New to Calibre, having some difficulties

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by itimpi

I know that USED to be the case, but I am no longer seeing it since the latest change to the GUI design.

Calibre progresses so rapidly it's really hard to stay on top of all the changes. Thanks for the update.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by itimpi

I know that USED to be the case, but I am no longer seeing it since the latest change to the GUI design. I think that is because at one time the path was displayed, while now you get the "Click to Open" with the id displayed as part of the Tooltip. This makes the information a bit less obvious (which may of course be a good thing).

Took me a bit to find.
Hover your mouse over that: The file path is now in the Balloon help tip

[kovidgoyal]

Yes, indeed, the path has been removed from the book detail pane (it now lives in a tooltip, as theducks pointed out). The idea is that in most situations, what you really want is to open the folder where the book is stored rather than know the path. So the interface was simplified to reflect that.

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

Yes, indeed, the path has been removed from the book detail pane

There have been times when I'd like to be able to search on book id (index_is_id = True). I'll just throw it out that if someone (Kovid or Charles) reads this and is later working on the search code - the ability to search for a specific book index would sometimes be very useful for debugging.

There's always a way to get around it, but it usually involves searching for the title or author of the id in question, then checking.

[capidamonte]

Originally Posted by Merischino

So I'm guessing what I need to do next is backup my calibre library as it stands now, then completely delete everything calibre but the backup. and then perform a clean install. and then delete the newly created calibre file structure and replace it with the backedup one. And hope for the best?

Starson says no, but if you do make a clean install, I suggest that you keep the backup but not replace the new library. Instead, import a small number of books and experiment as he has suggested.

If it's permissions, you're just going to end up in the frustrating loop that you're in now should you keep using the current library. If a completely fresh install solves the problem, it implies permissions were an issue well enough to assuage the curiosity bump, but gets you to a solution faster -- just import the remainder of your library. If you continue to have problems with the new library, a small initial number of books (folders) let's you determine the cause more easily. IMNSHO.

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by capidamonte

Starson says no

It was more of a "I don't think it will fix anything" than "it's not worth doing." I suspect a reinstall might help track down what's happening, although I think other tests could track it down too.

[capidamonte]

I was trying to defer to your greater understanding of the problem, but couldn't resist suggesting a path that would work for me if I were trying to solve it personally.

No intention to impute anything whatsoever.

Aloha.

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by itimpi

I know that USED to be the case, but I am no longer seeing it since the latest change to the GUI design. I think that is because at one time the path was displayed, while now you get the "Click to Open" with the id displayed as part of the Tooltip. This makes the information a bit less obvious (which may of course be a good thing).

It's nice to know it is available in the tooltip. It is also available in the book info view, see attached.

[Merischino]

Originally Posted by Starson17

This can be cleaned up. Obviously, you need to find out if it's working incorrectly. Some of your posts indicate to me that you may have a permissions issue, but other things can be going on.

For example, if you have a folder open in File Explorer, Calibre can't remove it when it needs to. It leaves orphan folders. They don't hurt anything, but are confusing. Permissions issue can cause these orphan folders, too.

I don't know hwo to check whether I hve a permissions issue. If it helps, I am the sole user of this computer and have all associated administrator rights. And, permissions are a problem I have encountered any number of times on a Windows machine, but on my mac they are a non-issue in my experience. Not to say it isn't possible, but since it's something that in almost 30 years of being a macuser has never happened to me, I can honestly say I'm kind of at a loss.

In what way?

I feel like I've posted this so many times that I'm blue in the face.

When I work with Calibre, I always change every recordx through the GUI so that they are standardized. When I peek under the skirts, there are multiples. There should only be one, if calibre truly works the way people here post that it does. aka using the gui to make changes will change the calibre file structure on-the-fly. so, the calibre file structure SHOULD look like my gui-fied changed library does when I'm done, and it doesnt.

More info?

What more do you need?

It sounds like it, but I'm still unable to finger your problem.

Me neither. I have since done a clean install, and as some here have posted, that did not cure the ill.

If you want, to, but personally I don't see that as being the answer. I'd track down what's actually happening first.

Some questions I'd want answered first:

Are my books all accessible in the GUI (confirms that at worst, we have orphan folders problem)

Yes, all my books can be accessed through the GUI.

If I change an author name, does the folder in the Library disappear under the old author name and reappear under the new name? (confirms Calibre can delete an old folder and create a new one)

No. This is what I've been posting all along. If I change an author name, it gets fixed within the GUI but leaves ugly stragglers behind in the file structure.

