Multiple Books - Same Format

thatworkshop · 08-13-2015, 06:45 PM

I know this has been discussed before (at least in this thread) but I wish it was possible to have multiple book of same format.

Something very bad happened in my case: Sometimes, for some books that I have 2 copies in let's say PDF format, I don't have time to check which version is better and I want to keep, so when adding to Calibre, I add one of them and after that I browse to the folder this book is stored in my Library and cut and paste the other pdf version as "Whatever_name_2.pdf". Now, I move some of my books to another Library inside Calibre and by doing this, Calibre has remove the second variant of my book!!!

And that happened to be the better one. Can you resolve this @Kovid

PeterT · 08-13-2015, 06:54 PM

Any time you mess inside the calibre folders directly, you risk issues.

Here what you have done is to add another file to the location where calibre has stored a book. calibre knows nothing of this file, so when you do a "move to library" calibre quite correctly moves the one file it knows of to the new location.

eschwartz · 08-13-2015, 07:10 PM

If you have two copies from different sources, it makes a lot of sense to have two calibre records to distinguish between them.

BetterRed · 08-13-2015, 08:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by idoit

I know this has been discussed before (at least in this thread) but I wish it was possible to have multiple book of same format.

Something very bad happened in my case: Sometimes, for some books that I have 2 copies in let's say PDF format, I don't have time to check which version is better and I want to keep, so when adding to Calibre, I add one of them and after that I browse to the folder this book is stored in my Library and cut and paste the other pdf version as "Whatever_name_2.pdf". Now, I move some of my books to another Library inside Calibre and by doing this, Calibre has remove the second variant of my book!!!

And that happened to be the better one. Can you resolve this @Kovid

@idoit - my Rolls Royce solution (which I now use exclusively) is this ==>> Calibre and Evernote

It may be overkill for your needs, but once established its far simpler to maintain than file links, extra folders etc etc.

Evernote can be synched to Android and IOS, and chaley has extended the Calibre->Evernote integration to Calibre Companion.

FWIW Evernote has facilities to embed the text of PDF's in its 'storage'.

BR

thatworkshop · 08-14-2015, 11:01 AM

Karmas to the 3 of you.

@BetterRed Can you explain more, how this can help me in achieving what I want? Thanks.

HarryT · 08-14-2015, 11:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by idoit

I know this has been discussed before (at least in this thread) but I wish it was possible to have multiple book of same format.

It is. Just create separate Calibre records for them. I have several public domain books that I have multiple versions of in Calibre.

thatworkshop · 08-14-2015, 12:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

It is. Just create separate Calibre records for them. I have several public domain books that I have multiple versions of in Calibre.

I wish I knew this before losing that book, and several others maybe. What's worse is the suspicion that I may have lost some books that I don't even know which ones! That was a lesson learnt hard way!

thatworkshop · 08-14-2015, 02:35 PM

As a somewhat related question: I am wondering how you guys manages your books that come in series? I like to have them close to each other in my list of Calibre Library. For instance, if a book is an ongoing series of 3 books, and you have 2 books added in the library. Next year, when you want to add the 3rd book they are far separated. Essentially, this question is about how do you move books up and down?

HarryT · 08-14-2015, 02:45 PM

Fill in the series metadata in Calibre and then sort by series. I have Calibre configured with author as the primary sort key, and series as the secondary, so I see books sorted by series within author.

eschwartz · 08-14-2015, 02:56 PM

I too use an author -> series -> title sort precedence.

In Preferences ==> Tweaks, for the "Specify columns to sort the booklist by on startup" tweak, use:

Code:

sort_columns_at_startup = [('authors', 0), ('series', 0), ('title', 0)]

theducks · 08-14-2015, 03:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by idoit

As a somewhat related question: I am wondering how you guys manages your books that come in series? I like to have them close to each other in my list of Calibre Library. For instance, if a book is an ongoing series of 3 books, and you have 2 books added in the library. Next year, when you want to add the 3rd book they are far separated. Essentially, this question is about how do you move books up and down?

Right-click on the add Book icon: Add 'empty book'.
Fill in as many the details

Merge the real book when it shows up (you can just drop the book format into the books details frame)

BetterRed · 08-14-2015, 08:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by idoit

Karmas to the 3 of you.

@BetterRed Can you explain more, how this can help me in achieving what I want? Thanks.

@idoit - my use of Evernote relies on the same mechanism as eschwartz & I outlined in the thread you referenced in your first post, where file system URIs (which on Windows at least are not easy to get) are 'pasted' into long text columns (eg Comments) or the Author Link field in Manage Authors.

But, instead of a file system URI, I 'paste' a URI that 'points' at a note in an Evernote notebook (database), which are easy to get via right click note, select Copy Link.

