Table of contents not working properly with Kobo Aura

[MerlinMama]

I'm not sure whether I should ask this here or in the Calibre editor forum. If it's not here, I apologize and ask you to please re-direct me. I thought here, since it worked as it should on my old Hipstreet.

I have several books where there is the Chapter, and then sub-chapters shown in the TOC, sub-chapters nested into the Chapter. However, if I want to jump to sub-chapter 3 of Chapter 4 on my Kobo Aura, I end up at the very beginning of the book, not even the Chapter. If it matters, I have my Chapters with tag <h2> and the sub-chapters with tag <h3>.

If I add an inline TOC, choosing where I want to go on that brings me where I want to be. I'm not a fan of inline TOC, so is there something I'm not doing, or could do, for the regular TOC to work as it should on the Kobo? Should it not be nested?

OH! If I simply choose a Chapter, it brings me to the Chapter fine, it's only if I want a particular sub-chapter.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by MerlinMama

I'm not sure whether I should ask this here or in the Calibre editor forum. If it's not here, I apologize and ask you to please re-direct me. I thought here, since it worked as it should on my old Hipstreet.

I have several books where there is the Chapter, and then sub-chapters shown in the TOC, sub-chapters nested into the Chapter. However, if I want to jump to sub-chapter 3 of Chapter 4 on my Kobo Aura, I end up at the very beginning of the book, not even the Chapter. If it matters, I have my Chapters with tag <h2> and the sub-chapters with tag <h3>.

If I add an inline TOC, choosing where I want to go on that brings me where I want to be. I'm not a fan of inline TOC, so is there something I'm not doing, or could do, for the regular TOC to work as it should on the Kobo? Should it not be nested?

OH! If I simply choose a Chapter, it brings me to the Chapter fine, it's only if I want a particular sub-chapter.

Did you regenerate the TOC (NCX) using the TOC tool ?
(BTW the same tool is available direct from the Calibre Library. You may need to add it to your toolbar)

Edits may have broken previous anchors Landing at the TOF (top of File) is an indication that the #named_point is no longer there or part of the current file. Landing at the Beginning of the book, could mean the same, except the FILE no longer exists.

Always VALIDATE

[MerlinMama]

Originally Posted by theducks

Did you regenerate the TOC (NCX) using the TOC tool ?
(BTW the same tool is available direct from the Calibre Library. You may need to add it to your toolbar)

Yes, I always generate with the TOC tool, even if I'm not changing anything, I prefer to be safe and erase what is there automatically and re-generate it.

Edits may have broken previous anchors Landing at the TOF (top of File) is an indication that the #named_point is no longer there or part of the current file. Landing at the Beginning of the book, could mean the same, except the FILE no longer exists.

I went back into the TOC and checked, and each Chapter/sub-chapter points to the appropriate place. I should point out that if I open the epub in the Calibre viewer, it will bring me to the specific sub-chapter I want with no problem. It only doesn't work once it's on the Kobo (I had mentioned that, but in my editing of the OP, I somehow removed it.

I even re-generated one of the TOC while writing this response just in case, and nothing changed.

Always VALIDATE

I'm not sure what you mean here. Is there something specific that this refers to, or just checking? I can't remember any 'Validate' tool such as 'Check Book', which I do use.

[theducks]

Check book is the Validate tool in Calibre. There are others, but this one gets most issues.

BTW I don't think either Calibre or Sigil directly checks the CSS.
Use W3C if you edited or it is unknown. Calibre created CSS always start out fine

This may be a Kobo thing
RMSDK has no problem with finding nested items.
(there is a slight problem selecting a Parent level file on my old version)

Ch5

Part 2

Ch6

you cant select Part 2 PAGE if you are In the Part 2 nest

[MerlinMama]

Yes, I always use the Check Book right before my final save. I figured it was a Kobo thing, since the Calibre viewer works fine. I'm hoping there might be some extra step I can do that will fix this.

It's not a horribly inconvenient thing generally, but I occasionally need to jump back and forth a lot, and bookmarks don't help because I never quite know what I'll need to check back on. This led me to checking others with this type of TOC to find it was an 'always' problem rather than just with this one book.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by MerlinMama

Yes, I always use the Check Book right before my final save. I figured it was a Kobo thing, since the Calibre viewer works fine. I'm hoping there might be some extra step I can do that will fix this.

It's not a horribly inconvenient thing generally, but I occasionally need to jump back and forth a lot, and bookmarks don't help because I never quite know what I'll need to check back on. This led me to checking others with this type of TOC to find it was an 'always' problem rather than just with this one book.

The Calibre viewer is very forgiving. (Looks fine there, but not on many devices)
Which is why the advice to final check on the target device

[PeterT]

Any chance of you posting an eBook that shows the issue?

[MerlinMama]

Any specific part you need to see? Or better for me to ask, how do you want me to post it so you can see what you need? I have a personal book that I've modified to show what happens (I've tested it).

[davidfor]

If you have a sample book that can be posted with no copyright issues, just attach it to a post. If it there are copyright issues, it cannot be posted, but using PMs to send links or email addresses will work.

I have just tested a book I have that has multiple ToC entries in each internal file. Navigation via the ToC is working with no problems. But, there is a known bug with this in firmware 3.18.0. When the ToC is opened, the first chapter in the file has the tick indicating it is the current chapter.

Actually, your description sounds like you might have replaced the book on the device at some time. When you add a book to a Kobo device, it is processed and the metadata and ToC are added to the internal database. If you replace the book using calibre, the book is not reprocessed by the device. This works as long as the ToC or file structure of the book doesn't change. When reading, the ToC is actually built from the database, not from the book. If the ToC doesn't match what is in the book, it will usually mean using it will put you at the start of the book.

If this might be the case, delete the book from the device, and send it again.

[MerlinMama]

Originally Posted by davidfor

Actually, your description sounds like you might have replaced the book on the device at some time. When you add a book to a Kobo device, it is processed and the metadata and ToC are added to the internal database. If you replace the book using calibre, the book is not reprocessed by the device. This works as long as the ToC or file structure of the book doesn't change. When reading, the ToC is actually built from the database, not from the book. If the ToC doesn't match what is in the book, it will usually mean using it will put you at the start of the book.

If this might be the case, delete the book from the device, and send it again.

After a test, I can say that this seems to be the problem . Even though I regenerated the TOC, I didn't delete the file from device before resending it. Even when I modified my personal book, I didn't delete it first. I'm going to try and remember one I've added directly, without it being on my Kobo first to make absolutely certain.

Now if I can just get my nested lists to show up properly...