[Conversion Output] KFX Output

[wzyboy]

Originally Posted by jhowell

The "Always create book instead of personal document" option in the KFX Output tab of the conversion dialog can be used to force the CDE type and generate a fake ASIN value. This is documented near the end of the "Showing Cover Thumbnail Images on E-Ink Kindle Devices" section in the first post of this thread.

I did a quick read of the plugin Python code and thought the plugin only searches for ASIN in ["^mobi-asin$", "^amazon.*$", "^asin$"] fields. It even enforces the ASIN to match a regex to be considered valid. The option "Always create book instead of personal document" only sets cdetype to EBOK. I could not find code about using the calibre UUID as ASIN...

Originally Posted by jhowell

What is currently lacking is code in calibre to extract the ASIN value from KFX files when creating cover thumbnail images on a kindle device. The existing code handles only azw/azw3 book format. Someone (not me) would need to submit a patch to calibre to fix this.

For now you can instead use the ExtractCoverThumbs program, which is already able to perform this function, as documented in the place I mentioned above.

Yes I understand that currently calibre does not copy cover images to "/system/thumbnails/" directory for KFX files.

I tried the following:

1. Use calibre to send a KF8 book to Kindle. I can see that a new jpeg file appears in "/system/thumbnails/", the UUID (fake ASIN) in the jpeg filename is the same as the one shown in calibre "UUID" field. When the unplug the USB cable, the cover shows up correctly, and there is no "personal" banner.

2. Copy the KFX version of the same book to Kindle (generated with "Force EBOK" option). Since they are the same book in calibre, they should have the same fake ASIN (UUID). But Kindle does not display its cover, though there is a matching jpeg file in thumbnails directory.

Am I missing something here?

Edit:

I also tried the above two steps with an Amazon eBook (with real ASIN). Both KF8 and KFX display covers correctly. I all did this with Wi-Fi turned off, so there is no chane that Kindle downloads the cover for KFX from Amazon server -- the cover of KFX is read from the same jpeg file as the KF8.

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by wzyboy

I could not find code about using the calibre UUID as ASIN...

The kindle requires the name of the thumbnail file to be in a specific format that includes a cdetype and asin that match the metadata contained within the book.

Any unique string will do for a fake asin. calibre uses its own book uuid and the KFX Output plugin generates a random 32 character string instead.

There is a slight advantage to using the calibre uuid that I hadn't considered previously. If you convert and copy the same book to a kindle multiple times it will retain the same asin and so it will overwrite the thumbnail image, instead of creating a new one each time.

[wzyboy]

Originally Posted by jhowell

calibre uses its own book uuid and the KFX Output plugin generates a random 32 character string instead.

Thanks for the explaination. I understand now. I used to think the KFX output plugin uses the calibre UUID just like the built-in output plugins. I was confused.

[arooni]

Anyway to get previous versions of kindle previewer that might be compatible with this plugin? Looks like latest is 3.2.1 ; not 3.20.1 ..

Also... I just converted a book with this version of Kindle Previewer... and it seems like I can't search it at all. Is this because I've used the 3.2.1 verison of Kindle Preview (Mac OS X)

Also I recently updated firmware; don't know if that makes a difference.

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by arooni

Anyway to get previous versions of kindle previewer that might be compatible with this plugin? Looks like latest is 3.2.1 ; not 3.20.1

I have updated the first post in this thread to state that Kindle Previewer version 3.21 is compatible with the current version of this plugin. (BTW it is 3.21, not 3.2.1.)

Originally Posted by arooni

Also... I just converted a book with this version of Kindle Previewer... and it seems like I can't search it at all.

I tried a search on my Oasis running firmware version 5.9.4 and it worked properly for a sideloaded KFX book.

Perhaps your book was not yet indexed when you searched. It can take several minutes per book. (There are several threads in the Amazon Kindle subforum that describe how to determine the status of the indexer on your Kindle.)

[jhowell]

Version 1.17.0 - 02 Apr 2018

Detect Previewer versions up to 3.21.

Remove support for Previewer versions older than 3.17. (Newer Previewer versions produce better results.)

Internal restructuring and performance improvements.

[varshithpuli]

Originally Posted by jhowell

Version 1.17.0 - 02 Apr 2018

Detect Previewer versions up to 3.21.

Remove support for Previewer versions older than 3.17. (Newer Previewer versions produce better results.)

Internal restructuring and performance improvements.

hey is there a way to convert KDF files created using Kindle create application to KFX or anyother format readable on my IPad...

I used kindle create app to convert my PDF Fixed layout to KDF(which supports Highlighting and text selection) with some manual table of contents and I obviously don't want to publish that, so is there a way to side load that in any format and read on my IPAD

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by varshithpuli

hey is there a way to convert KDF files created using Kindle create application to KFX or any other format readable on my IPad...

Yes, you can do that using this plugin.

KDF is only one component of the full KPF needed for conversion. Use the File->Publish menu option within Kindle Create to generate a KPF file.

You will need to run this plugin via the command line instead of the calibre GUI in order for the file to convert correctly. Assuming that your book is named "my book.kpf" the command line to convert it to KFX would be:

calibre-debug -r "KFX Output" -- "my book.kpf"

The resulting file, "my book.kfx", can then be sideloaded to the Kindle for iOS app using the File Sharing function within iTunes. (You will not be able to use iCloud or the Files app for this transfer.)

[varshithpuli]

Originally Posted by jhowell

Yes, you can do that using this plugin.

KDF is only one component of the full KPF needed for conversion. Use the File->Publish menu option within Kindle Create to generate a KPF file.

You will need to run this plugin via the command line instead of the calibre GUI in order for the file to convert correctly. Assuming that your book is named "my book.kpf" the command line to convert it to KFX would be:

calibre-debug -r "KFX Output" -- "my book.kpf"

The resulting file, "my book.kfx", can then be sideloaded to the Kindle for iOS app using the File Sharing function within iTunes. (You will not be able to use iCloud or the Files app for this transfer.)

sorry for spamming the forum with multiple posts... thanks that worked.....

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by varshithpuli

sorry for spamming the forum with multiple posts... thanks that worked.....

You're welcome.

[varshithpuli]

Originally Posted by jhowell

You're welcome.

Is there a way to add cover pic to that file...??? tied using calibre but not working in ipad... in ipad its just a black image with filename

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by varshithpuli

Is there a way to add cover pic to that file...??? tied using calibre but not working in ipad... in ipad its just a black image with filename

No, there currently isn't any way to add a cover. I plan to add that feature in a future release of this plugin, but I don't have a timetable for that.

[jhowell]

Version 1.18.0 - 09 Apr 2018

Set cover thumbnail to first page when converting from fixed layout KPF to KFX.

[PoP]

Is it possible to output a KFX book using the « fast continuous page turns » feature of the « improved manga experience »? What would be the required elements in the input EPUB?

The < < < 0% > > > feature in other words:

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by PoP

Is it possible to output a KFX book using the « fast continuous page turns » feature of the « improved manga experience »? What would be the required elements in the input EPUB?

Yes.

See the section titled "Converting Comics and Manga" in the first post of this thread.