CaliMob Help — Troubleshooting & Support

My cloud folders appear empty

CaliMob connects to Calibre library folders — directories that contain a metadata.db file created by Calibre on your desktop. When you browse Drive or Dropbox in CaliMob, it shows Calibre-structured directories, not individual files.

Solution:

• Make sure your Calibre library folder (the one with metadata.db) is uploaded to your cloud storage
• In CaliMob, navigate to that folder and select it
• To browse and open individual files from Drive/Dropbox, use Local storage from the Add Library screen instead

How do I import books from my device?

From the home screen, tap Add Library → Local storage. Pick individual files (EPUB, PDF, CBZ, etc.) or select a folder. You can also share files to CaliMob from any file manager or app.

Books are not downloading

If downloads fail or stay at 0%:

• Check your internet connection
• Verify the cloud storage (Drive, Dropbox, etc.) is still authorized — re-authenticate if needed
• For large libraries, the initial sync may take a few minutes
• If using WebDAV or FTP, verify the server URL and credentials

Covers are not showing

Cover images are downloaded separately from book files. On first sync, covers may take a moment to appear. If covers remain missing:

• Pull down to refresh on the library screen
• Check that covers exist in your Calibre library on desktop
• For OPDS sources, cover availability depends on the catalog server

Text is too small or too large

Tap the center of the screen while reading to open the toolbar, then tap the Aa icon. You can adjust font size, font family, margins, and line spacing.

Text-to-speech stops or skips

TTS uses your device’s built-in speech engine. If it stops unexpectedly:

• Check that a TTS engine is installed in your device Settings → Accessibility → Text-to-speech
• Try a different TTS voice or language
• Some complex EPUB layouts may cause the TTS to skip sections

How does sync work?

CaliMob supports two sync methods:

• Cloud folder sync (Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, WebDAV, FTP) — reads your Calibre library structure directly from the cloud
• Plugin sync — the CaliMob Calibre plugin pushes changes bidirectionally between desktop and mobile. Install it from Calibre’s Plugin Manager

Both methods keep your metadata, covers, reading progress, and annotations in sync.

Sync is not completing

If sync seems stuck or doesn’t finish:

• Ensure CaliMob has a stable internet connection
• For plugin sync, check that the plugin is running and connected in Calibre
• Large libraries (10,000+ books) may take longer on first sync
• Try closing and reopening CaliMob

A book’s CaliWeb backup is paused or unavailable

This is not an error — it happens when your library has grown past your current plan’s limit (a subscription lapsed, or you downgraded). Instead of deleting anything, CaliWeb pauses the backup for the newest overspill:

• Those books still appear in your library — nothing is deleted
• Books from your own source (Dropbox, a drive, your device) keep opening and reading normally
• Only books whose sole copy is CaliWeb itself become unavailable to download
• Freezing always starts with your most recent additions; your highlights and notes are never affected
• Re-subscribing to a plan that fits re-activates everything automatically — nothing to click
• You can export a library’s details (CSV/JSON) from the website at any time

Library Health says it couldn’t check my files — is something broken?

No. Library Health (in CaliMob: open a library → Settings → Library Health) checks two different things — your catalogue (titles, authors, languages, duplicates, leftovers) and your actual files. The catalogue checks always run. Whether the file checks can run depends on where the library comes from:

• On-device library — the storage is right there, so every check runs.
• Cloud drive (Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, Box, WebDAV, FTP) — files are checked against the list the service itself reports. If the service can’t be reached at that moment, the file checks are skipped and trying again later usually clears it.
• Calibre Content Server, OPDS, wireless Calibre — these connections never publish a list of the files behind them, so the file checks cannot be performed at all. The app skips them and says so.

The band across the top of the screen currently speaks of a check having “failed” and asks whether you’re offline. On a Calibre server, OPDS or wireless library that wording is misleading: nothing failed, and retrying will not help — read it as “this cannot be checked from this kind of library”. The app would rather skip a check than declare your whole library missing on no evidence.

Why is my health score a dash instead of a number?

A dash (—) labelled Unknown means the check did not cover the whole library, so no honest score can be given — the file checks were skipped, the scan was stopped, or too many folders could not be read. The findings listed underneath are still real; only the single summary number is withheld.

When there is a score, it is the share of your books with nothing wrong — counted per book, not per problem, so a book with three faults still counts once.

Is it safe to let Library Health delete a folder or merge duplicates?

Both of those actions really do delete, and both ask first. Read the confirmation:

• Delete a leftover folder — the folder of a book you already deleted. The dialog names the folder and warns that it and everything inside it will be removed permanently, with no undo. It is offered only on libraries stored on the device, where the app can see the real files. On a cloud library, a folder that looks abandoned is usually just a book you have not downloaded yet, so the option is not offered at all.
• Merge duplicates — the copies you do not keep are deleted. This has its own confirmation on the duplicates screen, and is available on any library type.

