# calibre? for kindle



## Patrizia

I know this has probably come up befor and I did to a search, however I can't find what I need.

someone mentioned a program called Calibre, where he is getting his newspapers. feeds, etc.. can you tell me what is does exactly, how it works and how I can install it.. I can find some file online but its for windows, mac or linux, I dont see a kindle file persay.. and not sure what the instructions are.. I have found people menition it on this board but nothing that walks you through it.. anything you have would be helpful.. thanks!!!


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## pomlover2586

I second the need for this information!


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## KindleKay (aka #1652)

Hear, hear!!!  I want all the info I can get about calibre and about conversion of things!


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## davem2bits

Calibre is another program to convert your *.pdf files or *.lit or some other format that can not be directly read by your Kindle.  Then the converted *.prc file can be transferred to your K via USB or email.  That is its only connection to Kindle.  I have had problems with some conversions looking pretty funky on the Kindle.  And the author metadata is not right for the K.  Uses first name - last name instead of last name - first name.

Mobi creator does a better job.

Hope that helps.


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## Patrizia

dave.. thank you but that does not really help

I need a step by step direction.. there is so much on the mobi board its confusing.. I was wondering if there is a step by step guide and also how are people getting the news papers... etc on it.. everything i read says its easy (I already have feedbooks) but I can't find specifics


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## pidgeon92

It is really an e-book organizer. Once you have it loaded on your computer, you just drag and drop files that you want on your Kindle onto it. You can then convert the files to Kindle format if they are not DRMd. I've loaded all of the free books I've found in various places into it, and converted any that were not in Kindle format... You can change the metadata information, and the application will upload directly to the Kindle.

There is a button in the application whereby you can schedule downloads of various newspapers, I have not tried that feature yet, but I will shortly.... Here are two screenshots from my copy of the app.


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## Patrizia

how do I get it I have no idea what to download and where. This is all new to me . Is there any step by step info anywhere.  I get the file is on my computer but how do I get this to my kindle and i have no idea what metadata is.. now I am not an idiot I did manage to get the screensavers changed.. etc.. but step by step (even a sticky) would be helpful.. I can only find bits and pieces of info on this..


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## pidgeon92

You get Calibre at http://calibre.kovidgoyal.net/

You install it on your Windows PC, Mac or Linux PC. Nothing is installed on the Kindle.

You add each of your book files... You can even put your Amazon Kindle e-books on there for safe keeping. You can add them with the button on the upper left (Add Books) or you can drag and drop.

The metadata is what stores information like the book name and author name. You can change them within the Calibre desktop.

To move e-books to the Kindle, you need to plug your Kindle in to your computer via the USB cord, then open the Calibre application. You will then be able to access the Send To Device button at the top. You can pick and choose which e-books you want to send to the Kindle. Push the button, and it will upload the files.

I tried downloading the Chicago Tribune for today, it appears it basically downloads the mobile version of the newspaper... Here are three screenshots from the Calibre viewer:


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## Patrizia

NOW that I can totally understand.. I would like to clarify one thing though.. to get the papers you have to use the USB port everytime.. nothing can be transmitted whispernet? is that corrrect?


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## pidgeon92

When you add a file to Calibre, whether it is an e-book you downloaded or one of these available newspapers, it creates a file (in the case of the Tribune, it saved it as a .MOBI file) for each item. You can email this file to your Kindle to avoid using the USB connection, but I think it would end up taking up more time and effort.


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## Rivery

Wow.  Thanks for all of the information.  I was curious about this program too.  You explain things so well Pidgeon92.


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## Patrizia

sorry.. I still need help.. I downloaded the file.. downloaded a copy of forbes.. so far so good, now I plugged in my kindle and the send to device thing and it tells me no suitable formats were found 

I went into convert but I still get the message can not upload not suitable conversions were found.. I am stumped.. all of the stuff I downloaded has the same message.. help


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## pidgeon92

Close the application, plug the Kindle in, and re-open the application. I haven't tried it recently, but at least in prior versions of Calibre the Kindle needs to be plugged in before the application is open, or Calibre could not locate the Kindle.

I am going to download the Forbes magazine and give it a try too.


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## Patrizia

it located the kindle fine.. it just says No suitable version.. do I need to convert something?

I downloaded a file I have on my hard drive, and three other papers and magazines I get the same message for all of them.. a big yellow warning sign and NO suitable version can not download..


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## Mike D. aka jmiked

davem2bits said:


> . I have had problems with some conversions looking pretty funky on the Kindle. And the author metadata is not right for the K. Uses first name - last name instead of last name - first name.
> 
> Mobi creator does a better job.
> 
> Hope that helps.


