Add Multiple Copies of Same Format?

[tgwdnghn]

Is there a way to, or is there a plugin that would enable me to, add multiple copies of an ebook of the same file format? For example, I'd like to have two PDF copies associated with a single book.

For those of you wondering why I would want this, here is my use case: I have a raw scan of an ebook, and I have a processed version of the raw scan (using ScanTailor; fantastic piece of software!!!). I'd like to have both files stored. Naturally, I would use the processed version the vast majority of the time, though I might want to look at the raw scan on occasion if the processing made some portion of it hard to make out.

Also, If you have an alternative approach to address my use case (other than creating multiple book instances), I'm all ears.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by tgwdnghn

Is there a way to, or is there a plugin that would enable me to, add multiple copies of an ebook of the same file format? For example, I'd like to have two PDF copies associated with a single book.

For those of you wondering why I would want this, here is my use case: I have a raw scan of an ebook, and I have a processed version of the raw scan (using ScanTailor; fantastic piece of software!!!). I'd like to have both files stored. Naturally, I would use the processed version the vast majority of the time, though I might want to look at the raw scan on occasion if the processing made some portion of it hard to make out.

Also, If you have an alternative approach to address my use case (other than creating multiple book instances), I'm all ears.

No

(this question has been asked more than once in the last month)

[eschwartz]

calibre is not designed to do "versioning", and Kovid has rejected such suggestions many times already.


You can have an "ORIGINAL_PDF" and a "PDF".
Or you can have a zip/7z/whatever archive with miscellaneous extras.
Either option conforms to calibre's "one of any specific file extension, maximum" restriction.

Or you can use multiple book records.


There are no other options, and I don't anticipate there ever being any other options.


EDIT: Not entirely true, as I mentioned down below, @BetterRed also uses Evernote links for some things. Also works with custom links using metadata templates, I think, to specified folders. I didn't mention that at first, because it exists outside of calibre's library, so, not really quite as helpful/portable.

[jecilop]

@eschwartz...Thanks for this idea of using a zip file for misc extras...That may solve something I've been wanting to try so as not to have extra entries in some cases for things rarely accessed.

[tgwdnghn]

@eschwartz your suggestions are excellent. This is a scalable, extensible, and satisfactory solution. Thank you so much!

[eschwartz]

Happy to help.

I'm afraid I can't take the credit for it myself, though, I'm just repeating what other people have mentioned namely, @BetterRed (who has done extensive experimentation with such methods, and also has a notes scheme that makes use of Evernote/other links -- to outside of calibre's library -- if anyone is interested).