How to get Kindle to display edited/new PDF Metadata of old deleted files...?

[9lil6]

Please help me get kindle to stop displaying information from deleted files that have been re-uploaded with changes.

So...I bought a few ebooks online in pdf format and transferred them to my Kindle. When I go to read them, I notice that for some of them, the author's name is either incorrect or doesn't show up at all. So I deleted the files from my kindle, upload them into my PDF editor, input in the author's name into the file, save the change, and reupload them to my Kindle.

Only... kindle just keep displaying the info from the previous file that I deleted. For Instance, one of my books is called "My Antonia" a novel by Willa Cather. But the author's name was C.M. Korne (o.O). So I deleted it from my kindle, and edited the file on my computer. Afterwards, I upload it to my kindle under the same file name. And for some reason, the info from previous file will show up again.

The only way to get kindle to display the changes I made is if I change the name of the new file to something else like "My Antonia 1" or something like that. Else, Kindle will keep showing the same old file I deleted before. Why does it do this? Why does it retain info from files that I already deleted... and how can I get it to stop? I don't want to have to keep renaming my books with a "1" or "2" at the end, but it drives me nuts seeing the incorrect or missing name on books. Please help me. T_T

[Linjeakel]

Welcome to Kindleboards, 9lil6!

I'm not familiar with using .pdfs on a Kindle but with regular ebooks, the part of the file that the Kindle uses to display the title and author is in the metadata - is that what you're editing? A lot of folk around here use a program called Calibre for editing the metadata and that seems to work very well, so worth a try as it's free.

.....

I just did a quick search on the boards here and the only other time I could see this question being asked, the advice was to try using Calibre, which apparently worked, so give it a go!

Let us know how you get on.

[9lil6]

Welcome to Kindleboards, 9lil6!

I'm not familiar with using .pdfs on a Kindle but with regular ebooks, the part of the file that the Kindle uses to display the title and author is in the metadata - is that what you're editing? A lot of folk around here use a program called Calibre for editing the metadata and that seems to work very well, so worth a try as it's free.

.....

I just did a quick search on the boards here and the only other time I could see this question being asked, the advice was to try using Calibre, which apparently worked, so give it a go!

Let us know how you get on.

Thank you for the kind welcome! ^^
And yes, it is the metadata that I am editing. But the problem is not that. I have Calibre and a few other pdf editing tools that allow me to edit the metadata just fine. The problem is getting kindle to read the new metadata and to stop displaying the old one when I upload the file again under the same name. I find that the only way to get Kindle to display the new metadata is by changing the file name as well, and I hate having to do that. I want to be able to keep the original book title, and have it display the correct author's name. I've looked everywhere but no one seems to know how to do this.

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Another thing is... I don't know if I'm having this problem because my particular kindle is defective, or if this is a problem with all kindle. Could someone try it out with their kindle to see if the same problem comes up for you guy? Just....upload a pdf file into your kindle, then delete it from the device....change the metadata with Calibre to display a different author's name, then re-upload the file onto your kindle under the same file name as before. See if your kindle will display the edited info for that file. If it does... it probably means that it's just my kindle that's messed up.

[SusanCassidy]

I don't see how it can be the Kindle.  If a book is deleted from the Kindle and/or replaced by another file, the Kindle can only read that file, not the file that used to be there.  Probably you missed a step using Calibre, or something similar.  You might ask on the Calibre forum on mobileread: http://www.mobileread.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=166

[Morf]

How are you deleting the book from your Kindle?

If you've been deleting it from your PC, make sure you delete the .pdr file that is created as well as the .pdf itself - in fact, delete anything with the same name. It could be (guesswork only) that the author information is being stored in this file.

Try deleting both from the Kindle itself and from your PC to see if that makes any difference.

Also, how are you getting the book to your Kindle? Are you copying on your PC or sending as a personal document (by email to your free.kindle.com account)? Try both and see if that makes a difference.

[9lil6]

How are you deleting the book from your Kindle?

If you've been deleting it from your PC, make sure you delete the .pdr file that is created as well as the .pdf itself - in fact, delete anything with the same name. It could be (guesswork only) that the author information is being stored in this file.

Try deleting both from the Kindle itself and from your PC to see if that makes any difference.

Also, how are you getting the book to your Kindle? Are you copying on your PC or sending as a personal document (by email to your free.kindle.com account)? Try both and see if that makes a difference.