No kidding. You can either have things sort correctly on Calibre or the Kindle, but not both. I brought this to the author's attention, but he seems uninterested in fixing this.

Mike


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## pidgeon92

It did detect my Kindle as well with the application running....

I loaded Forbes onto my Kindle, it opened OK....

When you click on the Forbes title in the Calibre app, at the bottom of the window there is information regarding the location of the file and the format.... What format does it display?


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## Patrizia

it says EPUB


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## pidgeon92

Below the heart icon on the upper right, there is a drop down box that says "output." I believe the default is EPUB. Change that to MOBI and try downloading Forbes again.


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## Patrizia

okay.. brb and thank you for all the help.. (does this mean everything in the future should be in Mobi.. books etc??)


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## pidgeon92

Patrizia said:


> okay.. brb and thank you for all the help.. (does this mean everything in the future should be in Mobi.. books etc??)


Yes.

Honestly, I've converted several books in Calibre, but I haven't transferred them to the Kindle yet, I have no idea how they are going to look. Not as bad as some of the junk I've gotten from Amazon, I bet. If you do convert some books, when you click on the Convert Icon one of the tabs is Page Setup, and one of the choices under destination profile is Kindle... I always pick that, don't know if it helps or not, yet.


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## Patrizia

YEAH it worked.. I now have the forbes.. so in the future anything I download needs to be in the MOBI format.. also you menioned sending the file to my email.. where can i find the actual file.. (YOU ROCK btw)


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## sjc

Pidge: = 1 smart cookie.


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## Patrizia

what files does it recognize for books and where do I find the correct file name to email it to myself if I decide to use that option


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## pidgeon92

Click on one of the files in Calibre, look at the bottom of the window, it will show you where that file is hiding.

Also, you can set a new default file location if you click on Calibre in the menu (top of your screen, please) and choose "preferences."

And I agree that despite the fact that you can change the metadata, it still gets all screwy on the Kindle. I suspect they will work on it eventually, it seems like every time I open the application it is telling me that a new version is available.


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## pidgeon92

Patrizia said:


> what files does it recognize for books


Calibre can import all popular formats, from what I've experienced.... It can convert them as long as there is no DRM... Any files that I've downloaded that are .azw, .mobi, or .prc I upload to the Kindle without converting.


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## Patrizia

I just went to project Guttenburg and downloaded a book to convert..  IT WORKS!!!!! WOW THE BOOK LOOKS GREAT!!!!

I agree though, can't be much worse then some of the kindle versions I have seen.. this is actually kind of fun now that you walked me through it.. opens up an entire new way to read..


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## Patrizia

The book I did was in an Epub file.. I tried text but all tlhat did was open it on my hard drive.. how is it I never knew this existed.. this is really amazing..


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## Patrizia

Pidgeon I really appreciate you taking the time to walk me through this.. learned something new.. ONE last question.. if I email that file to myself does the email have to be in any specific format it to be converted.. I have done doc files.. etc.. but I was wondering if that was the case with email


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## pidgeon92

I have only used the email conversion once to test... I imagine it will take pretty much anything.... Either it can convert it or it can't. Until they start charging, I say test it all.  

Glad to have helped, we'll have to keep this thread handy.... I really like this application, it's great for tracking all of these free books that I would otherwise lose in the chaos of my hard drive.


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## Patrizia

we should make this thread a sticky.. I am having a ball!! I love the short stories by by Guy de Maupassant (one called the diamond necklace is my favorite) found it in the Guttenburg library and downloaded the book and even changed the cover art to a photo I found of him on google images.. this is too fun!!!! Thank you so much!!


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## pidgeon92

Yeah, I think we will sticky for a bit... I am going to move to Tips, Tricks and Troubleshooting....


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## Patrizia

it has been a  wonderful help.. and I went from never hearing of this to now dowloading until my fingers fall off.. this has opened a whole new world.. thank you again !!!!!


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## luvshihtzu

Thanks for the information on Calibre.  I am having a few problems, but have been able to download a couple of newspaper feeds and get them transferred to my Kindle.  Will give it more of a trial tomorrow.
It looks like a very useful program.

luvshihtzu


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## KindleKay (aka #1652)

OOOOOOO  THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU

I just got Calibre and started playing with it!!  It totally works!!  Yea!


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## Patrizia

I have posted this link on the amazon board as well. it is VERY helpful!


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## kindlevixen

I love Calibre.... I am sure there are better programs for converting files but I love the library system of it too.  I have hundreds of ebooks on a secondary drive and I add a few at a time .... when I get them all imported it will be SO much easier to find when I am looking for.

