Calibre epub reading progress to 1% by default

[ryder]

Hey everybody,

is it possible to set the reading stats to 1% for every ebook which I am transferring to my kobo device? Maybe with a plugin or a patch? I want to see the remaining time for all the ebooks which I haven't start to read yet. This way I can choose if I want to read a longer or shorter ebook by scrolling through my unread device library?

Thanks in advance.

[DNSB]

And if you haven't touched the book in a while, are you prepared for the popup asking you to set the books to unread?

[ryder]

I guess this could also be done with a patch. Or maybe the kobo config file. Or is there a patch which shows the pagenumber in the menu?

[DNSB]

One person I know uses the Count Pages plugin though calibre now has it's own page count column. He places this page count in the subtitle of the book so it shows in the list of books.

[dunhill]

Originally Posted by ryder

Hey everybody,

is it possible to set the reading stats to 1% for every ebook which I am transferring to my kobo device? Maybe with a plugin or a patch? I want to see the remaining time for all the ebooks which I haven't start to read yet. This way I can choose if I want to read a longer or shorter ebook by scrolling through my unread device library?

Thanks in advance.

Would the Kobo Utility work? The option "Change reading status in the device library"

I'm asking

[ryder]

Originally Posted by DNSB

One person I know uses the Count Pages plugin though calibre now has it's own page count column. He places this page count in the subtitle of the book so it shows in the list of books.

This might work. Have to test it out next time I'm on the laptop. Thanks for that.

About the kobo utility plugin: I can test that too and tell you the result. Thank you.

[ryder]

The utility plugin didn't work for me, but the other solution with the extra subtitle did the trick.

Here is what you have to do in order to get it working on your kobo device:

1. Install necessary tools in Calibre
Open Calibre, go to Preferences -> Advanced -> Plugins.
Click Get new plugins and install Count Pages.
Restart Calibre.

2. Configure "Count Pages" Plugin
Go back to Preferences -> Plugins.
Select the Count Pages plugin and click Customize plugin.
Set up a custom column to store page counts: #pages (select integers)

3. Customize Kobo Driver Settings
Connect your Kobo e-reader via USB.
Go to Preferences -> Plugins -> Device Interface Plugins.
Select the KoboTouch or KoboTouchExtended driver and click Customize plugin.
In the Metadata tab, you can configure how information is sent to the device.
You can set the Subtitle field to use the custom column you created to display the page count: {#pages} pages

4. Update Metadata and Send to Device
Select the books in your library.
Click the arrow by the Count Pages button and choose Estimate page/word counts.
Send the books to your Kobo. The library view on the Kobo should now show the page count in the subtitle field. You have to update metadata on your kobo as well.

Thank you everybody.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by dunhill

Would the Kobo Utility work? The option "Change reading status in the device library"

I'm asking

I don't know what would happen if you set the Percent Read to 1% and the Last Read Timestamp to some date and left the Current Reading Location blank. You could backup the database and then try it on a few eBooks and see what happens if you restore the reading position.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ryder

The utility plugin didn't work for me, but the other solution with the extra subtitle did the trick.

Here is what you have to do in order to get it working on your kobo device:

1. Install necessary tools in Calibre
Open Calibre, go to Preferences -> Advanced -> Plugins.
Click Get new plugins and install Count Pages.
Restart Calibre.

2. Configure "Count Pages" Plugin
Go back to Preferences -> Plugins.
Select the Count Pages plugin and click Customize plugin.
Set up a custom column to store page counts: #pages (select integers)

3. Customize Kobo Driver Settings
Connect your Kobo e-reader via USB.
Go to Preferences -> Plugins -> Device Interface Plugins.
Select the KoboTouch or KoboTouchExtended driver and click Customize plugin.
In the Metadata tab, you can configure how information is sent to the device.
You can set the Subtitle field to use the custom column you created to display the page count: {#pages} pages

4. Update Metadata and Send to Device
Select the books in your library.
Click the arrow by the Count Pages button and choose Estimate page/word counts.
Send the books to your Kobo. The library view on the Kobo should now show the page count in the subtitle field. You have to update metadata on your kobo as well.

Thank you everybody.

This is not what you asked for. Also, you don't need Count pages to try the following.

• What you should try is setup Kobo Utilities to be able to pull the reading stats. You'll need to add three custom columns. Percent Read (#percent, integers), Last Read Timestamp (#last, date), and Current Reading Location (#current, text).
• Backup the database just to be safe
• Choose 3 eBooks you have on your Kobo. Put a 1% in #percent and the current date in #last.
• Connect your Kobo to your calibre library and restore the reading positions of those 3 eBooks
• See if it worked

If it works, this will get your reading positions to 1%. If it doesn't work and no harm has come to the database, then it didn't work, no harm done. It there is a problem with the database, restore the backup database and then reboot your Kobo.

[fogice]

The Subtitle field is very flexible: I set mine to:
{#pages} pages | {tags}
which displays both the calculated page count and the genre(s).

Originally Posted by JSWolf

This is not what you asked for.

The end result is what OP wanted. The "1% request" was just OP's best guess as to how to achieve the solution.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by fogice

The Subtitle field is very flexible: I set mine to:
{#pages} pages | {tags}
which displays both the calculated page count and the genre(s).

The end result is what OP wanted. The "1% request" was just OP's best guess as to how to achieve the solution.

I think the OP is confused. The OP said originally that he wants to see the remaining time for each book. His "solution" doesn't do that.

But then again, I don't think his 1% will work either.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I think the OP is confused. The OP said originally that he wants to see the remaining time for each book. His "solution" doesn't do that.

But then again, I don't think his 1% will work either.

The OP wanted to have some indication as to the book length in the book list of their Kobo. The subtitle information achieved that goal (and is the solution I too use for the same purpose).

[fogice]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I think the OP is confused. The OP said originally that he wants to see the remaining time for each book. His "solution" doesn't do that.

But then again, I don't think his 1% will work either.

It gets OP a page count, which is another way to see the book length, and is equally (in)accurate, but good enough.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by fogice

It gets OP a page count, which is another way to see the book length, and is equally (in)accurate, but good enough.

Actually, ADE page numbers are fairly accurate for most eBooks.

[ryder]

Thanks for all the replys. First of all, I just wanted something which is telling me if the ebook is a short one or not. So I thought that the estimated reading time was sufficent, but the solution with the pagenumbers is the superior one, because then kobo is not triggering a pop-up to set the ebook to unread if it is not being touched in a long time.

The only thing now, which I try to figure out is, if it's possible to change the subtitle with the author name, because right now it's in this order: title (takes 2 lines) then comes the pagenumber and lastly the author name.
I would like to have title, author, pagenumber.

Can I solve this with a patch maybe?