Why Do Covers Disappear When I Upload Books From Kindle To Calibre And Back Again

[MrSlow&Steady]

So I decided to upload books from my Kindle to put into my Calibre because I realized there were some edits I have to make to the titles. I then put them back in the Kindle. But then I noticed that this time the ebooks have no covers. I am not the only one struggling with this right? And if so any solutions?

[BetterRed]

Maybe this can help ==>> Kindle book cover thumbnails disappearing

BR

[MrSlow&Steady]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

Maybe this can help ==>> Kindle book cover thumbnails disappearing

BR

The original OP talked about KFX books. I used MOBI books that were already on the Kindle by sending them to Calibre and sending them back to Kindle. I don't know if this will work. But I can try.

[MrSlow&Steady]

Ok here's what I did. I put the Kindle on Airplane mode, sideloaded the ebooks from Calibre to Kindle, and thankfully the covers didn't disappear. I am very afraid of turning Airplane Mode off simply because I am worried the covers will disappear. Should I be concerned?

[baggins41]

Originally Posted by MrSlow&Steady

I am very afraid of turning Airplane Mode off simply because I am worried the covers will disappear.

Your instincts are correct, in my experience. As soon as you turn off airplane mode, the Kindle will attempt to sync the covers with the Amazon database and, if it doesn't find a match, will replace them with the placeholder icon.

I found a workaround that seems effective. I posted it earlier on reddit, but I'll go ahead and repost here:

• Transfer the books using Calibre, then before disconnecting the device, navigate to the "\system\thumbnails" folder on the Kindle.
  If you sort by date, you should be able to easily find the covers of the books you just transferred. They'll all be named along the lines of "thumbnail_[GUID-NUMBER-HERE].jpg"
• Copy these jpgs to a folder on your hard drive and then disconnect your Kindle.
• Make sure you're out of airplane mode and wait for the covers to disappear. Once they do, the Kindle is done scanning the new additions and won't try to replace the cover images a second time.
• Hook your Kindle back up to your computer and copy the thumbnails you saved back to the "\system\thumbnails" folder, overwriting the (broken) files.
• Now, disconnect your Kindle and, voila, all the covers are back!

I had noticed that older books I'd sideloaded before this started happening were unaffected, so I'm reasonably confident that it only wipes out the covers the very first time it detects a new sideloaded title.

[MrSlow&Steady]

Originally Posted by baggins41

Your instincts are correct, in my experience. As soon as you turn off airplane mode, the Kindle will attempt to sync the covers with the Amazon database and, if it doesn't find a match, will replace them with the placeholder icon.

I found a workaround that seems effective. I posted it earlier on reddit, but I'll go ahead and repost here:

Would it work if I bring the ebooks to the Kindle, find new covers, and reupload them? Or is this just a goose chase that's not worth it?