Kobo Glo: Homescreen is not showing the book I am reading

kkchome · 04-30-2013, 10:19 PM

I just purchased a Kobo Glo and am having some issues. I have loaded my ebook library from Calibre and am able to access my books on the Kobo through the Library. However, the home screen is not showing the book I am currently reading or anything else. In order to get back to the book I am reading, I need to plow through the library, find the book and click on it. This is very cumbersome. I normally like to read several books concurrently, but I don't see how I can easily toggle between them when they are not showing up on the "reading" pane of the homescreen. Does the home screen only show books purchased from the Kubo store? If so, that is really terrible given I have a substantial library acquired over many years (I'm on my fifth ebook reader). Is there a fix, hack or workaround for this issue? I do not like the idea the this kind of basic functionality only works by being chained to the Kobo bookstore.

DNSB · 04-30-2013, 11:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kkchome

I just purchased a Kobo Glo and am having some issues. I have loaded my ebook library from Calibre and am able to access my books on the Kobo through the Library. However, the home screen is not showing the book I am currently reading or anything else. In order to get back to the book I am reading, I need to plow through the library, find the book and click on it. This is very cumbersome. I normally like to read several books concurrently, but I don't see how I can easily toggle between them when they are not showing up on the "reading" pane of the homescreen. Does the home screen only show books purchased from the Kubo store? If so, that is really terrible given I have a substantial library acquired over many years (I'm on my fifth ebook reader). Is there a fix, hack or workaround for this issue? I do not like the idea the this kind of basic functionality only works by being chained to the Kobo bookstore.

The home screen should show any books regardless of source. For non-kepub books, your Kobo should be using the first page of the book as the cover image. I've seen an issue similar to yours on two occasions. Once was when I copied over an ebook that I was looking at for a friend. An ebook which didn't even pay lip service to the epub standard and ended with me doing a factory reset to clean the SQLite database. The second was a co-worker who filled the internal storage on his Touch to the point where there was no free space to generate the cover and other image files.

To check if you have a corrupted database or file, you might want to try logging out of your account and back in. This should rebuild the database without removing any sideloaded content from the internal storage or requiring you to re-upgrade the firmware.

If that doesn't work, try a full factory reset. This will remove any books sideloaded to the internal storage but not on a uSD card. After the factory reset, before copying any of your ebooks back to the ereader, download a free ebook from the Kobo site and see if it shows on your home screen. If it does, then copy your ebooks back to the Kobo in small batches and allow it to process content between each batch. This should help to locate a problematic ebook which could be causing your problem.

Hope this is of some help to you.

Regards,
David

sysKin · 04-30-2013, 11:50 PM

Can you confirm that your PC and your Kobo have their clock/date correctly set up? I found that one possible reason for such problems is when Kobo is in the past and/or PC is in the future - books uploaded with PC appear "newer" than the book you're reading.

kkchome · 04-30-2013, 11:52 PM

Thanks for your suggestions, David. I will give it a try later today when I have more free time. I have loaded up the internal memory with a lot of books, so I might have the issue your co-worker had. I have about 60MB of memory left.

davidfor · 05-01-2013, 01:05 AM

What sorting sequence are you using in the library? If you have "Recent Reads", the book should be at the top of the list. If it isn't near the top of the list, it won't be on the home screen.

What happens when you power off and on again? If the device processes books as it turns on, it probably means that David's suggestion of a corrupt database is probably right.

The time shouldn't cause an issue unless it is a kepub from Kobo. The lists all use timestamps from the database, and when sideloading a book the timestamp is set by the device as it is processed.

kkchome · 05-01-2013, 01:53 AM

I've tried logging out and logging back in, setting the time and also sorting by "recent reads" but still no books showing up on the homepage. It looks like I might have to do a factory reset and then re-load my entire library again. I think I will just use the unit "as is" for a while. At least with sorting the library by "recently read", I can quickly find the books I am currently reading.

Thanks for all the help and suggestions.

davidfor · 05-01-2013, 01:57 AM

What exactly is being shown on the home screen? It should have "Reading" and "Bookstore" near the top, and "library", "Reading life" and "Sync" near the bottom. What is between these?

Did the "Recently Read" sort put the book at the top? If not, what is above it and what state are they in?

kkchome · 05-01-2013, 02:20 AM

It has the Reading & Bookstore at the top and Library - Reading Life and Synch near the bottom. There is nothing at all in the space between. Switching between different Library sort settings does not change this.

