# Calibre Collections Plug-in



## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

I've been trying to make sense of the Calibre plug-in that allows you to manage your Kindle Collections - but I'm finding it hard going.   

Does anyone know where I can find a tutorial of some kind?


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## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

Anyone?


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Sorry, Lin.  I can't help as I don't do Calibre at all. 

I'm sure someone will wander by sooner or later. . .


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## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

The only info on how to use it is in the message thread on the forum:

http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=118635

Which you likely have already seen. I was intending to look into it next week sometime.

Mike


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## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

jmiked said:


> The only info on how to use it is in the message thread on the forum:
> 
> http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=118635
> 
> ...


Thank you, Mike. Yes I've seen that thread and frankly I can't make head or tale of the instructions. I'm usually quite good at this sort of thing so I'm finding it very frustrating not being able to grasp even the fundamentals of what this does and how it works.


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## Jenni (Feb 20, 2011)

I have some knowledge of Calibre. When I create any kind of file with it, you can send it to a file with a certain name--whatever you have it sorted by when you convert the ebook to whatever format you are using. 

I don't use it for anything other than created a mobi file and a lit file that is sold off our website. I mange the authors sorted by their last name, first name.

Not sure if that is what you are looking for. There isn't a lot of on-line help when it comes to Calibre.


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## Morf (Nov 18, 2010)

Linjeakel said:


> Thank you, Mike. Yes I've seen that thread and frankly I can't make head or tale of the instructions. I'm usually quite good at this sort of thing so I'm finding it very frustrating not being able to grasp even the fundamentals of what this does and how it works.


You're not kidding Lin, I'm usually OK with all things techie, but that thread is definitely not simple!

I think the problem is that all of the tools to modify collections do so by editing a system file on the Kindle called collections.json. This is not something that the Kindle is designed for you to do, hence the need for several restarts.

This whole approach worries me if you've already got a load of stuff on the Kindle with some collections set up, I'm worried about how robust it all is, you could end up with all your existing collections messed up and having to start from scratch.

Personally, although I'm usually keen to play with stuff to help people out, I'm afraid in this case I'd want a spare Kindle which I could use for testing, I wouldn't want to try this out on mine!

Anyway, if it helps there are a couple of threads I can point you to which may give you hints:

You may remember this thread from a while ago which had a tool to create the .json file for you http://www.kboards.com/index.php?topic=47348.0.

This thread discussed that same tool and also the calibre plugin http://www.kboards.com/index.php?topic=57855.0.

Chilady1 seems to have some knowledge of the plugin according to this thread http://www.kboards.com/index.php?topic=55101.0, might be worth pinging her?


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## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

Thanks Morf - I'll have a look at those links as soon as I get the time.  

I think the problem with this plug-in is that it can do a lot more than I want or need it to do and I can't seem to single out the bit I need from all the other stuff. I've managed to import my existing collections so they show in a custom column and I had hoped that when I put a new book on there all I would have to do is to type the collection names I want it in into that column and it would put the book into those collections when I sent it to the Kindle, creating any collections that didn't already exist on the device as it did so. I'm not sure if it can do that exactly and if it can, I can't figure out how!


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## HappyGuy (Nov 3, 2008)

Linjeakel said:


> Thank you, Mike. Yes I've seen that thread and frankly I can't make head or tale of the instructions. I'm usually quite good at this sort of thing so I'm finding it very frustrating not being able to grasp even the fundamentals of what this does and how it works.


Thank goodness ... I thought I was going stupid or something, 'cause I don't understand how it's supposed to work. I can get my collections onto the Kindle, but can't get books to go into them.

The instructions I got are:

"A simple yes or no? It depends on what you mean by yes or no

At the moment, almost. With the next release of the plugin this weekend, yes-ish.

If you just use Send to Device for a book, then no, your book will not go into a collection automatically. You must manually run Create Collections once the book is on the device.

But if you use the Reading List plugin, and add the books you want to sync to the device to a list, then you can configure it to sync the books you want to the device when you connect and update the collections automatically (not working perfectly yet until the next release). "

I did this and it worked once. Then I tried again doing it exactly the same way and while I got the collections on OK, all of the books that were in collections on my Kindle were moved OUT of the collections. So now I have 11 pages of books and nothing in my collections!

I sure hope someone gets this figured out!


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## HappyGuy (Nov 3, 2008)

OK, so here's how the Collections plug in seems to work properly:

1. Open Calibre.
2. Connect Kindle.
3. Upload any books.
4. Click, "Create collections on the Kindle from Calibre.
5. Wait until told to eject device and do so.
6. Restart Kindle.

At this point when the Kindle comes back on, you may see everything REMOVED from collections. If so, add the following steps:
7. Kill a chicken and dribble its blood on the ground while reciting the Jabberwocky.
8. Close Calibre.
9. Restart Calibre.
10.Repeat steps 1. through 6. above.

At least that seems to work for me, but what a pain in the butt, having to run it twice!!!


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

HappyGuy said:


> At least that seems to work for me, but what a pain in the butt, having to run it twice!!!


Not to mention the chicken. And do you have to recite Jabberwocky from memory, or can you read it from a book?


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## lpking (Feb 12, 2011)

And could we have appropriate use of "irony" emotes, please?


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## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

LOL - HappyGuy I think you may be closer to the truth than you realise!

I'm trying to get to grips with this in anticipation of the next Kindle I buy. When I upgraded previously first I had to download all my Amazon books from archive as they are device specific (and when dear Amazon are you going to wise up and make them _account_ specific?) but then I was able to import my collections from one device to the other and of course all my Amazon purchased books immediately slotted into place in their respective collections. My non-Amazon stuff on the other hand was easy enough to get onto the device by just copying from calibre, but then I had to put them all into their collections manually, which took _forever_. 

