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Old 08-26-2012, 05:16 PM   #1
phil_ga
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[Feature Request] Drag and drop books out of calibre

I do a lot of ebook conversions with calibre. Since I am not a programmer, I cannot write a front end for the conversion program (which I would really love to have!!), so I drag and drop the files I want INTO calibre and convert them. Typically 1-10 at a time, mixed formats. Getting them out again is slower than it could be, when trying to get one or a few out, and get them out to specific folders.

Firstly, when selecting convert, I'd love to be able to select BOTH epub and mobi (the most common formats in my view), instead of only one at a time (ie I currently have to go thru the process twice). Yes I know its not hard to do it the current way, but when doing dozens a day, all that clicking adds up on my poor wrists.

Second, and main point, I'd love to be able to drag and drop the converted files out of calibre back into an open Explorer window - one at a time. It would default to the file naming convention selected in the preferences. The ideal way to do it would be from the "Formats" links under the cover image (these links are already live and clocking them opens the book file - so is it possible to make these existing links drag and drop as well?). As above, yes i am well aware of the save to disk feature, but its a lot of clicking, typing in paths, and again, you have to select mobi or epub manually if you dont want to overwrite the original file. This feature would save a lot of time.

(Please stay on topic if you comment on this. yes, I know some of you would never take a file out of calibre, and will ask why I dont leave it there - I do not want to do that. I have a large library, and really I only am requesting options to speed up the use of calibres magnificent conversion program. Also, yes, i am well aware that I can wait till all the files are converted for the day, week etc then bulk export them to a single folder. This is not what i am suggesting, as I have thousands of authors to then sort thru to file them in the right folder with the author name. Typically, I have the folder open when I start the conversion, so would like to put the converted file back into that same folder WHILE its already open in an explorer window).

I'd love to hear if others would find these features useful.
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Old 08-26-2012, 05:33 PM   #2
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Quote:
Originally Posted by phil_ga View Post

Second, and main point, I'd love to be able to drag and drop the converted files out of calibre back into an open Explorer window - one at a time. It would default to the file naming convention selected in the preferences. The ideal way to do it would be from the "Formats" links under the cover image (these links are already live and clocking them opens the book file - so is it possible to make these existing links drag and drop as well?). As above, yes i am well aware of the save to disk feature, but its a lot of clicking, typing in paths, and again, you have to select mobi or epub manually if you dont want to overwrite the original file. This feature would save a lot of time.

I'd love to hear if others would find these features useful.
Save to disk (Right click option) will put a copy the file into any valid folder.
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Old 08-26-2012, 08:14 PM   #3
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@phil_ga - try this

Set Preferences>Behavior->Preferred Input Format Order to whatever best suits, you probably only need to do this once and you've probably already done it.

Drag the books you want to convert from Windows Explorer into Calibre and leave the Explorer window open
  1. Set Preferences>Behavior->Preferred Output Format = EPUB
  2. Select the books you just dropped into Calibre as a group
  3. Type 'C', and do what you need to do in the conversion dialogue, probably nothing
  4. Click OK and wait for the group of books to convert
  5. Drag the group of books from Calibre's centre panel (the list of books in the middle) into the folder you already have open in Explorer - this will copy the Preferred Output Format files - currently EPUB
  6. Set Preferences>Behavior->Preferred Output Format = MOBI
  7. Repeat steps 3 to 6 for the MOBI conversion
  8. Do any necessary tidying up

BR
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Old 08-27-2012, 07:45 AM   #4
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BTW, please do not get the bright idea to drag things in and out of the Library folder using Windows explorer. This will screw up internal pointers in calibre and bring you back here with help help my database is corrupted questions. Treat the database as a blackbox and use only calibre to move things in and out, or copy to and from.
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Old 08-27-2012, 07:54 AM   #5
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Thanks BetterRed for the detailed suggestion! As you guessed my settings were already geared along your lines. This works beautifully for windows explorer! This feature is an excellent compromise to what I was after in the first place. Thanks for suggesting it!
However I don't actually use Explorer, but Directory Opus - a file manager replacement. I have used it for almost 10 years without a fault but it refuses to recognize the drop from calibre for some reason. It has never, in all that time, refused a regular file command that works in explorer. So it may be a bug with DOPUS, I will go ask them if they have ideas.

I still think my original suggestion would be best (for me!), drag EITHER the mobi OR epub directly from the "Format section" to copy whichever version you want thru a drag and drop (but your idea is a good improvement on my current options)!

Thanks mrmikel - I am well aware of not playing with the library folders and understand the problems (but thanks for the warning to newer users). My way around this is very simple - just have a dummy library with nothing in it, solely for file conversions. Then you can screw around with library folders all you want. Problem with library folders is the awful file name convention. The beauty of the main program is that you can control the file name format using preferences for files that are saved out of the library. So its always better to go via Calibres export functions instead of the library folder (as you are suggesting in the first place).

Thanks theducks, but as I was trying to say, I am aware of the export buttons and was looking for a drag-and-drop solution as it does not involve copy/paste for the destination path - too many steps to do over and over again each day.

Last edited by phil_ga; 08-27-2012 at 07:59 AM.
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Old 08-27-2012, 10:36 AM   #6
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@phga il- I don't use Windows Explorer either, I use xPlorer2 Pro - no problems doing drag drop between it and Calibre, nor with FreeCommander - just tested both on latest Calibre.

So I suspect the problem is with DOPUS

Re drag/drop from Book Details - I can't see how you could drag multiple books out of that panel, and I suspect drag of multiple formats wouldn't be easily done, because there's no list it doesn't lend itself to multiple select.

I think the best you could hope for is drag/drop for one format, Kovid did the right click delete on the Book Details Format items within a day of me suggesting it.

Maybe it could be done via the Formats box in Book Metadata, but ...

If you Open the Path from the Book Details panel you can drag/drop the files you want from Windows Explorer into DOPUS - but remember a left button drag/drop on the same device will do a move rather than a copy, so you may need to do right button drag/drop and select Copy.

That's why I like the drag/drop from the main list - it always does a copy and never a move.

BR
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