any way to prevent calibre from making a copy of the book when added to its library?

[GoldThreader]

like the title says is it possible to prevent it from making a copy and just add the books?

[toddos]

Nope. This is how calibre manages its library. If you don't want calibre to manage your library, you don't need calibre.

More specifically, what are you trying to do that you care? If you're just trying to convert books, use calibre's command line tools and you won't need to import books. If you're trying to use calibre to manage your library, let it manage your library.

[GoldThreader]

Originally Posted by toddos

Nope. This is how calibre manages its library. If you don't want calibre to manage your library, you don't need calibre.

More specifically, what are you trying to do that you care? If you're just trying to convert books, use calibre's command line tools and you won't need to import books. If you're trying to use calibre to manage your library, let it manage your library.

im fine with it managing my library but making a copy is not managing it

[silentguy]

Originally Posted by GoldThreader

im fine with it managing my library but making a copy is not managing it

The way it's intended to work is that you don't care about the actual files any more, i.e. you can now just delete the file you added. Think of it as calibre moving it into the proper shelf in the library but being kind enough to leave you a copy cause if it just deleted them even more ppl would complain

[GoldThreader]

Originally Posted by silentguy

The way it's intended to work is that you don't care about the actual files any more, i.e. you can now just delete the file you added. Think of it as calibre moving it into the proper shelf in the library but being kind enough to leave you a copy cause if it just deleted them even more ppl would complain

well im not saying it should delete them but list them from the directories there in already at least have an option to turn it off sense it has the link to direct you to whatever folder the book is in i.e the calibre library it could just send you to whatever directory the book is in

[theducks]

Originally Posted by GoldThreader

well im not saying it should delete them but list them from the directories there in already at least have an option to turn it off sense it has the link to direct you to whatever folder the book is in i.e the calibre library it could just send you to whatever directory the book is in

Wrong thinking.
With the single library structure, in case the big OOPS happens, Calibre has a single branch to rescan and recreate the metadata (backup for each book is stored in with the books.
Your way = total loss, instead of letting Calibre grind away on the branch for 10 or so minutes.
Smart people pick the Calibre way.

[GoldThreader]

Originally Posted by theducks

Wrong thinking.
With the single library structure, in case the big OOPS happens, Calibre has a single branch to rescan and recreate the metadata (backup for each book is stored in with the books.
Your way = total loss, instead of letting Calibre grind away on the branch for 10 or so minutes.
Smart people pick the Calibre way.

well i just meant that it could be an option in settings to turn on and off the feature but sense it seems impossible guess i have to leave it as is

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by GoldThreader

well i just meant that it could be an option in settings to turn on and off the feature but sense it seems impossible guess i have to leave it as is

That would make for a much bigger database (metadata.db) as it would then need to store full paths. The risk of losing files gets bigger (e.g. user deletes files, renames files/folders, moves files to a different location, network drives get disconnected, etc). There's also the issue of what to name and where to store converted copies, and backup metadata and covers.

There's already several threads regarding this. Suffice to say, you're not meant to consider the files inside calibre's library folder as files. They're really more of an extension of calibre's database.

[GoldThreader]

Originally Posted by ilovejedd

That would make for a much bigger database (metadata.db) as it would then need to store full paths. The risk of losing files gets bigger (e.g. user deletes files, renames files/folders, moves files to a different location, network drives get disconnected, etc). There's also the issue of what to name and where to store converted copies, and backup metadata and covers.

There's already several threads regarding this. Suffice to say, you're not meant to consider the files inside calibre's library folder as files. They're really more of an extension of calibre's database.

yeah i realize this just thought it might have been available guess not

[transmitthis]

It would be better all round, if there was a short explanation as to what Calibre does, on the main Download page.

Lots of people come from the perspective of itunes or Wmplayer, that just index files and does not move them or copy them, its unusual behavair to most people.
It would not work for other files because of their size - imagine a calibre for you videos or game install files - trying to copy over hundreds of GB.

Anyway what I'm saying is - when people install Calibre they don't know the "program" works and what its doing, so they understandably get confused.

"This program manages all your books, by copying them into its own folder structure inside a single folder you specify. The originals can be deleted after importing. This is intended behavior and is the best way to manage ebooks" See forum and/or wiki for more info."

