Calibre 9.8 is now available, introducing several enhancements to the content server, ebook editor, AI support, text-to-speech functionality, and built-in news sources.
The most significant update is expanded AI provider support. Calibre now works with any local provider offering an OpenAI-compatible interface, allowing users greater flexibility when connecting to locally hosted AI services.
Error handling in AI conversations has also been improved. If an error occurs with an AI provider, Calibre now retains the conversation context, making the feature more reliable with local or experimental services.
Moreover, the content server now offers improved navigation for mobile users. In the /mobile view, book titles and covers are clickable, allowing direct access to book details on phones and other small devices.
The ebook editor now allows users to reset the preview panel zoom to 100% by right-clicking in the preview area. On macOS Tahoe, the Calibre app icon automatically adopts a darker appearance when dark mode is enabled.
On the bug fixes side, the native text-to-speech engine now normalizes text to NFKC, improving word tracking when spoken words use different Unicode normalization forms. Additionally, the update addresses a PIL issue that could cause exceptions when converting GIFs to PNGs during animation checks.
Finally, the app updates several built-in news sources, including Hacker News, The Atlantic, Scientific American, Mediapart, and The Hindu.
For more details and the full list of new features in Calibre 9.8, see the changelog. The update is already available for Windows, macOS, and Linux.
