calibre inconsistently removes center of saved ebook folders

[MsFlutter]

When I save ebooks to disk, calibre will sometimes take a parent folder and remove the center. But it doesn't always do this - often times a folder will be both correctly saved and incorrectly saved, so instead of having

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins/2 - Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins/3 - Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

or

The Hungeanne Collins/2 - Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
The Hungeanne Collins/3 - Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

I'll have

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins/2 - Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
The Hungeanne Collins/3 - Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Does anyone know why this happens? Is there a way to fix it?

[DNSB]

I would suspect that you are running into filename/filepath length limits. Perhaps you could check the full path. Under Windows for example, start from the root of the drive that you are exporting to disk on. An example might be:

C:\Users\<your name>\Documents\2023\My Calibre Files\Calibre_Save_to Disk\The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins\2 - Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins\Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins.azw3

You might also want to post the template you are using for Save to Disk. A sample template might look like:

{author_sort:sublist(0,1,&)}/{series:||} {series_index:|[|] - }{title} - {authors:sublist(0,1,&)}

Basically, this saves to disk in a directory based on the author sort for the first author in the list and then adds series [series index] - title - first author in the list. If the series has no values, you will get title - first author in the list.

Collins, Suzanne/The Hunger Games [2] - Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins.azw3
Collins, Suzanne/The Hunger Games [3] - Mockingjay - Suzanne Collins.azw3
Andrews, Mary/The Last Centurion - Mary Andrews.azw3

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by DNSB

I would suspect that you are running into filename/filepath length limits.

According to the late davidfor:

Originally Posted by davidfor

The path creation is done by calibre. The drivers supply a maximum path length and calibre works something out in that. It does tend to shorten the actual file name more than the rest of the path, but, I have seen this myself. I use a couple of different libraries, and put the library name first. Occasionally the library name gets shortened. From a quick look at the code, all parts of the path can be shortened, but the longer the part, the more will be taken from it. Hence the file name part will usually be changed the most.

The maximum path-length for KoboTouch is 185 characters. I don't know about save-to-disk.

[chaley]

You can use the shorten() template function to construct file names where each segment has a maximum length and is shortened in a consistent way.

Using @DNSB's template as an example, the following ensures that the initial author_sort is never longer than 20 characters, the series is never longer than 15, the title is never longer than 25, and the first author is never longer than 20. The title and author split the value, placing an underscore between the parts. Thus the maximum length is 80 characters + the length of the series index + 8 (or so) for the fixed text in the template (brackets, slashes, hyphens, blanks).

{author_sort:'shorten(sublist($, 0, 1, '&'), 20, '', 0)'}/{series:'shorten($, 15, '', 0)'||} {series_index:|[|] - }{title:'shorten($, 15, '_', 9)'} - {authors:'shorten(sublist($, 0, 1, '&'), 10, '_', 9)'}

Example: for a test book with the following metadata:

• title: Test Title aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaabbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbcccccccccccccccccccccccccccc cccccccccccccccccccccccccccccddddddddddddddddddddd ddddddddddddddddddddddeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee eeee
• author: Authorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, Test
• author_sort: Authorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, Test
• series: A Foobar Mumble Fratz
• series_index: 16.00

@DNSB's template without the shorten()s produces:

Authorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, Test/A Foobar Mumble Fratz [16] - Test Title aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaabbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbcccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccdddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee - Authorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, Test

The template with the shorten()s produces:

Authorrrrrrrrrrrrrrr/A Foobar Mumble [16] - Test Title aaaa_eeeeeeeee - Authorrrrr_rrr, Test

[ownedbycats]

I'm pretty sure a cat walked across the keyboard while inputting that metadata.

[DrChiper]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

I'm pretty sure a cat walked across the keyboard while inputting that metadata.

Hmm, The Avengers, episode "The Hidden Tiger" (1967) with the cat society 'P.U.R.R.R' (Philanthropic Union for Rescue, Relief, and Recuperation) comes to mind ...

[Comfy.n]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

I'm pretty sure a cat walked across the keyboard while inputting that metadata.

that's how it sounded. Angry cat, it seems

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by DrChiper

Hmm, The Avengers, episode "The Hidden Tiger" (1967) with the cat society 'P.U.R.R.R' (Philanthropic Union for Rescue, Relief, and Recuperation) comes to mind ...

I thought you made that up, but wasn't sure. I was fan of the original UK TV Avengers.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0516913/plotsummary/

[JSWolf]

One question not asked yet is what does they metadata in Calibre look like for The Hunger Games books?

[DrChiper]

Originally Posted by Quoth

I thought you made that up, but wasn't sure. I was fan of the original UK TV Avengers.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0516913/plotsummary/

Those were the golden days of the UK TV series: memories, memories ...

[MsFlutter]

Originally Posted by DNSB

I would suspect that you are running into filename/filepath length limits. Perhaps you could check the full path. Under Windows for example, start from the root of the drive that you are exporting to disk on. An example might be:

C:\Users\<your name>\Documents\2023\My Calibre Files\Calibre_Save_to Disk\The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins\2 - Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins\Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins.azw3

You might also want to post the template you are using for Save to Disk. A sample template might look like:

{author_sort:sublist(0,1,&)}/{series:||} {series_index:|[|] - }{title} - {authors:sublist(0,1,&)}

Basically, this saves to disk in a directory based on the author sort for the first author in the list and then adds series [series index] - title - first author in the list. If the series has no values, you will get title - first author in the list.

It was the file length limit
I put the export folder closer to the drive and cut some redundant data from the file path, which took it from

{#genre}/{series} {authors:|by |}/{series_index:|Part |:} {title} {authors:|by |}/{series_index:|Part |:} {title} {authors:|by |}
C:\Users\aaaaa\aaaaaaaaa\aaaaaaaaa\aaaaaaa\aaa\dys topian\The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins\Part 2_ Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins\Part 2_ Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins.epub
C:\Users\aaaaa\aaaaaaaaa\aaaaaaaaa\aaaaaaa\aaa\Rom ance\by John Green\The Fault In Our Stars by John Green\The Fault In Our Stars by John Green.epub

to

{#genre}/{series:|| {authors:|by |}}/{series_index:|Part |:} {title} {authors:|by |}/{title}
C:\aaa\dystopian\The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins\Part 2_ Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins\Catching Fire.epub
C:\aaa\Romance\The Fault In Our Stars by John Green\The Fault In Our Stars.epub

Why does calibre remove text from the centre of the folder/file names instead of the end? is there a way to make it remove more text from child folders, so the genres all stay together?

[chaley]

Originally Posted by MsFlutter

is there a way to make it remove more text from child folders, so the genres all stay together?

I showed you how to do this in post #4.

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by MsFlutter

Why does calibre remove text from the centre of the folder/file names instead of the end?

According to the late davidfor (emphasis mine):

Originally Posted by davidfor

The path creation is done by calibre. The drivers supply a maximum path length and calibre works something out in that. It does tend to shorten the actual file name more than the rest of the path, but, I have seen this myself. I use a couple of different libraries, and put the library name first. Occasionally the library name gets shortened. From a quick look at the code, all parts of the path can be shortened, but the longer the part, the more will be taken from it. Hence the file name part will usually be changed the most.

[JSWolf]

[QUOTE=MsFlutter;4340605][quote]C:\aaa\Romance\The Fault In Our Stars by John Green\The Fault In Our Stars.epub [/qupte]

Should really be at best...

C:\aaa\Romance\John Green\The Fault In Our Stars.epub as some titles can be rather long.