Sending PDFs to Kindle

Dvorak · 08-09-2012, 03:47 PM

The following bugs occur when I send PDF files to an Amazon Kindle Touch, via email or through the Send to Device button. While I can only confirm their occurrence on the Kindle, I believe it's likely that they can be reproduced on other devices as the root of the problem lies with the way filenames are constructed. Unless this behaviour is caused by the Kindle 2/3/4/Touch Device Interface plugin.

The first issue is that all files saved to the connected device use sorted fields even though those are not selected. For instance with the following save string: "{author_sort}/{series}{series_index:0>2s| | - }{title}" both {title} and {series} will actually save as title_sort and series_sort. Note that I'm not sure if the latter variable actually exists. As an example, Arthur Machen's "The Novel of the White Powder" with the series set to "The Three Imposters [2]" will be saved as : "Machen, Arthur/Three Impostors, The 02 - Novel of the White Powder, The" This applies to all filetypes, but is only problematic for PDFs as they contain no metadata and therefore display their filenames on the Kindle.

Additionally PDF titles cannot be set with plugboards as they don't contain metadata, which is understandable. Titles can instead be set via the save template in the preferences under "Sending books to devices" or in the Kindle 2/3/4/Touch Device Interface customisation dialog. Unfortunately, none of these apply when sharing PDFs via email, which results in standard filenames such as "The Great Hunt - Robert Jordan".

Interestingly, the Kindle will still recognize the author for these PDFs. Even more odd is that the filenames will not use the title_sort here where they will do so when saved to a local device.

kovidgoyal · 08-09-2012, 11:00 PM

Go to Preferences->Tweaks and there is a setting to not use the sort version for title and series.

Dvorak · 08-10-2012, 06:41 AM

Thank you Kovid, that's exactly what I was looking for. Clearly I didn't look through the tweaks as thoroughly as I thought I had.

For future reference, the exact tweak is called "Control formatting of title and series when used in templates". After setting it to 'strictly_alphabetic' instead of 'library_order', all books are now saved as I wanted: "Machen, Arthur/The Three Impostors 02 - The Novel of the White Powder"

Unfortunately the Send PDF via Email issue remains. I'll look into it further to see if there's something else I'm missing.

08-09-2012, 03:47 PM	#1
Dvorak Junior Member Posts: 4 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2012 Device: Kindle Touch	Sending PDFs to Kindle The following bugs occur when I send PDF files to an Amazon Kindle Touch, via email or through the Send to Device button. While I can only confirm their occurrence on the Kindle, I believe it's likely that they can be reproduced on other devices as the root of the problem lies with the way filenames are constructed. Unless this behaviour is caused by the Kindle 2/3/4/Touch Device Interface plugin. The first issue is that all files saved to the connected device use sorted fields even though those are not selected. For instance with the following save string: "{author_sort}/{series}{series_index:0>2s\| \| - }{title}" both {title} and {series} will actually save as title_sort and series_sort. Note that I'm not sure if the latter variable actually exists. As an example, Arthur Machen's "The Novel of the White Powder" with the series set to "The Three Imposters [2]" will be saved as : "Machen, Arthur/Three Impostors, The 02 - Novel of the White Powder, The" This applies to all filetypes, but is only problematic for PDFs as they contain no metadata and therefore display their filenames on the Kindle. Additionally PDF titles cannot be set with plugboards as they don't contain metadata, which is understandable. Titles can instead be set via the save template in the preferences under "Sending books to devices" or in the Kindle 2/3/4/Touch Device Interface customisation dialog. Unfortunately, none of these apply when sharing PDFs via email, which results in standard filenames such as "The Great Hunt - Robert Jordan". Interestingly, the Kindle will still recognize the author for these PDFs. Even more odd is that the filenames will not use the title_sort here where they will do so when saved to a local device. Last edited by Dvorak; 08-09-2012 at 03:53 PM. Reason: Clarified

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08-09-2012, 11:00 PM	#2
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 45,345 Karma: 27182818 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	Go to Preferences->Tweaks and there is a setting to not use the sort version for title and series.

08-10-2012, 06:41 AM	#3
Dvorak Junior Member Posts: 4 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2012 Device: Kindle Touch	Thank you Kovid, that's exactly what I was looking for. Clearly I didn't look through the tweaks as thoroughly as I thought I had. For future reference, the exact tweak is called "Control formatting of title and series when used in templates". After setting it to 'strictly_alphabetic' instead of 'library_order', all books are now saved as I wanted: "Machen, Arthur/The Three Impostors 02 - The Novel of the White Powder" Unfortunately the Send PDF via Email issue remains. I'll look into it further to see if there's something else I'm missing.

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