# Adding books to Calibre from the Kindle?



## kuklachica (Dec 26, 2010)

I am unsure how to add the books that are on my Kindle to my Calibre program? I tried right-clicking on the books and choosing "add" when my Kindle is connected, but I keep getting an error message. It seems that the program cannot bring in azw files? Can someone explain how to properly bring in books from my K3 to calibre?

Thank you!


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## jhanel (Dec 22, 2010)

That's probably because the AZW files are protected with a DRM (Digital Rights Management). Those files can ONLY be viewed on YOUR kindle. (not even someone else's.)

Sorry.


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

You should b able to tell Calibre to copy your AZW books from the Kindle to the Calibre database. I've done this without problems. 

What is the error message that is displayed?

Mike


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## kuklachica (Dec 26, 2010)

I guess the DRM would make sense, I hadn't thought of that. But if others have been able to do it, maybe I am just doing something wrong?

This is the error message I am receiving:



Uploaded with ImageShack.us


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

I guess my question is why is Calibre trying to decode the ebook? It should be just copying it over. Do you have any plug-ins that do anything to the file?

Do you mean you are right-clicking on the Add button in Calibre? You should just click on the button, and then choose the files from the pop-up file dialogue window.

Mike


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## kuklachica (Dec 26, 2010)

I am right-clicking on the book title when in "Device" view. From there there is an option to add the book to library. If I try to add it the way you suggested, I get the same error message. 

I do have some plug-ins to help convert book formats to Kindle-compatible files. But I thought these plug-ins only worked when sending books to my Kindle?


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

Well, I don't know what to suggest other than asking in the Calibre support forum:

http://www.mobileread.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=&f=166

The guys over there are the ones wrote the program.

Mike


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## kuklachica (Dec 26, 2010)

I think I figured it out. I had to enter the kindle serial number somewhere and now it is importing them with no problems. 

Thank you for your time and help!!


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## mcostas (Nov 22, 2010)

I have just downloaded calibre and am also having some problems. I can see the library on my device, but I cannot back the data up on my computer. I thought the calibre library would be where all my kindle books are. I can open the books on my computer with the kindle attached, and that' all well and good, but I thought it was going to let me store the data on my computer or something.

I am confused as to what the purpose of calibre is. I decided to download it because I thought I could more easily convert a word document to a kindle friendly format without emailing. I can't seem to figure that out either. 

I haz the dum.


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

kuklachica said:


> I think I figured it out. I had to enter the kindle serial number somewhere and now it is importing them with no problems.
> 
> Thank you for your time and help!!


If you have to enter the Kindle serial number somewhere, that means you are using a script breaking the DRM, which was not stated in your original message. Calibre will allow you to copy over your AZW books with DRM and change metadata.

Mike


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

mcostas said:


> I have just downloaded calibre and am also having some problems. I can see the library on my device, but I cannot back the data up on my computer. I thought the calibre library would be where all my kindle books are. I can open the books on my computer with the kindle attached, and that' all well and good, but I thought it was going to let me store the data on my computer or something.
> 
> I am confused as to what the purpose of calibre is. I decided to download it because I thought I could more easily convert a word document to a kindle friendly format without emailing. I can't seem to figure that out either.


Calibre will convert non-DRM material to and from various formats. As I recall, it does not accept DOC format, but it will accept RTF, ODT, or HTML formats.

If your books have DRM (Digital Rights Management) the Calibre will not convert those files without optional (and possibly illegal to use) plugins. The DRM means the books will only open on the device they were encoded for at the time of purchase. If you buy the books from Amazon, for instance, a downloaded file will only work on your Kindle, if that what it was downloaded to. You can download the book to other devices, but they will still only work on the one they were downloaded to.

You can transfer the books to Calibre for backup, but they will still only work on the reader they were downloaded for. Connect the Kindle to your computer, wait a few moments for it to connect, and then click on the Device icon in the menu and select Show books in device main menu (or something like that). Any book/document on it will show up in the listing window with a green check mark in the right-hand column. Highlight the entry and click on "Add books".

