Why is my metadata not updating?

[rhino79]

This isn't the typical question about metadata, meaning I understand that Calibre doesn't alter the metadata inside the book file unless you do a conversion, use Polish or use Modify Epub plugin.

My issue is this... I don't want any "comments" in my metadata, so I clear them in the metadata editor window, then I use Polish to update the actual book file.

However, if I open the book in Sigil, I still see text in the dc:description tag. Why is this still there? Is the Calibre "comments" data not the same as the dc:description entry?

The same thing happens with Modify Epub plugin. I clear the comments and update the metadata, yet the dc:description data remains.

Am I missing something here?

[kovidgoyal]

Insert some dummy metadata, like _ or .

IIRC blank comments will not overwrite existing comments in epub.

[rhino79]

Aha. I didn't know that. Thanks for the tip.

[EvMB1]

I don't know if I'm putting this in the correct place.

The majority of files on my Kindle Fire (1600 files) are docx and AZW3 with few odd AZW and PDFs thrown in. I just spent weeks updating these short stories and when I check the Calibre Library, the files are not updated. I'm a dummy, so if you can help and can tell me what I need to do something to fix this could you please take this into account with very specific instructions.

I saw tips about updating metadata management but I can't see that heading in Preferences (dummy remember).

[Adoby]

Please give an example of what you updated, what you expected the result to be, what you actually saw and how you checked. It is enough with one book/file.

[EvMB1]

Just a Word doc with spelling/grammar edited. When I double checked in the Calibre Library, the previous mistakes were still there and the date of the file was from a month ago. And not just one file.

[Adoby]

When you add books or documents to calibre, a copy of the book or document is stored in calibre.

If you edit the original document, then the copy inside calibre is not updated. You have to edit the original and add it to calibre again, and possibly delete the old copy. If you no longer has the original document available you can save the copy in calibre to disk, edit it and add the edited copy back to calibre. If you are very careful and know exactly what you are doing you could also edit the copy in situ inside the calibre library.

[EvMB1]

Yes that is what I did. I edited the document, added the new one then deleted the old copy before sending it to the device.

[PeterT]

Remember if you had done any conversion of format from DOC to azw3 or mobi (for instance when you sent them to your device initially) and then replaced the DOC format, the next transfer to your device would not reconvert the DOC.

[BetterRed]

@EvMB1 - edit the .docx that's in the library folder, the only thing to remember is to save and close the file in word once you've finished editing it. If you don't close the docx, and you try to convert it then calibre with pop an error message informing you its locked.

I create ~20 new docx's every morning from various sources, first I 'fix' the metadata, then if necessary I 'convert' to a Word compatible format (RTF, TXT, HTML), edit them in Word into a 'standard format', save them, close them, convert them to epub and then copy the epubs to my tablet. I only keep the docx's and epubs in the library, I discard the source files (HTML, plain text, pdf etc).

BR

[EvMB1]

Thank you for the feedback everyone.

Does anyone have a suggestion for me to fix this? the updated copies are on my Kindle. Should I delete all 1600 docs in the library and then add them from my kindle?

[Adoby]

There is something wrong with your work flow.

You seem to say that you add the new updated version to calibre, and delete the old version. And when you look in calibre, the new version you just added to calibre is no longer updated? I sounds like you delete the wrong version or never updated the new version you added to calibre.

If you think there is something wrong with calibre, try to reproduce the error involving as few steps as possible. And let us know exactly what those steps are, so we can reproduce the exact same error.

[EvMB1]

No, I'm sorry I'm not being very clear with my description. I mean that I:

1. Update the documents (spelling mistakes or formatting changes) In this case docx.
2. Re-add them to Calibre
3. Delete the old version of the document in the Calibre list
4. Then send the newly updated document to the device.

When I check my Calibre Library the updated version of the file is not listed, only the copy I deleted in Calibre is still there.

I have the current version of Calibre.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by EvMB1

No, I'm sorry I'm not being very clear with my description. I mean that I:

1. Update the documents (spelling mistakes or formatting changes) In this case docx.
2. Re-add them to Calibre
3. Delete the old version of the document in the Calibre list
4. Then send the newly updated document to the device.

When I check my Calibre Library the updated version of the file is not listed, only the copy I deleted in Calibre is still there.

I have the current version of Calibre.

If you open the metadata edit window for the book and DROP the new version of the DOCX onto the formats box, it replaces the old one. No deleting, no change to anything else. It stays the same book ID# this way

[EvMB1]

Thank you - that sounds like it's easy. But I must highlight again at this point that I'm a bit of a dummy and I need things explained to me step by step. Can I please ask you to explain that a little more specifically?