Touch Odd error in PDF display

ottdmk · 07-16-2013, 04:22 PM

Hey folks,

I just ran into this one. Kinda strange. I've got 2.6.1 (original) on my N905B Touch. I've heavily bookmarked some gaming PDFs to make up for the lack of a table of contents.

The thing is, the PDFs have started showing every page as bookmarked. I can't make any new bookmarks. If I dismiss a bookmark, turn the page, then go back... the bookmark is displayed again.

It's not a showstopper... i can still read the PDFs. And the bookmarks I already put in are still there. But it's definitely annoying.

mckinnon42 · 07-17-2013, 09:22 AM

Do these bookmarks show up only when viewing the PDF from the Kobo or also from a desktop PDF reader? If they do not show up from a desktop reader, I suggest making a copy of the PDF in question, clear all the bookmarks from the copy using your desktop software, re-adding just one, and then copying it to your Kobo to see what it looks like.

On a side note, and I really hate to do this (sorry), but do I understand you correctly in that you can add bookmarks regularly to .PDFs from your Kobo? Or at least you used to be able to add bookmarks to PDFs from your Kobo? I ask because I use PDFs near exclusively on my Kobo (academic papers) and have never seen this functionality.

Uschiekid · 07-17-2013, 10:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mckinnon42

On a side note, and I really hate to do this (sorry), but do I understand you correctly in that you can add bookmarks regularly to .PDFs from your Kobo? Or at least you used to be able to add bookmarks to PDFs from your Kobo? I ask because I use PDFs near exclusively on my Kobo (academic papers) and have never seen this functionality.

Yes you can. When not zoomed in, touch the top right corner as you would in an epub and it will "fold" over the corner of the page (looks like what you would do in a real book when folding the top corner).

You can also add annotations after bookmarking, so although you can't highlight passages with pdfs, you can still comment on an entire page. To do this, first create the bookmark, then go into the menu and select annotations, when the annotations page is shown, click the lines at the right and it will give you the option to "add note"...Not as handy as highlighting and adding a note, but useful all the same, especially for academic papers when adding notes can be a life saver.

jackthereader · 07-17-2013, 10:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ottdmk

The thing is, the PDFs have started showing every page as bookmarked. I can't make any new bookmarks. If I dismiss a bookmark, turn the page, then go back... the bookmark is displayed again.

I have seen the same thing on my Kobo Glo using 2.5.2 firmware. The bookmark functionality came back at some point. I'm not sure what I did to make it work though.

ottdmk · 07-17-2013, 04:46 PM

Just to expand on the situation: I added multiple bookmarks (in one case 36) to three PDFs on my Touch.

At some point every page in the three PDFs started showing dog-ears. If dismissed, the dog-ear could not be brought back. HOWEVER, the list of bookmarks in the Annotations page remained unchanged.

Unmarking a dog-ear on a page that actually had a bookmark (on the Annotations page) deleted the bookmark.

I've dealt with the problem by deleting all bookmarks for those three pdfs using sqlitemon. Going forward, I'm going to backup the database after I annotate each book. It'll be interesting to see if the problem reoccurs.

mckinnon42 · 07-17-2013, 10:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uschiekid

Yes you can. When not zoomed in, touch the top right corner as you would in an epub and it will "fold" over the corner of the page (looks like what you would do in a real book when folding the top corner).

You can also add annotations after bookmarking, so although you can't highlight passages with pdfs, you can still comment on an entire page. To do this, first create the bookmark, then go into the menu and select annotations, when the annotations page is shown, click the lines at the right and it will give you the option to "add note"...Not as handy as highlighting and adding a note, but useful all the same, especially for academic papers when adding notes can be a life saver.

You. Have. Just. Changed. My. Life!

davidfor · 07-18-2013, 01:11 AM

@ottdmk: Are these PDF in the main memory or on an SD card? I don't know if this will affect what you are seeing, but there is a difference in part of the bookmark/annotations management.

If an ePub or PDF are in the main memory, when a bookmark is made, it is put in two places; the database and an annotations file. The file is an XML file under "Digital Editions/Annotations". Within that directory, the file has the same path as the book file with the added extension of "ANNOT". For books on the SD card, this file is not created.

The file causes a problem. It is read when the book is opened and replaces the bookmarks in the database. The problem is that when it is loaded into the database, some information is lost. The bookmarks are valid and lead to the right place, but it loses the chapter it was made in. So, if you make a bookmark in chapter one, and then go to chapter two and close the book, when you reopen the book and look at the annotations list, the bookmark will be shown as under chapter 2. This also messes up the percentage in the book of the bookmark. This gets set to zero on when the book is reopened.

This doesn't happen for books on the SD card as the annotations file is not created. To prove this is the cause, I have deleted the annotations file for a book in the main memory and reopened the book. The annotations list displayed the bookmarks under the correct chapter.

Kobo are definitely aware of this bug, but haven't done anything yet. It has been in all 2.x.x firmware and I think it was in the 1.9.x, but I keep hoping it will be fixed.

ottdmk · 07-18-2013, 10:16 AM

Hey David,

Everything I use bookmarks on is on a SD card because of that bug. No, this is something different.

If you're curious, I've kept the sqlite file from when I had the problem. Be happy to send it to you.

davidfor · 07-18-2013, 10:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ottdmk

Everything I use bookmarks on is on a SD card because of that bug. No, this is something different.

After I wrote the post I realised that was probably the case.

Quote:

If you're curious, I've kept the sqlite file from when I had the problem. Be happy to send it to you.

That would be interesting. Can you put it somewhere I can download it and PM the link? Or PM me for an email address.

