On Device column listing incorrect info

[ScarletSony]

How can you modify the “On Device” column when your e-reader is connected? It is currently displaying incorrect information in regards to which book is on my “Main” device.

I use Calibre to keep track of both my paperbacks and e-books; I have a number of books in which I have copy of the same book as a paperback and an e-book and have them listed in the same library to keep track of this information. Unfortunately, in my Library, the “On Device” column shows the paperback on the connected device instead of the actual e-book and I am at a loss as to how to correct this information...or what I did to cause this issue.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by ScarletSony

How can you modify the “On Device” column when your e-reader is connected? It is currently displaying incorrect information in regards to which book is on my “Main” device.

I use Calibre to keep track of both my paperbacks and e-books; I have a number of books in which I have copy of the same book as a paperback and an e-book and have them listed in the same library to keep track of this information. Unfortunately, in my Library, the “On Device” column shows the paperback on the connected device instead of the actual e-book and I am at a loss as to how to correct this information...or what I did to cause this issue.

So far as Calibre is concerned, that is a match (Title-Author).

Keeping track of you paper versions is better done using tags in the same titles record. I use: <In Paper Library > as my tag, regardless if it overlaps with a e-version or not (an Empty Book)

[ScarletSony]

Originally Posted by theducks

Keeping track of you paper versions is better done using tags in the same titles record. I use: <In Paper Library > as my tag, regardless if it overlaps with a e-version or not (an Empty Book)

By using tags in the titles record, are you saying to manually select the titles for the paperbacks one by one, edit metadata and add a tag line at the end of the title so it would appear different than the e-version?
Title Column reads:
Outliers
Outliers <paperback>

Or is there a way to select all the paperback titles and insert this tag?
Thanks for the help!

[theducks]

Originally Posted by ScarletSony

By using tags in the titles record, are you saying to manually select the titles for the paperbacks one by one, edit metadata and add a tag line at the end of the title so it would appear different than the e-version?
Title Column reads:
Outliers
Outliers <paperback>

Or is there a way to select all the paperback titles and insert this tag?
Thanks for the help!

Tags in the Tags column. Not the title

You can select more than 1 tag, including a Not this tag (red minus) in the tag browser

 not formats:"=LIT" and tags:"=<In Paper Library>"

show books that I have paper copies AND are NOT in LIT format (in my Library)

If you tamper with the title, Fetch metadata will fail.

[ScarletSony]

Thanks. Yes, I already have tags set to differentiate the two copies but I noticed the "On Device" column would not display "main" by the correct copy (the EPUB format) and was hoping there was a way to correct it by modifying Calibre somehow to get it to recognize the correct copy that is actually on the device.

I also noticed when I added an e-book from the device to the library and then edited the metadata, the device would no longer recognize the copy as added to my library. So it almost seems I need two versions of the e-book in my library, one the device recognizes (w/o any edits) and one with metadata. I even tried merging the two copies to see if that would allow the copy recognized by the device to contain metadata, but that did not work either.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by ScarletSony

Thanks. Yes, I already have tags set to differentiate the two copies but I noticed the "On Device" column would not display "main" by the correct copy (the EPUB format) and was hoping there was a way to correct it by modifying Calibre somehow to get it to recognize the correct copy that is actually on the device.

I also noticed when I added an e-book from the device to the library and then edited the metadata, the device would no longer recognize the copy as added to my library. So it almost seems I need two versions of the e-book in my library, one the device recognizes (w/o any edits) and one with metadata. I even tried merging the two copies to see if that would allow the copy recognized by the device to contain metadata, but that did not work either.

You can't place (send) a blank book to a device. Calibre Ondevice match does not compare formats so the ondevice match is probably assigned to the first (created. lowest ID) it finds
If you switch to device view, you can find and determine which (real) formats are present.

[ScarletSony]

My apologies for the confusion...I am not trying to send blank books to the the device. I am just trying to get Calibre to recognize the correct version in my library (e-book and not paperback) that is on my device.

