# Using Calibre to update metadata



## TanyaD (Jun 12, 2010)

Hi!
I am trying to get the covers of the books on my kindle that don't really have one.  I've been trying to add my books to calibre, go get all the covers, then "send to device".  I'm getting all kinds of different results.  Some of them saying that the book is new, and having multiple copies and empty collections.  Can anyone give me a step by step on how I can accomplish this?  I feel kind of foolish that I can't get this to work.


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## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

If you're adding your books to calibre from your Kindle and then amending the metadata etc, before you send them back to your Kindle, be sure to delete the original. This should stop you getting multiple versions of the same book and just leave you with the version you want.


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## TanyaD (Jun 12, 2010)

If the original is in a collection, and I delete it from there, will it go back into the collection when Calibre sends it back?


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

TanyaD said:


> If the original is in a collection, and I delete it from there, will it go back into the collection when Calibre sends it back?


I haven't tried it, but I really, really doubt it. Try just one and see what happens.


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## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

pidgeon92 said:


> I haven't tried it, but I really, really doubt it. Try just one and see what happens.


Actually yes, it does go back into the same collection.


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## Pushka (Oct 30, 2009)

Yes, I have just done some significant editing to a couple of my husbands books to put them on kindle; they were saved as html from word, sent to calibre, converted to mobi, and ended up in exactly the same collections as the previous books were (which had been deleted)

I notice in the root directory, there is actually a file called 'calibre metadata' that seemed to arrive when the collections update occurred.


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## TanyaD (Jun 12, 2010)

I have tried this on one of my books, and it all looks well in Calibre, but when I send it to the kindle, (after deleting it off the kindle), it still has all the old info in it and no new cover?!  I must be doing something wrong


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## Pushka (Oct 30, 2009)

Did you delete the original book first?


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

Are any of these books .azw or .tpz books?

Mike


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## TanyaD (Jun 12, 2010)

yes, I removed it from device, is there a different way that I should be deleting it?


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## TanyaD (Jun 12, 2010)

jmiked said:


> Are any of these books .azw or .tpz books?
> 
> Mike


These are azw files


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

TanyaD said:


> yes, I removed it from device, is there a different way that I should be deleting it?


If you are manually deleting the files via your computer, you need to empty the trash before you remove the USB cable. Some systems don't actually remove the file until you do this, even though they disappear from the Home Page.

Mike


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## Pushka (Oct 30, 2009)

I always remove them using calibre to delete them.


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## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

When you put the book into calibre from your kindle, go into 'edit metadata' and after making any amendments you want, use the top right icon to add the .mbp file for the same book. Delete both of those from the kindle and then copy the book from calibre to your kindle. The .mbp file is the one that saves any notes and highlights asssociated with the book and probably also the info about which collection it belongs in.


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## TanyaD (Jun 12, 2010)

Ok, do I go on the kindle and do a "Remove from Device" where it goes into the archive, go onto the drive when it is plugged into my computer and manually delete the azw & mdp files from there and empty my recycle bin, or do I use the "Remove Matching Books From Device" in Calibre?


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## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

Personally, I always delete the files from the Kindle manually - so I know it's been done properly - and then send the amended files from Calibre with the new metadata, covers etc to the device. I don't go to the extreme of emptying the recycle bin, I can't imagine why it would be necessary. As long as you only have one set of files for each book anywhere on the device, you won't get duplicates.

Note: when you download from Amazon, books just go into the Kindle's 'documents' folder. When you send them from Calibre they go into subfolders within the 'documents' folder, one for each author, with a further subfolder for each book by the author. If you've been trying this out several times, before you try again, make sure to delete _all_ copies of the book from the Kindle before re-sending the book from Calibre.


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## TanyaD (Jun 12, 2010)

grrr, just so frustrated that I can't get this to work.  No matter which way I delete them off the kindle.


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## JustDennis (Jul 22, 2010)

TanyaD said:


> grrr, just so frustrated that I can't get this to work. No matter which way I delete them off the kindle.


I noticed that when I just update the metadata with Calibre and send to the Kindle, the changes do not go. I have found that if I make my changes, then run the convert function in Calibre, then copy the books over, it works. Seems like you have to run the convert. Maybe creating the metadata (as posted in the thread above) will work but I haven't tried that. Running convert works every time.


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