Using HD Folders as Collections on Sony PRS-505

[fglaysher]

I have a Sony PRS-505 and about 4,000 books sorted into roughly 50 folders on my pc hard drive. I want to use Calibre but only if I can preserve the same structure I already have my books sorted into, namely America Literature, English Literature, etc. I'm not interested in tagging 4,000 books.

I've been using PRSPLUS for its Browse Folder options but it has become tedious always having to copying into memory and fooling around with it.

Can I do what I want with Calibre and how?

Thanks for your help.

Fred

[fglaysher]

I installed Calibre and then connected the PRS-505 but, after more than a half hour of scanning the reader, all the books were jumbled together. I don't want to tag them...

Is it possible to set up Calibre so my folder structure is preserved?

[jackie_w]

There is a very long discussion on this subject here.

[fglaysher]

Thanks for the link to the thread.

I've read that reasoning in the past about Calibre and understand many people like that system. I don't and am wondering if there is an alternative way of using Calibre.

In Calibre, I notice a check box under

Preferences > Add/Save > Adding Books

that reads: Read metadata only from file name

The file names of all of my books are formatted like this:
Tolstoy, War and Peace

Is there a way I can use that to sort into collections?

[Worldwalker]

You're using the filesystem for metadata now, right? So, for instance, you have a folder named "American Literature" full of, well, American literature?

Simply import the books one folder at a time. As you import each folder, tag the newly-imported books en masse with the proper category.

Trust me, once you get started using real metadata instead of a filesystem-based kludge, you'll wonder how you managed to endure the old way. I know because I did.

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by fglaysher

In Calibre, I notice a check box under

Preferences > Add/Save > Adding Books

that reads: Read metadata only from file name

The file names of all of my books are formatted like this:
Tolstoy, War and Peace

Is there a way I can use that to sort into collections?

The answer to this is almost certainly yes, as long as your current library has a consistent naming convention. You will need to experiment with the 'Regular Expression' box until you get the right match.

I'd like to be more help but I've never used this option myself. I've only ever drag-n-dropped books into calibre. Hopefully someone will be along soon who can offer you specific advice.

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by Worldwalker

Simply import the books one folder at a time. As you import each folder, tag the newly-imported books en masse with the proper category.

Excellent idea!

@fglaysher - You can highlight an entire batch of newly added files and add the tag(s) to all of them at once by just selecting edit metadata and adding the tag(s) in the window.

[fglaysher]

Thanks for the advice everyone.

Under Regular Expression:

(?P<title>.+) - (?P<author>[^_]+)

Might as well be Greek... For a folder named Tolstoy, do I have to change anything?

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by fglaysher

Thanks for the advice everyone.

Under Regular Expression:

(?P<title>.+) - (?P<author>[^_]+)

Might as well be Greek... For a folder named Tolstoy, do I have to change anything?

This is out of my area but if your files are - Author, Title then you might want to change the expression around. You can test it under Preferences - Add/Save but you have to make sure the extension is listed to get a working test,

Tolstoy, War and Peace - This won't test.
Tolstoy, War and Peace.epub - This you can test.

The dash might have to be substituted for a comma in the expression?