PRC is a generic format, calibre supports PRC files with TextRead and MOBIBook headers.PDB is also a generic format. calibre supports eReader, Plucker (input only), PML and zTxt PDB files.DJVU support is only for converting DJVU files that contain embedded text. These are typically generated by OCR software.MOBI books can be of two types Mobi6 and KF8. calibre fully supports both. MOBI files often have .azw or .azw3 file extensions.DOCX files from Microsoft Word 2007 and newer are supported.
The first thing to realize is that most e-books have two tables of contents. One is the traditional Table of Contents, like the ToC you find in paper books. This Table of Contents is part of the main document flow and can be styled however you like. This ToC is called the content ToC.
Then there is the metadata ToC. A metadata ToC is a ToC that is not part of the book text and is typically accessed by some special button on a reader. For example, in the calibre E-book viewer, you use the Show Table of Contents button to see this ToC. This ToC cannot be styled by the book creator. How it is represented is up to the viewer program.
In the MOBI format, the situation is a little confused. This is because the MOBI format, alone amongst mainstream e-book formats, does not have decent support for a metadata ToC. A MOBI book simulates the presence of a metadata ToC by putting an extra content ToC at the end of the book. When you click Go to Table of Contents on your Kindle, it is to this extra content ToC that the Kindle takes you.
If you have a hand edited ToC in the input document, you can use the ToC detection options in calibre to automatically generate the metadata ToC from it. See the conversion section of the User Manual for more details on how to use these options.
Finally, I encourage you to ditch the content ToC and only have a metadata ToC in your e-books. Metadata ToCs will give the people reading your e-books a much superior navigation experience (except on the Kindle, where they are essentially the same as a content ToC).
The newer AZW3 format has proper support for a metadata ToC. However, theKindle firmware tends to malfunction if you disable the generation of theend-of-file inline ToC. So it is recommended that you leave the generatedToC alone. If you create an AZW3 file with a metadata ToC and noend-of-file generated ToC, some features on the Kindle will not work, suchas the Page Flip feature.
In order to convert a collection of HTML files in a specific order, you have tocreate a table of contents file. That is, another HTML file that contains linksto all the other files in the desired order. Such a file looks like:
Then, just add this HTML file to the GUI and use the Convert button to createyour e-book. You can use the option in the Table of Contents section in theconversion dialog to control how the Table of Contents is generated.
You can get help on any individual feature of the converters by mousing overit in the GUI or running ebook-convert dummy.html .epub -h at a terminal.A good place to start is to look at the following demo file that demonstratessome of the advanced features html-demo.zip.
calibre can directly connect to all the major (and most of the minor) e-bookreading devices, smartphones, tablets, etc. In addition, using theConnect to folder function you can use it with any e-book readerthat exports itself as a USB disk. Finally, you can connect wirelessly to anydevice that has a web browser using the calibre Content server.
Once you send us the output for a particular operating system, support for the device in that operating systemwill appear in the next release of calibre. To send us the output, open a bug report and attach the output to it.See how to report bugs.
If you are connecting an Apple iDevice (iPad, iPod Touch, iPhone), Appleno longer allows third party software to connect to their devices using aUSB cable. Instead use a wireless connection, via the calibre Contentserver.
Make sure you are running the latest version of calibre (currently7.15.0). The latest version can always be downloaded from the calibrewebsite. You can tell whatversion of calibre you are currently running by looking at the bottomline of the main calibre window.
In addition to the Connect to folder function found under theConnect/share button, calibre provides a User defined deviceplugin that can be used to connect to any USB device that shows up as a diskdrive in your operating system. Note: on Windows, the device must have a driveletter for calibre to use it. See the device plugin Preferences -> Plugins ->Device plugins -> User defined and Preferences -> Miscellaneous -> Getinformation to setup the user defined device for more information. Note thatif you are using the user defined plugin for a device normally detected by abuiltin calibre plugin, you must disable the builtin plugin first, so that youruser defined plugin is used instead.
