Can't sideload a KF8 book without being flagged as Personal Doc

[Julius Caesar]

I can't seem to sideload a KF8 book without it being flagged as Personal by Kindle Paperwhite. Even after I changed the MetaData with Java MetaData Editor https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=165729 or with Calibre. I even added the correct ASIN to the metadata and confirmed that the Metadata is indeed has changed but my Kindle still labels it as a Personal document.

The book is originally an Amazon book which I unpacked with Kindle Unpack, edited the CSS and xhtml files to fix typos and format oddities, and repacked with KindleGen.

Is there anyway to fix this?

[ams]

1)Delete the book on the kindle.
2)Also check (with the kindle as USB drive on the PC) in the documents folder if there is another copy of the book that might not show up on the kindle (this can happen in case you transferred the book at any stage without having set the ASIN after re-packing with kindlegen).
3)Then transfer the book again with calibre.

If this doesn't help you could try deleting all collections or even the cc.db but that would be a bit drastic if the only problem is one book showing as PDOC.

P.S. The easiest way to set the metadata correctly is to include a mobi-asin:BXXX (where BXXX is the Amazon asin) tag in the Metadata editor IDs: field in calibre (can also be asin: or Amazon: instead of mobi-asin) and then use the Quality Check Plugin -> Fix ->Fix ASIN for kindle fire.
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=125428
For my use, I have changed the mobi6.py in the Quality Check.zip file by commenting out the line that changes exth504 because this is not necessary for the Kindle Touch:
if asin is not None:
update_exth_record((113, asin.encode(self.codec, 'replace')))
#update_exth_record((504, asin.encode(self.codec, 'replace')))
if cdetype is not None:
update_exth_record((501, cdetype))

[dimasic]

Generated with kindlegen mobi contains three sections: mobi7, azw3 and source files section. kindlegen does not write PDOC/EBOK tag at all, you know. azw3 section has its own header with author name, book title and so on - it's the same as mobi header. But! Kindle reads this tag and author name, and book title from azw3 header, not from mobi header. And metadata editor can change only the header of mobi file.

So if you want to load this book to kindle and see its cover on your PW, you should extract azw3 section using KindleUnpack and change its 501 tag with metadata editor. Alas, it's the only way to load azw3 to kindle - USB cable, as "Send to Kindle" service can't load such books as I know.

Or you can use Calibre as it mentioned above to generate book with EBOK tag..

[PoP]

I had a similar problem. You might want to read this explanation in a post from NiLuJe and the context around it.

[NiLuJe]

What dimasic said is perfectly valid, though .

KindleGen builds combo files, and the user-friendly tools out there (mobiperl, java metadata editor) do not handle those properly: they only tweak the header of the legacy M7 part.

So, yeah, unless those tools are updated, the easiest way is to split the combo file with KindleUnpack, then tweak the KF8.

EDIT: Oops, missed the mention of the Quality Check plugin. Nice! Will have to check how it handles combo files, because that sounds way easier .

EDIT²: Nope, same as the other tools, only tweaks the M7 header :/.

[PoP]

Ah. I hadn't realised that. Thanks for pointing out dimasic and NiLuJe.

OK, I have now split my Klingon Guide and have used the mobi editor to set the 113, 504, 501 records to my liking in both the .mobi and .azw3 parts.

Now, is there a way to merge the parts back in a single combo file?

[NiLuJe]

@PoP: Not as far as I remember, but I may be wrong .

To recap a bit, because I've been poring over this all day (funnily enough, nearly the exact same query came up on IRC ^^).

* A combo file straight from KindleGen => "Personal" banner, crappy small embedded thumbnail.

* EXTH 501 set to EBOK => No banner. Crappy small embedded thumbnail for KF8/Combo files, possibly slightly less crappy generated thumbnail for M7 files.