Uschiekid · 07-18-2013, 05:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mckinnon42

You. Have. Just. Changed. My. Life!

You're very welcome! I'm sure it was someone on MR who taught me that

So I'm always happy to pass info on.

As davidfor mentioned in a post in this thread, bookmarks/annotations work better when on an external SD card, so if you encounter any issues, you might want to store your library that way. That's why I changed to store my books on an external, except for books in kepub format and books from the library.

davidfor · 07-22-2013, 02:26 AM

ottdmk sent me a copy of the device database. While adding some bookmarks to a PDF on my Glo to compare, I reproduced the error. Or at least what looks like it. When I bookmarked a page and paged back through the book, the previous page didn't show the dog-ear. But, all earlier pages did. That sounds like it could be what you are seeing. I think the reason I didn't notice it before was that I was going through the book adding bookmarks and didn't page back enough times.

07-16-2013, 04:22 PM	#1
ottdmk Wizard Posts: 1,196 Karma: 3765734 Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Device: Kobo Libra 2, Lenovo Tab M10 FHD Plus, Lenovo Tab M8 HD	Odd error in PDF display Hey folks, I just ran into this one. Kinda strange. I've got 2.6.1 (original) on my N905B Touch. I've heavily bookmarked some gaming PDFs to make up for the lack of a table of contents. The thing is, the PDFs have started showing every page as bookmarked. I can't make any new bookmarks. If I dismiss a bookmark, turn the page, then go back... the bookmark is displayed again. It's not a showstopper... i can still read the PDFs. And the bookmarks I already put in are still there. But it's definitely annoying.

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07-17-2013, 09:22 AM	#2
mckinnon42 Junior Member Posts: 6 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2012 Device: Kobo Touch	Do these bookmarks show up only when viewing the PDF from the Kobo or also from a desktop PDF reader? If they do not show up from a desktop reader, I suggest making a copy of the PDF in question, clear all the bookmarks from the copy using your desktop software, re-adding just one, and then copying it to your Kobo to see what it looks like. On a side note, and I really hate to do this (sorry), but do I understand you correctly in that you can add bookmarks regularly to .PDFs from your Kobo? Or at least you used to be able to add bookmarks to PDFs from your Kobo? I ask because I use PDFs near exclusively on my Kobo (academic papers) and have never seen this functionality.

07-17-2013, 04:46 PM	#5
ottdmk Wizard Posts: 1,196 Karma: 3765734 Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Device: Kobo Libra 2, Lenovo Tab M10 FHD Plus, Lenovo Tab M8 HD	Just to expand on the situation: I added multiple bookmarks (in one case 36) to three PDFs on my Touch. At some point every page in the three PDFs started showing dog-ears. If dismissed, the dog-ear could not be brought back. HOWEVER, the list of bookmarks in the Annotations page remained unchanged. Unmarking a dog-ear on a page that actually had a bookmark (on the Annotations page) deleted the bookmark. I've dealt with the problem by deleting all bookmarks for those three pdfs using sqlitemon. Going forward, I'm going to backup the database after I annotate each book. It'll be interesting to see if the problem reoccurs.

07-18-2013, 01:11 AM	#7
davidfor Grand Sorcerer Posts: 24,907 Karma: 47303748 Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Sydney, Australia Device: Kobo:Touch,Glo, AuraH2O, GloHD,AuraONE, ClaraHD, Libra H2O; tolinoepos	@ottdmk: Are these PDF in the main memory or on an SD card? I don't know if this will affect what you are seeing, but there is a difference in part of the bookmark/annotations management. If an ePub or PDF are in the main memory, when a bookmark is made, it is put in two places; the database and an annotations file. The file is an XML file under "Digital Editions/Annotations". Within that directory, the file has the same path as the book file with the added extension of "ANNOT". For books on the SD card, this file is not created. The file causes a problem. It is read when the book is opened and replaces the bookmarks in the database. The problem is that when it is loaded into the database, some information is lost. The bookmarks are valid and lead to the right place, but it loses the chapter it was made in. So, if you make a bookmark in chapter one, and then go to chapter two and close the book, when you reopen the book and look at the annotations list, the bookmark will be shown as under chapter 2. This also messes up the percentage in the book of the bookmark. This gets set to zero on when the book is reopened. This doesn't happen for books on the SD card as the annotations file is not created. To prove this is the cause, I have deleted the annotations file for a book in the main memory and reopened the book. The annotations list displayed the bookmarks under the correct chapter. Kobo are definitely aware of this bug, but haven't done anything yet. It has been in all 2.x.x firmware and I think it was in the 1.9.x, but I keep hoping it will be fixed.

07-18-2013, 10:16 AM	#8
ottdmk Wizard Posts: 1,196 Karma: 3765734 Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Device: Kobo Libra 2, Lenovo Tab M10 FHD Plus, Lenovo Tab M8 HD	Hey David, Everything I use bookmarks on is on a SD card because of that bug. No, this is something different. If you're curious, I've kept the sqlite file from when I had the problem. Be happy to send it to you.

07-22-2013, 02:26 AM	#11
davidfor Grand Sorcerer Posts: 24,907 Karma: 47303748 Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Sydney, Australia Device: Kobo:Touch,Glo, AuraH2O, GloHD,AuraONE, ClaraHD, Libra H2O; tolinoepos	ottdmk sent me a copy of the device database. While adding some bookmarks to a PDF on my Glo to compare, I reproduced the error. Or at least what looks like it. When I bookmarked a page and paged back through the book, the previous page didn't show the dog-ear. But, all earlier pages did. That sounds like it could be what you are seeing. I think the reason I didn't notice it before was that I was going through the book adding bookmarks and didn't page back enough times.