renaming a book during conversion

[RAH]

Hello. I am new to this forum. I have a Nook and downloaded a Gutenberg epub file that displays fairly well on the Nook, but i thought it might look better if I tried converting it from epub to epub but telling it to use the Nook as the output profile.

But I wanted to save the original in case the conversion didn't help. I changed the title in the Metadata, hoping that this would let me distinguish the original from the conversion. However, when the conversion was finished, I was left with one version of the book, the converted one. As it turned out, it did in fact make the book a little worse.

In this case, I can get the original back from my original download folder, but it seems to me that Calibre needs to have the ability to do such a conversion and make a new copy of the book, not always a replacement. Or maybe you can do this and I just don't know how?

[desertgrandma]

May I suggest you check here for any PD book before you download from PG?

Our books are formatted by our members, and ready for you to read......no extra useless pages or info.

Click on the linky....

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by RAH

when the conversion was finished, I was left with one version of the book

That's normal.

In this case, I can get the original back from my original download folder, but it seems to me that Calibre needs to have the ability to do such a conversion and make a new copy of the book, not always a replacement. Or maybe you can do this and I just don't know how?

Add an "empty" book with the Add Books icon (click triangle adjacent), then select that book and then the original (in that order and before conversion), then press Alt-M to create a record that contains copy of the first book, with all of its formats. Do your conversions on the copy until you are happy, then Merge the two.

[itimpi]

There has been some discussion for a feature where a particular format can be designated as a 'master' that would not be overwritten during conversion. The thinking at the time was to store this 'master' copy in some sort of archive format (e.g. .rar) so that the conversion did not overwrite it. However, so far, there has not so far been any attempt to implement such a feature.

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by itimpi

There has been some discussion for a feature where a particular format can be designated as a 'master' that would not be overwritten during conversion. The thinking at the time was to store this 'master' copy in some sort of archive format (e.g. .rar) so that the conversion did not overwrite it. However, so far, there has not so far been any attempt to implement such a feature.

However, the user can export, rar compress and then re-add the "master" format if he wants to keep it in the same book record. It's a bit tricky because Calibre will attempt to unpack the rar'ed file during import, so it's best to rar up inside a folder or add multiple files. Then it will be stored as a rar without unpacking.

[RAH]

Thanks for the replies folks! It confirms for me that in order to overcome this minor problem one has to do some extra manipulation. I was thinking maybe it was there but I couldn't find it.

I'm not at all familiar with the way this ebook conversion operates, but it seems that a simple "Save As" (to modify the name) is not in the cards. I mean that's the way you do things with image manipulation, word-processing documents, etc. Seems odd that this simple operation isn't available for ebook manipulation.

As far as getting public domain books here instead of at Gutenberg, OK, I'll try that.

[Manichean]

Originally Posted by RAH

I'm not at all familiar with the way this ebook conversion operates, but it seems that a simple "Save As" (to modify the name) is not in the cards. I mean that's the way you do things with image manipulation, word-processing documents, etc. Seems odd that this simple operation isn't available for ebook manipulation.

Well, you're citing editors. Save as makes sense there. Calibre is a library management tool, and thus has a whole other philosophy behind it than an editor does.

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by RAH

I'm not at all familiar with the way this ebook conversion operates, but it seems that a simple "Save As" (to modify the name) is not in the cards.

In your initial post, you asked about Conversion, not Saving. Conversion operates entirely within the Calibre database, and inside Calibre, there is no concept of a filename, so no concept of a way to Convert to a different filename. When you convert to another format, the issues of "filename" or "Save As" are not relevant. Your question, as originally framed, applied to conversion, and in that context, Calibre's design only permits one of each format for each book record. If you want two versions of the same format inside Calibre, you have to make another record - which is what you referred to as "some extra manipulation."

I mean that's the way you do things with image manipulation, word-processing documents, etc. Seems odd that this simple operation isn't available for ebook manipulation.

Actually, it (Save As) is available for Saving out of the Calibre library. That's the first point where the concept of a filename has any meaning. Calibre allows you to set any filename you want when exporting a copy out of the Library. You construct the filename you want, including the directory/folder name from all the metadata stored about your book (author, title, series name/number, publisher, tags, genres or whatever you want.) If you really want to tell Calibre to save out the book with a specific name, instead of constructing the name on the fly from the metadata, you can do that too.

[RAH]

Thanks folks for setting me straight on the differences between conversion and saving, and editors and library management tools. I get what you are saying. The whole deal of handling data without explicitly using the filename is something I'll have to get used to. I have seen it with MP3 library management tools, but still have to get used to it.