Content Ebooks covers

brudigia · 12-21-2013, 02:33 AM

For some reasons I do not see the covers (thumbnails) of many ebooks I have sideloaded in my K4 in the archive, while I browse.
Is there a way to refresh these thumbnail, short of deleting and reloading the books again ?
I understand it
I tried to search the forum and could not apparently find a solution, but maybe I was not precise in my research.

Josieb1 · 12-21-2013, 03:53 AM

Sometimes the metadata isn't correct and that's why the covers don't show. I even have covers that show in Calibre yet still don't show on my Kindle. In those cases I always re convert the book in Calibre and load the book again, that always works, but obviously this is for DRM free ebooks. I convert from mobi to mobi.

brudigia · 12-21-2013, 05:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Josieb1

Sometimes the metadata isn't correct and that's why the covers don't show. I even have covers that show in Calibre yet still don't show on my Kindle. In those cases I always re convert the book in Calibre and load the book again, that always works, but obviously this is for DRM free ebooks. I convert from mobi to mobi.

I hoped not to have this advice....
That means deleting the sideloaded books from my Kindle and loading them again. A very painstaking work.
Sigh.

Barbara1955 · 12-21-2013, 05:59 PM

Depends on how important covers are to you...

eschwartz · 12-21-2013, 10:46 PM

mobi doesn't support covers as a metadata type, so it will be added as a new first page in the file but send to device will NOT update it.

azw3 is the newer version of mobi, and supports more cool stuff.

If you just want to see the cover in cover view on the home screen, then for books with an amazon ASIN (meaning it came from amazon, or you added it manually with special programs -- calibre will always use a UUID for this field if converting) calibre will upload a thumbnail to your device with the book. Thumbnails are located at %KindleDrive%\system\thumbnails\ and have the naming format "thumbnail_{insert books ASIN here}_EBOK_portrait.jpg" if from amazon.

Since these are sideloaded however, things are trickier. The Kindle will try to extract the cover, by assuming the first picture in the book is the cover, and fail, and the "thumbnail_{six random letters}.jpg" of sideloaded books will probably never get created. It is possible, however, that it will create a 0 KB file of that name, and by replacing it, you can give trick your Kindle into giving it a cover. But you'd have to guess which is which.

brudigia · 12-22-2013, 01:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eschwartz

mobi doesn't support covers as a metadata type, so it will be added as a new first page in the file but send to device will NOT update it.

azw3 is the newer version of mobi, and supports more cool stuff.

If you just want to see the cover in cover view on the home screen, then for books with an amazon ASIN (meaning it came from amazon, or you added it manually with special programs -- calibre will always use a UUID for this field if converting) calibre will upload a thumbnail to your device with the book. Thumbnails are located at %KindleDrive%\system\thumbnails\ and have the naming format "thumbnail_{insert books ASIN here}_EBOK_portrait.jpg" if from amazon.

Since these are sideloaded however, things are trickier. The Kindle will try to extract the cover, by assuming the first picture in the book is the cover, and fail, and the "thumbnail_{six random letters}.jpg" of sideloaded books will probably never get created. It is possible, however, that it will create a 0 KB file of that name, and by replacing it, you can give trick your Kindle into giving it a cover. But you'd have to guess which is which.

Thanks, I'l give it a try and see what happens.
Cheers

12-21-2013, 02:33 AM	#1
brudigia Evangelist Posts: 478 Karma: 1401828 Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Torino - Italy Device: iPAD AirPro M1 12.9, Kindle Scribe, Kobo Elipsa, iPhone XV	Ebooks covers For some reasons I do not see the covers (thumbnails) of many ebooks I have sideloaded in my K4 in the archive, while I browse. Is there a way to refresh these thumbnail, short of deleting and reloading the books again ? I understand it I tried to search the forum and could not apparently find a solution, but maybe I was not precise in my research.

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12-21-2013, 03:53 AM	#2
Josieb1 Grand Sorcerer Posts: 5,013 Karma: 18018738 Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: UK Device: Kobo Forma, Libra2, Clara 2e, Kindle PW SE & Kindle 2022	Sometimes the metadata isn't correct and that's why the covers don't show. I even have covers that show in Calibre yet still don't show on my Kindle. In those cases I always re convert the book in Calibre and load the book again, that always works, but obviously this is for DRM free ebooks. I convert from mobi to mobi.

12-21-2013, 05:59 PM	#4
Barbara1955 Non-Techy Posts: 4,454 Karma: 15499273 Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: WV---USA Device: Samsung Cell Phone & Amazon Fires & Kobo eReaders	Depends on how important covers are to you...

12-21-2013, 10:46 PM	#5
eschwartz Ex-Helpdesk Junkie Posts: 19,422 Karma: 85397180 Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: The Beaten Path, USA, Roundworld, This Side of Infinity Device: Kindle Touch fw5.3.7 (Wifi only)	mobi doesn't support covers as a metadata type, so it will be added as a new first page in the file but send to device will NOT update it. azw3 is the newer version of mobi, and supports more cool stuff. If you just want to see the cover in cover view on the home screen, then for books with an amazon ASIN (meaning it came from amazon, or you added it manually with special programs -- calibre will always use a UUID for this field if converting) calibre will upload a thumbnail to your device with the book. Thumbnails are located at %KindleDrive%\system\thumbnails\ and have the naming format "thumbnail_{insert books ASIN here}_EBOK_portrait.jpg" if from amazon. Since these are sideloaded however, things are trickier. The Kindle will try to extract the cover, by assuming the first picture in the book is the cover, and fail, and the "thumbnail_{six random letters}.jpg" of sideloaded books will probably never get created. It is possible, however, that it will create a 0 KB file of that name, and by replacing it, you can give trick your Kindle into giving it a cover. But you'd have to guess which is which.