Something like that would suit.

[ElMiko]

Originally Posted by transmitthis

It would be better all round, if there was a short explanation as to what Calibre does, on the main Download page.

Lots of people come from the perspective of itunes or Wmplayer, that just index files and does not move them or copy them, its unusual behavair to most people.
It would not work for other files because of their size - imagine a calibre for you videos or game install files - trying to copy over hundreds of GB.

Anyway what I'm saying is - when people install Calibre they don't know the "program" works and what its doing, so they understandably get confused.


Something like that would suit.

You're right. This is a common question. Which is why it's (obliquely) in Calibre's FAQ. And is stickied in Library Management forum. Look, on some some level, I understand where you're coming from, but if a user can't be bothered to read the FAQ or the program's dedicated forums, he or she almost certainly can't be bothered to read the fine print. What you're suggesting is a 3rd source for information that is already intuitively available to all but the most stubborn users.

PS - Also, I think your argument about the impossibility of a comparable indexing system for other media files assumes that calibre is dealing exclusively with small files. But a single PDF can easily climb into the 100+ MB range. And CBR/CBZ files are frequently around 20MB each. That means that even a limited-run comicbook series of 5 or 6 issues is likely going to exceed 100MB. By comparison, most mp3 albums today clock in at around 75-80MB.

[JMikeD]

Originally Posted by transmitthis

Lots of people come from the perspective of itunes or Wmplayer, that just index files and does not move them or copy them, its unusual behavair to most people.

I can only speak for my own experience with iTunes, but when you import files it does copy them into its own directory structure... without telling you that it did it, or where they are.

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by JMikeD

I can only speak for my own experience with iTunes, but when you import files it does copy them into its own directory structure... without telling you that it did it, or where they are.

You can disable that behavior in recent versions. Apple caved in to customer demand and eventually added that option to iTunes.

[phuocle]

Originally Posted by theducks

Wrong thinking.
With the single library structure, in case the big OOPS happens, Calibre has a single branch to rescan and recreate the metadata (backup for each book is stored in with the books.
Your way = total loss, instead of letting Calibre grind away on the branch for 10 or so minutes.

Please. Don't be so condescending. Just because you or Goyal think & work this way does not mean that's the way everyone work or think. Or hell, that it's even the best way. And they may have some damn good reason to do what they do. I'll let you think about that for a minute or maybe you need two.

As for me, I do not work your way and the big OOPS would not result in a total loss for me at all. Perhaps Calibre is the wrong app for me but unfortunately it seems to be the only ebook manager out there. I can tell you that in my case, it's much better if an ebook management program gave the option to link to the location where books are stored with the full understanding that there may be additional overhead (which is a BS argument since it would be minimal to store one additional field; the path). That way, people who do things a certain way (for good reason) can do things their way.

BTW, if you need a clue, see the message right above mine and think why Apple caved. There is more than one way to skin a cat.

Originally Posted by theducks

Smart people pick the Calibre way.

Smart ass people maybe.

[DoctorOhh]

While theducks may have been a little pointed in his comments there are many ways to do things.

Originally Posted by phuocle

Just because you or Goyal think & work this way does not mean that's the way everyone work or think. Or hell, that it's even the best way. And they may have some damn good reason to do what they do.

The call to place all books in one central place was more of a quality control / customer service call. This minimizes the constant calls, questions, posts about what happened to my books when folks move indexed files. You might want to ask Apple how much indexing music instead of copying it to a central library cost them in customer service in the early years.

Originally Posted by phuocle

BTW, if you need a clue, see the message right above mine and think why Apple caved. There is more than one way to skin a cat.

I may be wrong, but it seems the one who needs "a clue" is you. By default iTunes has always indexed files not purchased through Apple. The feature iTunes caved on is the option to move your files into a central media library instead of indexing them. The following is from iTunes help:

By default, adding items to your iTunes library places a pointer to each file in the iTunes folder; the original file remains in the current location. For information about copying files to the iTunes folder instead of referencing them, see Copy files to your iTunes folder automatically.

Maybe you should "think about that for a minute or maybe you need two."

At some point in the future indexing may be an option in calibre but currently there isn't any great customer demand for this feature.