Everything else is safe. Most entries simply tell you what is wrong, or open the book’s editor so you can correct it by hand, and the one-tap “cover flag” repair changes the catalogue record only — your files are not touched. After any repair, the check runs again by itself.

Can I ask a book questions from inside Calibre?

Yes. With the CaliMob plugin installed in Calibre on your computer, select a book, open the plugin’s menu and choose Ask this book. The conversation window opens right there, next to the library you were already browsing — no need to go to the website.

It works on one book at a time. The menu entry stays greyed out when nothing is selected, or when you have selected several, and hovering over it says which of the two it is. It is also greyed out for a book that has not been synced to CaliWeb yet: Cali has to have heard of the book before it can read it, so sync it first and the entry wakes up.

Everything else behaves as it does on the website, because it is the same thing — the same account, the same credits, the same one-off indexing the first time you ask about a book. Nothing costs less, or more, for happening on your desktop.

One place the window is deliberately talkative: if CaliWeb does not have the book’s file yet, it will not quietly send it. You get a panel that spells out what is about to happen — the file goes to your CaliWeb space, then its index is computed — with the estimated cost in credits and an Allow and prepare button. Nothing leaves your computer until you press it.

How do I know an AI answer is not made up?

Open Passages cited under the reply. An answer about one of your books is built from real passages of that book, and this is where you see them — the exact quotes it leaned on, each marked with roughly where it sits in the book (a page marker and how far in it is, as a percentage).

Read the quotes against the answer. If they say what the answer said, you can trust it. If they don’t quite match, you have caught the AI stretching — and you already know which part of the book to go and check for yourself.

A reply with no passages listed is not a fault: it means the question was answered without leaning on one specific quote, which is normal for general or summarising questions.

Cali AI knows nothing about one of my libraries

A library you keep on the device itself, or reach straight from Calibre at home, is invisible to CaliWeb — so the assistant has nothing to answer with. Each library has its own switch for this: open the library, go into its settings, and turn on Make available to Cali AI. The line under the switch is the whole deal: “Send titles, authors, tags and reading state to use AI with this library.”

It is off until you turn it on, nothing is ever sent by itself, and you decide shelf by shelf — share the novels, leave the work PDFs out of it. What travels is the catalogue, not the books: titles, authors, series, tags, the blurb, your rating, whether it is a favourite, the format, and how far through it you are. The book files themselves are not uploaded by this switch. The built-in demo library has no such switch, because it is a read-only sample shelf that is not yours to share.

While the handover runs the line reads Sending…. If it cannot finish, the switch goes back off rather than pretending, and tells you why — you have not opted in to AI yet, you need to sign in to CaliWeb again, CaliWeb is not connected, or only part of the shelf arrived and the rest will be retried. A switch that shows on always means the library really did arrive.

Can I keep a passage the AI quoted?

Yes. Under Passages cited, each quote has a Save as note button that files it with that book’s notes, alongside your own highlights and jottings. The button then reads Saved, so after a long answer you can see which quotes you have already kept. If the save fails you are told plainly — “Couldn’t save this passage. Please try again.” — and the button stays as it was so you can try again.

The note appears in the book’s notes view with everything else, carrying the page and how far into the book the quote sits. One honest limit for now: the note is a record of the passage, not a doorway back to it — opening the note will not jump you into the book. Use Go to passage from the chat for that.

“Go to passage” doesn’t land on the quote — is it broken?

No — it is meant to be approximate, and the app says so right under the button: “Opens the reader near this passage — not exact.” The jump is worked out from how far through the book the passage sits, as a percentage, not from an exact position on an exact line. Sometimes you land on the very paragraph; often you open half a page early or late and need a glance up or down to find the sentence. Treat it as a lift to the right neighbourhood, not a pin on the doorstep.

The button also needs the book to be on the device you are asking from. If you have never opened that book on this phone or tablet, tapping it tells you so — “Open this book on this device first to jump to a passage.” — instead of opening nothing.

Does CaliMob access my personal data?

No. CaliMob does not collect, store, or transmit any personal data from your library. Your books, reading history, highlights, and notes stay entirely on your device. We have no analytics, no tracking, and no telemetry.

Read our full privacy policy.

What cloud permissions does CaliMob need?

CaliMob requests read-only access to the specific folder you select in Drive or Dropbox. It does not access any other files or folders on your cloud storage. You can revoke access at any time from your Google or Dropbox account settings.

Can’t find what you’re looking for? We’re happy to help.

• Email: [email protected] — we typically respond within 48 hours
• FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions
• Getting Started: Step-by-step setup guide