Calibre converts to .mobi but it will also send .azw and .prc to your kindle just fine.  I haven't tried the newspaper function yet, I should tho...


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## Jesslyn

Just so you know, you can connect your Kindle via the USB cord. Calibre knows where to put the files, so after you convert you can upload directly to your kindle. This thread is a great resource; but I also did a how-to with screenshots as part of a blog that also includes the MobiPocket converter: http://www.knuckleheadnetwork.com/general-how-to/kindle-document-conversion/


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## strether

How do you get the Library view to open up?  Everything on mine is truncated.  Author is "Di" and Title is "A Tale of".  Looks nothing like the picture on the previous page of this thread.

Jim


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## pidgeon92

You can adjust the window by grabbing the lower right corner and dragging it outward.

You can also adjust the size of each column. Hover your cursor between any of the column titles, when it changes to a double-arrow, click, hold and drag the column wider.


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## Cammie

Wow Pidgeon...you helped me too....ty so much...I'm so jazzed with this!


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## strether

Yeah, that works.    Thanks Pidgeon.

Jim


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## strether

Well, another basic question for Pidgeon.  I see you have yours alphabetized by Title.  I'd like to alphabetize mine by author, but so far haven't found any way to do that.  Does the down arrow in the Title section allow you to do that?  Don't have any down arrows in my columns.

Jim


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## pidgeon92

Just click on the column title.... Then it will change which column it is sorted on....

I originally had mine sorted first name/last name.... last week I finally made them all last name, first name... Took a little while to update all of the titles, but they are all the same now....


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## strether

pidgeon92 said:


> Just click on the column title.... Then it will change which column it is sorted on....


Well, I'm obviously being very stupid about this. Clicking on the author column title changes the order, but does not alphabetize them. A small thing, but if I can't alphabetize the books, I can't use this program. So far I find this software anything but intuitive, and there are no real instructions that I can find.

Jim


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## luvmy4brats

When I click on Title, it alphabatizes them in either ascending or descending order (depending on how many times I click on it)

It does the same thing for Authors as well.


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## pidgeon92

strether said:


> Well, I'm obviously being very stupid about this. Clicking on the author column title changes the order, but does not alphabetize them. A small thing, but if I can't alphabetize the books, I can't use this program. So far I find this software anything but intuitive, and there are no real instructions that I can find.


In the metadata information of each book (click the "edit meta information" button at the top of the window), there is a field called "author sort."

Check each of your books, and make sure the author sort is Last Name, First Name. If they are not, click the little button to the right of the field, and it will flip-flop the name for you. Then click OK.


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## strether

Well, sure enough, the author sort information was incorrect.  Had to change it by hand, though, because clicking on the button at the side didn't do a thing.  After I'd corrected the sort, it sorted alphabetically.  Will have to think about whether I want to go through every book and do this.  Thanks for the help (again.) 

Jim


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## pidgeon92

strether said:


> Well, sure enough, the author sort information was incorrect. Had to change it by hand, though, because clicking on the button at the side didn't do a thing. After I'd corrected the sort, it sorted alphabetically. Will have to think about whether I want to go through every book and do this. Thanks for the help (again.)


Obviously, when you have a stack of books to go through it is an arduous process.... I didn't realize it right away either, but now that I know to do it, I do it immediately when I add a book.

The problem is not with Calibre, but in the haphazard way ebooks are formatted by the publishers. If they would enter the metadata consistently in their files, this would be unnecessary.


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## strether

Pidgeon, you've obviously been working with this program for a while, long enough to go through more than one version.  When a new version comes out, does it install seamlessly over the old version, or do you have to uninstall the old and install a new?  What I'm wondering is, if you spend a lot of time putting your books on this program, how do you insure that they'll be available to the new version?  A new version seems to come out frequently.

Jim


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## pidgeon92

Nope, I've never had to uninstall the old one, just replace the old program with the new.... I am using it on a Mac, the procedure may be different in Windows.

Never had a problem with any books or data disappearing or changing when updating the program. Fortunately, I do use Time Machine on my iMac, so in the event something awful did happen, I would be able to retrieve the original file.

There are no guarantees with anything, so back up all of your data often.


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## strether

With that assurance, I may go forward and put all my books on the program.  Another question, if I may.  I downloaded a book from Mobileread where the metadata wasn't right.  Changed it in Calibre, but when I imported it to my Kindle, the metadata hadn't changed at all from what I got from Mobileread.  I'm assuming that changing the data only works on what you see on Calibre, and not for the Kindle, but just want to be sure in case (a very likely case!) I'm doing something wrong.

