The Calibre Documents Provider provides access to your calibre Content Server so that books are exposed in a standard way on the Android platform allowing applications, including the Android Files file explorer and eLibrary Manager, to integrate with book files as a standard data source.

This application must establish a connection with your calibre Content Server, so you need to identify the URL for the content server and any user credentials defined, if you control access in that way. Note: Any credentials managed by Calibre Documents Provider are stored securely as encrypted data in application private storage.

You can also control certain network connection and application behaviours through settings for things like timeouts and page size, for example.

Server Settings

Server URL

The "Server URL" setting identifies the location of your calibre Content Server. This is a required setting. If you are accessing your server over a local private network (the normal case), it may look something like http://192.168.0.12:8080

Refresh Period

Calibre Documents Provider caches certain file metadata information (e.g. names, timestamps, etc.) to avoid excessive network interaction. The "Refresh Period" setting is the time period over which that cached data is assumed to be accurate. Once the age of data exceeds this setting value, a network query checks for updates. The default value is one day.

Note: Integrating applications like the Android Files app or eLibrary Manager can force an explicit refresh based on a user request, if you wish to expedite the data refresh.

Connect Timeout

The "Connect Timeout" setting controls the time to wait for establishing a connection to your calibre Content Server. The default value is 10 seconds.

Read Timeout

The "Read Timeout" setting controls the time to wait for retrieving file content (e.g. when streaming) before giving up because the server is no longer responding. The default value is 30 seconds.

Page Size

The "Page Size" setting controls the size of the data chunks that the application uses when refreshing calibre Content Server library data over the network. The default value is 30 (i.e. the number of books/authors/tags that are refreshed in a single network call).

Enable dynamic theming

Personalize the Calibre Documents Provider colour theme based on your wallpaper selection. When this setting is enabled, the colour scheme adopted reflects the main colours available in your home screen wallpaper, or based on the colour scheme you select in the "Wallpaper and Style" Android setting.

Note: This feature is only available in Android 12 and greater.

Force display in English

By default, the language used in Calibre Documents Provider is inherited from the language set for the device. Use the "Force display in English" setting to override the application language to always be English, regardless of the device language.

Disable automatic refresh

The "Disable automatic refresh" setting disables automatic refresh of book file metadata from the calibre Content Server, based on the Refresh Period configured. When automatic refresh is enabled, Calibre Documents Provider schedules a refresh action with the Android operating system when cached book data is older than the refresh period and needs to be synchronized with the server to ensure it is current. Timing of the operation may vary depending on system conditions as Android ensures that the action will be performed when the system is idle, and in co-ordination with other background tasks to optimize battery life. Disable automatic refresh if you wish to explicitly control that activity manually. By default, this setting is disabled (i.e. automatic refresh is enabled).

Refresh when connected to network over Data

The "Refresh when connected to network over Data" setting enables automatic refresh when using cellular data to access the network. By default, this setting is disabled, meaning automatic refresh will execute only when connected over wi-fi or ethernet. This setting has no impact if automatic refresh is disabled.

Access network over WiFi and Ethernet only

The "Access network over WiFi and Ethernet only" setting controls whether or not queries to your calibre Content Server are performed when that interaction will use mobile cellular data. When enabled, queries over the network will only occur when performed over WiFi or (for ChromeOS users) Ethernet, thus preventing mobile data use. By default this setting is enabled.

Important Note: If you enable access using mobile cellular data, be aware that scanning and reading remote book files can use significant amounts of data since those actions involve streaming book content. Also, this application is primarily intended for access to your calibre Content Server in a private local network. If you are accessing the Content Server over the internet, then be aware that book streaming will count against internet data limits as well.

Credentials

You can control access to your calibre Content Server by requiring that users authenticate with a user name and password. The server may be configured to use either basic or digest authentication.

User Name

The "User Name" setting identifies the user name, if required for authentication with your calibre Content Server. If authentication is not required, this setting can remain unset.

Password

The "Password" setting identifies the password, if required for authentication with your calibre Content Server. If authentication is not required, this setting can remain unset. Note: This setting value, when defined, is stored securely as encrypted data in application private storage.