Read status from Kobo to Calibre?

[ZodWallop]

When a book is marked as finished on the Kobo, is there an easy* way to have Calibre add a 'Finished' tag to the book's metadata or otherwise mark the book as read?

Sorry if this is blindingly obvious. I re-read books and am not diligent in keeping a reading journal on LibraryThing or Goodreads or Calibre for that matter. But something automated might be nice.

*easy as in I can set it up in under an hour.

[Terisa de morgan]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

When a book is marked as finished on the Kobo, is there an easy* way to have Calibre add a 'Finished' tag to the book's metadata or otherwise mark the book as read?

Sorry if this is blindingly obvious. I re-read books and am not diligent in keeping a reading journal on LibraryThing or Goodreads or Calibre for that matter. But something automated might be nice.

*easy as in I can set it up in under an hour.

KoboUtilities plugin stores Kobo book percentage and rating, so I think you can use it.

[davidfor]

@ZodWallop: The simplest way to do this is to add a "Yes/No" column in calibre. Then you set this to "Yes" whenever you finish a book.

But, as Terisa said, my Kobo Utilities plugin can fetch the reading status from the device. You need to add at least one column, but you can automate it whenever you connect the device.

[BmwRover]

David,

I have tried the easy way by adding a column and then manually checking them off. Works great but is time consuming.

I have added the plug in you suggested for managing most of the tasks and again, works fine.

The problem I have is that all the sections are grayed out and I can't change any of them, when I try to automate importing the "100 % read" column.

I have enclosed a couple of pics to show you what is set in Kobo Utilities.

What am I missing, or what do I have set up wrong ?

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by BmwRover

David,

I have tried the easy way by adding a column and then manually checking them off. Works great but is time consuming.

I have added the plug in you suggested for managing most of the tasks and again, works fine.

The problem I have is that all the sections are grayed out and I can't change any of them, when I try to automate importing the "100 % read" column.

I have enclosed a couple of pics to show you what is set in Kobo Utilities.

What am I missing, or what do I have set up wrong ?

I'm not sure which parts are grey out that shouldn't be. Some of the The options on the device tab get enabled as you click other options. If you the select the options for "Backup the device database...", the other options in the group should be enabled. But, that is not related to fetching the reading status.

The "Profiles" tab is where you configure the reading status fetch. On that, you have only configured a column for the "Rating". When the reading status is fetched, only the rating will be looked at. And you can only rate purchased books. If you are using sideloaded books, it doesn't help.

You need to choose a column to use for the other values. You need at least one of the "Percent Read" or "Last Read" columns. And probably both. That will let you see how far you are through the book, and when you were last reading it. The "Current Reading Location" column is useful to restore the place you were in the book to the device or to another device. That is useful if you need to do a factory reset or are reading on two devices.

I also recommend selecting "Only if more recent" and "Not if finished in library" either here or when you run the function manually. This lets the reading status fetching ignore books that are already finished (at 100%) in the library and doesn't prompt for updates if you haven't opened a book since the last time this was run. But, doing it without these options can be a good idea while you are learning how it works.

[BmwRover]

Originally Posted by davidfor

I'm not sure which parts are grey out that shouldn't be. Some of the The options on the device tab get enabled as you click other options. If you the select the options for "Backup the device database...", the other options in the group should be enabled. But, that is not related to fetching the reading status.

The "Profiles" tab is where you configure the reading status fetch. On that, you have only configured a column for the "Rating". When the reading status is fetched, only the rating will be looked at. And you can only rate purchased books. If you are using sideloaded books, it doesn't help.

You need to choose a column to use for the other values. You need at least one of the "Percent Read" or "Last Read" columns. And probably both. That will let you see how far you are through the book, and when you were last reading it. The "Current Reading Location" column is useful to restore the place you were in the book to the device or to another device. That is useful if you need to do a factory reset or are reading on two devices.

I also recommend selecting "Only if more recent" and "Not if finished in library" either here or when you run the function manually. This lets the reading status fetching ignore books that are already finished (at 100%) in the library and doesn't prompt for updates if you haven't opened a book since the last time this was run. But, doing it without these options can be a good idea while you are learning how it works.