Jim


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## JCBeam

OP (Patrizia?) & Pidgeon,

What a great find at a great time!  I was wondering what am I going to do with all the free downloads I have (classics, 19th century classics).  So if I understood you correctly.....i can move those free books from my Kindle 2 into the calibre program if only for storage, correct?  And organize those accordingly?


Juanita


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## pidgeon92

strether said:


> Another question, if I may. I downloaded a book from Mobileread where the metadata wasn't right. Changed it in Calibre, but when I imported it to my Kindle, the metadata hadn't changed at all from what I got from Mobileread.


This has vexed me as well... I finally got a book to update the Title yesterday, after messing with it in Calibre and Stanza both. I still don't have an Author, but after fooling with it for a while I figured the title was a victory. 

What book did you download, and what version of Calibre are you on?


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## pidgeon92

JCBeam said:


> What a great find at a great time! I was wondering what am I going to do with all the free downloads I have (classics, 19th century classics). So if I understood you correctly.....i can move those free books from my Kindle 2 into the calibre program if only for storage, correct? And organize those accordingly?


Absolutely. Storage and organization are what this application does best.... The other features are getting better with each update.


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## JCBeam

Fantastic!   Can't wait to get home to download the program!!!

Thanks for your easy to understand posts here, very very very helpful!


Juanita


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## strether

pidgeon92 said:


> This has vexed me as well... I finally got a book to update the Title yesterday, after messing with it in Calibre and Stanza both. I still don't have an Author, but after fooling with it for a while I figured the title was a victory.
> 
> What book did you download, and what version of Calibre are you on?


Pretty sure it was Dorothy Sayers' Clouds of Witness, formatted by Patricia. Even though she just has a Sony Reader, she seems willing to produce books in other formats using Book Designer, but not to take the additional step of putting the results through Mobipocket Creator and fixing the metadata. You end up getting something like: Sayers_Clouds of Witness, for your metadata. There's a lot of stuff like that on Mobileread, which unfortunately keeps it from being the resource that it could be. Had a long discussion on the Book Corner with a guy about this and he said that having the metadata correct was essential for him because otherwise the book was "lost," and I take his point.

Oh, and I'm on version 0.5.1 of Calibre.

P.S. I know there's a program called Mobi2Mobi that's supposed to take care of this kind of problem, but I haven't been able to steel myself sufficiently to download it and learn how it works.  It would be nice if Calibre did it for you.

Jim


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## pidgeon92

I agree... I just downloaded a story from there as well, and the title is similar to what you describe, and it screws up the title and the author info. I was able to finally fix the title in Stanza, but the author information is still not there, even though I have updated it in Calibre... I will submit a ticket to the developer.


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## Chad Winters

most of my books seem to have the author as "Stephen King" for example and sorted by first name. Is there an easy way to have it sort by last name without changing the metadata for each book to Last name, First Name?


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## pidgeon92

Chad Winters said:


> most of my books seem to have the author as "Stephen King" for example and sorted by first name. Is there an easy way to have it sort by last name without changing the metadata for each book to Last name, First Name?


No. You have to update each book separately. Please note that when you update the meta info, there are two spots for author, one for author, one for *author sort*. You can thus have the author appear as Stephen King, but have it sort as King, Stephen. There is a button to the right of the *author sort* field that will flip/flop the name automatically, as long as it is correct (Stephen King) in the author field.


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## Chad Winters

thanks!!


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## Tritryst

strether said:


> With that assurance, I may go forward and put all my books on the program. Another question, if I may. I downloaded a book from Mobileread where the metadata wasn't right. Changed it in Calibre, but when I imported it to my Kindle, the metadata hadn't changed at all from what I got from Mobileread. I'm assuming that changing the data only works on what you see on Calibre, and not for the Kindle, but just want to be sure in case (a very likely case!) I'm doing something wrong.
> 
> Jim


Did you "Save to Disk" after you updated the metadata? Also, you might need to delete the file off your kindle, and then resend it.


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## pidgeon92

Tritryst said:


> Did you "Save to Disk" after you updated the metadata? Also, you might need to delete the file off your kindle, and then resend it.


I've tried this three different times with a book that had the incorrect metadata. I've saved the file to another place on my hard drive, deleted the original from Calibre, re-added the new file, and the metadata looks fine in the application, but after I deleted the file from the Kindle and uploaded the new one, the Title and Author are still incorrect. The Kindle is appears to be reading the data from a different location than Calibre is writing to.


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## KindleKay (aka #1652)

Did you guys notice that if you input the ISBN # (can be found on amazon.com: mostly under the DTB version) then you can click on the button to update metadata automatically?  I think you have to get an account with ISBNdb.com but that is easy and free.  I found that when I add an eBook, if I take a sec to input the ISBN, then it updates everything for me automatically.  Very easy!!! 