I am able to sort the books in my library without problem and using the sort books by recently read at least I can find the books I currently have on the go without having to use the search function. It certainly would be great if I could get the books I currently have on the go shown on the homepage so I don't have the added step of having to go into the library to fire up the books.

davidfor · 05-01-2013, 02:44 AM

So there is nothing where the book mosaic should be? Have you tried pressing where the book should be? This is just in case the cover is completely blank.

As to the Recently Read list, you still haven't answered the question. Where in the list is the book appearing? If it isn't appearing at the top each time, there is a problem. That might be related to why the home screen isn't displaying the book.If it is at the top, that means that something is working correctly and the home screen issue is somewhere else.

Does the cover get displayed in the library list?

There are some options in the ".kobo/Kobo/Kobo eReader.conf" on the device that set what the home page shows? Has this file been changed? Could you post it so I can have a look at it?

kkchome · 05-01-2013, 03:01 AM

OK, there is nothing where the book mosaic should be. I pressed this are a viola, one of the books I have on the go opened. I went back and pressed another area and I got another book to open.

I went into the library and found a book with a cover and opened it. Now that book is on the mosaic, so that appears to solve the problem. Both of the books I currently am reading do not have covers. That appears to be my problem and I guess the Kobo Glo is working fine.

Uschiekid · 05-01-2013, 10:35 AM

try adding covers with calibre to those books...then you should be able to tell which is which and more easily finish the books you are reading without covers.

ADALib · 11-20-2014, 03:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidfor

There are some options in the".kobo/Kobo/Kobo eReader.conf" on the device that set what the home page shows

I am trying to use Kobo Touch with children aged 10 & 11 and have had a complaint from a parent that the titles recommended from the Kobo store that appear on the front screen are “not appropriate”. Of course, the more the parent reads these ads, the more recommendations there are along those lines. I was interested to read that Davidfor said about setting what the home page shows.

Is it possible to turn “off” the recommended to buy from the front screen? If not, is there a way to train it to junior titles?

davidfor · 11-20-2014, 08:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ADALib

I am trying to use Kobo Touch with children aged 10 & 11 and have had a complaint from a parent that the titles recommended from the Kobo store that appear on the front screen are “not appropriate”. Of course, the more the parent reads these ads, the more recommendations there are along those lines. I was interested to read that Davidfor said about setting what the home page shows.

Is it possible to turn “off” the recommended to buy from the front screen? If not, is there a way to train it to junior titles?

From my experience, the recommendations get better when you buy a few books. You can also mark books as "Not interested" when looking at the recommendations. I'm not sure how much that affects the later recommendations.

To get rid of tiles on the home screen, if you use calibre, my Kobo Utilities plugin has a function to dismiss tiles and prevent them coming back.

milady133 · 11-20-2014, 01:18 PM

It s useless to use the "Not interested" mark, the same books keep appearing. If your account is set up in the USA you have an option to set children accounts related. You have to do it on Kobo Web page. I haven't tried it, so you'll need to ask someone else for further instructions, but maybe that way you can get rid of inappropriate ads.

robko · 11-20-2014, 10:00 PM

Haven't heard anything about it lately, but Kobo had introduced "child" accounts (can't remember exactly what it is called) that may help. Try and do some scrounging around on the Kobo site and you may be able to find something.

04-30-2013, 10:19 PM	#1
kkchome Junior Member Posts: 8 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2009 Device: bebook	Kobo Glo: Homescreen is not showing the book I am reading I just purchased a Kobo Glo and am having some issues. I have loaded my ebook library from Calibre and am able to access my books on the Kobo through the Library. However, the home screen is not showing the book I am currently reading or anything else. In order to get back to the book I am reading, I need to plow through the library, find the book and click on it. This is very cumbersome. I normally like to read several books concurrently, but I don't see how I can easily toggle between them when they are not showing up on the "reading" pane of the homescreen. Does the home screen only show books purchased from the Kubo store? If so, that is really terrible given I have a substantial library acquired over many years (I'm on my fifth ebook reader). Is there a fix, hack or workaround for this issue? I do not like the idea the this kind of basic functionality only works by being chained to the Kobo bookstore.

