Help with new feature: Auto-Add Folder

[kbullkar]

I have been playing for a few minutes with the new auto-add feature... so far pretty cool... just not sure I am using it correctly...

It appears that it creates a new entry for every automatically added book instead of going through the normal add process... I am wondering if this is intended or if I missed a config option...

Also, tried adding folders (won't take them), .zip and .rar (just stores those as files) - I was hoping to be able to take in the .opf .jpg and multiple formats that way...

[kovidgoyal]

It's intended, adding automatically is a background process which the user may not be aware off, so merging into existing records is not a good idea as there's no feedback for where the newly added file ended up.

And it will only handle files not subfolders. For me, the use case is to easily add individual files I get in my email, or from a website without needing to switch to calibre. It's not clear how to interpret a folder full of books. Are all those files for the same book, or different books? In the normal add process, the user tells calibre how to make that interpretation.

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

And it will only handle files not subfolders. For me, the use case is to easily add individual files I get in my email, or from a website without needing to switch to calibre. It's not clear how to interpret a folder full of books. Are all those files for the same book, or different books? In the normal add process, the user tells calibre how to make that interpretation.

Would it be possible to add an option regarding how to handle folders? The calibredb command line has the -1 option for treating directories as single books (with different formats). Perhaps calibre could use the one ebook per file rule by default unless the option for one ebook per folder is selected.

[kovidgoyal]

What's the use case for this? This mechanism really isn't designed for adding large numbers of books to calibre. For that, use the normal add books mechanisms.

[kbullkar]

I often get books with .mobi, cover.jpg and metadata.opf file. Same use case, single book (a handful at most) - but multiple files. No good way to merge the cover and metadata separately (as far as I can see).

[kovidgoyal]

Use the normal add mechanism for such books. Supporting multi file books in auto add is highly problematic. There is no way to know when all the files of the book are available. calibre will be notified the moment the first file is copied, it then has no way to know how long to wait until all the remaining files have been copied.

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

There is no way to know when all the files of the book are available. calibre will be notified the moment the first file is copied, it then has no way to know how long to wait until all the remaining files have been copied.

Yeah, that's what I was considering. How would Calibre know when it's safe to do the import?

In terms of use case, as with a lot of folks here, I work with multiple computers. When I'm away from my home, I often export ebooks (generally in 3 formats: HTMLZ, EPUB & MOBI) to an "import" folder on my Dropbox account using the following naming convention: {authors}/{title}/{authors} - {title} for adding to the main Calibre server on my primary desktop. On the desktop, I have a batch file that adds ebooks from the Dropbox "import" folder. Normally, I RDP into the desktop and when Dropbox has finished syncing, I run the batch file. I was just thinking it would be more convenient if I can skip the RDP step and just have Calibre automatically import from Dropbox.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

Use the normal add mechanism for such books. Supporting multi file books in auto add is highly problematic. There is no way to know when all the files of the book are available. calibre will be notified the moment the first file is copied, it then has no way to know how long to wait until all the remaining files have been copied.

While not fixing this issue exactly, how about a 'Folder Poll Interval' Tweak?

[kovidgoyal]

calibre doesn't poll the folder at all. It uses the OSes filesystem change notification infrastructure to be notified whenever the contets of the watched folder changes.

[theducks]

Great, no lost wimpy CPU cycles

[notimp]

Could you add an "auto convert to specific file format after auto adding" (ie epub to mobi) for Kindle users out there? I guess most of us already use calibres webinterface to get books onto our devices. Therefore pulling the book directly after adding it using the Kindle's browser would be nice.

Thanks in advance.

[kovidgoyal]

Originally Posted by notimp

Could you add an "auto convert to specific file format after auto adding" (ie epub to mobi) for Kindle users out there? I guess most of us already use calibres webinterface to get books onto our devices. Therefore pulling the book directly after adding it using the Kindle's browser would be nice.

Thanks in advance.

Sure should be do-able. Open a bug report requesting it, so I dont forget.

[notimp]

Will do.