Just a thought....


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## pidgeon92

Yes, I do this.... However, it still doesn't fix the metadata that appears on the Kindle if the original file was wrong to begin with.


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## KindleKay (aka #1652)

Hey pidgeon, just a quick question, since you are around:

I had a .pdf that I was formatting for .obi using calibre.  When I got about 1/2 way through, I lost whole chapters!!  I don't really understand how or why.  Would this be a .pdf formatting issue or....um...operator error?    I mean, I am new at this.....any thoughts?


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## CoolMom1960

It doesn't recognize my kindle 1.  What did I do wrong?


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## pidgeon92

KindleKay said:


> Hey pidgeon, just a quick question, since you are around:
> 
> I had a .pdf that I was formatting for .obi using calibre. When I got about 1/2 way through, I lost whole chapters!! I don't really understand how or why. Would this be a .pdf formatting issue or....um...operator error?  I mean, I am new at this.....any thoughts?


I have no idea.... I've only done a few PDFs, and all of them have come out OK....

When you say you got 1/2 way through, what do you mean? Half way through the conversion? Half way through the book on your Kindle?

Was the PDF text only?


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## pidgeon92

COOLMOM1960 said:


> It doesn't recognize my kindle 1. What did I do wrong?


Sometimes it won't recognize the Kindle if the application is open _before_ the Kindle is plugged in.

If that doesn't do it, try re-booting the computer and start again.


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## strether

Eureka, Pidgeon!!!  Browsing at Mobileread, I came across a suggestion.  Followed it and it worked.  I edited the metadata for Sayers' Clouds of Witness, closed it, then highlighting the book, converted it to Mobi.  The metadata are now correct, and what's more flabbergasting than that, the titles in the book are centered (not left justified, as it was before because that's the way Book Designer leaves Mobi files) and the toc menu works.  Too bad some of this stuff isn't written down somewhere where people new to the software could learn how it works.

Jim


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## pidgeon92

strether said:


> Eureka, Pidgeon!!! Browsing at Mobileread, I came across a suggestion. Followed it and it worked. I edited the metadata for Sayers' Clouds of Witness, closed it, then highlighting the book, converted it to Mobi. The metadata are now correct, and what's more flabbergasting than that, the titles in the book are centered (not left justified, as it was before because that's the way Book Designer leaves Mobi files) and the toc menu works. Too bad some of this stuff isn't written down somewhere where people new to the software could learn how it works.


Interesting.... I shall give it a try in the morning. We can certainly create a step-by-step guide for Kindles here.


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## luvmy4brats

A step-by-step guide would be fabulous!


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## CoolMom1960

pidgeon92 said:


> Sometimes it won't recognize the Kindle if the application is open _before_ the Kindle is plugged in.
> 
> If that doesn't do it, try re-booting the computer and start again.


Thanks that worked! I should have know about re-booting the computer would work!


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## pidgeon92

strether said:


> Eureka, Pidgeon!!! Browsing at Mobileread, I came across a suggestion. Followed it and it worked. I edited the metadata for Sayers' Clouds of Witness, closed it, then highlighting the book, converted it to Mobi. The metadata are now correct, and what's more flabbergasting than that, the titles in the book are centered (not left justified, as it was before because that's the way Book Designer leaves Mobi files) and the toc menu works. Too bad some of this stuff isn't written down somewhere where people new to the software could learn how it works.


I just tested this out on two different books, and it works! It seems to be important to get the metadata squared away prior to converting. In the event you make a mistake, it's best to delete the book from Calibre and start over again with the the original downloaded file. I have found that if you convert files multiple times, sometimes all you end up with is the first 5 pages of the book.

I am going to start working on a Kindle only guide to this application, and will post in a new thread... It will take a few days, I have a few other projects I need to work on, including my income taxes...


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## strether

I've done three more books this morning, and it worked on all of them.  One thing, though.  While the toc is now available from the menu on the Kindle, internally, those toc links don't work.  Clicking on any of them just takes you to the cover page.  So, if you need an operating toc on your book, better to leave it alone and accept the metadata the way it is.  I seldom use the toc on a novel, and all of these books that I converted were novels.  If it was a work of non-fiction, and I couldn't find it with good metadata on some site, I'd probably format it myself.  I don't know if this problem with the toc is something that Kovid will be working on or not, or even if it can be fixed.

Jim


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## pidgeon92

If you go all the way to the end of the book, the TOC is often repeated.... I haven't tested the links yet....


