Subgroups to folder hierarchy

[elminster]

Hello,

I'm not sure if I'm in the right forum, but on the other hand, I'm not sure were my problem is rooted.

What I want
I want a hierarchical classification of my books in calibre as well as on my device. On the device I want to use folders for that goal.

What I did
I just found out about Calibres cool feature to create genres with subgroups. I followed the instructions of the manual and it works like a charm.

In Preferences > Send books to device I set this template: {#systematik:re([\.],/)}/{author_sort}/{series}/{series_index:0>2s|| - }{title} - {author_sort}

The dots of the classification are replaced by a forward slash so subfolders can be created. It works for most classifications.

What fails
Some of the classes have missing letter, but there is no obvious reason. For example this one is right:

Sachliteratur\Geisteswissenschaften\Philosophie\Et hik & Moralphilosophie\Precht, Richard David\Die Kunst, kein Egoist zu sein - Precht, Richard David_161.epub

but this one...

Sachlieratur\Geisteswinschaften\Philoophie\Ethik & Morphilosophie\Precht, Rard David\Wer bin ich - und wenn ja wie viele - Eineophische Reise - Precht, Richard David_110.epub

The classification is the same, but it only works for one title.

Questions

• Is my template wrong (shouldn't it fail the same way for both titles?) or is it something else?
• Is there a setting to keep language specific characters in folder and file names (like german umlauts)? Currently they are replaced non-diacritic letters.
• Why are the numbers appended to the file names?

My Settings
Calibre: 0.7.57
Device: Sony PRS-650
Firmware: PRS+ 2.0.10alpha
OS: Windows 7

Sigh, any help is really appreciated

[chaley]

My guess is that you are running into the Windows file pathname length limit. For Sonys, this is 201 characters, including the prefix (X:\database\media\books\). If the length is exceeded, then the driver starts pulling characters out of each component of the name until the name fits within the limit. The only way to avoid this is to use shorter names or to shorten the names yourself in consistent ways. The latter would require some interesting template programming, but it is possible.

As for question 2 - non-ascii characters in file names: the answer is no. For question 3, the unique calibre id is appended to be sure that the name cannot conflict with another file.

[elminster]

Thanks, that was the problem!

You are obviously right that the path was too long. Yet this seems to neither a Windows nor a Sony specific problem since I can create that path manually without any errors. And I can open the file on the reader. Maybe Calibre is too cautious to not hitting the 260 character limit of Windows...

Is there a plugin to warn me if my template would hit the 200 character limit?

Anyway, I know what to look for. Thanks again

[chaley]

Originally Posted by elminster

You are obviously right that the path was too long. Yet this seems to neither a Windows nor a Sony specific problem since I can create that path manually without any errors. And I can open the file on the reader. Maybe Calibre is too cautious to not hitting the 260 character limit of Windows...

The problem is that the paths for the cover thumbnails is around 50 characters longer than the path for the books. Calibre must limit the book path to a length that permits construction of the thumbnail path, which is where the 201 comes from.

[elminster]

I see, that explains it completely. Too bad things (books, images and annotation) aren't kept together, but I this it can't be helped.

[MegAnne]

First of all, I apologize for resurrecting an old thread. The alternative was to create one with the same subject
I started following the instructions of the manual (same link provided by elminster) but did not succeed on:
Go to Preferences -> Look and Feel and enter the lookup name “#genre” into the “Categories with hierarchical items” box.
As in, I do not see that box Any suggestion? By the way, I'm using 0.8.15...

[kovidgoyal]

Preferences->Look and Feel then select the Tag Browser tab

[MegAnne]

Thank you!

[Manichean]

Originally Posted by MegAnne

First of all, I apologize for resurrecting an old thread. The alternative was to create one with the same subject

Moderator Notice
...which we would actually have preferred. Since Calibre's development cycle is so fast, information in older threads gets outdated quickly. Please open a new thread next time instead of digging up old ones.

[Dopedangel]

Originally Posted by Manichean

...which we would actually have preferred. Since Calibre's development cycle is so fast, information in older threads gets outdated quickly. Please open a new thread next time instead of digging up old ones.

Well I am glad the thread was resurrected as I just found out you can use subgroups in send to device.

[MegAnne]

Originally Posted by Manichean

...which we would actually have preferred. Since Calibre's development cycle is so fast, information in older threads gets outdated quickly. Please open a new thread next time instead of digging up old ones.

Before posting, I checked https://www.mobileread.com/forums/faq...ing_guidelines
I did not find any guidance on the subject necromancy vs repeating-topic. It would be helpful if you would update those guidelines according to your preference.

[Manichean]

Originally Posted by MegAnne

Before posting, I checked https://www.mobileread.com/forums/faq...ing_guidelines
I did not find any guidance on the subject necromancy vs repeating-topic. It would be helpful if you would update those guidelines according to your preference.

There should have been a helpful warning alerting you to the fact that the thread is old
Thread necromancy is frowned upon in all forums I've frequented until now. Like I said, Calibre develops so fast that information in threads even as old as a few weeks can be just plain false, in which case we have to go on and explain why all that's been said before doesn't apply anymore. I'll grant that there are cases where it makes sense to reopen an older thread, but we've found that in the vast majority of cases, opening a new one is preferrable. The only exception being, of course, if there's an active thread on the topic already.

[DoctorOhh]

Manichean is correct any thread that hasn't been posted to in over 3 months will display an old thread warning below the quick reply post, see attached.

[MegAnne]

"Of course, you may also proceed and reply here". That's how the warning ends. In absence of specific guidance on the Guidelines, I'd to choose between repeating a topic or resurrecting a topic that was 3 months and 23 days old.
Now that I'm aware of your preference I will comply. No need to pile up against the newbie. Have a good day.

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by MegAnne

"Of course, you may also proceed and reply here". That's how the warning ends. In absence of specific guidance on the Guidelines, I'd to choose between repeating a topic or resurrecting a topic that was 3 months and 23 days old.

Just to be clear there are times when a poster (and this might have been one of them) would want to reply to an old thread. Such as when you want to ensure folks in that thread, who have experience in the area of question, are pinged about your needs via a email.

I think you did your due diligence and chose to reopen the thread. I have no problem with that decision. That said the older the thread the less relevant it will be since Calibre is updated about once a week. In this instance it means that calibre had been updated around 16 times since the conclusion of the thread.

Before I went in discovery of an answer about when the Old Thread Warning appeared I would have guessed the Warning might have been on threads older than 6 months. As it happens it is on threads older than 3 months.

The bottom line is in the future take all of this into account and if you feel it is beneficial to your situation (and sometimes it will be) then go ahead and reply to the old thread.