I had added all of my e-books from my e-reader to Calibre. Then I added all of my paperbacks when I read about being able to add other versions via a blank book. So now I have about 300 e-books and 800 paperbacks in my library. I have added tags to differentiate between duplicate copies of the paper version and electronic version...I also show the format column to tell which e-books are AZW and which are EPUB since we also have a kindle.

Prior to me adding the paperbacks, when I connected my Sony to Calibre, the On Device column in the Library would tell me the EPUB books were on the device by showing "main" with a green checkmark in front of the title of the e-books. Now that I have added the paper versions of some of my e-books, when I connect my Sony, the On Device column now shows some of my paperbacks as being on the device (which is not possible) instead of the EPUB version...and I don't know why Calibre would think these paperbacks were on my device nor do I know how to fix it except to delete all of my paperbacks.

I have also noticed, when I add metadata to the e-books (added from my Sony to Calibre), the device view in Calibre no longer recognizes the e-book as added to my library (the green check mark is missing). So I end up adding it again which means I now have two electronic versions of a book in my library...the one Calibre will recognize as on the device and one with metadata.

Sorry for the long response...

[speakingtohe]

I may be wrong but I thought calibre used the folder ID to recognize books. This should not change unless you change the author and/or possibly title.

You could resend the books although this might reset your reading place and bookmarks.

Just a shot in the dark, but do you have automatic management turned off? Mine is on. My books seem to be still recognized after metadata changes, conversions etc. Without resending. I don't have any Paper books entered though.

Helen

[ScarletSony]

Yes, I have metadata management set to manual. I was only going to add the e-books I purchase on my Sony to the Calibre library to keep track of all the books I have so I will stop buying duplicate copies ...but was not planning on using Calibre to resend these e-books back to my device. Therefore, I set the metadata management to manual so that I won't automatically screw something up

The e-books I have added from my device to the Calibre Library appear w/o covers, reviews, etc so I use edit metadata to add this extra information on each e-book...to my knowledge it does not change the title or author since I use this information to find the metadata.

I was thinking of creating a new Library to seperate my e-books from my paperbacks, but that would defeat the purpose of having them all in one location for ease of identification and organization.

[speakingtohe]

perhaps back up your library and set management to automatic?
Helen

[theducks]

Originally Posted by ScarletSony

Yes, I have metadata management set to manual. I was only going to add the e-books I purchase on my Sony to the Calibre library to keep track of all the books I have so I will stop buying duplicate copies ...but was not planning on using Calibre to resend these e-books back to my device. Therefore, I set the metadata management to manual so that I won't automatically screw something up

The e-books I have added from my device to the Calibre Library appear w/o covers, reviews, etc so I use edit metadata to add this extra information on each e-book...to my knowledge it does not change the title or author since I use this information to find the metadata.

I was thinking of creating a new Library to seperate my e-books from my paperbacks, but that would defeat the purpose of having them all in one location for ease of identification and organization.

Change the setting (Configure the Metadata download) to NOT modify Titles or Authors (remove tics).
Changes to those will cause (but not the only reason) the problem that you describe.

[ScarletSony]

Originally Posted by theducks

Change the setting (Configure the Metadata download) to NOT modify Titles or Authors (remove tics).
Changes to those will cause (but not the only reason) the problem that you describe.

Okay, in "Sending books to device" I have changed the metadata management to automatic.

In "Metadata download" settings, I have unchecked Authors and Titles in the section Downloaded Metadata Fields.

I deleted all of the original e-books and have added them again from the device to the Library. I now have about 10 e-books that have been added to the Library but Calibre does not show them in the Device view as in the Library nor OnDevice in the Library. I have deleted these 10 e-books from the library and tried re-connecting the device to add them again, but Calibre still does not show these same 10 e-books as in the Library. Calibre does give me a warning if I try to add these e-books a second time that the title already exists in the library (note: there are *no* paper versions of any of the e-books in question).

So Calibre knows they are there, it just does not indicate to the user they have been added nor that they are on the connected device. Any suggestions as to the cause?

[speakingtohe]

EEK! All I can suggest at present is that you check your author sort value and reconvert your books (try one) before sending.

Helen