An easy way to browse your calibre collection from your Apple deviceis by using The calibre Content server, which makes your collection availableover the net. First perform the following steps in calibre
The Content server allows you to read books directly in Safari itself. Inaddition, there are many apps for your iDevice that can connect to the calibreContent server. Examples include: Marvin, Mapleread and iBooks itself.
You will see a list of books in Safari, tap on any book and you will be giventhe option to either download it, or read it in the browser itself. If youchoose to download it, Safari will ask you if you want to open it with iBooks.
Many reading apps support browsing the calibre library directly via its OPDS support.In such apps you can go to the online catalog screen and add the IP address ofthe calibre server to browse and download books from your calibre librarywithin the app.
Simply plug your device into the computer with a USB cable. calibre shouldautomatically detect the device and then you can transfer books to it byclicking the Send to device button. Note that on macOS and Linuxonly a single program can connect to an Android device at a time, so makesure the device is not opened in the OS File manager, or the Android File Transferutility, etc.
With the Kindle Fire 8 or newer there is an icon that shows up whenthe USB cable is plugged in, showing that the device is charging. Tap thatand switch the device to data transfer mode, and then start calibre, itshould then be detected.
calibre has a builtin web server, the calibre Content server. It makes your calibrecollection available over the net. You can browse it on your device using asimple browser or a dedicated application. First perform the following steps in calibre:
Some devices, like the Kindle (1/2/DX), do not allow you to access port 8080 (the default port on which the contentserver runs). In that case, change the port in the calibre Preferences to 80. (On some operating systems,you may not be able to run the server on a port number less than 1024 because of security settings. Inthis case the simplest solution is to adjust your router to forward requests on port 80 to port 8080).
Also some devices do not have browsers advanced enough to run the app-likeinterface used by the Content server. For such devices, you can simply add/mobile to the server URL to get a simplified, non-JavaScript interface.
Because of the large amount of spam in email, sending email can be tricky, asdifferent mail servers use different strategies to block email. The mostcommon problem is if you are sending email directly (without a mail relay) incalibre. Many servers (for example, Amazon) block email that does not come froma well known relay. The most robust way to setup email sending in calibre is todo the following:
If you are sending to your Kindle, remember to update the email preferenceson your Amazon Kindle page to allow email sent from your GMX emailaddress. Also note that Amazon does not allow email delivery of AZW3 andnew style (KF8) MOBI files. Finally, Amazon recently started sendingconfirmation emails that you have to click on back to your GMX accountbefore the book is actually delivered.
Even after doing this, you may have problems. One common source of problems is that some poorly designed antivirusprograms block calibre from opening a connection to send email. Try adding an exclusion for calibre in yourantivirus program.
Google recently deliberately broke their email sending protocol (SMTP) support inan attempt to force everyone to use their web interface so they canshow you more ads. They are trying to claim that SMTP is insecure,that is incorrect and simply an excuse. Use some other email providerinstead.
Neither the Kindle nor the Nook provide any way to manipulate collections overa USB connection. If you really care about using collections, I would urge youto sell your Kindle/Nook and get a Kobo. Only Kobo seems to understand thatlife is too short to be entering collections one by one on an e-ink screen ?
Note that in the case of the Kindle, there is a way to manipulate collectionsvia USB, but it requires that the Kindle be rebooted every time it isdisconnected from the computer, for the changes to the collections to berecognized. As such, it is unlikely that any calibre developers will ever feelmotivated enough to support it. There is however, a calibre plugin that allowsyou to create collections on your Kindle from the calibre metadata. It isavailable from here.
Amazon have removed the ability to manipulate collections completelyin their newer models, like the Kindle Touch and Kindle Fire, making even theabove plugin useless, unless you root your Kindle and install custom firmware.
The Kobo has very buggy firmware. Connecting to it has been known to fail atrandom. Certain combinations of motherboard, USB ports/cables/hubs canexacerbate this tendency to fail. If you are getting an error when connectingto your touch with calibre try the following, each of which has solved theproblem for some calibre users.
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