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## strether

You're right, there is another one back there.  And the links don't work on that one, either.  Not that it would do you any good if it did if the menu option takes you to the one in front.  Definitely something for the developer to work on.  If I get the time, may browse at Mobileread and see if I can pick up any information on this.

Jim


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## davem2bits

The trick for Author name and sorting on the Kindle via Calibre is enter as lastname, firstname in both the Author and Author Sort fields for Meta Info.  On the Kindle it will display as firstname lastname and sort by lastname.  It will display in Calibre as lastname, firstname and sort by lastname.


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## strether

strether said:


> I've done three more books this morning, and it worked on all of them. One thing, though. While the toc is now available from the menu on the Kindle, internally, those toc links don't work. Clicking on any of them just takes you to the cover page.


I noticed on the Mobileread forum this morning that this problem has been brought officially to the developer's attention and presumably will be corrected in a new update to the software.

Jim


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## happyblob

Working ok here so far. I'm sure it gets better.


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## Mike D. aka jmiked

I notice the latest build (19 Mar) has the following entries in the changelog:

Fix #2058 (Calibre reads Kindle metadata wrong)

Implement support for reading metadata from Amazon Topaz books 

Progress is being made.

Mike


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## KindleKay (aka #1652)

Yippee!  Calibre is becoming a very often used program on my computer...


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## Jill75

Hi Patrizia,

I am not much user of calibre at this time but being a big help in downloading news from newspapers, then probably I would use it in the future and found this thread useful. But I am now trying to understand many things about it in the Calibre forum which can be found here:

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

The use manual of Calibre is here as well:

http://calibre.kovidgoyal.net/user_manual/

I am patiently reading it and I know lots would rather get answers from others than read things like these manuals and forum threads.


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## HappyGuy

Calibre also lets you create your own tags - very handy evn if Kindle didn't seem to think they were necessary. I've created a Read tag so I can keep track of what I've read and what I haven't. Very handy program!

Also, be sure to store everything in one folder - makes it easier to backup. If something should happen to your original books, just copy the backup folder to the default location.


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## mumsicalwhimsy

It seems, I am an idiot.  I just started working with Calibre and have very much enjoyed the support offered through this forum.
My question... how can I print what Calibre shows?  I want a listing to work off of, to update my data so that updating Calibre becomes a data entry job.
I work best off paper... working between two computer files simply does not work well for me.
Thanks.


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## pidgeon92

There does not seem to be any sort of export function at this time. However, I see that a ticket has been submitted requesting this feature:

http://calibre.kovidgoyal.net/ticket/739


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## mumsicalwhimsy

Thank you for the information.  Good to know.


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## Tranquil Ape

Ok, heres one for you..  Have been using Calibre for about 3 days, and had a kindle for about 2 days... (love it btw)  Finally got all my eReader books converted and such.  they display and sort by author just fine on the kindle.  What I would like to do is have series sort in order along with author so lets say i have the first 20 books of the Xanth series by Piers Anthony.  i would like them to display in numerical order (without adding to the title)  I had thought entering series info in the metadata would do this but i get the feeling the kindle doesnt pay attention.

I did notice on accident that it looks like the naming convention of the directories in /My eBooks/ seems to have an affect on the sorting on the kindle though.  after placing cloe to 100 books on the kindle there where two seperate series that magically displayed how i wanted them to.  the titles were obviously not alphabetical but remained grouped within that author's group.  the only thing i could think of was that the names of the directories had those numbers appended and were sequential.

That make sense?  

Thanks ...


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## KindleKay (aka #1652)

As far as I know, Kindle will wort only by title, author, or recently added (?I think?)

If you want it to sort by number of the series, I guess you will have to add the number to the title....but then any other books you have with a number in the title will also be in there somewhere.

See?  THIS is why we need folders on Kindle!!


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## pidgeon92

I checked the Calibre forum at MobileRead, and this is the first topic I saw... 

Putting a series in numerical order.

I didn't read it through thoroughly, but it looks like this person has the answer to your question....


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## Tranquil Ape

yea, i posted over there as well, no answer as of yet... ill post back here if anything comes up


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## Kind

Tranquil Ape said:


> yea, i posted over there as well, no answer as of yet... ill post back here if anything comes up


cool, thanks.


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## Tranquil Ape

so it looks like that one series of mine that got sorted correctly (numerical order)  was blind luck and i have no explanation for certain.  The only thing i can think of is that the DB ID that i mentioned (being sequential in this case) that is being appended to each eBook file.. is somehow influencing the kindle's filename sort... beats me... i'm at a loss because i'm not really satisfied in having no answer... lol  oh well... its like carrying a stack of books... might not be in the correct order but im not gonna sit too long trying to get them there... as long as i have the stack, im good


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## HappyGuy

So far as I can tell, the only way to get a series to list together on the Kindle is to add the prefix to the title. For example, for my Honor Harrington series I prefix the title with HH01, HH02, etc. For my Outlander series, it's OL01, OL02, etc. I don't think the Kindle tracks much else of the metadata other than title and author.


