Sage Add series / series index to Kobo

[baursak]

1. I am almost 100% happy with original OS / UI of Kobo, - so I still manage to avoid additional software on my Kobo (kinda minimalism)
2. I don't use Kobo book service and read side loaded books only
3. My algorithm of books delivery to Kobo is: "original EPUB file - kepubify.exe - upload kepub file to Google Drive - import file from Google Drive to Kobo"
4. The two things I would like to achieve, are (i) proper and unified author names and (ii) availability of "series / series index"
5. I didn't achieve it with EPub Metadata Editor: while trying to import edited kepub file from Google Drive I see the following message "Google Drive Error. Sorry, the file XYZ could not be synced."
6. I didn't achieve it with Calibre either:
6a. I edit EPUB metadata (edit author's name, put in series / series index), save it to disk (otherwise the file name is in Latin letters rather than in Russian), process with kepubify.exe and upload to Google Drive
6b. After import of file from Google Drive to Kobo - there is no "series / series index" in Series View of My Book (though everythig's OK with author name)

What plugin to Calibre should I use and how should I set it up so that I could enjoy Series View of My Book filled 100% ?

[innocenat]

Kobo by default doesn't read series information from the epub/kepub file. Calibre does this by recognizing the books and modify book database on the device to add series data, but that require the book to be sent by calibre.

If you want to use Google Drive, then you need to install NickelSeries addons. https://pgaskin.net/kepubify/ns/

[dragoworld235]

Adding the series in the kobo reader necessitates a specific process.
Even with the series infos correctly set in the epub/kepub metadata, the reader does not import it from side-loaded books.

I’m using Calibre to manage my ebooks and load them on my Libra 2, but I hope it will work with books side-loaded differently.
You will need to have the ebooks in Calibre, and the plugin Kobo Touch Extended Driver.
In the plugin settings, in the "Metadata, on device & advanced" tab, you need to check "Update metadata on the device" and "Set series information" if it’s not already set by the default config (I hope that these are the only settings to set, my current working config is a lot of years of tinkering, sometimes just trying until it works).
I’m not sure how Calibre matches books on the device and in its library, so it might not detected that these are the same books.

So the process is:
- add the books to your device and let them load by the reader by disconnecting it from the computer
- re-connect the reader to the computer
- in Calibre, the device must be detected and the books marked automatically as on the device in a column that is only shown when a device is connected
- the plugin will update the device database with the series info automatically
- eject/disconnect the device, and now, your books will have the series displayed in the reader.

It’s working for me with my device and my current Calibre config, but the process may corrupt your device database as it’s modifying it. So don’t do it if your not ready to potentially loose all reading states, notes, etc.

[baursak]

Originally Posted by innocenat

Kobo by default doesn't read series information from the epub/kepub file. Calibre does this by recognizing the books and modify book database on the device to add series data, but that require the book to be sent by calibre.

If you want to use Google Drive, then you need to install NickelSeries addons. https://pgaskin.net/kepubify/ns/

As far as I understood - NickelSeries is responsible for reading existing 'series / series index' metadata
- but what software is capable to create / modify this metadata? Calibre?
- I tried EPub Metadata Editor to create 'series / series index' metadata, but after processing it with kepubify.exe and then upload to Google Drive - I received an error message on Kobo while trying to import the file

[baursak]

Originally Posted by dragoworld235

Adding the series in the kobo reader necessitates a specific process.
Even with the series infos correctly set in the epub/kepub metadata, the reader does not import it from side-loaded books.

I’m using Calibre to manage my ebooks and load them on my Libra 2, but I hope it will work with books side-loaded differently.
You will need to have the ebooks in Calibre, and the plugin Kobo Touch Extended Driver.
In the plugin settings, in the "Metadata, on device & advanced" tab, you need to check "Update metadata on the device" and "Set series information" if it’s not already set by the default config (I hope that these are the only settings to set, my current working config is a lot of years of tinkering, sometimes just trying until it works).
I’m not sure how Calibre matches books on the device and in its library, so it might not detected that these are the same books.

So the process is:
- add the books to your device and let them load by the reader by disconnecting it from the computer
- re-connect the reader to the computer
- in Calibre, the device must be detected and the books marked automatically as on the device in a column that is only shown when a device is connected
- the plugin will update the device database with the series info automatically
- eject/disconnect the device, and now, your books will have the series displayed in the reader.

It’s working for me with my device and my current Calibre config, but the process may corrupt your device database as it’s modifying it. So don’t do it if your not ready to potentially loose all reading states, notes, etc.

