Side-loaded KEPUB files show up on my Kobo, but not on Calibre's Device page?

[hengyu]

I convert my books to KEPUB using the KEPUB output plugin, I hit send, and when I eject, the book shows up in my Kobo just fine, but I don't see it on my Device Library or the green "On Device" tick.

The files are there on the Kobo's drive on Explorer.

I'm very confused as to what's happening and would appreciate advice on how to solve this.

If I rebooted the Kobo and reconnecting it to my PC the book then seems to show up on Calibre as well.

On one occasion, after a lot of faffing about, most but not all of my books just disappeared from my Kobo as well, but logging out and in sort of rebuilt the database and restored all my books or something somehow.

[chaley]

Moderator Notice
Moved to Devices subforum

[ownedbycats]

On the root of your device look for a file called metadata.calibre, which keeps track of books on device and the corresponding library books. My guess would be that if it's gotten set to read-only or somehow damaged, it may not be updating properly.

[chaley]

In calibre, books show as on device only when the device is connected. If you want that status when not connected then you must add a tag or make a yes/no column for it. The reading list plugin can help automate maintaining the column.

[hengyu]

Originally Posted by chaley

In calibre, books show as on device only when the device is connected. If you want that status when not connected then you must add a tag or make a yes/no column for it. The reading list plugin can help automate maintaining the column.

I'm talking about when the device is connected. Some books that I can read and access just fine just do not show up in Calibre.

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

On the root of your device look for a file called metadata.calibre, which keeps track of books on device and the corresponding library books. My guess would be that if it's gotten set to read-only or somehow damaged, it may not be updating properly.

It's strange because the file is just there, and not set to read-only. It's last-modified date even corresponds to current time, but a book I just added 10 minutes ago simply just doesn't show up on Calibre, until I do a restart of the entire Kobo.

[chaley]

Because calibre uses the kobo database to determine what is on the device, the kobo must "import" the book before calibre can see it. Importing happens when the kobo is disconnected; it tells you when it does that. Restarting the kobo seems to also trigger an import, as does resetting it.

I've read that a broken book can stop the import. That hasn't happened to me. If true then apparently you must receive books that never are imported. Others will have more info on this.

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by chaley

Because calibre uses the kobo database to determine what is on the device, the kobo must "import" the book before calibre can see it. Importing happens when the kobo is disconnected; it tells you when it does that. Restarting the kobo seems to also trigger an import, as does resetting it..

When I send a new book to device, it appears on the Device tab immediately even before ejecting to let it do the import process.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

When I send a new book to device, it appears on the Device tab immediately even before ejecting to let it do the import process.

But it won't appear on the next connect unless it has been imported.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by chaley

But it won't appear on the next connect unless it has been imported.

Thanks for making that clear. I was in the Cats camp, so I was

So, any clue on how to find the problem book?

[hengyu]

Originally Posted by chaley

Because calibre uses the kobo database to determine what is on the device, the kobo must "import" the book before calibre can see it. Importing happens when the kobo is disconnected; it tells you when it does that. Restarting the kobo seems to also trigger an import, as does resetting it.

When I add the book, it shows up on Calibre while the device is still connected.

When I disconnect the Kobo, I get a "importing content" load bar on the Kobo, after which the book shows up properly on my device and is fully readable.

When I reconnect the Kobo, the newly added book doesn't show up on Calibre. This is "fixed" when I do a device restart.

I wonder if there's something completely misconfigured on my end here? I've used Calibre for years on my Kindles without any issue, currently I've uninstalled all plugins except Kobo Utilities and the Extended Touch plugins, and I use the latter to auto-send EPUBs as KEPUBS.

[Sirtel]

Do you use any metadata plugboard? If it modifies the title, calibre may not recognize the book on the second connect.

[chaley]

OP: if you go to calibre's device view, are the books listed there but not marked as in library? If so, try using "Match book to library" then (something like) "Send metadata to device", and see if being on-device survives a disconnect/reconnect.

[hengyu]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Do you use any metadata plugboard? If it modifies the title, calibre may not recognize the book on the second connect.

Nope!

Originally Posted by chaley

OP: if you go to calibre's device view, are the books listed there but not marked as in library? If so, try using "Match book to library" then (something like) "Send metadata to device", and see if being on-device survives a disconnect/reconnect.

It's also not there in the Device View


I also just removed a book from the device, when I plug it in on my PC that book still shows up on Calibre, but no longer on the device directory.

That book is still in the "metadata.calibre" file, which I feel is borked for some reason.

When I try to open that book from Calibre, it's not found as expected with a [Errno 2] No such file or directory error.

[ownedbycats]

You can try deleting the metadata.calibre file, though this will require manually re-matching anything that doesn't already have an exact title-author match (I mostly see it stumbling on multiple authors, additional subtitle fluff, etc).

[PeterT]

The metadata.calibre is maintained by calibre; dropping books either from the device itself (my books / ... and remove) or from file explorer does not update this file.

Dropping from the Kobo will however update the Kobo database on the device to reflect that the book has gone.

Dropping from file explorer will not directly update the Kobo database; however on next disconnect from the PC that database should be updated

Adding a book to the Kobo by calibre will add the file to metadata calibre, however calibre will not update the Kobo database. The update to the database will occur when the device is disconnected and scans for new content

Likewise adding a file via file explorer will not add the file to metadata.calibre or update the database. The database will be updated when the device is disconnected and it scans for new content.

Also, data such as series info and I believe collections are only synced to Kobo AFTER the books have been added to the Kobo database.

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