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04-30-2013, 11:50 PM	#3
sysKin Connoisseur Posts: 56 Karma: 31830 Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Australia Device: Aura HD, after a train ate my Glo	Can you confirm that your PC and your Kobo have their clock/date correctly set up? I found that one possible reason for such problems is when Kobo is in the past and/or PC is in the future - books uploaded with PC appear "newer" than the book you're reading.

04-30-2013, 11:52 PM	#4
kkchome Junior Member Posts: 8 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2009 Device: bebook	Thanks for your suggestions, David. I will give it a try later today when I have more free time. I have loaded up the internal memory with a lot of books, so I might have the issue your co-worker had. I have about 60MB of memory left.

05-01-2013, 01:05 AM	#5
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	What sorting sequence are you using in the library? If you have "Recent Reads", the book should be at the top of the list. If it isn't near the top of the list, it won't be on the home screen. What happens when you power off and on again? If the device processes books as it turns on, it probably means that David's suggestion of a corrupt database is probably right. The time shouldn't cause an issue unless it is a kepub from Kobo. The lists all use timestamps from the database, and when sideloading a book the timestamp is set by the device as it is processed.

05-01-2013, 01:53 AM	#6
kkchome Junior Member Posts: 8 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2009 Device: bebook	I've tried logging out and logging back in, setting the time and also sorting by "recent reads" but still no books showing up on the homepage. It looks like I might have to do a factory reset and then re-load my entire library again. I think I will just use the unit "as is" for a while. At least with sorting the library by "recently read", I can quickly find the books I am currently reading. Thanks for all the help and suggestions.

05-01-2013, 01:57 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	What exactly is being shown on the home screen? It should have "Reading" and "Bookstore" near the top, and "library", "Reading life" and "Sync" near the bottom. What is between these? Did the "Recently Read" sort put the book at the top? If not, what is above it and what state are they in?

05-01-2013, 02:20 AM	#8
kkchome Junior Member Posts: 8 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2009 Device: bebook	It has the Reading & Bookstore at the top and Library - Reading Life and Synch near the bottom. There is nothing at all in the space between. Switching between different Library sort settings does not change this. I am able to sort the books in my library without problem and using the sort books by recently read at least I can find the books I currently have on the go without having to use the search function. It certainly would be great if I could get the books I currently have on the go shown on the homepage so I don't have the added step of having to go into the library to fire up the books.

05-01-2013, 02:44 AM	#9
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	So there is nothing where the book mosaic should be? Have you tried pressing where the book should be? This is just in case the cover is completely blank. As to the Recently Read list, you still haven't answered the question. Where in the list is the book appearing? If it isn't appearing at the top each time, there is a problem. That might be related to why the home screen isn't displaying the book.If it is at the top, that means that something is working correctly and the home screen issue is somewhere else. Does the cover get displayed in the library list? There are some options in the ".kobo/Kobo/Kobo eReader.conf" on the device that set what the home page shows? Has this file been changed? Could you post it so I can have a look at it?

05-01-2013, 03:01 AM	#10
kkchome Junior Member Posts: 8 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2009 Device: bebook	OK, there is nothing where the book mosaic should be. I pressed this are a viola, one of the books I have on the go opened. I went back and pressed another area and I got another book to open. I went into the library and found a book with a cover and opened it. Now that book is on the mosaic, so that appears to solve the problem. Both of the books I currently am reading do not have covers. That appears to be my problem and I guess the Kobo Glo is working fine.

05-01-2013, 10:35 AM	#11
Uschiekid Tenrec Posts: 724 Karma: 1076988 Join Date: Oct 2012 Device: Kobo Aura One, Kobo Glo	try adding covers with calibre to those books...then you should be able to tell which is which and more easily finish the books you are reading without covers.

11-20-2014, 01:18 PM	#14
milady133 Groupie Posts: 180 Karma: 616200 Join Date: May 2014 Location: Spain Device: Kobo Forma, Hisense A5	It s useless to use the "Not interested" mark, the same books keep appearing. If your account is set up in the USA you have an option to set children accounts related. You have to do it on Kobo Web page. I haven't tried it, so you'll need to ask someone else for further instructions, but maybe that way you can get rid of inappropriate ads.

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11-20-2014, 10:00 PM	#15
robko Wizard Posts: 2,454 Karma: 5469320 Join Date: Jul 2010 Device: Kobo	Haven't heard anything about it lately, but Kobo had introduced "child" accounts (can't remember exactly what it is called) that may help. Try and do some scrounging around on the Kobo site and you may be able to find something.