Quote:
Originally Posted by theducks
Simple: A file structure locks you to only the structure for locating the book
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That's not entirely true, you can use symbolic/soft links to create different access paths to the same data which can be distributed over multiple devices including server devices.
Of course its nowhere near as flexible as calibre, but in some scenarios it can be the only viable choice.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Adoby
Test the cover view with virtual libraries and you will be converted.  |
They would not convert me - I don't use either of them, the plugins (especially those from kiwidude) and custom columns were what 'converted' me, without them I wouldn't be using the calibre GUI.
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bounce I have no idea whether following would would work with OS/X alias files, and I'm not sure than Linux has the equivalent of shortcut files - I've never noticed them. If you don't use Windows then the rest of this is probably irrelevant.
In Windows 7-SP1 I can pass a shortcut file to calibre (via Windows Send To) and it will create a book record with the shortcut file. I can open the book and download metadata and use the basic features of calibre - but I can't do conversions, send to or save etc.
It could be a way to dip your toe in the water to explore the flexibility offered by calibre's database, custom columns etc without creating actual copies of the book files, which to many of us is an anathema. Once calibre has the shortcut file you can trash the one you sent with impunity
The name of the shortcut file does not have to be same as the target, you can change it to one that calibre can easily ingest - eg 'author - title'.
If you run the DLT service (which is enabled by default) then Windows will take care of shortcut target renames and moves. Its a lot better at doing that in more recent editions of Windows than it was in XP and 2000.
I have not done much with this 'discovery' other than what I already indicated, for instance whether one can create books from shortcut files by any of the Add Books methods - I've only tried adding a shortcut file via Send To and dropping them into the Library list.
BR