You might want to drop by the Calibre forum mentioned a few posts back for more info, or visit the Calibre web site and view the video that is a good introduction to Calibre's purpose.

Mike


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## kuklachica (Dec 26, 2010)

I only want to use calibre to back up my Amazon books. It should be able to do this without any plug-ins, right? I may have downloaded some plug-ins, but I don't want to use them for this purpose. I should be able to backup my Kindle books with calibre even if I delete the plug-ins, right? It shouldn't give me the error message? Even with plug-ins, why would it give me error message? I don't want to strip DRM, just back them up and be able to easily delete them from my Kindle if I didn't like the book.


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

kuklachica said:


> I only want to use calibre to back up my Amazon books. It should be able to do this without any plug-ins, right? I may have downloaded some plug-ins, but I don't want to use them for this purpose. I should be able to backup my Kindle books with calibre even if I delete the plug-ins, right? It shouldn't give me the error message? Even with plug-ins, why would it give me error message? I don't want to strip DRM, just back them up and be able to easily delete them from my Kindle if I didn't like the book.


At what point are you getting an error message?

Yes, you can use it to back up your Amazon books. No plug-in necessary.


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## kuklachica (Dec 26, 2010)

I get the message when the I try to add books that are listed in my Kindle device. In device view, I right click on the book, choose "add book", the process begins, and then I get the error message. I added my serial number to some plug-in and now it works. But I don't want to strip DRM, just backup the books and manage them. If I delete the plug-in, I shouldn't get the error message in theory, right?


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

kuklachica said:


> I get the message when the I try to add books that are listed in my Kindle device. In device view, I right click on the book, choose "add book", the process begins, and then I get the error message. I added my serial number to some plug-in and now it works. But I don't want to strip DRM, just backup the books and manage them. If I delete the plug-in, I shouldn't get the error message in theory, right?


Well, how bizarre. I just tested this, and I get the same error.

However, it appears that the book is there in Calibre after clicking through the error.

I'll have to look into this further.


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

OK.... I added a book to Calibre - after clicking through the error message - and everything works fine. The book is there, in whole, and I was able to successfully transfer it to my Kindle via Calibre, and open the book from my Kindle.

So, the error message is annoying, but the book does get stored in Calibre, and it transfers fine to the Kindle.


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## kuklachica (Dec 26, 2010)

Thank you for trying this! I appreciate it! After the error message showed up, the books did still show up in my library. But, when I clicked on them to open them (through calibre) it said it couldn't open. Should I be able to open them through calibre or are they only accessible through the device?


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

kuklachica said:


> Should I be able to open them through calibre or are they only accessible through the device?


No, they won't open in Calibre, or on any other Kindle device, except for the one it was downloaded to/for. This is due to the DRM scheme that Amazon employs.


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## kuklachica (Dec 26, 2010)

Ok, now it makes more sense. I tried to open one in my Kindle for Mac and it gave me a "delete item from your device and redownload" message. If I did want to share with other Kindle devices that are on my account (my iPod Touch and computer) I'd have to send it to them via the Amazon website, correct? From what I am understanding, I could not share via calibre but can share with the other devices on my account via "Sent to ___ device"? What is the best way to test that it does in fact correctly import them and I can open them in my Kindle? Should I delete the book from my Kindle and add it to my Kindle again from the calibre library? 

Sorry for all of the questions! This is all so new to me and gets a little confusing trying to figure out who does what from where!


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

kuklachica said:


> If I did want to share with other Kindle devices that are on my account (my iPod Touch and computer) I'd have to send it to them via the Amazon website, correct?


You have two options:

1) Send it via the Manage Your Kindle page on Amazon. Yes, you must choose the device to send it to from the dropdown.

2) Retrieve it from the archive of the Kindle device. The Kindle, Kindle for Mac, Kindle for whatever, all have an archive.



kuklachica said:


> What is the best way to test that it does in fact correctly import them and I can open them in my Kindle? Should I delete the book from my Kindle and add it to my Kindle again from the calibre library?


Yes, just as you described.


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## kuklachica (Dec 26, 2010)

Thank you so much for your time and thorough help! I really appreciate it!


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