Deleted Documents Folder :(

[Dopedangel]

Another option could be to use move calibre library to another location before deletion. If I am correct that option just moves the calibre library files not all the files in the library folder so it would stop the non calibre files from being deleted it would increase the time it takes to delete but would be a lot safer for data.

[Agama]

If I delete a single book within calibre's gui then calibre correctly removes only this book from the library and also removes only the corresponding folder from my hard disk. Maybe it would be possible to extend this logic to deleting a whole library so that only folders belonging to the library will get deleted.

[itimpi]

Originally Posted by Agama

If I delete a single book within calibre's gui then calibre correctly removes only this book from the library and also removes only the corresponding folder from my hard disk. Maybe it would be possible to extend this logic to deleting a whole library so that only folders belonging to the library will get deleted.

Kovid mentioned that the reason this is not done is that it would have an unacceptable perofrmance overhead.

I must admit if I wanted to delete a Calibre library I would do it outside Calibre, so in my case this would not be a calibre issue.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Agama

If I delete a single book within calibre's gui then calibre correctly removes only this book from the library and also removes only the corresponding folder from my hard disk. Maybe it would be possible to extend this logic to deleting a whole library so that only folders belonging to the library will get deleted.

Deleting Metadata.db is deleting the 'Library'.
Deleting the author folders alongside that, deletes all the books.
AAfter deleting the first, what you do to the rest does no more harm

[bedgar]

I appreciate the update and think being safe with peoples data is always the best route to go. The complaint, "I had to delete my files outside of Calibre or manually" is easier to deal with than "your program permenantly deleted all of my files". I mean if you could get it to use the recycle bin then I could understand. But to permenantly delete I think you are moving in the right direction. Thanks.

P.S. @Kovid After looking into the seemingly random deletion of files some more I found that it likely was in fact Read Only files as you mentioned. I had initially decided that was not it because I had found 2 folders and several files that were not Read Only. Come to find out she had copied those files back after this incident had occured. I had been unaware she had copied anything back to the documents folder. So while I cannot test the theory I am going to assume that was the issue.

[transmitthis]

Just wondering if it may be an option to, stop er, lets say un-experienced users having access to Calibre's powerful options?

By that I'm thinking of an option in the settings, that would allow "Advanced" view to be shown.
I'm sure you know the thing, like what VLC does for example.

ps, I was sighing along with you there Kovid.

[bedgar]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

There will undoubtedly be some people who will go through two dialogs and still be unaware of what they are doing, but hopefully that number will be much smaller

I agree, like you said before, there will always be people that don't read or pay attention and have problems. I think the best approach you can take is to minimize that number since eliminating it will be impossible.

Thank you for doing something about it.

[whisperia]

Hiya,

While the back and forth didn't go as pleasantly as I liked I'm happy some changes have been made to hopefully stop most everyone from doing what I did.

Some background:

I did point, initially, to My Documents but I realized how dumb that was later on and was going about moving everything to its own folder. At this point I ended up with 2 libraries The New and My Documents. The only way I could see to get rid of My Documents Library from Calibre was to do what I did.

While I did read the dialog when it came up - several times actually - my conclusion was that people must use Calibre for other things that I am not aware of (being a casual mostly mobi -> epub user). So the 'other files' I assumed not to pertain to me and went for it.

At which point I realized my mistake and the loss of my PST file. Now while I'm not a man and didn't curl up in a fetal position wailing in a corner (just kidding guys) I'm sure I had the walk of death going on for about 24hrs as I feared the worst.

Thankfully I believe I got what I needed back and hope the information above helps understand what is going through a Newbs mind when they hit that delete button!!

Sincerely,
Courtney

[crazyken]

I cannot believe that anyone could get the hump with such a GREAT programme, easily the best out there and for FREE. What gives anyone the right to criticize someone who has for free put so much work into giving so many people this software. if they think they could do better let them do it. Put up or Shut up!!!

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by crazyken

What gives anyone the right to criticize someone who has for free put so much work into giving so many people this software.

It would be nice to actually read the thread prior to sniping at folks. This thread concluded with a civilized solution and doesn't need any further input from folks up on their soapbox.

The critical input supplied and the following discussion, while at times somewhat heated, did produce a reasonable change that will prevent any future users from accidentally deleting files that are not part of their calibre library.