I am really overwhelmed with lots of info ...

[Quoth]

There is no 100% official way of having series data in the ebook. So Calibre needs a second connection after the ebook has been imported by Kobo. The series column and a subtitle column also has to be configured, just as Collections need configured. I have a Collections column for Kobo and Sony rather than using Tags.

The Device Driver settings has Collections settings on 2nd tab and Enable Series (using Calibre's Series column) on 3rd tab. Mysteriously you don't need to tick Subtitle here.

In Kobo Utilities "Update Metadata" I have Subtitle ticked and Template = {#subtitle}
However that only works with manually selecting title(s) rather than automatic and Selecting Update metadata.


So just now I added that Template to the Device settings, but it only seems to update the subtitle on "Update cached metadata on device" on that icon, whereas the series data gets updated automatically on a second connection.


The Kobo Utilities can use four more custom columns to do with reading status/info/ratings

I only connect to computer on My Books screen,

I never disconnect cable and reconnect till the My Books screen has "flashed" with an update (usually on unread or All)

About 700 bought books (over 11 years) and 6300 PD titles (going back to 2002) plus books I'm proof reading.

Note that Google Drive isn't private, because they scan it for their AI. Also it can mess up filenames.

[dragoworld235]

Originally Posted by baursak

I am really overwhelmed with lots of info ...

Sorry, I was trying to be exhaustive.
With Calibre you can create/edit series + index metadata from epub.
When importing ebooks data in its database, kobo reader ignores series + index metadata.
Calibre + plugin "Kobo Touch Extended Driver" can add series + index to the reader database in a second step so the reader will use it to display, sort, search, etc.

You can import epubs already in the device into Calibre, edit the series + index metadata in the imported books as needed, then sync only these metadata to the device. (Blame kobo for making this way more difficult than it should be!)

[PeterT]

Originally Posted by dragoworld235

Calibre + plugin "Kobo Touch Extended Driver" can add series + index to the reader database in a second step so the reader will use it to display, sort, search, etc.

That functionality is actually in the calibre supplied 'Kobo Touch Driver".


Sent from my Pixel 7a using Tapatalk

[Quoth]

No, it's not Kobo's fault. The epub2 spec doesn't have series data.

[dragoworld235]

Originally Posted by PeterT

That functionality is actually in the calibre supplied 'Kobo Touch Driver".

Looks like I have previously deactivated that plugin in favor of the "Kobo Touch Extended Driver" one as I'm using the "Send books as kepubs" feature of it.
Indeed the normal kobo driver now natively provided with Calibre should be enough for what baursak wants to do.

[baursak]

Originally Posted by dragoworld235

Looks like I have previously deactivated that plugin in favor of the "Kobo Touch Extended Driver" one as I'm using the "Send books as kepubs" feature of it.
Indeed the normal kobo driver now natively provided with Calibre should be enough for what baursak wants to do.

no, not enough at all
- I am russian and read in Russian
- but Calibre exports files with file names (don't confuse with book title) in Latin letters
- Kovid confirmed this and said he doesn't care
- but I do care
- like all of English speaking members of this forum do care about info being in English
- please advise

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by baursak

no, not enough at all
- I am russian and read in Russian
- but Calibre exports files with file names (don't confuse with book title) in Latin letters
- Kovid confirmed this and said he doesn't care
- but I do care
- like all of English speaking members of this forum do care about info being in English
- please advise

If the author and metadata in the calibre library is in Cyrillic, books exported either via Send to device or Send to disk will have Cyrillic filenames. The files in the calibre library will not due to some old filesystems that do not support much beyond the ASCII code.

So if you are not looking at the files in calibre's library—which you shouldn't be doing, consider it a black box—the filenames would not be an issue.

For example, I've attached several images. One shows the calibre library entry for War and Peace, the other shows the filename as seen in the calibre library and the last shows the filename as seen when I use Save to disk to export the file.

There were a couple of calibre forks that did not sanitize the characters used when storing characters in the calibre library.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by innocenat

Kobo by default doesn't read series information from the epub/kepub file. Calibre does this by recognizing the books and modify book database on the device to add series data, but that require the book to be sent by calibre.

If you want to use Google Drive, then you need to install NickelSeries addons. https://pgaskin.net/kepubify/ns/

That also requires the series information to be in the OPF.

[PeterT]

And what difference does the case / character set of a filename make on a Kobo eReader that relies on its database to display books

Sent from my Pixel 7a using Tapatalk

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by PeterT

And what difference does the case / character set of a filename make on a Kobo eReader that relies on its database to display books

None, as long the the filename works.