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Old 08-18-2010, 10:12 AM   #1
Rafaelo4
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Calibre doesnt remember (Title.Author,Series,Metadata) changes?!

I am really dumbfound what to do since this is something I havent really expected.

I traded some ebooks with a friend and I received number of books in EPUB format.

I imported them into calibre and I changed metadata (title,author,series) on some books.

Example:


Title:

01 Canticle (I changed to) Forgotten Realms : The Cleric Quintet 01 - Canticle



Author's:

Forgotten Realms (I changed to) R.A. Salvatore



Series:

The Cleric Quintet (I changed to ) Forgotten Realms : The Cleric Quintet




I opened/closed calibre many time as it took me almost a week to do this with about 100 books.

Then today I opened one of books folder (in calibre database) and I copied the ebook that was inside to my desktop.I imported the same book to calibre using "Add Books" icon but when calibre imported the book ALL the changes I made to this particular book (Title,Author's,Series) went back to its original state before my changes......meaning my title that I changed to be:

Forgotten Realms : The Cleric Quintet 01 - Canticle


went back to:


01 Canticle


I am very frustrated by this and if Kovid or anyone else can please explain to me what I did wrong and why calibre doesnt save when I change Metadata.Also when I press "View" button inside calibre to open the book, front page always shows old Title,Series...etc not the new one that I changed it too....

Any help is much appreciated...
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Old 08-18-2010, 12:31 PM   #2
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If you copied the books at the OS level this is expected behaviour as Calibre avoids altering any file in the library unless it HAS to.

If you export the book using "Save to Disk" from within Calibre then the exported copy will have the metadata changed. Metadata is also updated on the copy sent to a device using the "Send to Device" calibre command.

If you want to have the copy actually stored within Calibre to have the new metadata embedded in it, then run a conversion where both input and output are the same format.

Last edited by itimpi; 08-18-2010 at 12:33 PM.
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Old 08-18-2010, 02:13 PM   #3
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This conversion to itself business isn't a viable solution. If the only thing that did was write metadata, then it would be OK, but you are actually converting, so the result files may be quite different-namely layout can be changed or broken altogether, pages, headers, footers added and removed, etc.
There are too many things to turn off or reset, if you can even get to them all, to try and ensure the only effect of the conversion is metadata writing.
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Old 08-18-2010, 03:29 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rabidrobot View Post
This conversion to itself business isn't a viable solution. If the only thing that did was write metadata, then it would be OK, but you are actually converting, so the result files may be quite different-
There are dozens of different e-book formats. Some allow metadata to be stored in them, some don't. Some have to have the metadata written with 3rd party software that Calibre doesn't control, and which sometimes have bugs. Some book formats must be completely rewritten to change the metadata they store within.

In the final analysis, it is safest for Calibre to not change the original book in its library unless the user specifically says to change it and takes responsibility for that change That's the way I want it to work. If you really want the metadata changed inside the book, then you have to do a format->same format conversion. That's how Calibre would have to do it if it wanted to do it automatically (which I don't want it to do). If you worry about the format->same format conversion screwing things up when done manually, think about how angry other users would be if it was done automatically and screwed up an original!

You are free to make a copy of your book, and do the format->same format conversion on the copy. That's how I do it.
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Old 08-18-2010, 05:21 PM   #5
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It is also worth re-iterating that if you use the recommended way of getting books out of the Calibre library ("Save to Disk" or "Send to Device") this a none-issue as in those cases updated metadata IS written to the output file.
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Old 08-18-2010, 06:43 PM   #6
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Yes, thanks guys, things are clearer. To an extent. I'm not certain how making a copy of a book, then converting it, and having a book with good metadata but unreadable layout solves anything. I get the fact that there are multiple formats, and not all have a concept of metadata, or interchangeable implementations of metadata. I'm just saying, the calibre conversion "engine" is simply too powerful for the task of updating the title and author of a pdf. It is overkill to a point of unusability, for this purpose.
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Old 08-18-2010, 07:04 PM   #7
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Hmmm...
My epub to epub conversions always look the same after converting unless I explicitly want them otherwise.

I just checked a few to be sure. I have done a few thousand and not noted any peculiar results. Same margins, same text at top of page 100, pictures ok if there are any.

Perhaps you have setting set wrong somewhere in preferences?

I believe you can use sigil as they are epubs and type in the metadata yourself.
Or cut and paste from calibre.

Best of luck
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Old 08-18-2010, 07:37 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rabidrobot View Post
This conversion to itself business isn't a viable solution.
It isn't a viable solution because it doesn't address a problem. Anyone that goes into the middle of the calibre database grabs a file and expects it to be a certain way is being unrealistic.

Quote:
Originally Posted by rabidrobot View Post
To an extent. I'm not certain how making a copy of a book, then converting it, and having a book with good metadata but unreadable layout solves anything.
The metadata gets added to the book when you Save to Disk or Send to Device, Folder or iTunes. In other words any calibre function that sends the book outside of the database updates the metadata, no conversion needed.

Quote:
Originally Posted by rabidrobot View Post
I'm just saying, the calibre conversion "engine" is simply too powerful for the task of updating the title and author of a pdf. It is overkill to a point of unusability, for this purpose.
PDF is a whole other bag of worms and I steer clear of it the best I can. All I can say is if anyone is so anal as to require the books within the database to have the metadata in them they can select all of their books, save them to disk, then create a new library and add them back in again.
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Old 08-18-2010, 10:23 PM   #9
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I agree with dwanthy in a way but just converting them seems easier.
Rabidrobot (who seems to be Nick_1964 in disguise purely coincidental I am sure) may have some really ugly input files.
Who cares how you arrived at the result and if it takes ten seconds longer and a few more keystrokes if the result iswhat you want.
Like get over it dude
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Old 08-19-2010, 07:23 AM   #10
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Itimpi and Dwanthny thanks a lot guys.You explained well how I can get my metadata changed without actually having to do EPUB -> EPUB.

And that's what I exactly did just now.Used "Save to disk" for all my books, deleted all of them inside Calibre and imported the ones I saved...and Voila!
all of them have MY matadata and layout inside same....I think from now on am gonna do the same process each time I add a book...

Thanks again.
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