I have substantially more items on my Kindle now and I'm dreading what happens in the next couple of years if I want to upgrade at some point. I just want to be able to send those non-Amazon books from calibre to a new device and have them slot into their collections automatically.


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## HappyGuy (Nov 3, 2008)

I've been playing around with the plug in for several hours, now and seem to have it figured out (at least this works for MY Kindle!).


1. Open Calibre.
2. Connect Kindle.
3. Upload any books.
4. Click, "Create collections on the Kindle from Calibre".
5. Wait until told to eject device and do so.
6. Restart Kindle.

At this point when the Kindle comes back on, you may see everything REMOVED from collections. Give the Kindle time to update everything - the more books, the longer this takes. If everything HAS been removed, close Calibre and repeat steps 1 - 6 above.

I think the secret is to 1) Run the plugin IMMEDIATELY after uploading the books and 2) Closing and restarting Calibre if you want to run the plugin again.

Oh, by the way, you may want to upgrade to the latest version of Calibre, also. Of course, your mileage may vary and in case you are killed or captured the secretary will disavow all knowledge, etc., etc., etc.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

I hope y'all are staying out of the "Raising Chickens and Poutry" thread in Not Quite Kindle...
 

Betsy


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## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

HappyGuy said:


> .......Oh, by the way, you may want to upgrade to the latest version of Calibre, also. Of course, your mileage may vary and in case you are killed or captured the secretary will disavow all knowledge, etc., etc., etc.


I'm not sure I'm any the wiser for reading your instructions and I bet if I get it wrong my Kindle will self-destruct in five seconds.


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## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

Linjeakel said:


> I'm not sure I'm any the wiser for reading your instructions and I bet if I get it wrong my Kindle will self-destruct in five seconds.


That's what backups are for. 

Mike


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## HappyGuy (Nov 3, 2008)

Linjeakel said:


> I'm not sure I'm any the wiser for reading your instructions and I bet if I get it wrong my Kindle will self-destruct in five seconds.


If it DOES self-destruct, try the chicken and Jabberwocky thing. Can't hurt (well, at least it won't hurt you, the chicken is another story) and it MAY work!


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## Rie142 (Oct 28, 2009)

Linjeakel said:


> I'm not sure I'm any the wiser for reading your instructions and I bet if I get it wrong my Kindle will self-destruct in five seconds.


LOL Well I can tell you my Kindle didn't self-destruct. However I am still not sure I have done this right. I am not even sure what I did to make it work. It took me for ever to figure out how to restart my Kindle. Obviously I haven't done it before. AARRRGGGGG... This is suppose to be easy.


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## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

HappyGuy said:


> I've been playing around with the plug in for several hours, now and seem to have it figured out (at least this works for MY Kindle!).
> 
> 1. Open Calibre.
> 2. Connect Kindle.
> ...


So I followed these instructions and it sort of worked, but not correctly. Where I had books in more than one collection e.g. 'read', 'non-fiction' & 'history' it created a collection called 'read non-fiction history' and put all the books that were in all three of them into that collection as well! It did the same with every combination of collections I had! 

Back to the drawing board. *sigh*


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## HappyGuy (Nov 3, 2008)

Maybe you're only allowed one category per customer ... ummm ... book. All of mine are in only one category on my Kindle.


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## geoffthomas (Feb 27, 2009)

I WAS going to start using Calibre for managing my Kindle......
Now I am not so sure it is a good idea.

Just sayin.....


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## greyoldchief (Nov 4, 2010)

http://manual.calibre-ebook.com/


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## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

greyoldchief said:


> http://manual.calibre-ebook.com/


Thank you, I have seen that, but it doesn't tell you how that particular plug-in works.


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## Morf (Nov 18, 2010)

geoffthomas said:


> I WAS going to start using Calibre for managing my Kindle......
> Now I am not so sure it is a good idea.
> 
> Just sayin.....


Calibre is an excellent tool for managing your ebooks. In general it is very easy to use.

This discussion is about one specific add-in to Calibre which allows you to manage collections.

Unfortunately Amazon didn't design the Kindle so that collections can be managed externally, so the add-in is modifying the Kindle system files to make the changes. As a result, it is not an easy add-in to use.

Don't let this discussion put you off using Calibre in general, just be warned that collection management is not straightforward in Calibre (or in any other PC-based tool).


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## fuschiahedgehog (Feb 23, 2010)

The inability to easily manage collections is my number one gripe about Kindle.  No offense to the authors of Calibre or the plugin, but it's about as clear as mud (and this, coming from someone whose career has been in software development and project management).  Amazon should really provide a user-intuitive PC interface for kindle management, especially since the device is capable of holding thousands of documents.  It's difficult for me to manipulate collections on the kindle itself - after a while my fingers just can't take it.  Amazon really needs to create a drag-n-drop interface.

That's my rant for the day.  Now back to our regularly-scheduled Kindle Anonymous meeting


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## monkeygirl351 (Mar 5, 2010)

Yeah I've had issues with that plugin too. It sometimes works for different books and sometimes not. Even with a hard restart.  I LOVE calibre for everything else though as I have lots of books and it is a godsend for organizing and such. I guess I just got to mess with that plugin a little more...


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

I just recently started using Calibre again (I tried it when I first got my K1, it kept hanging up trying to read the Kindle, I finally gave up).  I'm EXTREMELY impressed with the program now and how quickly it works.  And since I have a K1, collections don't apply to me, but I've been reading through stuff on the site and on the MobileRead forum, and it appears to me that the developer pretty much disavows the collections plugin....

But everything else seems to work pretty well.

It does seem to me that Amazon is going to have to come up with a way to transfer collections that works well, with the number of these things out there now.

Betsy


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