Long path issue when opening library in Win8

[bowbow]

I created my books' library in Ubuntu 12.10. I switched to Win 8 recently however.

I thus copied my whole library folder to my new machine. I then switched to this library in my uptodate Calibre.

Many books don't open ("No file available") and when I right-click and "Go to folder", I see two folders: one with the metadata and the cover. And one with the ebook. However, I cannot open that file, because I just get an "File path too long"-error.

I guess the file length limitation within Windows is the problem. But how to solve it? I may open the library in a Ubuntu VM, but how to get the filenames shorter permanently?

Find attached two example screenshots:

[kovidgoyal]

shorten the titles, move to windows and lengthen them again.

[bowbow]

Ok, does it mean I have to shorten them in Ubuntu manually? Isn't there any way to get this done automatically, i.e. plugin or search mechanism. I don't even know which of my books are affected. I just get the problem when trying to open.

Ain't there a possibility to prevent that problem when entering the data?

[itimpi]

What path are you using for your library in Windows? You might just need to move the library to a new location to get a shorter path name.

[bowbow]

Well, I zipped it in Ubuntu and extracted to top-level, i.e. C:\PDF\ - still, it holds too long filenames.

I may find them manually and rename them, but I wonder how to prevent further problems.

[kovidgoyal]

Originally Posted by bowbow

Ain't there a possibility to prevent that problem when entering the data?

Enter the data in windows.

And if you want to search for long titles use a regex search:

title:~.{40,}

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by bowbow

Many books don't open ("No file available") and when I right-click and "Go to folder", I see two folders: one with the metadata and the cover. And one with the ebook. [/IMG]

1. In my experience on XP, Win7 and Win 8, Calibre keeps the book files (PDF, EPUB, MOBI etc) AND the cover picture (cover.jpg) AND the book metadata file (metadata.opf) in the same folder - and I think that's also true on Mint.
   
2. You have two folders - with the same "book-id" - 1419. One with a longish name and one with a shorter name. Why would that be?

Are there two folders for book-id 1419 on the Ubuntu system - or did this come about when you migrated the library to Win8?

Did you 'clean up' the library before you migrated it with the Check Library features ?

BR

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

You have two folders - with the same "book-id" - 1419. One with a longish name and one with a shorter name. Why would that be?

I'm guessing when he switched to the library blank folders were created where calibre didn't see what it expected. So the dupe folders are accessible but don't have the books in them, placeholders if you will.

He needs to go back to the original plalform. Find the books in calibre with long titles and shorten them. Then move the library to Windows 8 at which point he can go ahead and change the titles back to what they were before.

[bowbow]

Ok, as my library was not too big, I searched for potential problems manually. I opened the two folders, renamed the file that was too long with 7 Zips file manager (what a nice tool for that problem!) and imported the shorter files again.

Problem solved, but when importing my papers and getting metadata automatically again, I will be a lot more sensitive concerning length of title...

Thanks everyone!

[Adoby]

Is this a case where differences beween different platforms becomes visible?

On Windows, does Calibre automatically create shorter names for folders and files in the library? And use longer names on Linux?

[kovidgoyal]

Originally Posted by Adoby

On Windows, does Calibre automatically create shorter names for folders and files in the library? And use longer names on Linux?

yes .