How to add "Extra Titles" to my database?

[Geremia]

Originally Posted by theducks

When you run library maintenance, it has a cleaning step as part of phase1.
Every key fields value that changes, can end up with records flagged for discard . Until you run the Maint. tool, those are just extra baggage slowly piling up.

Oh, is that what it means when it says it's "vacuuming"? It's cleaning up all that extra baggage?

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by Geremia

Very strange
A record from my Calibre library went missing, and some other issues popped up after running "Check Library," and this is even after I had restored the database. I'm restoring it again. I wonder what's going on? Perhaps it's my ext4 filesystem, which sometimes tries to run faster than it should; I should probably force fsck it…

Does my post here apply to your situation?

[Geremia]

Originally Posted by DoctorOhh

Does my post here apply to your situation?

My extra titles are in my "Calibre Library" directory, and they even have "metadata.opf" files, but for some reason, no matter how many times I run "Restore Database," Calibre doesn't find them. I even looked at the "metadata.opf" in a text editor, and they have the right metadata.

Also, it's considering "extra books" those records that it recognized before, when I first ran "Restore Database"
very strange

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by Geremia

My extra titles are in my "Calibre Library" directory, and they even have "metadata.opf" files,

I know they are in the Calibre library, I was only pointing out in the link (which I now quote below) that I have never had an instance of an "Extra Title" that mattered to me. They were either orphaned because I removed them from my library or they were still in my library just in a different directory because I changed the Author or Title metadata.

But since you state that you are not running your library in Dropbox or other syncing file system (Onedrive, Box, Copy etc...) then I don't know how you could be experiencing orphaned folders.

The below is the post I linked to previously from another thread.

Originally Posted by DoctorOhh

Have you actually verified that the titles are in fact not in your library?

I have never come across any extra titles that were not also in my library. The extra titles in my case were orphaned folders left over after I made title or author changes. Upon closer inspection I was always able to verify that the "Extra titles" were books changed or removed by me.

These were orphaned most likely due to the fact that I often leave Dropbox syncing while making minor library changes. Now, more times then not, I pause the Dropbox syncing function before making changes to my library.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by Geremia

My extra titles are in my "Calibre Library" directory, and they even have "metadata.opf" files, but for some reason, no matter how many times I run "Restore Database," Calibre doesn't find them. I even looked at the "metadata.opf" in a text editor, and they have the right metadata.

Also, it's considering "extra books" those records that it recognized before, when I first ran "Restore Database"
very strange

Restore database will add books to the newly-built calibre db only if they meet a very strict test: the "calibre_id" in a metadata.opf must equal the number in parentheses found on the folder name containing that metadata.opf. If this test is not met, the folder containing the books is ignored. Example:
Title folder name: 20,000 Leagues under the Sea (233)
Line in metadata.opf: <dc:identifier opf:scheme="calibre" id="calibre_id">233</dc:identifier>

If Google Drive was ever used to sync the library then the number in parentheses will likely be wrong or missing.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by DoctorOhh

But since you state that you are not running your library in Dropbox or other syncing file system (Onedrive, Box, Copy etc...) then I don't know how you could be experiencing orphaned folders.

@DoctorOhh - I recall a scenario when it was possible to get orphaned book folders in another way

AFAIK it only happened on Windows and it happened if a format file was opened in an editor that locked the file - Word and Trackers xChange PDF editor/viewer are two I recall. And then whilst the file was locked one went to calibre and changed the author or title. Calibre would detect the lock and issue a 'warning' - but the net result was that you could end up with the modified .RTF or PDF file stranded in the old location.

But, that was a long time ago (2012 ?) and it was fixed pretty soon after it was reported.

So now if you try to change the author or title and one of the files is locked then calibre it issues this message - Could not change the on disk location of this book. It is open in another program.
==========================

However, for programs that don't lock the files, there is the problem of what happens if the location gets changed and then you do a save. I'm pretty sure I have at least one text editor that offers to recreate the old location. Others like the Book Editor leave it up to the user to resolve, in that scenario its not hard to wind up with orphan book folders and multiple epubs in the one book folder etc

I can't suggest any immediate solution to this, other than the obvious - don't change a books author and title if you have any of the files open in other programs that might write the files.

BR