How to bulk "Polish/embed" covers in pdf files

The Holy · 08-14-2021, 12:29 PM

Hi,

I have a digital library consisting of only epub and pdf files. My process for epub is download metadata and cover -> Use the "Polish books" plugin to embed the metadata and change the cover in the epub file to the one downloaded.

This unfortunately only works for epub and azw3. With the "Embed metadata" plugin i can, as the name suggests, embed the metadata into my pdf files but i haven´t been able to find a way to embed covers.

Is there a way to embed the covers that calibre downloads in bulk to all my pdfs, just like the polish books plugin does? I´ll mention that i don´t want to convert the pdfs to epubs.

Also, when the books are polished, a new epub is created and the original file is renamed to ORIGINAL_EPUB. Is there a good reason to keep the original files? I know the cover should stay in the folder since it needs to be there for calibre to display it in the calibre program. Does that apply to the separate metadata file as well or can they also be deleted along with the original epub?

Thanks in advance!

theducks · 08-14-2021, 01:45 PM

AFAIK Just Multi-select books BEFORE clicking EMBED Metadata

The Holy · 08-14-2021, 02:00 PM

Nope, i tried it again now and it only embeds the metadata.

The Holy · 08-14-2021, 02:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by theducks

AFAIK Just Multi-select books BEFORE clicking EMBED Metadata

I tried it with one pdf and several and it seems to only embed the metadata in both cases.

DNSB · 08-14-2021, 07:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Holy

Also, when the books are polished, a new epub is created and the original file is renamed to ORIGINAL_EPUB. Is there a good reason to keep the original files? I know the cover should stay in the folder since it needs to be there for calibre to display it in the calibre program. Does that apply to the separate metadata file as well or can they also be deleted along with the original epub?

Thanks in advance!

The metadata file in the book directories are used to by calibre to display the metadata (one heck of a lot faster than reading the metadata from the ebook files no to mention that some formats that don't support metadata embedding), allow for database recovery, etc. Do not delete them.

The Holy · 08-14-2021, 07:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DNSB

The metadata file in the book directories are used to by calibre to display the metadata (one heck of a lot faster than reading the metadata from the ebook files no to mention that some formats that don't support metadata embedding), allow for database recovery, etc. Do not delete them.

Thanks! And what about the original epubs? Any reason to keep them?

DNSB · 08-14-2021, 07:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Holy

Thanks! And what about the original epubs? Any reason to keep them?

Not that I can think of once you have verified the polished epub is okay. Once or twice, I've had the polished (or ModifyePUBed) epub glitched so I've reverted to the original version.

Since my work flow is to add the ebook to calibre, convert to epub (KindleUnpack for Amazon ebooks, convert for other formats), update the metadata and cover, use ModifyePUB to embed the metadata and cover and then open in Sigil and/or calibre's editor to check for errors, clean up the CSS, etc. before sending to my ereader, I have the chance to check the ebub and if all is good, the original-epub hits the bit bucket.

BetterRed · 08-15-2021, 01:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Holy

I tried it with one pdf and several and it seems to only embed the metadata in both cases.

PDF's don't have covers as such.

BR

The Holy · 08-15-2021, 03:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BetterRed

PDF's don't have covers as such.

BR

So there is no way to do what i want in calibre?

BetterRed · 08-15-2021, 06:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Holy

So there is no way to do what i want in calibre?

Not that I know of, if I wanted to do it I'd use a PDF editor.

BR

The Holy · 08-16-2021, 06:42 AM

How come there is no plugin for this? It seems to me this is a feature a lot of people would use, just like the polish function. Do people convert pdfs to epubs? Or is there some inherent difficulty changing pdf covers automatically as opposed to doing it on epubs? If not, or nonetheless, is there a place where i can suggest this plugin to be made for calibre?

BetterRed · 08-16-2021, 07:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Holy

How come there is no plugin for this? It seems to me this is a feature a lot of people would use, just like the polish function. Do people convert pdfs to epubs?

Yes, but with varying degrees of difficulty - see the sticky at the top of the Conversion sub-forum

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Holy

Or is there some inherent difficulty changing pdf covers automatically as opposed to doing it on epubs?

PDF and EPUB are chalk and cheese - PDF is PostScript based (think laser printers), EPUB is HTML based (think web pages).

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Holy

If not, or nonetheless, is there a place where i can suggest this plugin to be made for calibre?

