PDF Sync

[isaiasmy]

I tried to get info about this topic, but I have not found any reasonable answer yet.

I'm researcher and I usually read/annotate PDF files. I love to manage them with Calibre for several reasons and I use calibre companion to sync my library with one android device. I also use this android device to perform annotations. In PDF files annotations are included in the PDF itself. However, Calibre Companion cannot push back the updated PDF file with the annotations (or I have not found the way to do it).

I would to know if this is posible and if it is not possible to make a request for its implementation. For me it would be the killer feature although I understand that each person has their concerns. Thank you.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by isaiasmy

I tried to get info about this topic, but I have not found any reasonable answer yet.

I'm researcher and I usually read/annotate PDF files. I love to manage them with Calibre for several reasons and I use calibre companion to sync my library with one android device. I also use this android device to perform annotations. In PDF files annotations are included in the PDF itself. However, Calibre Companion cannot push back the updated PDF file with the annotations (or I have not found the way to do it).

I would to know if this is posible and if it is not possible to make a request for its implementation. For me it would be the killer feature although I understand that each person has their concerns. Thank you.

Syncing books back to calibre inside a device driver such as the Wireless Device isn't possible without significant calibre changes. However, you can accomplish what you want using the following process:

1. In CC, connect as a wireless device.
2. Switch to calibre's device view
3. Right-click on the PDF you want to update then select "Save to disk". Put the book where you can find it.
4. Switch to calibre's library view.
5. Select the book you want to update. The book details pane will show information for the book.
6. Drag the book onto the book details pane. This will replace the format (the PDF) in calibre's library.

[isaiasmy]

Thank you very much for the tip!

It is interesting but if you have several research papers to upload is not the most user friendly solution. Do you know how make a suggestion to Calibre to include this feature?

[chaley]

Originally Posted by isaiasmy

Thank you very much for the tip!

It is interesting but if you have several research papers to upload is not the most user friendly solution. Do you know how make a suggestion to Calibre to include this feature?

You have already made it. I am almost certainly the person who would build it, were it to get built. As I said, it is not at all straightforward to do.

[isaiasmy]

Ok, thank you very much! It is a question of priorities and load of work I presume. I think that it would be a really interesting feature.

Thank you very much for your time. I really appreciate it.

[Digital_Restrict]

Originally Posted by isaiasmy

I tried to get info about this topic, but I have not found any reasonable answer yet.

I found this thread while googling for exactly the same thing as isaiasmy. Looking for ways to research and write more efficiently is a nice way to procrastinate actually doing research and writing! At least in my case ;-)

Originally Posted by chaley

You have already made it. I am almost certainly the person who would build it, were it to get built. As I said, it is not at all straightforward to do.

In the meantime I will try to push my newly annotated pdfs from the android devices manually as you have suggested. Lists, reminders or routines might be kept closely enough to maintain sync, if I am not working with too many files at once! I do second the feature request though. I would be glad to help if I can, running test releases and sending comments and debug logs etc.

When I discovered and configured CalibreCompanion on android, I saw that it could connect as a wireless device and sync (or not) books. I thought everything was already figured out! Now I understand we're living in a new era of free (as in freedom) digital documents management, and it's not as easy as it sound. I will look into CC more and read all about wireless device connections in Calibre.

Have a good day

[Digital_Restrict]

Originally Posted by Digital_Restrict

In the meantime I will try to push my newly annotated pdfs from the android devices manually as you have suggested.

Hello again. I have done a little research and there might be an alternative. It seems that a pretty good system is employed by some people. See https://reminiscenceofanebookreader....ns-wispersync/ and http://thousandfold.net/cz/2012/02/2...ver-of-ebooks/

The solutions like those described in the above links propose to have a cloud folder connected to Calibre as a device. This folder is filled with an entire calibre library, a virtual library (VL) or books chosen using various methods. The Calibre content server is not used here, rather the cloud folder/"device-connected-to-calibre" is accessed directly from android devices or other computers, edits/annotations are made locally, and the changes propagate across devices, including to the calibre library on the main PC. They use Dropbox; I would prefer to use gDrive but I've seen here https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=205581 that it's not possible.

My academic books and articles (the ones I would want to highlight/annotate/sync the most, and which tend to come in pdf format most of the time) are already organised with tags and VLs in Calibre. If I understand correctly, I could easily make a "cloud academic folder" in DB, connect to Calibre as a device, fill it with the contents of my Academic VLs and then just access/sync this folder cross-platform with dropbox apps (or even from a browser?)

I've seen some warnings about this system being unstable and unpredictable though, and that's precisely why I was trying to use CalibreCompanion to automatically sync my pdf work. They were mainly about conflicts between cloud syncing processes and calibre accessing its library at the same time. For instance:

Originally Posted by Adoby

Make sure you have sync turned off before you start calibre, and while you use calibre, and sync completely before you start calibre on another computer.

Calibre is a single user program and is only intended to be used on a local filesystem that isn't shared. But it seems that some successfully use calibre along with Dropbox and some other cloud sharing software.

This would be a problem since I'm just about to setup an always-on content server on a dedicated PC and moving my entire library there. I'm also not too sure if all changes would be seamlessly harmonized between my cloud folder and the originals still in my main (only) calibre library... One thing I know is that I would be very nervous if a cloud storage was the only repository of my precious academic pdfs... (hearbeat goes up a bit)

I'll have to resume my investigation of this fascinating topic later on, but I wanted to give you a small update before going, in case this thread picks up interest.

Cheers

[isaiasmy]

Thanks for the information, I will try a look in a free slot!
Cheers!

[BetterRed]

I'm also interested in this topic - Its high volume so manual one-at-time intervention wont work.

Basically two way synch of PDF formats from calibre to android. I'd want to keep the cloud out of the loop so I'm looking to use one of the Wifi direct sync apps. I need to find something that will sync selectively - ie only pdfs (that have changed), with clash detection. If anyone knows of any such apps then...

BR

[Dopedangel]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

I'm also interested in this topic - Its high volume so manual one-at-time intervention wont work.

Basically two way synch of PDF formats from calibre to android. I'd want to keep the cloud out of the loop so I'm looking to use one of the Wifi direct sync apps. I need to find something that will sync selectively - ie only pdfs (that have changed), with clash detection. If anyone knows of any such apps then...

BR

I think you can get what you want using btsync. Set it to ignore all files apart from PDF. Its uses peer to peer to sync so you don't need to use the cloud. I havent played around with btsync much but remember it had the option to igonore filetypes using wildcards.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by Dopedangel

I think you can get what you want using btsync. Set it to ignore all files apart from PDF. Its uses peer to peer to sync so you don't need to use the cloud. I havent played around with btsync much but remember it had the option to ignore filetypes using wildcards.

@Dopedangel - thanks, that could do the trick - kitkat and SD cards might present bump in the road, I'll have a ferret around in their forum.

Cheers BR