It's in the profile tab where I have the problem. I can only pull up the "rating" and can't change the other 2. It's greyed out. I get my books mainly from the local library system.

I think if I get change any of those options then I should be off to the races so to speak.

[BmwRover]

Originally Posted by davidfor

I'm not sure which parts are grey out that shouldn't be. Some of the The options on the device tab get enabled as you click other options. If you the select the options for "Backup the device database...", the other options in the group should be enabled. But, that is not related to fetching the reading status.

The "Profiles" tab is where you configure the reading status fetch. On that, you have only configured a column for the "Rating". When the reading status is fetched, only the rating will be looked at. And you can only rate purchased books. If you are using sideloaded books, it doesn't help.

You need to choose a column to use for the other values. You need at least one of the "Percent Read" or "Last Read" columns. And probably both. That will let you see how far you are through the book, and when you were last reading it. The "Current Reading Location" column is useful to restore the place you were in the book to the device or to another device. That is useful if you need to do a factory reset or are reading on two devices.

I also recommend selecting "Only if more recent" and "Not if finished in library" either here or when you run the function manually. This lets the reading status fetching ignore books that are already finished (at 100%) in the library and doesn't prompt for updates if you haven't opened a book since the last time this was run. But, doing it without these options can be a good idea while you are learning how it works.

an addendum, the "percent read" or "last read" columns I cannot type in any values in either, nor do I get a drop down menu to pick any options.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by BmwRover

It's in the profile tab where I have the problem. I can only pull up the "rating" and can't change the other 2. It's greyed out. I get my books mainly from the local library system.

I think if I get change any of those options then I should be off to the races so to speak.

You need to add custom columns for each of these. I suggest reading the help. It gives details of how to do all of this. And anything I said at this point would just be repeating what is in the help.

[BmwRover]

Originally Posted by davidfor

You need to add custom columns for each of these. I suggest reading the help. It gives details of how to do all of this. And anything I said at this point would just be repeating what is in the help.

Okay, Thank you. I'll go through it and give it a try.

[BmwRover]

Thanks for your help, was able to figure it out. I have 2 kobo profiles going, so depending which one is plugged in, it will update the list accordingly.

[-stepan-]

Hi. Sorry for bad english. Can i use "Percent Read", but to display in a custom column in Calibre not percent, but text like at Kobo? For example, if there is no digit in "Percent Read", then "Not read", if 0 ... 99%, then "Reading", and if 100%, then "Finished"?

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by -stepan-

Hi. Sorry for bad english. Can i use "Percent Read", but to display in a custom column in Calibre not percent, but text like at Kobo? For example, if there is no digit in "Percent Read", then "Not read", if 0 ... 99%, then "Reading", and if 100%, then "Finished"?

You can use a another custom column to do this. It needs to be a "Column built from other column" with a template to show what you want.

[ZodWallop]

Okay, so my Calibre library crashed and I had to rebuild it as a new library. In Calibre/Kobo Utilities, I had to re-enable Store current bookmarks on connect. But it doesn't seem to be doing anything when I connect my Kobo. I used to see a progress bar as my Kobo connected to Callibre. I;m no longer seeing it.

How can I get the utility to scan my Kobo for finished books and current reads and store that info in Calibre again?

[Terisa de morgan]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Okay, so my Calibre library crashed and I had to rebuild it as a new library. In Calibre/Kobo Utilities, I had to re-enable Store current bookmarks on connect. But it doesn't seem to be doing anything when I connect my Kobo. I used to see a progress bar as my Kobo connected to Callibre. I;m no longer seeing it.

How can I get the utility to scan my Kobo for finished books and current reads and store that info in Calibre again?

It usually means that the status in your library is more advanced than the Kobo. Have you sent the status from calibre to your Kobo and, later, connect it again?

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Terisa de morgan

It usually means that the status in your library is more advanced than the Kobo. Have you sent the status from calibre to your Kobo and, later, connect it again?

I just had to rebuild it, so my Calibre library is all new with no read status at all. I'd like to take the read status on my Kobo and transfer it to Calibre. But I don't know how.