Using Calibre



As the most popular eBook manager, Calibre is widely used in multiplatform such as Windows, Mac, and Linux. But for Android, instead of using the Calibre program directly, there are some Android apps for Calibre include Calibre Companion you can use. With the help of those Android apps designed for Calibre, you can sync, download and read the eBooks stored in Calibre Library easily. So if you are searching for a Calibre for Android app, you absolutely don't want to miss them. And here I will teach you how to manage Calibre eBooks with these Calibre Android Apps.


Preparing (What You Need) Calibre 5 and DeDRM plugin v7.1.0 (Or dedrm v6.8.1 for calibre 4). Calibre: The one stop solution for all your e-book needs. Comprehensive e-book software.

How to Use Calibre Companion to Sync, Download and Read Books

As the official recommended APP, Calibre Companion (CC) is your first choice of Calibre Android Apps. You can use it to sync Calibre Library, Send Calibre eBooks from computer to your phone, download Calibre eBooks to read. Following is the detailed guide about how to collect your phone with Calibre computer program and sync, manage, download and read eBooks.

STEP 1: Download & Install Necessary Programs

Download Calibre which suits with your computer system. Then install Calibre on your computer. Make sure you download the newest version.

Download Calibre Companion Apk from Google Play Store. And install it on your mobile phone.

Download an Android reader for use with Calibre: Moon+ Reader; FBReader (These two Android readers are recommended by CC officially.)

If you have an eBook reader which can be invoked from Calibre Companion, there is no need to install another one.

STEP 2: Setup Calibre on Computer

1. Launch Calibre on your PC. Click 'Connect/share' option on the navigation. Then click 'Start Content server' and 'Start wireless device connection' from the drop-down list.

2. Click 'Start wireless device connection' option will jump out of a window. Check 'Use a fixed port' option. Then click 'OK'.

3.Check if the content server is running. When click 'Connect/share' option again, you will find out that there is an IP address after each option.

Open that address after 'Stop Content server' on your computer which is running Calibre. You can use a browser such as Chrome or Firefox.

The IP address of content server like this: http://192.168.1.103:8080
Or you can open one of below address to check
http://127.0.0.1:8080
http://localhost:8080

After opening the address, when you see the Calibre Library, it means the content server is running normally. You can read and download eBooks in Calibre Library by the IP address.

4. Remember those two IP address. Here are my examples:
Content server: http://192.168.1.103:8080
Wireless device connection: http://192.168.1.103:9090

Using Calibre With Kobo

STEP 3: Setup Home Network Connection

This is the important step to connect Calibre with CC.

Be sure:
1. No Virtual Private Network (VPN) is running on your computer or phone.
2. The WiFi used by the phone is the same network as the computer.
3. The firewall or anti-virus allows 'The main calibre program' to communicate on the private network.

Kobo

For Windows 7:
Open the Control Panel of your computer. If you don't know where it is, you can search 'Control Panel' from the start menu. Find and click 'Windows Firewall'. Then click 'Allow a program or feature through Windows Firewall'. And find out 'The main calibre program' and check 'Home/Work (Private)'.

For Windows 10:
When you click 'Start Content server' option, it will pop up a 'Windows Security Alert' window. Check 'Private networks' and Click 'Allow access'.

STEP 4: Sync, Download and Read Books

Open Calibre Companion on your phone. Tap 'CONNECT'. Then choose 'as Wireless Device' or 'to Content Server' to connect with Calibre computer program or choose 'to Cloud' to connect with your cloud providers. Then sync and download the books.

Or tap 'Settings > Connecting to calibre'. Then choose 'Wireless device connecting', 'Content server connecting' or 'Cloud Connecting' to setup the connections. For wireless device connecting and content server connecting, you can type the IP address in Calibre computer program.

1. Connect Calibre Companion as Wireless Device
Right-click the books from Calibre computer program you want to send to your phone. Then choose 'Send to device > Send to main memory'. You will find that the books will appear in Calibre Companion. And there is a checkmark in the 'On Device' tag before the book in Calibre computer program you have sent.

2. Connect Calibre Companion to Content Server
Tap 'CONNECT > to Content Server'. Then the index of the content server will display. Choose any tag to check the books from Calibre Library. And tap any book to download or show the metadata. The books that have been in the Calibre Companion will be marked with 'On device' tag.

3. Connect Calibre Companion to Cloud
Tap 'Settings > Connecting to calibre > Cloud Connection > Cloud provider'. Then choose your cloud services. The books in your cloud providers will be synced in Calibre Companion.

4. Read Books with Android Readers
You can read the downloaded books in Calibre Companion with an android reader such as FBReader. Tap the book and then tap 'READ' option. Or long press the book and choose a reader to read.

How to Use Calibre Library APP to Sync, Download and Read Calibre Books

Calibre Library is another Android app designed for Calibre computer program. Compared with Calibre Companion, it's simpler and hooked with Calibre content server. You can use it to sync your books from Calibre computer library and download to read.

Step 1: Download & Install Calibre Library APP

Download Calibre Library App from Google Play. Then install it on your mobile phone.

Step 2: Set Server Address to Sync Calibre Books

Open Calibre Library APP on your phone. When the first time you use it, there will be a message to remind you to set the server address. Click 'OK'. Then type the IP address into the 'Server Address' option. This IP address is just the Calibre content server address. After that, your Calibre Library books will be synced.

Step 3: Download and Open Calibre Library Books

After the Calibre books synced, they will be wrapped by newest, title, authors and languages tags. Choose one tag to find all books. Then tap any book to download or open.

Above Android apps for Calibre are designed to help manage your books. Choose the one you like. Or if you have any other better choice, leave a comment to share with others.

