Reading Titles

[felinus]

Files downloaded from Project Gutenberg all have names like pxxx.mobi etc, this is fine but when a lot of them are loaded into calibre it's not always easy to tell which book relates to which file, is there a way of showning the file name ?
If not would this be a good future feature ?

[theducks]

Originally Posted by felinus

Files downloaded from Project Gutenberg all have names like pxxx.mobi etc, this is fine but when a lot of them are loaded into calibre it's not always easy to tell which book relates to which file, is there a way of showning the file name ?
If not would this be a good future feature ?

That IS the (PG) file name. (and the base numbers are unique to the Title (version) of the book regardless of format).

I open the book in the viewer and copy the title and paste it into the Title field of Calibre, (repeat for author). All formats associated with that line will now have the correct Title when Save to Disk or Send to Device are used.

[felinus]

Yes, I understand that, and thanks for your input.
but...
What I mean is, imagine you have downloaded a dozen or so titles from PG.
Load them into calibre and it will properly display the book titles.
Fine so far, BUT there is no way of relating the book title to the filename.
calibre will display say "Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen" but there is no way of knowing that that book relates to say pxyz.mobi file.
Very difficult to explain this but hopefully someone will know what I am rambling on about !

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by felinus

Yes, I understand that, and thanks for your input.
but...
What I mean is, imagine you have downloaded a dozen or so titles from PG.
Load them into calibre and it will properly display the book titles.
Fine so far, BUT there is no way of relating the book title to the filename.
calibre will display say "Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen" but there is no way of knowing that that book relates to say pxyz.mobi file.
Very difficult to explain this but hopefully someone will know what I am rambling on about !

I'm afraid you'll have to open the book in the Calibre Viewer to find out what it is, then edit the book's metadata (right click -> Edit Metadata) and enter the author and title correctly. It will then display correctly in the library.

[GeckoFriend]

An alternative suggestion:

When I download files from PG, I rename each file immediately. When added to calibre you're good to go.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by GeckoFriend

An alternative suggestion:

When I download files from PG, I rename each file immediately. When added to calibre you're good to go.

That won't actually help with the Calibre display, because Calibre displays the metadata, not the filename.

[GeckoFriend]

Originally Posted by HarryT

That won't actually help with the Calibre display, because Calibre displays the metadata, not the filename.

I guess it works for me because I download metadata soon after I add the book.

ETA:
I just tested this; downloaded from PG; renamed file; added to calibre. Title shows just as I renamed the file.

[HarryT]

What format are you using? I'm a little puzzled by this; if you have a Mobi or ePub book, Calibre does nothing at all with the filename; all the displayed information comes from the metadata that's inside the book.

[GeckoFriend]

Originally Posted by HarryT

What format are you using? I'm a little puzzled by this; if you have a Mobi or ePub book, Calibre does nothing at all with the filename; all the displayed information comes from the metadata that's inside the book.

Format is ePub. I'm a little puzzled by your experience. I frequently retitle books (shortening long titles, etc.) and they show in calibre just as I name them.

[HarryT]

Hmmm. I really can't understand that. The "Title" shown by Calibre is the title metadata field, not the filename!

[itimpi]

Ca;obre can use either the filename or the metadata for the title. Which it uses depends on what your Calibre settings were for adding books at the time you added them.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by itimpi

Ca;obre can use either the filename or the metadata for the title. Which it uses depends on what your Calibre settings were for adding books at the time you added them.

That would explain it . Thank you - I didn't know that!

[theducks]

Originally Posted by GeckoFriend

I guess it works for me because I download metadata soon after I add the book.

ETA:
I just tested this; downloaded from PG; renamed file; added to calibre. Title shows just as I renamed the file.

That works because your add book preference is to parse the file name and not use internal metadata

[GeckoFriend]

Originally Posted by theducks

That works because your add book preference is to parse the file name and not use internal metadata

Actually Preferences > Adding books > The Add Process is set to:
Read metadata from file contents rather than file name. I'm now more confused than ever.