books are suddenly displaying differently after being uploaded from a new computer

KondorsAccount · 01-05-2025, 06:57 PM

Hopefully I picked the right spot for this. If this should go to a different category please let me know. I don't think this is necessarily device specific to my eReader, but none of the other categories seemed to fit.

I recently had to retire my old computer and had to build out a new one. After doing so, I'm unable to get new books to display on my Kobo Libra 2 the same way they used to.

To provide context for my process, I generally purchase all of my eBooks so far from Rakuten Kobo. I then download the files and I'm given .acsm files. From here I throw these into Adobe Digital Editions to get an .epub file and then throw them into Calibre. I've tried the DeACSM plugin in Kobo but for some reason ran into issues with this method, so I just stick with the ADE method. From here I have the DeDRM plugin installed which does its thing as I throw the .epub file in.

My problem comes with when I send the book to my device. Ever since getting onto this new computer, every time I send a book to my device the display of the book is horrible. The font is enormous, page numbers are thrown along the side of the screen randomly (they pertain to the page number in the book and persist for multiple page turns on the device) and the way these books interact with the on-device font resizing and line spacing tools is less than stellar. I don't have any idea what is causing this or why it would be different from my old machine. I did not go in and customize Calibre on my old computer and didn't customize it on the new one. The only difference between the two computers is that I have the 7.23 version of Calibre installed on the new one whereas the old computer had an older version. For the library I had copied the whole Calibre Library folder from the old computer and placed it in the correct location on the new computer, so all of those previous files are exactly as they should be from the old machine.

Some testing that I've done so far includes:

1) EPUB to EPUB conversion - Thinking that maybe something had gone wrong with the file conversion I ran a new conversion but nothing changed.

2) I tried copying a .epub file from my old computer to the new computer and imported it into Calibre before sending it. Theoretically this should be the same file that I like the display of. Upon opening this book on my eReader, the new display format that I don't like was present.

3) I tried deleting a book from my device and re-uploading it as it was already present in my Calibre library. This followed the same logic as above, but again came up with this new display.

I'm about at my wit's end as I absolutely can't stand how these books are now displaying on my device, and using the device's in-built font sizing and line spacing tools yields poor results as well. Something has changed and I can't figure it out. Has anyone else experienced this before, or has any ideas as to how I can get my books to display properly again?

I've included some images directly from my eReader. The OLD image is how the books display after they were uploaded from my old computer and Calibre installation - default font display was smaller and there are no random numbers along the edge. The NEW image is an image of the same book and how it was uploaded to my device from the new computer and Calibre installation - the default font display is massive and there's a random number on the edge (these numbers pertain to the page number and last for multiple pages).

DNSB · 01-05-2025, 07:10 PM

My suspicion is that you were using the KTE driver and sending the ePubs to your Kobo as kepubs. Your new setup is sending ePubs (the Adobe synthetic page numbers are pretty much a dead giveaway. To get rid of them, Settings => Reading Settings => remove the checkmark from Show Adobe EPUB page numbers.

You may also want to look at KoboPatch and the Unify font sizes patch to match the font sizes in kepub and ePub ebooks more consistent.

KTE = KoboTouchExtended

Karellen · 01-05-2025, 07:13 PM

>page numbers are thrown along the side of the screen randomly

That can be disabled in the ereader. Go to Settings>Reader Settings and disable "Show Adobe EPUB page numbers"

Sirtel · 01-05-2025, 07:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DNSB

My suspicion is that you were using the KTE driver and sending the ePubs to your Kobo as kepubs. Your new setup is sending ePubs (the Adobe synthetic page numbers are pretty much a dead giveaway. To get rid of them, Settings => Reading Settings => remove the checkmark from Show Adobe EPUB page numbers.

Yes. The KoboTouch Extended Driver is a calibre plugin. If the OP didn't copy the configuration folder from their old computer, their new calibre installation would not have had any plugins they installed on the old computer.

KondorsAccount · 01-05-2025, 07:28 PM

You're all absolute life-savers. The KoboTouchExtended plugin looks like it was the missing key. I don't remember installing this one on the old setup at all, but that was years ago and I definitely didn't copy the Calibre configuration folder from the old machine as I was only expecting the need for DeDRM.

Throwing in the KTE plugin has sorted this problem out. I appreciate y'all pointing it out, I was getting unreasonably pissed off with my predicament.