Grace Sue A reading enthusiast. Always pay close attention to the world of Ebook. Devote myself to share everything about e-book and favorably receive any suggestions.

Calibre is an open source e-book library management application that enables you to manage your e-book collection, convert e-books between different formats, synchronize with popular e-book reader devices, and read your e-books with the included viewer.

It acts as an e-library and also allows for format conversion, news feeds to e-book conversion, as well as e-book reader sync features and an integrated e-book viewer.

Calibre's features include: library management; format conversion (all major ebook formats); syncing to e-book reader devices; fetching news from the Web and converting it into ebook form; viewing many different e-book formats, giving you access to your book collection over the internet using just a browser.

Calibre 5.14.0 new features:

  • Allow auto scrolling through the list of books by pressing the X key or right clicking on the cover browser. Closes tickets: 1917634

  • Useful to have a 'slideshow' of book covers. The speed of scrolling can be controlled in Preferences->Look & feel->Cover browser

  • E-book viewer: Speed up first time open for EPUB files with lots of styling

  • E-book viewer preferences: Allow searching for keyboard shortcuts

  • Edit book: Allow editing WEBP images

  • Various improvements to the template language, see https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=337573

  • E-book viewer: Show the current progress percentage in the bottom bar of the viewer controls. This can be customized in the viewer preferences under Headers and footers. Closes tickets: 1921610

  • E-book viewer: Add an option under Preferences->Miscellaneous to not restore open panels such as Search, Table of Contents etc on restart. Closes tickets: 1921689

  • When exporting highlights as text or markdown also output top level chapter titles

  • Allow downloading metadata from amazon.se. Closes tickets: 1922327

  • Preferences->Tweaks: Allow specifying that calibre should open the book details window when double clicking on a book. Closes tickets: 1922591

  • MOBI Output: Convert WebP images to PNG so they work with Amazon's software. Closes tickets: 1922341

  • DOCX Input: When converting embedded fonts, replace spaces in the filename with underscores to keep the execrable epubcheck happy. Closes tickets: 1921793

  • E-book viewer: Selection bar: Add keyboard shortcuts for all buttons. Hover over a button in the bar to see the shortcut

Bug fixes:

tag, as it is pointless and causes the execrable epubcheck to complain. Closes tickets: 1922570

  • FB2 Output: Fix a regression in calibre 5 that caused paragraphs containing only non-breaking spaces to be removed. Closes tickets: 1924232

  • Metadata comments editor: Fix setting block alignment destroying other block level properties. Closes tickets: 1924187

  • E-book viewer: Fix margins not being adjusted immediately when preferences are changed

  • Edit book: Upgrade book internals: Fix skipping the NCX removal dialog not remembering the chosen option. Closes tickets: 1921604

  • Conversion: When specifying a line-height do not apply it to the

  • E-book viewer: Improve scrolling behavior when extending the selection using keyboard shortcuts

  • E-book viewer: Fix read percent for HTML files that are rendered in a single screen being 0% rather than 100%

  • E-book viewer: Highlights panel: Do not expand all sections when adding/deleting/modifying highlights. Closes tickets: 1924598

  • CHM Input: Fix a regression in calibre 5.0 that broke opening of some files that dont specify a character encoding. Closes tickets: 1922503

  • EPUB2 metadata: Read ISBNs in identifier elements without schemes if they are valid ISBNs and no properly identified isbns are present

  • Update Amazon metadata plugin for changes to amazon websites. Closes tickets: 1922309

  • Edit book: Fix detection of class names containing hyphens/underscores

New news sources:

  • Los Danieles – Columnas sin techo by CAVALENCIA

Improved news sources:

  • New Scientist

  • Irish Times

  • 1843

  • The Straits Times

Calibre 5.16.1 fixes:

Using Calibre With Kindle Paperwhite

  • CHM Input: Fix handling of some CHM files that use non-ASCII internal filenames and dont specify a character encoding in their metadata. Closes tickets: 1924703
  • Fix a regression in the previous release that prevented calibre from starting if there was a failure in a third party plugin. Closes tickets: 1924824
  • Content server viewer: Fix a regression in the previous that broke handling of URLs in stylesheets
  • Fix a regression in the previous release that broke changing sections in the convert single book dialog after changing the input or output formats. Closes tickets: 1924767
  • Fix using 'is set' rules not working for column rules with rating values. Closes tickets: 1924675
  • E-book viewer: Fix a regression in 5.15 that causes the viewer to ignore page-break CSS properties (in 5.16.1)

  • Fix a regression that broke using stored templates (in 5.16.1)

  • Fix auto scroll books shortcut not working in standalone cover browser window (in 5.16.1). Closes tickets: 1924875

  • E-book viewer: Fix jumping to previous section sometimes not working in flow mode (in 5.16.1). Closes tickets: 1924890

  • E-book viewer: Fix a regression in 5.15 that broke changing keyboard shortcuts in the viewer preferences (in 5.16.1). Closes tickets: 1924853

  • E-book viewer: Fix a regression in 5.15 that broke using the delete key to delete highlights (in 5.16.1)

New news sources

  • The Saturday paper by Alistair Francis

  • Crikey by Alistair Francis

Improved news sources

  • Granta
  • New Scientist

Using Calibre With Kindle

Download: Calibre 5.16.1 for Windows | Portable | Windows 64-bit | ~100.0 MB (Open Source)
Download: Calibre 5.16.1 for MacOS | 144.0 MB
Download: Calibre 5.16.1 for Linux
View: Calibre Home Page | Calibre Screenshot

Using Calibre For Ebook

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