks for sharing your knowledge!

[chaley]

Originally Posted by gandoe

Ah....so Calibre Companion did update the metadata.calibre device file when connected with Smart Device, but it appears that Calibre Sync does not?

CC neither used nor updated metadata.calibre. The smart device driver also doesn't use it, instead depending on the device to supply metadata for books on the device.

[gandoe]

Ah....interesting. So the difference in behavior might not be a result of switching from CC to CS, but instead as a result from switching tablets; Samsung Tab A8 to a Samsung Tab S10+.

Thanks! Hoping to find some type of resolution for my problem somewhere in one of these rabbit holes. I think I need to find the pill that makes me smaller.

[Wiggo]

Originally Posted by gandoe

I have successfully used Calibre Sync (CS) to connect to my Calibre library using the Calibre Content server, which allows me to download the entire metadata DB and perform various filter and download actions. I typically download only a small selection of books to my device at any one time. But, connecting this way does not change Calibre behavior to indicate which files are actually on my device.

Correct, with the Content Server Calibre doesn't indicate the files on your phone - sure, Calibre is not connected to your phone! By the way, WebDav/OPDS does not show you the books on your phone in Calibre either.

I also connected via Calibre Wireless Connect, which does change Calibre behavior, including "Wireless Device: Calibre Sync detected", and in the Calibre itself, a new column "On Device" appears. However, this column is completely blank, with no indication of what files are on my device. I have set the inbox directory to the same directory that I had downloaded ebooks using the Calibre Content Server connect method. When I connect as Wireless Device, there are no books that are displayed in CS. I would have thought it would display the files on my device?

I don't know what you did, but it worked perfectly for me on iOS, including indication of the books on my phone. Forgive me for asking this stupid question, but you've already sent some books to the device, haven't you?

For your use case, I would actually rely on Smart Device and set up a custom column in Calibre in which I enter which book is on which device and keep it up to date.

Edit: I think you could also automate this with the Reading List plugin, but I'm not that familiar with it

[jjansen]

I have the metadata for almost 8,000 books on my Samsung device. I want to download the actual epubs for about 4,000. These are the ones that I have not read yet and still want to. I ask CS to install all my non-read, non-dowloaded books and it goes away and does something but it certainly doesn't download a lot of them. When I checked back once, I was told that I didn't have any books that met that criteria, which meant that all my non-read books had been downloaded. That is not happening. I am using Calibre's content server from my Windows 11 PC. Any suggestions........Jackie

[Wiggo]

I don't think CS or CCS are designed to download 4000 books at once.

I would copy these 4000 books into a new library in Calibre and then simply import the entire new library to your internal Samsung storage via CS.

[gandoe]

Originally Posted by Wiggo

I don't know what you did, but it worked perfectly for me on iOS, including indication of the books on my phone. Forgive me for asking this stupid question, but you've already sent some books to the device, haven't you?

For your use case, I would actually rely on Smart Device and set up a custom column in Calibre in which I enter which book is on which device and keep it up to date.

Edit: I think you could also automate this with the Reading List plugin, but I'm not that familiar with it

I had sent a number of books to the tablet (selected 212 to send, only 187 on tablet) via CCS and CS, using custom columns which I had already set up in Calibre for my various Reading Lists (via the Reading List plugin) and Device status (Add, On, Remove, etc). After downloaded the metadata in CS, I then filtered and selected the books in my total index to download only the books I want on the device. Worked mostly fine, although I needed to also filter by doc type (epub, pdf, mobi, azw, obok, etc.)

Hence the reason that I'm interested in getting an indication of the books on my device....although I do try to maintain the column indicating device status, sometimes things go sideways, and I like to have redundant systems to improve the handling.

I think perhaps I'll try to redownload my selected books using the Smart Device connection, and see if that does the trick.

Thanks again for your help!

[theducks]

Is it possible that the send template results in exactly the same filename? Those books will overwrite the previous version

[gandoe]

Originally Posted by gandoe

I think perhaps I'll try to redownload my selected books using the Smart Device connection, and see if that does the trick.

Thanks again for your help!

Resending the books via Smart Wireless Device connection did indeed do the trick....now when connecting, the books on the device do show as "On Device" in the calibre interface.

The only glitch is that the filenames send via Wireless Device are sometimes different from those which I downloaded in CS using the CCS connection. Not a huge problem, just had to delete a number of redundant book files. The only significant challenge is that I use Moon+ Pro as my reader; and it's metadata (for reading position, highlights and annotations) are apparently aligned to the file name. So I just lost the reading position of the 5 or so books currently in the reading queue.

I was initially worried about how to realign book files for older books, especially if I wanted to go back and review my annotations....but I can always do a one-off transfer using CCS to recapture that data.

Anyway, thanks for all for your help!

[PeterT]

Originally Posted by gandoe

The only glitch is that the filenames send via Wireless Device are sometimes different from those which I downloaded in CS using the CCS connection.

Have you checked out the save_template settings to try adjusting them to be consistent?

[Wiggo]

I don’t know how Smart Device handles filenames, but there are two different Library formats, V1 and V2.

https://calibresync.bitbucket.io/faqs/#q17

[chaley]

Originally Posted by Wiggo

I don’t know how Smart Device handles filenames...

When the smart device sends a book it sends a proposed file name generated using the template in the smart device configuration. The client is free to ignore the proposed name, using whatever it wishes.

CC contained it own template file name system that was used when receiving books via the wireless connection, content server, and cloud connections. Reason: to ensure that the book would have the same name/path no matter how the book arrived.

[gandoe]

Originally Posted by PeterT

Have you checked out the save_template settings to try adjusting them to be consistent?

I'll definitely look into this

[gandoe]

Originally Posted by PeterT

Have you checked out the save_template settings to try adjusting them to be consistent?

So where would I find this? Is this the option under Preferences>Miscellaneous>"Get information to setup the user defined device"?

After selecting the button, and disconnecting and then reconnecting, I'm not getting any values for the "user-defined device information"

I've also looked through the Plugins section, to see if there was a plugin which would hold the file template option, but not seeing anything.

I'll do some more searching

[PeterT]

When any device is connected just click on the arrow besides the Device icon and select Configure this Device. Here you can see the save template for that device.