Automatic book importing via a monitored directory?

[grumpy3b]

Using Lightroom as a model for the idea is it possible to set a directory inside Calibre for monitoring, then when new content is found have Calibre automatically import whatever it finds.

The newly imported books would be tagged with a "new import" or some similar tag or tags to associate it as new. It would be really nice to be able to turn Calibre loose to automatically traverse a directory structure in search of newly added books. The bulk import is not bad now but getting it to run transparently might be handy.

This works very well in Lightroom when I am doing a studio session tethered to the laptop or even letting the EyeFi card beam the photos directly to the directory I have set Lightroom to monitor.

When I sat down earlier I was surprised at the parallels between Calibre and Lightroom. But I suppose a library management system is essentially the same no matter what the actual content.

[itimpi]

This is not (at least at the moment) a Calibre facility.

You could probably simulate something close to it using a scheduled task to run a batch file that used the Calibre Command line tools to add a book.

You could always try raising a ticket for this as an enhancement. If you are lucky it will pique one of the developers interest and thus get done quite rapidly. If not, at least it is down as a registered request for future consideration.

[grumpy3b]

thanks for the quick answer. I'll look at other options to make this work. UIt would be nice with the bulk import though. Maybe in the future, or not.

As for opening a ticket, naw, not anything I am interested in doing. If there is enough interest it will come along. These are supposed to be smart people, they will figure it out without input from me.

I figure this feature is not in there now because there just has not been enough interest from their existing user base. They have enough fires to put out without adding this one.

[Manichean]

Originally Posted by grumpy3b

As for opening a ticket, naw, not anything I am interested in doing. If there is enough interest it will come along. These are supposed to be smart people, they will figure it out without input from me.

I figure this feature is not in there now because there just has not been enough interest from their existing user base. They have enough fires to put out without adding this one.

Opening a ticket with an enhancement request is the user bases' way of expressing interest. Still, your call.

[kovidgoyal]

This feature is not implemented because it requires an outsize effort to implement it across all the operating systems calibre supports.

[grumpy3b]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

This feature is not implemented because it requires an outsize effort to implement it across all the operating systems calibre supports.

Thanks Kovid,

I thought that could well be an issue. Makes sense that trying to account for all the different file systems as well as OS differences in this area could be a killer. That is one advantage Adobe has with the LR product, they only support two operating systems. And gee, maybe Adobe has just a few more resources, hahaha - thank you for the feedback. It's one of those, would be nice but..., features. Maybe in your next life you can add it.

[JvdW]

Originally Posted by grumpy3b

Thanks Kovid,

I thought that could well be an issue. Makes sense that trying to account for all the different file systems as well as OS differences in this area could be a killer. That is one advantage Adobe has with the LR product, they only support two operating systems. And gee, maybe Adobe has just a few more resources, hahaha - thank you for the feedback. It's one of those, would be nice but..., features. Maybe in your next life you can add it.

For most OS their are programs/tools that allow watching a folder and taking action when files arrive. There are numerous tools for Windows and I have seen several for Linux as well. You could take one of these and program them to use calibredb to add the file to your library including tags.

Joop

[Callumgw]

Hi,
My first post

For me, auto adding is essential. I want to use this cataloguing tool for manuals and lots of other data, mainly in PDF. Since almost everything now comes with an electronic manual I have been slowly building up a dstructured directory to be abale to find things. I was hoping that calibre (or another cataloguing tool) could read the directories like all good music programs can do, and add the files to the lists. One reason I don't use iTunes is because it doesn't do this natively.

I think such a capability would be extremely beneficial to all users, even if they don't realise just yet.

C

[Serpentine]

See : http://calibre-ebook.com/whats-new

Release: 0.8.38 [03 Feb, 2012]
New Features
Implement the ability to automatically add books to calibre from a specified folder.

Closes tickets: 920249

calibre can now watch a folder on your computer and instantly add any files you put there to the calibre library as new books. You can tell calibre which folder to watch via Preferences->Adding Books->Automatic Adding.

[Callumgw]

Thanks, I saw that yesterday, but haven't found a good description in the help files, but another user offered this in a seperate post:

"It monitors a folder and imports the new files, then deletes them from the monitored folder. It also has a duplicates-checking option. Go to Preferences > Adding Books > click over to the Automatic Adding tab."

I was hoping to be able to assign tags based on where in the folder structures I put something. for example : Fiction->Manuals->Samsung->GalaxyS is where I'd put the galaxyS manual and the software would apply tags "Fiction, Manuals, Samsung, GalaxyS" . So the solution is not exactly what I had hoped for, but it may do the trick, I'll play around and see how workable this'll be.

Thanks,
C

[Callumgw]

I realised that Moun had only installed version 7.18 - so have updated. Need to go back over this stuff again, but haven't had time.

C