01-05-2025, 06:57 PM	#1
KondorsAccount Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2025 Device: Kobo Libra 2	books are suddenly displaying differently after being uploaded from a new computer Hopefully I picked the right spot for this. If this should go to a different category please let me know. I don't think this is necessarily device specific to my eReader, but none of the other categories seemed to fit. I recently had to retire my old computer and had to build out a new one. After doing so, I'm unable to get new books to display on my Kobo Libra 2 the same way they used to. To provide context for my process, I generally purchase all of my eBooks so far from Rakuten Kobo. I then download the files and I'm given .acsm files. From here I throw these into Adobe Digital Editions to get an .epub file and then throw them into Calibre. I've tried the DeACSM plugin in Kobo but for some reason ran into issues with this method, so I just stick with the ADE method. From here I have the DeDRM plugin installed which does its thing as I throw the .epub file in. My problem comes with when I send the book to my device. Ever since getting onto this new computer, every time I send a book to my device the display of the book is horrible. The font is enormous, page numbers are thrown along the side of the screen randomly (they pertain to the page number in the book and persist for multiple page turns on the device) and the way these books interact with the on-device font resizing and line spacing tools is less than stellar. I don't have any idea what is causing this or why it would be different from my old machine. I did not go in and customize Calibre on my old computer and didn't customize it on the new one. The only difference between the two computers is that I have the 7.23 version of Calibre installed on the new one whereas the old computer had an older version. For the library I had copied the whole Calibre Library folder from the old computer and placed it in the correct location on the new computer, so all of those previous files are exactly as they should be from the old machine. Some testing that I've done so far includes: 1) EPUB to EPUB conversion - Thinking that maybe something had gone wrong with the file conversion I ran a new conversion but nothing changed. 2) I tried copying a .epub file from my old computer to the new computer and imported it into Calibre before sending it. Theoretically this should be the same file that I like the display of. Upon opening this book on my eReader, the new display format that I don't like was present. 3) I tried deleting a book from my device and re-uploading it as it was already present in my Calibre library. This followed the same logic as above, but again came up with this new display. I'm about at my wit's end as I absolutely can't stand how these books are now displaying on my device, and using the device's in-built font sizing and line spacing tools yields poor results as well. Something has changed and I can't figure it out. Has anyone else experienced this before, or has any ideas as to how I can get my books to display properly again? I've included some images directly from my eReader. The OLD image is how the books display after they were uploaded from my old computer and Calibre installation - default font display was smaller and there are no random numbers along the edge. The NEW image is an image of the same book and how it was uploaded to my device from the new computer and Calibre installation - the default font display is massive and there's a random number on the edge (these numbers pertain to the page number and last for multiple pages). Attached Thumbnails

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01-05-2025, 07:10 PM	#2
DNSB Bibliophagist Posts: 43,345 Karma: 165170674 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Vancouver Device: Kobo Sage, Libra Colour, Lenovo M8 FHD, Paperwhite 4, Tolino epos	My suspicion is that you were using the KTE driver and sending the ePubs to your Kobo as kepubs. Your new setup is sending ePubs (the Adobe synthetic page numbers are pretty much a dead giveaway. To get rid of them, Settings => Reading Settings => remove the checkmark from Show Adobe EPUB page numbers. You may also want to look at KoboPatch and the Unify font sizes patch to match the font sizes in kepub and ePub ebooks more consistent. KTE = KoboTouchExtended

01-05-2025, 07:13 PM	#3
Karellen Wizard Posts: 1,543 Karma: 9250680 Join Date: Sep 2021 Location: Australia Device: Kobo Libra 2	>page numbers are thrown along the side of the screen randomly That can be disabled in the ereader. Go to Settings>Reader Settings and disable "Show Adobe EPUB page numbers"

01-05-2025, 07:28 PM	#5
KondorsAccount Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2025 Device: Kobo Libra 2	You're all absolute life-savers. The KoboTouchExtended plugin looks like it was the missing key. I don't remember installing this one on the old setup at all, but that was years ago and I definitely didn't copy the Calibre configuration folder from the old machine as I was only expecting the need for DeDRM. Throwing in the KTE plugin has sorted this problem out. I appreciate y'all pointing it out, I was getting unreasonably pissed off with my predicament.

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