Help with strange file names from Calibre

[LordP]

Once is a while, when saving from Calibre, I'll get this very odd file name:

****** (1) (1) (1) (1) (1) (1).epub

I don't even know how to search for this on Google, I don't get any hits resembling what I'm looking for. I also searched here and got no hits at all.

This happens infrequently and the number of "(1),s" vary from a few to 12 this one time.

Has anyone ever had this happen to them?

Thanks

[BetterRed]

@LordP - could you post which OS you use, the file system where you library is stored, the full path of the format file being saved, and the save template you're using.

Is your library synced to a cloud store service - eg Dropbox etc ?

BR

[LordP]

Windows 7 x64
Secondary NTFS Drive
D:\E-BOOKS --- SAVED\
{authors} - {title}
Latest Calibre

I don't sync to any cloud service.

BTW, this is something recent. I have never had this before and it happens only once in a while.

Thanks for the quick reply.

Frankly I'm completely baffled and can't figure out how to do a search for this although I've tried looking for "strange file name *(1) (1) (1).epub, simply (1) (1) (1) and other variations.

Google is going nuts with this one, I get all sorts of different hits.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by LordP

Windows 7 x64
Secondary NTFS Drive
D:\E-BOOKS --- SAVED\
{authors} - {title}
Latest Calibre

I don't sync to any cloud service.

BTW, this is something recent. I have never had this before and it happens only once in a while.

Thanks for the quick reply.

Frankly I'm completely baffled and can't figure out how to do a search for this although I've tried looking for "strange file name *(1) (1) (1).epub, simply (1) (1) (1) and other variations.

Google is going nuts with this one, I get all sorts of different hits.

@LordP - I can't begin to imagine how such names could be created.

Are there any 'strange' characters in the author or title columns as they are held in the database (not the calibre library folders), or are they unusually long. I would take a copy of metadata.db and peek at the author and book tables with this ==>> DB Browser for SQLite

Try changing the template to {id} - that's the book number. I know it's not what you want, but if it saves OK then it would seem the problem has something to do with author and/or title. You can see the id (book number) if you press 'i' on a book.

BR

[LordP]

"@LordP - I can't begin to imagine how such names could be created.

Yeah, it's completely baffling to me too.

I will try your suggestions and post the results here.

[theducks]

I see the (1) added to a duplicate file name

filename.epub
filename(1).epub


the * above makes me think the OS mechanism for this is badly damaged

[LordP]

"I see the (1) added to a duplicate file name"

Yeah, but there is only one file!

[LordP]

Well here is a capture of the authors & books tables:

[IMG][/IMG]

[LordP]

Sorry, I realized i didn't have the authors correctly captured:

[LordP]

Nothing really catches my eye but then again I'm no expert.

[theducks]

You captured the structure
You did not capture the tables Data

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by theducks

I see the (1) added to a duplicate file name

filename.epub
filename(1).epub


the * above makes me think the OS mechanism for this is badly damaged

Originally Posted by LordP

"I see the (1) added to a duplicate file name"

Yeah, but there is only one file!

Where are you guys seeing the

filename.epub
filename(1).epub

That said, I believe such things are created in Windows Explorer (maybe some other file manager) when a file is copied (via ctrl/c) and pasted (via ctrl/v) into the same location.

Originally Posted by theducks

You captured the structure
You did not capture the tables Data

@LordP - go into the Browse Data tab and have a look at Author and Book tables.

And did you try saving the same book with template {id}

BR

[LordP]

Hmm. I load the metadata.db and I see the structure but the Data Tab is empty for all structures, Author & Books, :

[IMG][/IMG]

I'll try saving with [id} next and also re-saving the one file giving me a problem to see if it happens again.

[LordP]

Interesting.

This is my setup: I have Calibre installed in my normal C:\ drive and on my D:\ drive I have two folders, E-Books Input & E-Books Output.

Say I have an epub and I want to clear up formatting and also make a mobi, I copy the file to E-Books Input and when I get done I save both files to E-Books Output.

What I was able to repeat is that if I save both at the same time I'll get this:

filename.epub & filname (1).mobi, and I get this every time for this particular file. If, however I save them one at a time then I get normal file names.

This does NOT happen with all files, it happens infrequently but seems to be consistent with some files.

Trying to use {id} as BetterRed suggested gave me 6728.epub & 6754.mobi and this is consistent whether I save the files together or one at time.

I suppose this proves that the problem IS related to the Author/Books fields.

[LordP]

Thanks for the help and time BTW.