Hi guys - thanks to you all for taking the time to reply!
Taking the comments in order:
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Goldilocks... I'm relatively inexperienced using Calibre myself - not because I haven't used it much (I have) but because I've never needed to dig into the finer points of the program - it usually works so well!
Your observations on the first set of caps are quite right...
The first capture is indeed Calibre showing that believes that 'The Book Thief' has no available formats.
The second cap is of the original folder containing 'The Book Thief' confirming it a proper .mobi book.
The third cap (and you are right again) is the book correctly opening in the viewer.
Having (I hope) confirmed that I am doing nothing too daft, I am still left wondering why this among many other books - didn't import properly into Calibre?
BTW I took your suggestion and added the metadata manually via the 'add format to this book' button which corrected the problem as shown in the screen caps below.
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TheDucks... Thanks - I now understand the 2 parts of the validate data check. It was the 'compare what is stored to what is found' that found so many data mismatches.
I can confirm that I have done nothing to the original source folder (i.e nothing changed, deleted or moved) since the original 'add books' (btw using the third option - multiple books per directory).
I'm as baffled as you... "Screen 3 is OMG what did you do to get that many data mismatches?" Honestly I have no idea - and that's why I joined this excellent forum!
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Itimpi... (And btw do I recognise that nick in connection with Network services?)
Thanks for the suggestion about copy / delete and see what remains - I will try that over the wekend.
I was also considering just deleting the 'no available formats' books and then asking calibre to 'add books' again to see if it picks up the errors. Do you think this would work?
In any event I'll be sure to post the results.
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Also guys I'm still unsure why the 'fix marked' button is greyed out...
[From Calibri] Fix marked is applicable only to covers and missing formats... In the case of missing formats checking the fixable box and pushing the button will tell calibre that the formats are really gone. Use this if you are not going to restore from a backup.
Thanks again y'all - the time you have spent answering my call for help is appreciated.
Alcohol (That's ALlan COmes from HOLYwell for those wondering if I have a drinking problem lol)