Plugin ideas... add yours here Ψ³

Plugins are most often developed by people who have a need for them

BR

The Holy · 08-16-2021, 08:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BetterRed

Yes, but with varying degrees of difficulty - see the sticky at the top of the Conversion sub-forum

PDF and EPUB are chalk and cheese - PDF is PostScript based (think laser printers), EPUB is HTML based (think web pages).

Plugin ideas... add yours here Ψ³

Plugins are most often developed by people who have a need for them

BR

Ok, i´ll check it out. Thanks a lot for the answers

The Holy · 08-16-2021, 08:48 AM

It seems i may have found a possible solution. If i sort by format -> choose pdf -> select all -> bulk convert from pdf to pdf with the setting "Remove first image" turned on the cover image will be replaced with the one calibre has downloaded. Unfortunately this is very inefficient since the only thing i want changed is the cover. Also the conversion messed up the formatting of the first pdf i tried this on.

So, to get around this, is there a way to set the conversion settings to effectively "only convert" the first page? Or a way to change the settings so that no formatting or alteration whatsoever is made? Obviously a new file will be created but after the conversion i can simply delete all files called ORIGINAL_PDF and am left with all new covers for all my pdf files.

The Holy · 08-16-2021, 09:28 AM

For example, the conversion adds like text like this on every page "Einstein_FM.qxd 3/10/05 2:53 PM Page iii" as well as numbers on every page. Why is this happening?

Do let me know if i should start a new thread about this in the conversion forum instead.

08-14-2021, 12:29 PM	#1
The Holy Enthusiast Posts: 25 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2021 Device: none	How to bulk "Polish/embed" covers in pdf files Hi, I have a digital library consisting of only epub and pdf files. My process for epub is download metadata and cover -> Use the "Polish books" plugin to embed the metadata and change the cover in the epub file to the one downloaded. This unfortunately only works for epub and azw3. With the "Embed metadata" plugin i can, as the name suggests, embed the metadata into my pdf files but i haven´t been able to find a way to embed covers. Is there a way to embed the covers that calibre downloads in bulk to all my pdfs, just like the polish books plugin does? I´ll mention that i don´t want to convert the pdfs to epubs. Also, when the books are polished, a new epub is created and the original file is renamed to ORIGINAL_EPUB. Is there a good reason to keep the original files? I know the cover should stay in the folder since it needs to be there for calibre to display it in the calibre program. Does that apply to the separate metadata file as well or can they also be deleted along with the original epub? Thanks in advance! Last edited by The Holy; 08-14-2021 at 12:33 PM.

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08-14-2021, 01:45 PM	#2
theducks Well trained by Cats Posts: 30,891 Karma: 59840954 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: The Central Coast of California Device: Kobo Libra2,Kobo Aura2v1, K4NT(Fixed: New Bat.), Galaxy Tab A	AFAIK Just Multi-select books BEFORE clicking EMBED Metadata

08-14-2021, 02:00 PM	#3
The Holy Enthusiast Posts: 25 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2021 Device: none	Nope, i tried it again now and it only embeds the metadata.

08-16-2021, 06:42 AM	#11
The Holy Enthusiast Posts: 25 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2021 Device: none	How come there is no plugin for this? It seems to me this is a feature a lot of people would use, just like the polish function. Do people convert pdfs to epubs? Or is there some inherent difficulty changing pdf covers automatically as opposed to doing it on epubs? If not, or nonetheless, is there a place where i can suggest this plugin to be made for calibre?

08-16-2021, 08:48 AM	#14
The Holy Enthusiast Posts: 25 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2021 Device: none	It seems i may have found a possible solution. If i sort by format -> choose pdf -> select all -> bulk convert from pdf to pdf with the setting "Remove first image" turned on the cover image will be replaced with the one calibre has downloaded. Unfortunately this is very inefficient since the only thing i want changed is the cover. Also the conversion messed up the formatting of the first pdf i tried this on. So, to get around this, is there a way to set the conversion settings to effectively "only convert" the first page? Or a way to change the settings so that no formatting or alteration whatsoever is made? Obviously a new file will be created but after the conversion i can simply delete all files called ORIGINAL_PDF and am left with all new covers for all my pdf files.

08-16-2021, 09:28 AM	#15
The Holy Enthusiast Posts: 25 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2021 Device: none	For example, the conversion adds like text like this on every page "Einstein_FM.qxd 3/10/05 2:53 PM Page iii" as well as numbers on every page. Why is this happening? Do let me know if i should start a new thread about this in the conversion forum instead.

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