* EXTH 501 & EXTH 113 (+/- EXTH 504) => No banner. No thumbnail either, unless the ASIN is a valid ASIN, and your Kindle is connected to the net, in which case it's pulled from Amazon's servers. (Basically, that's how a file you get straight from the KS/Cloud behaves).

* Now, if you sideload this last kind of file via Calibre's "Send To Device" feature => No banner, and a pretty thumbnail!


Speaking of Calibre, when you do a Mobi or AZW3 conversion, unless you mess with the settings (the whole FB sync thing, manual PDOC tagging & co), it will generate this last kind of file (ie. the best kind).

There are also a number of codepaths in Calibre that don't really try that hard (or at all) at distinguishing combo files (for example, because that's what I was looking at, and it's partly my fault, the APNX sideloading handles combo files from KG as if it were a M7 file, which might not be the best course of action). So, yeah, unless you have a very good reason, I'd do without the combo files, personally .

[DiapDealer]

There was something weird that made remerging the seperate components back into a combo-file unattractive. Not impossible, per se, but awkward enough to not warrant the work involved for the relatively rare times it would be useful. Something to do with images being shared between the formats and needing to be in the same order. I forget exactly.

[dimasic]

Originally Posted by PoP

Now, is there a way to merge the parts back in a single combo file?

Theoretically, you can. But practically you need some tool to merge the parts or may be directly insert the tags to the right place of the combo file. I don't know if it exists - probably there's no such tool at all.

But what for? Are you really need combo? For compatibility with older devices? You can have both azw and azw3 files. To send the book through the Amazon's cloud? If so, and if you haven't other ways to put your book, than you really need combo mobi. But it's the only reason to make combo mobi, IMHO - in any other case device treats azw3 the same way as mobi. Moreover, the cloud splits the book and sends to device the part which is suitable for it - azw or azw3.

[PoP]

Originally Posted by dimasic

...
But what for? Are you really need combo?
...

Without tinking too much, I was just trying to re-package the book in its combo form, the same way Kindlegen produces it. And you are correct, I don't really need to.

Thanks for the advice.

[EDIT]: which I applied

[Julius Caesar]

Originally Posted by dimasic

Generated with kindlegen mobi contains three sections: mobi7, azw3 and source files section. kindlegen does not write PDOC/EBOK tag at all, you know. azw3 section has its own header with author name, book title and so on - it's the same as mobi header. But! Kindle reads this tag and author name, and book title from azw3 header, not from mobi header. And metadata editor can change only the header of mobi file.

So if you want to load this book to kindle and see its cover on your PW, you should extract azw3 section using KindleUnpack and change its 501 tag with metadata editor. Alas, it's the only way to load azw3 to kindle - USB cable, as "Send to Kindle" service can't load such books as I know.

Or you can use Calibre as it mentioned above to generate book with EBOK tag..

I have been pulling my hair out to solve this problem in the past 2 weeks and you solved it for me. It works. Now, I don't see personal banner with my modified book anymore. The Book Description and About the Author from the pull-down menu work perfectly too.

The only minor problem is syncing between my PW and Kindle Cloud Reader is no longer working. But as long as my annotations, highlights and bookmarks are still stored at Amazon Cloud for my PW that's OK. The book has been significantly modified so even though syncing between PW and Cloud Reader work, the bookmarks and annotations wouldn't match ie they wouldn't be in the same position.

So here's how I solve it just in case others have the same problem:
1. After you generate your book with Kindlegen, unpack it with Kindle Unpack and make sure that Split Combination KF8 Kindle eBooks are enabled.
2. Look for azw3 file name that begins with mobi8. If the book is called Peter Pan, the file you want is mobi8-Peter Pan.azw3
3. Modify its Metadata with Java Mobi Metadata Editor and make sure that the tag for 113(ASIN), 504(ASIN) and 501(CDE type) are set to the correct value particularly the CDE type must be set to EBOK.
4. Upload the book to your Kindle. Make sure you delete the original book first from your Kindle. The name of the modified book and the original book must be the same.