Recommendation for editing calibre emailer

kikixx · 09-03-2017, 06:00 PM

Hi all, I was wondering what the best way to edit the email that calibre generates when sending to Kindle is?

My use case is that I organise all my collection with calibre on an always on server at home. It runs in a docker container that also runs vnc so I can access the calibre GUI from anywhere via an OpenVPN connection. I'd like to be able to add books to calibre from anywhere without opening much up to the Internet, this works great so far.

The problem is that the Amazon email to Kindle is crap, I need to convert the books to mobi and then they become personal docs instead. I've found a plugin for my Kindle which uses IMAP to check an email address for attachments and downloads them to the Kindle but they miss the cover art because it doesn't sideload the cover like calibre would over USB.

So.... Ideally it'd fit my use perfectly if I could generate the email with the ebook and cover image with the same filename that calibre would use when transferring over USB. I can then tweak the IMAP plugin to download the cover image and copy that to the right place and all would be right with the world.

If anyone has any recommendations on this, it'd be appreciated. I thought I could write a plugin that extracted the mobi asin metadata, extracted the cover and sent the email using existing settings already set on calibre. Possible? Any better ways I'm not thinking of?

Cheers!

P.S. I realise this is a somewhat long winded way of doing things but life is boring without some challenges!

jhowell · 09-03-2017, 06:54 PM

Since you already plan to modify the BooksByMail extension on your Kindle, another possible approach would be to do the cover extraction there and leave calibre unchanged. You could borrow Python code from Extract Cover Thumbs to accomplish this.

kikixx · 09-04-2017, 02:14 AM

Ah nice! I did wonder about extracting on Kindle but didn't find this, this looks perfect. Thanks! I'll give this a go and leave calibre alone.

kikixx · 09-07-2017, 12:29 PM

For what its worth. The newer version of ExtractThumbs needed pillow installed which I don't think is possible on Kindle (at least not by me, compiling the library for kindle). Ended up using KindleUnpack which is prehaps a bit heavy for my use, but does the job.

Also, BooksByMail ended up crashing out on me with out of memory error, so I rewrote that functionality with imaplib instead, rather than offlineimap.

All in all, works seamlessly now. Email myself the azw3 books and launch the KUAL extension and they appear in my library with covers. Many thanks for the pointer in the right direction!

09-03-2017, 06:00 PM	#1
kikixx Junior Member Posts: 4 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2017 Device: Kindle Paperwhite	Recommendation for editing calibre emailer Hi all, I was wondering what the best way to edit the email that calibre generates when sending to Kindle is? My use case is that I organise all my collection with calibre on an always on server at home. It runs in a docker container that also runs vnc so I can access the calibre GUI from anywhere via an OpenVPN connection. I'd like to be able to add books to calibre from anywhere without opening much up to the Internet, this works great so far. The problem is that the Amazon email to Kindle is crap, I need to convert the books to mobi and then they become personal docs instead. I've found a plugin for my Kindle which uses IMAP to check an email address for attachments and downloads them to the Kindle but they miss the cover art because it doesn't sideload the cover like calibre would over USB. So.... Ideally it'd fit my use perfectly if I could generate the email with the ebook and cover image with the same filename that calibre would use when transferring over USB. I can then tweak the IMAP plugin to download the cover image and copy that to the right place and all would be right with the world. If anyone has any recommendations on this, it'd be appreciated. I thought I could write a plugin that extracted the mobi asin metadata, extracted the cover and sent the email using existing settings already set on calibre. Possible? Any better ways I'm not thinking of? Cheers! P.S. I realise this is a somewhat long winded way of doing things but life is boring without some challenges!

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
Show Printable Version Email this Page	Search this Thread: Advanced Search

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Editing ebook in Calibre	Jeannebj	Editor	5	08-23-2015 12:48 PM
Calibre Metadata Editing	Tushar Mehta	Calibre	9	05-05-2013 12:47 AM
Editing Calibre on ipad	harpangel36	Devices	9	08-02-2011 01:16 PM
Calibre 0.8.1 - Editing Metadata	mitch13	Library Management	12	05-25-2011 10:09 PM
Editing recommendation needed	Skydog	Kindle Formats	5	05-14-2009 05:12 PM

09-03-2017, 06:54 PM	#2
jhowell Grand Sorcerer Posts: 6,494 Karma: 84420419 Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Tampa Bay, Florida Device: Kindles	Since you already plan to modify the BooksByMail extension on your Kindle, another possible approach would be to do the cover extraction there and leave calibre unchanged. You could borrow Python code from Extract Cover Thumbs to accomplish this.

09-04-2017, 02:14 AM	#3
kikixx Junior Member Posts: 4 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2017 Device: Kindle Paperwhite	Ah nice! I did wonder about extracting on Kindle but didn't find this, this looks perfect. Thanks! I'll give this a go and leave calibre alone.

09-07-2017, 12:29 PM	#4
kikixx Junior Member Posts: 4 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2017 Device: Kindle Paperwhite	For what its worth. The newer version of ExtractThumbs needed pillow installed which I don't think is possible on Kindle (at least not by me, compiling the library for kindle). Ended up using KindleUnpack which is prehaps a bit heavy for my use, but does the job. Also, BooksByMail ended up crashing out on me with out of memory error, so I rewrote that functionality with imaplib instead, rather than offlineimap. All in all, works seamlessly now. Email myself the azw3 books and launch the KUAL extension and they appear in my library with covers. Many thanks for the pointer in the right direction!