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## Tranquil Ape

yea i added some 'tags' to my titles this morning... still dont like it however... maybe a future update will add it.... cross your fingers


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## pidgeon92

Calibre has been updated to 0.5.3. A new feature is emailing books to the Kindle. Downloading now, will test soon...

http://calibre.kovidgoyal.net/download


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## Christina

pidgeon92 said:


> Calibre has been updated to 0.5.3. A new feature is emailing books to the Kindle. Downloading now, will test soon...
> 
> http://calibre.kovidgoyal.net/download


How long does Amazon normally take to transfer your emailed items? I finally got calibre configured to send mail without an error message popping up, but nothing has come thru on my Kindle yet


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## pidgeon92

It usually comes through quickly, within a few minutes.... I haven't had an opportunity to test it out yet today.


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## Christina

Well, I still haven't received anything... but it may be due to operator error. I will try again and see what happens. That certainly will be a convenient feature, if I can just get it to work.  

Update... Finally, success with the email to Kindle feature! I installed an updated build of calibre, and now it works like a charm


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## Mike D. aka jmiked

I did a test today with calibre 0.5.3 (the latest build).

I see that importing the author data from prc/mobi ebooks still does not work properly. The program still insists that data is in the metadata field should be firstname lastname, and when it imports this info, it gets it backwards.

I took a book file I generated and did a version with the author name entered in two ways: _Isaac Asimov_ and _Asimov, Isaac._ Just so I would not get confused, I labeled the files as Asimov l-f and Asimov f-l (l-f = lastname firstname and f-l = firstname lastname).

I confirmed that the l-f book sorted correctly on the Kindle and the f-l book sorted incorrectly (indexed by first name instead of last name).

I next imported them into calibre. The file that sorted correctly on the Kindle (by last name) was indexed by the first name in calibre, and the file that sorted incorrectly on the Kindle sorted correctly in calibre.

The metadata display from calibre for the one that sorts correctly on the Kindle is:
Asimov, Isaac (in the Author field)
Isaac, Asimov, (in the Author sort field, and yes, it puts an extra comma in the name)

The metadata display from calibre for the one that sorts _incorrectly_ on the Kindle is:
Isaac Asimov (in the Author field)
Asimov, Isaac (in the Author sort field)

So you can see that the author of calibre has made an assumption about how info is written into the file and got it wrong (at least from the Kindle standpoint).

I'm next going to do a test of how it re-writes the info to the Kindle upon export. I think I already know the answer, but I need to verify it.

I was hoping to use calibre as a library program to shuffle books to and from the Kindle, but if it sorts incorrectly, I'll pass. I left a message for the author of calibre, and he seemed to not be concerned.

Mike


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## LenEdgerly

In this week's episode of The Kindle Chronicles podcast, I did a walk-through on using Calibre to download The Economist to my Kindle. It's the Tech Tip, starting at 8:14 : 
http://www.thekindlechronicles.com/2009/03/27/36-steve-rubel/
--Len Edgerly


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## kindlevixen

I love the new email to device function.

I am of the minority I guess and could care less about how it sorts the authors, I always edit it when I import so they are all lastname, firstname and when they are on my kindle I sort by most recently opened anyway.


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## Judith

I would be LOST without the help I find on this board.  I have downloaded Calibre and love the organizational capabilities of it.  I have put all my books in it.  I do have a question.

When I add a book to Calibre it seems to make a new folder under the author's name and put's it in the My Documents folder on my PC.
I now have a these folders -- for example

Folder: Kearns Goodwin__Doris
  Folder: No Ordinary Time (40)
        In the folder is a jpg of the cover and the zzw file

Folder: Goodwin__Doris Kearns
    Folder: Team of Rivald (46)
        In the folder is a jpg of the cover and the azw file.

Therefore I have a folder created for each separate entry in Calibre.  Very confusing.  Where should the folders be?  Are they duplicates of information already stored in Calibre?  Also what does the number refer to?

Thanks, Judith


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## pidgeon92

Calibre will create a new folder for each author, and put the author's books in it. The reason you have two folders for that author is that the metadata does not match for each book, one has the last name first; the other it is opposite. If you change the metadata so both books are the same, it should combine both books in the same author folder (top of the window, second button from the left).

