Cannot edit metadata

[Drowsy Emperor]

Hello everyone,

I have a huge problem with Calbre on Windows 7. I recently upgraded my MSi U160 netbook to Win 7 and since then I can't edit book metadata, like titles or tags, individually or in groups. This happens on books I could edit on Win XP. I get the following error message:

calibre, version 0.9.11
ERROR: Failed to set data: Could not set data, click Show Details to see why.

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "site-packages\calibre\gui2\library\models.py", line 909, in setData
File "site-packages\calibre\gui2\library\models.py", line 983, in _set_data
File "site-packages\calibre\library\database2.py", line 2224, in set
File "site-packages\calibre\library\database2.py", line 2558, in set_title
File "site-packages\calibre\library\database2.py", line 2494, in windows_check_if_files_in_use
File "site-packages\calibre\utils\filenames.py", line 290, in __init__
error: (123, 'CreateFile', 'The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect.')

Oddly enough I managed to edit a few but since then this error always shows up.
I reinstalled Calibre but that didn't change anything. I transferred my library from the standard Documents folder to my Google Drive folder but that didn't change anything.

I Googled extensively for this error but no one else seems to get it...

[kovidgoyal]

That error indicates that calibre is unable to open the ebook files to check if they are in use. I've never seen it before so I dont know what could cause it, but most likely culprit is the path to the file in question is too long. Try moving your library to some place with a short path, like c:\library or c:\users\shortname\library

[Drowsy Emperor]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

That error indicates that calibre is unable to open the ebook files to check if they are in use. I've never seen it before so I dont know what could cause it, but most likely culprit is the path to the file in question is too long. Try moving your library to some place with a short path, like c:\library or c:\users\shortname\library

Thank you for your help. You were right, moving the library to C:\ enabled metadata editing.

Strange that it would not work with the default folder...

[Mike L]

I've seen a similar problem with other applications. Often, the root of the problem is that the user's files (the Calibre library in this case) are in a directory below the Program Files directory. Windows Vista and above by default disallow programs to write in Program Files. I suspect that is what was happening in this case, which explains why moving the library somewhere else solved it. It also explain why the problem didn't arise in XP.

Mike

[Drowsy Emperor]

Originally Posted by Mike L

I've seen a similar problem with other applications. Often, the root of the problem is that the user's files (the Calibre library in this case) are in a directory below the Program Files directory. Windows Vista and above by default disallow programs to write in Program Files. I suspect that is what was happening in this case, which explains why moving the library somewhere else solved it. It also explain why the problem didn't arise in XP.

Mike

I thought it was something pertaining to the permission to modify files, just wasn't aware of the exact cause.

However, even the C:\Google Drive\Library format didn't work. Currently,
only C:\Library works. A minor disappointment since I wanted my library up on Google Drive as well, but I guess I have no choice.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by Drowsy Emperor

However, even the C:\Google Drive\Library format didn't work. Currently, only C:\Library works. A minor disappointment since I wanted my library up on Google Drive as well, but I guess I have no choice.

Google Drive is not compatible with calibre. See this thread and several others for more details.

[Mike L]

You might try using Dropbox instead of Google Drive, as suggested in the thread that Chaley referenced. There is a clearly a problem with using Google Drive for any situation where you are sharing files under software control on different computers.

Mike

[Drowsy Emperor]

Originally Posted by chaley

Google Drive is not compatible with calibre. See this thread and several others for more details.

Ah I had that happen yesterday, but I didn't know Google Drive was to blame.

Good thing I have a Dropbox account. Thanks

[Sabardeyn]

BTW, Windows has a limit of about 250 characters for a file's path and filename. So that is why Kovid mentioned moving the Library's location. Keep that in mind when placing your Libraries.