The advantage for me of using an EN Note is that I can put more or less anything I like in an EN Note, and organise it as I see fit; rather than a bunch of folders and files that I have to organise within the vagaries & limitations of a file system manager. In many instances I was able to wrangle a folder of dozens of files into a single EN Note.

to Kovid for making the changes that were needed to allow 'unusual' URIs to be used in long text embedded links and Author links.

It is my perception that calibre will not, at least any time soon, provide a mechanism for storing multiple instances of the same format in a single book folders. The demand is low, the changes are fairly complex, and there would be an increase in the number of support 'calls'. So all-in-all the effort to implement this is probably unwarranted -- especially as there are several viable workarounds:-

have two books (folders)
bundle the extra format(s) into an archive that calibre does not ordinarily process (eg 7z) and add that to the book
use links to files or folders that are kept outside the library
use links to something like Evernote, OneNote or whatever

On a tangentially related issue, I would like to see calibre 'publish' a URI link to a book (database row) similar to the links that Evernote and OneNote publish for their notes (data base rows). Then one could paste a book URI in a long text column of another book - eg link Les Chiens et les Loups to The Dogs and the Wolves and vice versa. That may, at least for multi-lingual readers, make the 2 books solution more attractive.

BR

thatworkshop · 08-15-2015, 07:53 AM

Thanks everyone!

BetterRed that was a comprehensive answer. Awesome.
That sorting mechanism makes sense, actually... I'll use it too. Cheers for both of you.

08-13-2015, 06:45 PM	#1
thatworkshop hub Posts: 715 Karma: 2151032 Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Iranian in Canada Device: K3G, DXG, Kobo mini	Multiple Books - Same Format I know this has been discussed before (at least in this thread) but I wish it was possible to have multiple book of same format. Something very bad happened in my case: Sometimes, for some books that I have 2 copies in let's say PDF format, I don't have time to check which version is better and I want to keep, so when adding to Calibre, I add one of them and after that I browse to the folder this book is stored in my Library and cut and paste the other pdf version as "Whatever_name_2.pdf". Now, I move some of my books to another Library inside Calibre and by doing this, Calibre has remove the second variant of my book!!! And that happened to be the better one. Can you resolve this @Kovid

08-14-2015, 11:01 AM	#5
thatworkshop hub Posts: 715 Karma: 2151032 Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Iranian in Canada Device: K3G, DXG, Kobo mini	Karmas to the 3 of you. @BetterRed Can you explain more, how this can help me in achieving what I want? Thanks. Last edited by thatworkshop; 08-14-2015 at 12:58 PM.

08-14-2015, 02:56 PM	#10
eschwartz Ex-Helpdesk Junkie Posts: 19,421 Karma: 85400180 Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: The Beaten Path, USA, Roundworld, This Side of Infinity Device: Kindle Touch fw5.3.7 (Wifi only)	I too use an author -> series -> title sort precedence. In Preferences ==> Tweaks, for the "Specify columns to sort the booklist by on startup" tweak, use: Code: sort_columns_at_startup = [('authors', 0), ('series', 0), ('title', 0)]

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08-13-2015, 06:54 PM	#2
PeterT Grand Sorcerer Posts: 13,511 Karma: 78910202 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Toronto Device: Libra H2O, Libra Colour	Any time you mess inside the calibre folders directly, you risk issues. Here what you have done is to add another file to the location where calibre has stored a book. calibre knows nothing of this file, so when you do a "move to library" calibre quite correctly moves the one file it knows of to the new location.

08-13-2015, 07:10 PM	#3
eschwartz Ex-Helpdesk Junkie Posts: 19,421 Karma: 85400180 Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: The Beaten Path, USA, Roundworld, This Side of Infinity Device: Kindle Touch fw5.3.7 (Wifi only)	If you have two copies from different sources, it makes a lot of sense to have two calibre records to distinguish between them.

08-14-2015, 02:35 PM	#8
thatworkshop hub Posts: 715 Karma: 2151032 Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Iranian in Canada Device: K3G, DXG, Kobo mini	As a somewhat related question: I am wondering how you guys manages your books that come in series? I like to have them close to each other in my list of Calibre Library. For instance, if a book is an ongoing series of 3 books, and you have 2 books added in the library. Next year, when you want to add the 3rd book they are far separated. Essentially, this question is about how do you move books up and down?

08-14-2015, 02:45 PM	#9
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383099 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	Fill in the series metadata in Calibre and then sort by series. I have Calibre configured with author as the primary sort key, and series as the secondary, so I see books sorted by series within author.

08-15-2015, 07:53 AM	#13
thatworkshop hub Posts: 715 Karma: 2151032 Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Iranian in Canada Device: K3G, DXG, Kobo mini	Thanks everyone! BetterRed that was a comprehensive answer. Awesome. That sorting mechanism makes sense, actually... I'll use it too. Cheers for both of you.

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