Way to replace cover of sideloaded EPUB without replacing entire book?

[mallomar]

Forgive me if this is obvious, but I googled and searched here and didn’t see an answer. I sideloaded an EPUB via Calibre into my Onyx Boox Note Air 2. I’ve been reading the book and now found a cover I like better. I’d like to replace the cover without replacing the EPUB itself on the Boox, since I’ve made notes and highlights in the book itself. Is there a way to do this? I tried updating the cached metadata on the device after polishing the book with the updated cover inserted, but it didn't change the cover on the device. I’m using KOReader if it makes any difference. Thanks!

[HappyCalibreUser]

You should try this on some duplicate book in Calibre whose cover you won't mind changing first.

This is the way I've learned to change a cover in Calibre, others may have another way:

Select- Convert Books
Select- Look & Feel
Select- Embed all fonts in document

For me, the new cover is added and nothing in the books changes.

I tend to tinker with settings all the time so I may have made changes to Calibre I don't remember. But this is what I do.

[mallomar]

Originally Posted by HappyCalibreUser

You should try this on some duplicate book in Calibre whose cover you won't mind changing first.

This is the way I've learned to change a cover in Calibre, others may have another way:

Select- Convert Books
Select- Look & Feel
Select- Embed all fonts in document

For me, the new cover is added and nothing in the books changes.

I tend to tinker with settings all the time so I may have made changes to Calibre I don't remember. But this is what I do.

Thanks. I can get a new cover to stick in Calibre by converting or polishing, the problem is getting that cover on my Boox without overwriting my existing file, with notes and highlights. Or do you mean this works for you for sideloading?

[kovidgoyal]

I doubt that's possible. The Boox firmware reads the cover from the EPUB file, so to update it you have to update the file.

[mallomar]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

I doubt that's possible. The Boox firmware reads the cover from the EPUB file, so to update it you have to update the file.

Thanks, Kovid, always appreciate your help. Hope you're enjoying your vacation!

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by HappyCalibreUser

You should try this on some duplicate book in Calibre whose cover you won't mind changing first.

This is the way I've learned to change a cover in Calibre, others may have another way:

Select- Convert Books
Select- Look & Feel
Select- Embed all fonts in document

For me, the new cover is added and nothing in the books changes.

I tend to tinker with settings all the time so I may have made changes to Calibre I don't remember. But this is what I do.

It is incorrect that nothing changes. The code changes. The code is changed whenever you do a conversion from ePub to ePub. It's best to fix the cover in the editor. That works best. It's what I do all the time.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by mallomar

Thanks, Kovid, always appreciate your help. Hope you're enjoying your vacation!

Sounds to me like you will have to leave the eBooks in place and edit the ones not on your Boox to fix the cover.

[mallomar]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Sounds to me like you will have to leave the eBooks in place and edit the ones not on your Boox to fix the cover.

To see what would happen I added a random book to Note Air 2, made a highlight in the book, changed the cover in Calibre and sent the book again. There remained only one copy of the book on the device. I opened the book and my highlight was still there. So, I did the same with my original book and it's the same - the cover was changed, but the highlights and bookmarks remained.