Blueprint for managing e-book collection

mst · 12-18-2010, 09:59 AM

Status quo: I have a large collection of about 800 pdf and chm files about various topics. These are currently organized in a main library folder in subfolders by topic, e.g. "Finance and Economics", "History and Religion", etc. Outside of the main library folder are additional pdf files that I use for studying, e.g. "LSE Year 3 curriculum" contains 10 pdf files that I use this year at the unviersity.

Goal: I am now looking for a general solution of catalogueing all these pdfs, without necessarily moving them outside of their folders. Similar to iTunes, where you have the option to leave audio files where they are but rename them and organize them in playlists at will within the software. I would also like to assign priorities to the files, e.g. "read first" etc. without changing the file name or location of the files.

I think Calibre is terriffic as far as tagging and display of the files in e-book viewer is concerned, but I do not like the fact that it imposes its own folder structure.

Has anyone had a similar problem and found an answer?

chaley · 12-18-2010, 11:28 AM

There have been several posts of varying civility from people who don't like the folder structure. Yours is an excellent example of one of the good ones (polite etc.)

Calibre copies (not moves) the items into its own database. The internal library folder structure is part of that database. Your original books are left where they are. This isn't going to change anytime soon.

Those who care about folder structure either accept the duplication and continue to use calibre (space is very cheap, after all), or they find another solution. What that solution might be, I don't know. I can say that this forum is almost certainly not the right place to discuss alternatives to calibre. One of the other mobileread forums might work better.

Good luck in your quest.

Manichean · 12-18-2010, 01:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chaley

I can say that this forum is almost certainly not the right place to discuss alternatives to calibre. One of the other mobileread forums might work better.

Are we really that scary?

chaley · 12-18-2010, 02:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Manichean

Are we really that scary?

Not scary. Just not the group of people who would be expected to be 'up' on the subject.

ficbot · 12-18-2010, 04:37 PM

I too had my ebooks in their own directory before I found Calibre. I also manually managed my music files as well. I have come to realize the benefits of letting Calibre manage the files. Let me give you an example.

This summer I had a huge hard drive crash (it died completely) and had to reinstall everything. My Calibre library was backed up with Dropbox---I had gone into Calibre, told it to create a directory inside my dropbox folder and then all the files, it put there. When I reinstalled the dropbox folder on my new hard drive, all I had to do was download Calibre again, tell it 'all the books are there' and bingo, everything was back as it was.

Contrast this to iTunes, which I had been manually managing. I thought Time Machine was backing everything up, but Time Machine only backs things up if you keep them where it thinks you are keeping them. By managing it myself, I found I could get back my music files, but ALL the metadata was lost. So when I put everything on the new computer, I took the same approach with iTunes as I did with the ebooks and let iTunes manage its own files, within the directory of my dropbox folder that I specified (i.e. I told it to yes, make its own directory and manage its own files, but do so in XYZ location). Now, I don't have to worry about what will happen if my hard drive goes again. I can just re-install iTunes like I did for Calibre and tell it where to find the files.

I also found, as my ebook collection grew in size and complexity, that some books applied to more than one category, so the tag-based system was easier. For example, I read books in French for fun but was also at one point taking a course in French for which I also had to read books. A tag-based system allowed me to have a book with both tags, so that a search for all French books returned it, and a search for only books for the course returned it also.

It was a change in mindset at first to get out of the folders and trust Calibre to manage everything, but it turned out to be for the best.

Manichean · 12-18-2010, 06:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chaley

Not scary. Just not the group of people who would be expected to be 'up' on the subject.

But we are. We already know that the best ebook management program is Calibre, and that anyone who disagrees is a heretic and needs to be... cleansed. There's this german term, "hochnothpeinliche Befragung", that comes to mind...

Okay, I believe I see what you mean

12-18-2010, 09:59 AM	#1
mst Connoisseur Posts: 73 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2010 Device: Kobo Clara HD	Blueprint for managing e-book collection Status quo: I have a large collection of about 800 pdf and chm files about various topics. These are currently organized in a main library folder in subfolders by topic, e.g. "Finance and Economics", "History and Religion", etc. Outside of the main library folder are additional pdf files that I use for studying, e.g. "LSE Year 3 curriculum" contains 10 pdf files that I use this year at the unviersity. Goal: I am now looking for a general solution of catalogueing all these pdfs, without necessarily moving them outside of their folders. Similar to iTunes, where you have the option to leave audio files where they are but rename them and organize them in playlists at will within the software. I would also like to assign priorities to the files, e.g. "read first" etc. without changing the file name or location of the files. I think Calibre is terriffic as far as tagging and display of the files in e-book viewer is concerned, but I do not like the fact that it imposes its own folder structure. Has anyone had a similar problem and found an answer?

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12-18-2010, 11:28 AM	#2
chaley Grand Sorcerer Posts: 11,741 Karma: 6997045 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Notts, England Device: Kobo Libra 2	There have been several posts of varying civility from people who don't like the folder structure. Yours is an excellent example of one of the good ones (polite etc.) Calibre copies (not moves) the items into its own database. The internal library folder structure is part of that database. Your original books are left where they are. This isn't going to change anytime soon. Those who care about folder structure either accept the duplication and continue to use calibre (space is very cheap, after all), or they find another solution. What that solution might be, I don't know. I can say that this forum is almost certainly not the right place to discuss alternatives to calibre. One of the other mobileread forums might work better. Good luck in your quest.

12-18-2010, 04:37 PM	#5
ficbot Wizard Posts: 2,409 Karma: 4132096 Join Date: Sep 2008 Device: Kindle Paperwhite/iOS Kindle App	I too had my ebooks in their own directory before I found Calibre. I also manually managed my music files as well. I have come to realize the benefits of letting Calibre manage the files. Let me give you an example. This summer I had a huge hard drive crash (it died completely) and had to reinstall everything. My Calibre library was backed up with Dropbox---I had gone into Calibre, told it to create a directory inside my dropbox folder and then all the files, it put there. When I reinstalled the dropbox folder on my new hard drive, all I had to do was download Calibre again, tell it 'all the books are there' and bingo, everything was back as it was. Contrast this to iTunes, which I had been manually managing. I thought Time Machine was backing everything up, but Time Machine only backs things up if you keep them where it thinks you are keeping them. By managing it myself, I found I could get back my music files, but ALL the metadata was lost. So when I put everything on the new computer, I took the same approach with iTunes as I did with the ebooks and let iTunes manage its own files, within the directory of my dropbox folder that I specified (i.e. I told it to yes, make its own directory and manage its own files, but do so in XYZ location). Now, I don't have to worry about what will happen if my hard drive goes again. I can just re-install iTunes like I did for Calibre and tell it where to find the files. I also found, as my ebook collection grew in size and complexity, that some books applied to more than one category, so the tag-based system was easier. For example, I read books in French for fun but was also at one point taking a course in French for which I also had to read books. A tag-based system allowed me to have a book with both tags, so that a search for all French books returned it, and a search for only books for the course returned it also. It was a change in mindset at first to get out of the folders and trust Calibre to manage everything, but it turned out to be for the best.

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