Calibre setup for Kobo ebook reader

I use calibre for ebook management. My current ebook reader is a Kobo Clara BW. In this article, I’ll share my preferred calibre configuration for Kobo eReaders. Since many settings come down to personal preference, you can use this as a starting point and adjust things to your liking. Furthermore I will provide some general tips for working with calibre.

Install Kobo Utilities plugin

There are some recommend calibre plugins which improve the user experience for Kobo eReaders. You can find and install these plugins directly from the plugin section in the settings of calibre.

• Kobo Utilities (required)
  • This is the main important plugin you need to install.

In the past there was a plugin called Kobo Touch Extended Driver. You do not and even cannot install this plugin anymore. Its features are already included in calibre by default now.

• reddit: KoboTouchExtended not installing?
• reddit: Problem with KTE

There is another plugin called Kobo Metadata which can be used to download ebook metadata. But it does not have to do anything with kobo device managment.

Calibre preferences

After installing the Kobo Utilities plugin you can configure all settings as described below.

Conversion

Common options

• Look & feel
  • Fonts
    • Embed all fonts in document: enable checkbox
  • Styling
    • Filter style information
      • Select what style information you want completely removed:
        • Colors: enable checkbox

          otherwise colored text in an ebook would be shown in light grey on the black e-ink display

Output options

• KEPUB output
  • Prefer improved text justification to proper highlighting: enable checkbox

    I like to use the justification setting when reading an ebook. This settings improves text justification on Kobo devices when reading kepub files.

Customize KoboTouch (as part of KoboUtilities)

• click on the small dropdown arrow right next to the KoboUtilities icon
• choose configure driver…

File formats

• Choose the formats to send to the Kobo eReader
  • kepub: enable checkbox
  • disable all other checkbox for all other formats!
• Save template: {author_sort}/{title} - {authors}

Collections, covers & uploads

• Upload covers: enable checkbox
  • Keep cover aspect ration: disable checkbox
  • Letterbox full-screen covers: disable checkbox
  • Upload black and white covers: enable checkbox

    this can improve the cover shown by Kobo on standby

    • Upload dithered covers: enable checkbox
    • Save covers and png: enable checkbox

Send ebooks to your Kobo eReader

• connect the Kobo device via usb
• wait until calibre detected the device
• select the ebooks you want to send to your ebook reader
• click on the icon Send to device
• calibre will convert kepub files on the fly and will send this newly converted files to your Kobo device

Ensure ebook series details get transferred

I noticed that ebook series information sometimes is not available on the Kobo eReader after transferring the files. This is because metadata can only be updated after new ebook files were processed by the device itself.

There is a workflow you have to follow to ensure that book series show up on the Kobo device as expected:

• after sending ebooks to the device I click on the dropdown arrow of the device icon and choose Eject this device
• wait a few seconds then disconnect the usb cable
• wait a few seconds again and connect the Kobo eReader again via usb
• wait until calibre detects the device
• click on the dropdown arrow of the device icon and choose Update cached metadata on device
• afterwards click on Eject this device again and disconnect again

Only after you completed this exact workflow that include two disconnects your book series details will show up on the Kobo device.

Delete ebooks from your Kobo

• click on device
• select ebooks you want to delete from your device
• right click and choose Remove books > Remove selected books

Delete previously converted kepub files

Most of the time your original ebook file format will be epub. In case you changed some conversion settings and want to delete previously converted kepub files you can do so via:

• mark all ebooks with kepub files that should get deleted (be sure that you still have the original ebook file (epub)!)
• right click selection
• Remove books
  • Remove files of a specific format from selected books

Next time you send an ebook to your device you can be sure calibre generates new kepub files.

Optional plugin: Annotations

Annotations (optional)

You can use this plugin to transfer your notes and highlighted sections from your Kobo device to calibre. This is completely optional.

Be aware that the plugin version available via calibre can have a bug. You can find an updated version of the Annotations plugin in a forum.

Configure Annotations column

After installing the Annotations plugin you have to add a custom column to your calibre library which will be used to store your notes and highlighted sections.

• click on the yellow marker icon of the Annotations plugin and choose Customize plugin…
• In the section Annotation options
• click on the wand symbol on the right to create a new column

Fetch annotations from your Kobo

Now you can download annotations and highlighted sections with notes from you Kobo.

• click on the yellow marker icon of the Annotations plugin
• then choose Fetch annotations from connected device

Have fun reading books on your Kobo!