Adding files to a book's folder?

[JuanDescole]

Hello everyone!

I have been using Calibre to sort my eBook collection and so far I have been very happy with it. However, I have some books that include external files.

To be more specific, some of my programming books includes sample code as separate files, and normally, these were kept on a folder in the same directory the EBook resides.

I have checked the official manual and FAQ, and so far I have understood that the folder structure in my Calibre library is something I must not mess with. So, just putting the sample code files inside the folder that Calibre created is not an option.

What can I do? According to the FAQ:

If you want to add a file associated to a particular book, use the top right area of Edit metadata dialog to do so. Then, calibre will automatically put that file into the correct folder and move it around when the title/author changes.

However, when I try to do that, it only lets me add ONE file. Is there any way to handle this issue?

[mdb5972]

Idea:

ZIP/RAR them up and add them that way...

[BetterRed]

In Windows - create a shortcut to the source code folder - rename it so that it has EXACTLY the same name as the book has in the Calibre Library, e.g. "Fred Bloggs - Programming in Binary.lnk"

Configure Add Books to Automerge new formats

Now add the shortcut as you normally would. It will appear as a LNK file in the relevant Book Details panel. If you click on the LNK format in the Book Details panel your source code folder will open in Windows Explorer.

I'm not sure if support for LNK files is documented anywhere. I looked but didn't find it - but...

OS/X Alias files are similar to Windows shortcut files
Linux Softlinks are vaguely similar to Windows shortcut files.

If OS/X Alias and/or Linux Softlinks don't work, then you can put a hyperlink to the folder in the Comments or in a Custom Column of type Long Text. Of course you can also do that in Windows if you prefer.

BR

[JuanDescole]

@BetterRed: Your idea looked very good, but after trying... It doesn't work. Calibre doesn't let me add .lnk files. When I try to do so, it "opens" the shortcut, taking me to the folder it points to. I have tried other ways to add it, and it seems impossible... It doesn't treat the .lnk as a file.

[calvin-c]

Despite the warning you *can* add files to the book's folder-but Calibre will ignore them. For the example you cite I'd say your best option would be to edit the HTML/ePub so the book links properly to the sample files. You'd need to copy the sample files manually though, keeping them in the same relative position vis-a-vis the book (e.g. in the same folder). You'd also need to know some HTML-please note that I'm *not* recommending this as it's easy to mess things up when editing generated HTML, but it certainly is possible.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by JuanDescole

@BetterRed: Your idea looked very good, but after trying... It doesn't work. Calibre doesn't let me add .lnk files. When I try to do so, it "opens" the shortcut, taking me to the folder it points to. I have tried other ways to add it, and it seems impossible... It doesn't treat the .lnk as a file.

@JuanDescole - I believe it does work, it's my probably explanation that doesn't work.

My 'methods' do NOT put the extra material (source code, videos etc) into the book folder created by Calibre.

The method I suggested provides the means to access the extra material from within the Calibre program via the use of Shortcut (.lnk) files. The material itself must be stored and managed outside of the Calibre Library folders. Calibre is only aware of the .lnk file, it is NOT aware of whatever the .lnk file is targeting - Windows takes care of that.

In Capture1 you see the Add books settings - I've underlined the critical setting. And you also see two explorer windows

The one on the left is the Calibre's book folder for "Program in KDF 9 ..." - I used the "click to open" link in Book Details to open the explorer window - I need to open it that so that I can copy the file name of the ebook into the clipboard.

The one on the right is a Test Links folder I created - the source code etc is in the folder "Auto Coder Samples", I created a shortcut to that folder and renamed it "Program in KDF 9 Autocoder - Fred Bloggs.lnk" - by pasting the file name I copied into the clipboard from the book folder - this ensures it's EXACTLY the same.

In Capture2 I've drag/dropped the Program in KDF 9 Autocoder - Fred Bloggs.lnk file from the Test Links folder into the main Calibre book list area. Calibre pops a message telling me about the 'duplicate' book and how it's merged it according to the Add Books settings - I click OK

In Capture3 you see the results - the Book folder has a copy of the shortcut file, the Book Details panel shows a LNK format

When I click on the LNK format in the Book Details I see the content of "Test Links\Auto Coder Samples" which is the target of "Program in KDF 9 Autocoder - Fred Bloggs.lnk"

BR

I hope no one expected to see KDF 9 Autocoder samples. You can see Atlas Autocoder here. KDF 9 Autocoder was more or less the same.