I've tried deleting both ways...using Kindle's option to "remove from device" as well as opening the folder on my PC and deleting the file from there (both pdf and pdr)

And it doesn't seem to matter how I get the file onto Kindle. As long as it's under the same file name, Kindle will display the old metadata from the deleted file.

[9lil6]

I don't see how it can be the Kindle.  If a book is deleted from the Kindle and/or replaced by another file, the Kindle can only read that file, not the file that used to be there.  Probably you missed a step using Calibre, or something similar.  You might ask on the Calibre forum on mobileread: http://www.mobileread.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=166

Nah, it's the kindle. I found some people who have the same problem I do with the PDF files and Kindle not reading the updated metadata:

http://www.bloovis.com/wordpress/?p=113

"If you transfer a PDF file to the Kindle, then discover that you need to change the metadata, you’ll need to delete the old file on the Kindle, then rename the updated file (changing or adding one letter is enough) before copying it to the Kindle. Otherwise, the Kindle will continue to use the old, incorrect metadata; apparently it stores this information in a separate index keyed by filename, and doesn’t delete or update that information when you update the file"

http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=97055

If you changed the metadata, you need to restart your Kindle, this refreshes the "library"

Also, Kindle seems to have a problem with metadata in some PDF files. It helps to resave the PDF with other compatibility settings. If you have Adobe Acrobat, you can do this by going into the (translated from my German version) Extended/Advanced menu -> PDF Optimization -> set it to compatibility with Acrobat 5.0 and higher. Don't forget to deselect everything else you see in the window, like picture and font settings, as they could decrease the quality. Then save the PDF. After a Kindle restart, the metadata should be correct.

Note that Kindle (don't know about Kindle 3 yet, but 2 and DX act like this) don't show the metadata-title, but the filename instead. Kindle does read the metadata (as it puts the title on the Info Page of the file) but only displays the filename in your booklist.

So apparently, Kindle stores the metadata in an index by filename and won't update by itself when the metadata changes. I'd have to reset Kindle after reuploading the new file in order for the updated metadata to come into effect.

Thanks for helping me, guys. ^^
Hope the information above will help anyone who runs into the same problem I did.

[Morf]

Interesting, well spotted - you learn something new every day!

Does restarting the Kindle solve the problem? This would only take a few moments (Home, Menu, Settings, Menu, Restart) and would not do any harm - it's not like "reset to factory defaults".

Seems a lot easier than having to rename the file each time.

[9lil6]

Starting the kindle seems to work for some files, but not others. I'm gonna try to optimize the remaining pdfs like that guy said and see if that will help. But yeah, this restarting the kindle works. ^^

[tiyarosa]

Hi,

I'm having the same issues. I have the Kindle 4 (the cheapest one) and I've changed my PDF ebooks to mobi using Calibre. I also changed the metadata on those books since the author and the title are interchanged. The changes in title and author are fine when i view the files in my PC - while the device is connected - but no changes in the device itself. Same file names as before.

I've tried deleting all the files I have in my kindle, hard rebooting the device, and pasted all my files - with the new titles - again after the reboot, but the device still shows the old file names.

Has anybody found another way that can get the device to show the changes? Spent too much time on the editing already.

[shalym]

Hi,

I'm having the same issues. I have the Kindle 4 (the cheapest one) and I've changed my PDF ebooks to mobi using Calibre. I also changed the metadata on those books since the author and the title are interchanged. The changes in title and author are fine when i view the files in my PC - while the device is connected - but no changes in the device itself. Same file names as before.

I've tried deleting all the files I have in my kindle, hard rebooting the device, and pasted all my files - with the new titles - again after the reboot, but the device still shows the old file names.

Has anybody found another way that can get the device to show the changes? Spent too much time on the editing already.

Are you sending the files to your Kindle from Calibre?  or are you just dragging and dropping from the original directory?  If I remember correctly, Calibre creates it's own copies of the files in it's own directory.  I think there is somewhere within the program to find the path to the book files that Calibre creates, but it's easier to do if you just plug the Kindle in while you are using Calibre, let the program find your Kindle, then send the book from there.

Shari

[tiyarosa]

Thanks Shari!

I actually did a combination of the two suggestions here. One was adding a number to the name of the book - I used the year it was released - and using the Move to Device button on Calibre. I haven't tried using one or the either, though, so wouldn't know if it's the addition of the numbers that's making the change or the moving of the edited file straight from Calibre to my Kindle. Will try and find out and post it here when I get the chance to check.

Thanks!