diff --git a/app/src/main/java/net/bible/service/sword/epub/EpubBackendState.kt b/app/src/main/java/net/bible/service/sword/epub/EpubBackendState.kt
index 27dcb152c0..1d5d53aa42 100644
--- a/app/src/main/java/net/bible/service/sword/epub/EpubBackendState.kt
+++ b/app/src/main/java/net/bible/service/sword/epub/EpubBackendState.kt
@@ -187,7 +187,7 @@ class EpubBackendState(private val epubDir: File): OpenFileState {
     val keys: List<Key> get() = dao.fragments().map { getKey(it) }
 
     internal val fragDir get() = File(epubDir,  "optimized")
-
+    internal val versionFile = File(fragDir, "version.txt")
     internal val optimizeLockFile = File(epubDir, "optimize.lock")
 
     private val epubDbFilename = "optimized.sqlite3.gz"
@@ -223,12 +223,14 @@ class EpubBackendState(private val epubDir: File): OpenFileState {
             val description = queryMetadata("description")?: epubDir.name //TODO: should de-encode html stuff
             val abbreviation = title //.slice(0 .. min(5, title.length - 1))
             val language = queryMetadata("language") ?: "en"
+            val optimizerVersion = try { String(versionFile.readBytes()).toLong() } catch (e: Exception) {1}
             val conf = getConfig(
                 initials = initials,
                 abbreviation = abbreviation,
                 description = title,
                 about = description,
                 language = language,
+                version = optimizerVersion,
                 path = epubDir.toRelativeString(SharedConstants.modulesDir)
             )
             Log.i(TAG, "Creating EpubBook metadata $initials, $description $language")
diff --git a/app/src/main/java/net/bible/service/sword/epub/EpubBook.kt b/app/src/main/java/net/bible/service/sword/epub/EpubBook.kt
index 9cbccb9016..50fa9937be 100644
--- a/app/src/main/java/net/bible/service/sword/epub/EpubBook.kt
+++ b/app/src/main/java/net/bible/service/sword/epub/EpubBook.kt
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@ fun getConfig(
     abbreviation: String,
     description: String,
     language: String,
+    version: Long,
     about: String,
     path: String,
 ): String = """
@@ -60,7 +61,7 @@ Category=${BookCategory.GENERAL_BOOK.name}
 AndBibleEpubModule=1
 AndBibleEpubDir=$path
 Lang=$language
-Version=0.0
+Version=$version
 Encoding=UTF-8
 SourceType=OSIS
 ModDrv=RawGenBook
diff --git a/app/src/main/java/net/bible/service/sword/epub/EpubOptimization.kt b/app/src/main/java/net/bible/service/sword/epub/EpubOptimization.kt
index 44a9a70312..a2b52d376a 100644
--- a/app/src/main/java/net/bible/service/sword/epub/EpubOptimization.kt
+++ b/app/src/main/java/net/bible/service/sword/epub/EpubOptimization.kt
@@ -262,7 +262,6 @@ fun EpubBackendState.optimizeEpub() {
         }
         fileForOriginalId(k)?.delete()
     }
-    val versionFile = File(fragDir, "version.txt")
     versionFile.outputStream().use {
         it.write("$EPUB_OPTIMIZER_VERSION".toByteArray())
     }