Saving to Disk

paulfiera · 07-20-2011, 08:47 AM

I' doing some cleaning up in my library and to that purpose, I am saving to disk some books - Russian Classics, French Classics, etc -, zipping them by collections and storing them in my WHS.

I am using "Save only EPUB format to disk" and it works great.

What is being saved is the EPUBs themselves plus an opf file for each epub - I guess it's metadata.

Now, if I ever want to put some of those books back in my library, is it enough just to add the epub or should I do something with the opf file?

Many thanks
PF

Starson17 · 07-20-2011, 09:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by paulfiera

Now, if I ever want to put some of those books back in my library, is it enough just to add the epub or should I do something with the opf file?

The opf file has all the metadata from the calibre database associated with that book (except the cover, which would also be saved with the opf file if you have the right option clicked). For a format like TXT you would need the opf file, as TXT does not store metadata internally. However, the EPUB already has the metadata inside, so the opf is duplicative. That said, I prefer to keep the opf file. When importing, if the opf file exists, Calibre will read it and accurately restore all your metadata. If you import without it, you will need to set the import options to read metadata internally from the EPUB, and by default, my settings are not set that way.

paulfiera · 07-20-2011, 09:40 AM

Many thanks, Starson17.

These are only epub books. No other formats.

I have calibre set to read metadata from file contents. I guess it's been like that from the start.

I've done some tests and it looks like the metadata is preserved when re-adding the books to the library.

Starson17 · 07-20-2011, 10:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by paulfiera

Many thanks, Starson17.

You're very welcome

Quote:

I have calibre set to read metadata from file contents. I guess it's been like that from the start.

That is the default setting when first installed. I find that internal metadata EPUB is inconsistent at best and usually quite bad unless it's created by a decent program (like Calibre), so I prefer to get my metadata from opf files and filenames.

Quote:

I've done some tests and it looks like the metadata is preserved when re-adding the books to the library.

Yes (all except the metadata giving the date it was first added to Calibre, which gets updated to the new date when you re-add it, which makes sense anyway.)

07-20-2011, 08:47 AM	#1
paulfiera Addict Posts: 378 Karma: 3102 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: EU Device: Kobo Aura ONE, Kobo Libra H20	Saving to Disk I' doing some cleaning up in my library and to that purpose, I am saving to disk some books - Russian Classics, French Classics, etc -, zipping them by collections and storing them in my WHS. I am using "Save only EPUB format to disk" and it works great. What is being saved is the EPUBs themselves plus an opf file for each epub - I guess it's metadata. Now, if I ever want to put some of those books back in my library, is it enough just to add the epub or should I do something with the opf file? Many thanks PF

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07-20-2011, 09:40 AM	#3
paulfiera Addict Posts: 378 Karma: 3102 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: EU Device: Kobo Aura ONE, Kobo Libra H20	Many thanks, Starson17. These are only epub books. No other formats. I have calibre set to read metadata from file contents. I guess it's been like that from the start. I've done some tests and it looks like the metadata is preserved when re-adding the books to the library.

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