Are my bulk edits working correctly to change author - check each record individually with an individual metadata edit.

Debatable. When I make bulk edits to the author and authorsort fields so that they uniformly occur as:

"Firstname Lastname" and "Lastname, Firstname" they work if authorsort is populated by Calibre automatically

but if i do it where they occur as any other format, whether populated manually by me, or populated by calibre automatically

Sorting - also check each record's metadata individually (select and press "E" in GUI) and look at author_sort. Are they all correct? Look for spaces, extra commas at the end, odd non-ascii chars, etc.

When I fix/edit/make changes/however you want to say it in Calibre through the GUI, when I say I have fixed it, that means that Through the GUI, I can verify my edits. Meaning, if I change the record, click "ok" go back to the library list results, go back and click on the same record, open the GUI metadate edit window, and look at what I had just changed a moment ago, it will still be what I changed it TO and not be back at what i changed it FROM.

That said, if I changed all 100 something Anne McCaffrey records to be authorsort as "McCaffrey, Anne", if the author does not occur in "firstname lastname" manner and the authorsort was entered manually, how it will ACTUALLY sort is very, very different from what you would expect. aka, it sorts sometimes on A and sometimes on M and sometimes on God ONLY knows what.

This is a repeatable issue. It is consistent. It is fixable in one and only one way to my knowledge, and that is NOT to manually enter data into the authorsort field, and and/or or not to ask it to both sort on Lastname and display in Lastname, Firstname manner.

If you can see all your books, then what are these extra odd(possible orphan) folders? Note that each folder under an author has a record id at the end of the folder name. That id is also in the displayed info in GUI when that record is selected and you can see the comments. Track down if that id exists in the database or is it an orphan by checking the author or title and searching for it, then look at the id and cross-match.

Something will appear wonkified.

Based on later posts, I'm going to skip the above since it's advice on an older version of Calibre.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Merischino

Based on later posts, I'm going to skip the above since it's advice on an older version of Calibre.

The only difference, is you now "hover" over the format, to see the Title path info. (the numbers belong to the title, not the author)


On Orphan folders.
When you were peeking under the skirts, did you ever sort or change or use Tubnail view in explorer?
Windows makes hidden files when you do, which may prevent folder removal (Thumbs.db) on moving the contents

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by Merischino

I don't know hwo to check whether I hve a permissions issue.
...
When I peek under the skirts, there are multiples. There should only be one, if calibre truly works the way people here post that it does. aka using the gui to make changes will change the calibre file structure on-the-fly. so, the calibre file structure SHOULD look like my gui-fied changed library does when I'm done, and it doesnt.

This isn't that hard to track down. It can easily be done inside your current library, but to make it simpler on you, start with a fresh library and one book. "Under the skirts" will be a single folder. Change the author name. See if you end up with two or not. If Calibre can't delete a folder, but can create one, you'll see the old one remaining. That would be a permissions issue.

Based on later posts, I'm going to skip the above since it's advice on an older version of Calibre.

The heart of Calibre's database is the book id. It uniquely identifies each book. The only thing older about the comment was where to see that id. If you have old folders left over, then the book id (which is part of the folder name "under the skirts" - will be that same number) If Calibre is really leaving "ugly stragglers behind in the file structure," as you describe, then those stragglers will have the same book id with the old Author name. I strongly suggest that you figure out if you have multiple folders with the same book id or not. That's going to tell you if Calibre is really leaving ugly stragglers in the folder structure.

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by theducks

On Orphan folders.
When you were peeking under the skirts, did you ever sort or change or use Tubnail view in explorer?
Windows makes hidden files when you do, which may prevent folder removal (Thumbs.db) on moving the contents

That's a good possibility. It should be easy to check. There'd be empty folders (if File Explorer isn't configured to see thumbs.db), or folders with just thumbs.db. The books should move to the new folder. The folder names for the books themselves will always be marked with the book id, and that won't change with a simple metadata change.

[jackie_w]

The following actions might produce some new information:

1. Move the library to a new location using the new Calibre feature. Orphan stuff should be left behind in the old directory. Is there anything there?
   
   
2. Use the Calibre Catalog feature to produce a Catalog in CSV format with all output fields selected. This could be opened with Excel (or something) and sorted every whichway to look for duplicates.

(Apologies if either of the above has already been tried. I've lost track.)

However, if it was me I would be doing as Starson suggested and start a new library with one book.

Make change - peek under skirt. Close any open peeking files.
Make another change - peek under skirt. Close any open peeking files.
etc... etc...

When does the first problem occur.