Series not updated when transferred to kobo

[jacques91]

hello everybody.

I have noticed a strange behavior with my kobo for the last 3 or 4 last calibre updates/plugin (?) :
when I am transferring a book (from a collection) to my kobo, the series are not immediately updated (ie blank information on the kobo series field). I have to disconnect my kobo, reconnect it and then update the metadata from the koboUtilities menu (rev2.9.0). It has been previously working nicely for years .
I am using calibre 4.7 with Kobo clara HD running 4.18.13737

Is this normal or am I doing something wrong ?

Thanks
Jacques

[fvdham]

HI,
I have the same problem. Instead of using the koboUtillities I just transfer the same books again. (After reconnecting and connecting the reader)

Any Idea?

[theducks]

Originally Posted by fvdham

HI,
I have the same problem. Instead of using the koboUtillities I just transfer the same books again. (After reconnecting and connecting the reader)

Any Idea?

You did it the Kobo way.
IT DOES TAKE 2 connection cycles to add series/collections.
The first cycle puts the book entry into the DB (only basic info), the second cycle LINKS the extra details to the book (entry)

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by fvdham

HI,
I have the same problem. Instead of using the koboUtillities I just transfer the same books again. (After reconnecting and connecting the reader)

Any Idea?

You should not need to transfer the same books again. If you do not have the "Do not treat replacements as new books" option checked, it will not work (see the first KoboTouch configuration page image attached). You will need the two connections since the first sends the books which will be imported when you eject your Kobo. The import process creates the database entry for the ebook which is needed to add the series, etc. information.

What I have is the Automatic Metadata management turned on in Preferences => Send to device and other options set in the KoboTouch driver configuration. I've attached images of what I use. Don't use the subtitle stuff unless you have calibre set up for subtitles.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by DNSB

You should not need to transfer the same books again. If you do not have the "Do not treat replacements as new books" option checked, it will not work (see the first KoboTouch configuration page image attached). You will need the two connections since the first sends the books which will be imported when you eject your Kobo. The import process creates the database entry for the ebook which is needed to add the series, etc. information.

What I have is the Automatic Metadata management turned on in Preferences => Send to device and other options set in the KoboTouch driver configuration. I've attached images of what I use. Don't use the subtitle stuff unless you have calibre set up for subtitles.

Some of your settings are not good for a newbie. Like your collections and where you send your eBooks. Both are not good. You create many subdirectories to send your eBooks to and you do not use the existing collections columns.

Tags & Series are for collections and just a single subdirectory is all you need to send your eBooks to. For an inexperienced users, they could have all kinds of trouble with those settings if your settings are copied.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Some of your settings are not good for a newbie. Like your collections and where you send your eBooks. Both are not good. You create many subdirectories to send your eBooks to and you do not use the existing collections columns.

Tags & Series are for collections and just a single subdirectory is all you need to send your eBooks to. For an inexperienced users, they could have all kinds of trouble with those settings if your settings are copied.

Sorry Jon, but that is a load of rubbish. Showing what can be done is good as it allows users to know they don't have to take the standards.

And personally, tags and series are the worst choices for collections. I''ll be praising Kobo when they finally add a series list, but, I just don't think they make sense for collections. And if I used tags, I'd probably have several hundred collections. "Genre" would be a much better choice.

@jacques91, @fvdham: I recommend using the automatic option for the metadata management. That gets the series info and other metadata updated every time you connect. The other options will need at least one book to be sent on the next connection.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by davidfor

Sorry Jon, but that is a load of rubbish. Showing what can be done is good as it allows users to know they don't have to take the standards.

And personally, tags and series are the worst choices for collections. I''ll be praising Kobo when they finally add a series list, but, I just don't think they make sense for collections. And if I used tags, I'd probably have several hundred collections. "Genre" would be a much better choice.

When Calibre was first created as Libprs500, Tags & Series were used as the columns for collections on the Sony Reader PRS-500. It was like that for every Sony Reader model. There was never an issue. Tags is for collections where the books are not part of a series and Series is for Series.

Why do you think that Tags and Series and not good columns to use? Granted that some books have rubbish in the OPF that causes Tags to get filled in. But that can easily be removed from the Tags field.

Genre would not be a better choice the Tag field can be used for other then just a genre. I also use Tag for the author name is that's the collection name I want. Besides, Tag already exists so there;s no need for another custom column.

[ps67]

I agree with @Davidfor.

I respect everyone's opinions and everyone with his Kobo and calibre does what he wants. But in my opinion the best way to use the possibility that Kobo gives us to use the collections is to create a non-exaggerated number of them, let's say 20 - 25 at most (I have 11 until now).

I also think that You can certainly create collections using tags, but I don't do it to have more control over collections. I decide in which collections a book goes, without having to handle the tags every time, because if I would choose to use them for collections without check them I would get too much confusion.

While as regards the series I would tend to the most obvious use: the series are a set of books that are part of the same story and usually must be read in a specific order and Kobo is the only reader which can handle them with calibre. So I don't use them to create collections, using the series information, even if it is rather easy, because it is a useless duplication of something that already exists.

[BetterRed]

@davidfor - to which plugin is this thread referring - if its none, I'll move it to the Devices subforum.

BR

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ps67

IWhile as regards the series I would tend to the most obvious use: the series are a set of books that are part of the same story and usually must be read in a specific order and Kobo is the only reader which can handle them with calibre. So I don't use them to create collections, using the series information, even if it is rather easy, because it is a useless duplication of something that already exists.

Can you please explain? How is using Series a duplication of something that already exists?

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Some of your settings are not good for a newbie.

Moderator Notice
The fact that both jacques91 and fvdham have worked around the problems they are experiencing suggests to me they know what they're doing with calibre and their devices. Hence your implication that they are abecedarians is uncalled for.

@everyone - can we return to addressing the OPs' specific calibre/kobo interoperability problems.

BR

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by jacques91

hello everybody.

I have noticed a strange behavior with my kobo for the last 3 or 4 last calibre updates/plugin (?) :
when I am transferring a book (from a collection) to my kobo, the series are not immediately updated (ie blank information on the kobo series field). I have to disconnect my kobo, reconnect it and then update the metadata from the koboUtilities menu (rev2.9.0). It has been previously working nicely for years .
I am using calibre 4.7 with Kobo clara HD running 4.18.13737

Is this normal or am I doing something wrong ?

Thanks
Jacques

In Calibre preferences, do you have Metadata Management set to Automatic management? It's in the Import/export section under Sending books to device.

You should not have to manually update the metadata when you plug in your Kobo after the newly added books have been processed.

Which Kobo driver are you using? Are you using the KoboTouch driver or the KoboTouchExtended driver? Check in plugins to see which one. If it is the Extended driver, customize it and check the Metadata tab and make sure Update metadata on the device us checked. You also want Set series information and Update Metadata on book details page checked.

Please report back if you have solved your problem. And yes, you still have to plug the Kobo in a second time.

[BetterRed]

Thanks Jon

BR

[theducks]

Just to clarify: (If the automatic manage option is enabled?)

The Second time you connect, the series (and some other stuff) transfers.
YOU do not need to do anything else (except wait for the tasks to go to 0 )

If you have reading status enabled, this also will update the designated Calibre column.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

@davidfor - to which plugin is this thread referring - if its none, I'll move it to the Devices subforum.

Yes, it should be in the devices subforum.