Does Books support Cloud storage for ePub files not bought from their online store?

[kyteflyer]

Originally Posted by Deskisamess

Hyphen looks like abandon ware, it hasn't been updated for 2 years.

So’s Marvin but people still use it. I’m less concerned about something being abandoned than no updates if needed. And so far, Hyphen has travelled through iOS updates very easily. If theres no need for an update... why do it? Matt is apparently working on Hyphen 2... according to a facebook post in Feb.

Not sure about Marvin, I stopped using that when Kris kept creating new apps and leaving the old ones alone, to wither and die.

[kyteflyer]

Originally Posted by ilovejedd

You still have to do initial import from another source (e.g. Dropbox). Once a book is in Hyphen though, it can sync the full ebook using iCloud to your other devices similar to how Books does it.

Alas, I think it gets synced as private app data so the ebooks on Hyphen-iCloud are not easily accessible with the Files app.

So basically theres no real evidence that its stored in iCloud somewhere. I don’t mind if it is, as long as it isn't taking space from my normal iCloud storage. I always pull from iCloud when needing to do a new sync, but when the book is then “registered” in a second device, it still requires a separate download. so what comes from iCloud is the book title/cover, bookmarks, highlights, last location etc, but the book itself still needs to be downloaded. Surely if the book was stored in iCloud, it would not then require a further download? Anyway thats what I thought was coming from the original source (dropbox, for me)

If you look at the screenie, you can see that my iPad Hyphen has downloaded a *link* to the current book I am reading on my iP7... Hyphen knows what the book is, and where I am up to but I still need to download it as a separate action.

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by kyteflyer

So basically theres no real evidence that its stored in iCloud somewhere. I don’t mind if it is, as long as it isn't taking space from my normal iCloud storage. I always pull from iCloud when needing to do a new sync, but when the book is then “registered” in a second device, it still requires a separate download. so what comes from iCloud is the book title/cover, bookmarks, highlights, last location etc, but the book itself still needs to be downloaded. Surely if the book was stored in iCloud, it would not then require a further download? Anyway thats what I thought was coming from the original source (dropbox, for me)

If you look at the screenie, you can see that my iPad Hyphen has downloaded a *link* to the current book I am reading on my iP7... Hyphen knows what the book is, and where I am up to but I still need to download it as a separate action.

Books with that download icon/link are stored on iCloud. They're just not downloaded automatically to your devices to save space/local storage on your device. The full library sync is actually a feature mentioned on the app's description.

You do the import once (e.g. from Dropbox), the ebook gets uploaded to iCloud and subsequent downloads to other devices using the download link you see are all coming from iCloud.

So yes, Hyphen does use iCloud storage.

Most text-only books are pretty small though. I've got ~200 books on Hyphen and it's using 138.7 MB on iCloud. Marvin 3 which only syncs bookmarks and reading position, is only using 43.1 MB on iCloud when its library has ~600 books.

[datostar]

Originally Posted by 2scre

Is there a way you can import several ePub files at once instead of one by one?

Yes. On a Mac, size Calibre in the bottom half of of the screen and Books in the top half. Select multiple books in Calibre then drag and drop to Books. Cover images appear first with a cloud symbol in a corner. When the cloud symbol disappears the ebooks have been uploaded to iCloud and will be available across your other logged in devices, with the last reading position preserved. The Calibre content remains, completely untouched.

[kyteflyer]

Originally Posted by ilovejedd

Books with that download icon/link are stored on iCloud. They're just not downloaded automatically to your devices to save space/local storage on your device. The full library sync is actually a feature mentioned on the app's description.

You do the import once (e.g. from Dropbox), the ebook gets uploaded to iCloud and subsequent downloads to other devices using the download link you see are all coming from iCloud.

So yes, Hyphen does use iCloud storage.

Most text-only books are pretty small though. I've got ~200 books on Hyphen and it's using 138.7 MB on iCloud. Marvin 3 which only syncs bookmarks and reading position, is only using 43.1 MB on iCloud when its library has ~600 books.

Thanks for that explanation. I also sent a message to Matt and he confirms what you say. I was surprised, I expected that they would take more space, but I never keep many in the app anymore (its just not Stanza )