Check Library

[paulfiera]

What does Check Library really do?

There are 2 checkboxes (fixable) and by checking them and running "Fix marked" nothing happens.

I know there are a couple of books missing covers. Shouldn't it list the books with missing covers?

There are also Extra book formats. Some books in ePub and LIT.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by paulfiera

What does Check Library really do?

It checks your library.

There are 2 checkboxes (fixable) and by checking them and running "Fix marked" nothing happens.

I know there are a couple of books missing covers. Shouldn't it list the books with missing covers?

There are also Extra book formats. Some books in ePub and LIT.

Fix library does not check for missing covers, because that is not an error. It does check for covers that the database thinks are there but are not (missing covers), and covers that are there that the database doesn't know about (extra covers). Both of these can be fixed without risk, which is why the fixable option is there. However, nothing will be fixed if there isn't anything in these two categories.

As for extra book formats, I assume that you know about them because check_library told you (they aren't on the screenshot). You have three choices:
- ignore them.
- delete them. You can do this directly from check_library by selecting the files ('check' them) and then pressing 'delete marked'.
- re-add them. To do this, you should move the 'extra' format file out of the library, then use edit metadata to re-add the format.

Your question might be 'where did these extra formats come from?'. The answer is 'I don't know, and can't know.' Usually they arrive because of people messing around within calibre's folder structure, but there could be other reasons. For example, I can see it happening in some application crash circumstances. It is possible that there is some lurking bug somewhere, but as time passes this is becoming less and less likely.

[paulfiera]

Originally Posted by chaley

As for extra book formats, I assume that you know about them because check_library told you (they aren't on the screenshot).

I know about them because I imported those LIT books myself and then converted them to ePub

Many thanks for the explanation, chaley.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by paulfiera

I know about them because I imported those LIT books myself and then converted them to ePub

From calibre's point of view, an extra format is a book file found in the book folder but not known to the database. Are your files like that? If so, then the file will be physically there but you won't see the format in edit metadata. It can also happen if you have more than one book file of a given format in the book folder.

For completeness, a missing format is one known to the database, but without a corresponding book file.

I ask not to be nosy, but to be sure that check_library is not missing something.

Many thanks for the explanation, chaley.

You are welcome.

[paulfiera]

Originally Posted by chaley

From calibre's point of view, an extra format is a book file found in the book folder but not known to the database. Are your files like that?

Aha. No, not like that. I do not mess with the calibre libraries in the file system. All is done via the GUI.

So, in this case, the library check is right. There are two formats of one book but both are known to the application database.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by paulfiera

Aha. No, not like that. I do not mess with the calibre libraries in the file system. All is done via the GUI.

So, in this case, the library check is right. There are two formats of one book but both are known to the application database.

You can have 5 formats of the same book, the check should not raise an eyebrow as long as you added them via the GUI.

Noted exception: Dual booters of Linux and Windows can cause all sorts of grief if you add some from the Windows side, and others from Linux. It is possible to create a different case version in Linux, that case insensitive Windows can't deal with.

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by paulfiera

So, in this case, the library check is right. There are two formats of one book but both are known to the application database.

If the check said extra book format found then calibre's database doesn't know about the extra book.

I had a extra copy of the same epub but the author's name was different. My only guess was that I had the original epub open in the editor or viewer when I changed the name in calibre. A new epub was created with the new author name but the original was never deleted.