I would wager that the number is a sort of serial number; the order in which you imported the books into Calibre.... There is a posting by the developer on MobileRead:

http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=30987


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## HappyGuy

One of the really handy features of Calibre is the ability to download both a book description and the cover art using the ISBN. This number can be gotten at Amazon, but I've found another source which I find easier to use.

http://isbndb.com/ is a free database. I've only run into a couple of books not listed in the database, and I think they were all very recent publications.


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## KindleKay (aka #1652)

FearNot said:


> One of the really handy features of Calibre is the ability to download both a book description and the cover art using the ISBN. This number can be gotten at Amazon, but I've found another source which I find easier to use.
> 
> http://isbndb.com/ is a free database. I've only run into a couple of books not listed in the database, and I think they were all very recent publications.


Agreed! This is an awesome feature of Calibre! I love it!!


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## Danariel

Actually, you can have Calibre run the serch via Title, and choose from a list. It'll find the ISBN by itself now, I think directly from the same site.

Oh, and it will add a cover for you, too, if you want it to.


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## geneven

I just want to point out that Project Gutenberg will now let you download books in Mobilread format directly, so you might be able to dispense with Calibre entirely for those books. I can't try it out yet myself, as my Kindle was just shipped today.

I have used Calibre before, though, and was amazed at the hard work the programmer puts into it. There were updates practically every day.


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## legalbs2

FearNot said:


> One of the really handy features of Calibre is the ability to download both a book description and the cover art using the ISBN. This number can be gotten at Amazon, but I've found another source which I find easier to use.
> 
> http://isbndb.com/ is a free database. I've only run into a couple of books not listed in the database, and I think they were all very recent publications.


Actually any of the Kindle Books can not be found by Author. Example: Claws by Stacey Cochran publisher CreateSpace.


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## legalbs2

Danariel said:


> Actually, you can have Calibre run the serch via Title, and choose from a list. It'll find the ISBN by itself now, I think directly from the same site.
> 
> Oh, and it will add a cover for you, too, if you want it to.


But, does the cover appear in your Kindles?


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## SusieQ

This thread has been very helpful to one starting to use calibre. But I do have a question related to isbndb.com. Calibre asks for the access key....is that my password for isbndb account? TIA!!

Susie


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## HappyGuy

SusieQ said:


> This thread has been very helpful to one starting to use calibre. But I do have a question related to isbndb.com. Calibre asks for the access key....is that my password for isbndb account? TIA!!
> 
> Susie


I'm not sure, but I THINK you are correct - calibre is asking for your osbndb password.


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## amyrebecca

I have a few books in Calibre that I converted to mobi and put on my K2. If I go back in Calibre to add the isbn # and get the cover art, will I have to delete them from my K2 and reload them in order to see the cover art on my K2? Thanks!


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## srmalloy

pidgeon92 said:


> Close the application, plug the Kindle in, and re-open the application. I haven't tried it recently, but at least in prior versions of Calibre the Kindle needs to be plugged in before the application is open, or Calibre could not locate the Kindle.


The recent versions will actively detect at least a Kindle 2 -- and tie itself up grabbing all your books from it, making Calibre useless until it finishes the transfer. When I've created a Mobipocket document and saved it to the desktop to transfer to my kindle 2, I keep forgetting to terminate Calibre so that it doesn't suck all the bandwidth of the USB connection grabbing my books; I've had to either unplug my Kindle 2 or forcex Calibre to get it to stop; aborting it takes forever for it to do its 'clean-up'.


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## Mike D. aka jmiked

The only time I've seen calibre get tied up with the Kindle is when you click on the Kindle symbol. I connect my K2 to calibre and copy books to it all the time with no delay.

Mike


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## axosis2

Does anyone know if you can borrow elibrary boks witht eh kindle 2 using calibre?  I am trying to decide which ereader device to buy!


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## pidgeon92

No, you cannot borrow library books with the Kindle. A majority of library books require Adobe Digital Editions to activate the device (as borrowed library books are DRMd), and the Kindle does not support ADE, nor does it support ePub (a majority of library books are formatted as ePub). If your main concern are library books, look at either the B&N nook, or any of the Sonys.


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## Granvillen

Everything depends on each library whether they have books in EPub and/or Mobi.  I belong to both my city library and the NYC Public Library since I spend time in both areas.  Both of these libraries carry books in both EPub and Mobi.  I suggest you contact your library or others in your area.  Also, I have always found Mobi books in a myriad of on-line free book stores such as those found in libraries.


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## Ann in Arlington

Even if they have Mobi, the problem is that you still somehow have to tell the Library what your device ID is and that's not readily available for the Kindle.  There are scripts available to find it, apparently, but Amazon have said that running such scripts is against their Terms of Service.


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