Add books in bulk

[fibero]

How can I transfer to Calibre all books in a PC folder instead of one by one? I have read several tricks in other sites but none has worked. Thanks.

[BetterRed]

@fibero - if you can get the paths to all the book files (epub, mobi, txt etc) into a file, then you could edit it into a script that used calibredb add command to add each book.

Suggest you experiment with a few books and a test library

BR

[eschwartz]

You can drag-and-drop files onto calibre to add them, or use the Add books toolbar icon. Both allow you to select/drag multiple books.

The Add books toolbar icon also has a dropdown that allows you to choose a folder and import all books in that folder. It is the third option.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

@fibero - if you can get the paths to all the book files (epub, mobi, txt etc) into a file, then you could edit it into a script that used calibredb add command to add each book.

Suggest you experiment with a few books and a test library

BR

If it was really necessary to use a script, couldn't we just use:

for file in *.epub *.mobi *.azw3 *.txt; do
    calibredb add $file
done

or the Windows equivalent?

And then drop that into the folder and double-click.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

If it was really necessary to use a script, couldn't we just use:

for file in *.epub *.mobi *.azw3 *.txt; do
    calibredb add $file
done

or the Windows equivalent?

And then drop that into the folder and double-click.

Does that not assume all the formats are in the same folder or at least in an orderly folder structure?

I was assuming from this

I have read several tricks in other sites but none has worked

that the books were scattered around a tree in a disorderly fashion.

I've run into this with a couple of new calibre installs. I've used a file locator such as agent ransack to find files in a tree (device), sort by file type, remove unwanted types/files, copy paths to a file (e.g. addbooks.bat) and wrap calibredb-add " and " around each line.

I guess I could drag drop out of the file locator, or create hardlinks in a folder and add books from there. But the advantage of 'my way' is that the batch file itself provides a simple audit trail with no effort. The alternative would be to use a file system log analyser to extract an audit trail...

BR

[eschwartz]

That is when I pull out find, but I am not sure that can be duplicated in Windows batch without using gfind from gow or something. Which obviously requires downloading and installing yet more tools (and most people don't need unix tools for windows on an ongoing basis).

But the OP said "a folder", so hopefully... ?

...

Or something like:

recursedirs()
{
for file in *.epub *.mobi *.azw3 *.txt */ ; do
    if [[ -d "${file}" ]]; then
        cd "${file}"
        recursedirs
    else
        calibredb add "${file}"
    fi
done
}

Obviously, the best way of doing it is with "calibredb add --recurse ./" or the equivalent via the GUI.
The one time this won't work is when you want to import files from all over and don't want calibre to search your entire C: drive trying to find books -- then I guess a dedicated Ransack would be better for weeding out the noise. Because calibre will of course pick up on a lot of stuff, including HTML and ZIP files and all word documents etc.

calibre is capable of traversing a single directory tree and importing all recognized ebook types, recursively, on its own though -- if that is what you need.

[fibero]

Thankyou all. Given my limited knowledge, I will try Option 3 of the Add Books button in the GUI as recommended by eschwartz.

[eschwartz]

Forgive the g(r)eek. You can ignore that part...

Option three it is!