Create different libraries by Format

[cconti]

I read my eBooks on my iPad and iPhone. Over the years I also accumulated a lot of PDF books and files that I would rather read on my laptop or main computer rather than import them into my tablet/phone.

So what I wanted to do was to create a library for just EPUB format books, one Just for MOBI and one just for PDFs.

I have a variety of ways I can import books over my network, on my iPad I use FileMaster (I have the oldest iPad possible so only Kindle and the default ebook reader are available to me)

On my iPhone 6 I have a reader that actually interfaces with Calibre.

Problem is that on the latter it shows me all the books available but only lets me import those in ePub format.

For this and other reasons I wanted to separate the formats so that if I am browsing I know that what I see will play on the specific app I am browsing with and I don't risk importing a 400MB PDF file by mistake, for instance.

I am not even sure the above makes much sense, but another objective of this is to get rid of years worth of junk eBooks I collected since the 90's in formats such as ZIP, RAR, etc, that currently do little more than make my searches harder and more confusing.

Can I create Libraries by format? Should I go with a virtual library instead? (I think the latter would make no difference for the library browsing app though)

For the record, I did already create separate libraries, each with its own folder, for some of the format, but I then realized that when I moved the books for say AZW to my AZW library, all the other formats moved too. I would like to move just the AZW books to the AZW library and so forth.

Ultimately, I'd like to have all my PDF in a separate library, my Mobi and Epub in their own or combined and then I'll simply convert all the other formats where possible and import them but getting rid of all the other minor formats.

Am I making any sense?

If you read so far, my thanks just for that. If you have an elegant solution, even more thanks.

[theducks]

IMHO managing by format Libraries is The same book may have many formats

If you use the content Server, The GET button uses the preffered format set in Preferences: Behavior, but you can click on the format name shown
next to Other Formats. This is a standard Browser type download, so you may need to move the book from DOWNLOADS to the reader app

[fidvo]

I have a separate Main library with books I've cleaned up and converted to epub, and Special library withPDF's, cbr's, etc, which aren't necessarily even books. (I also have a separate "working" library for books I haven't yet cleaned up)

I find it convenient for exactly the reasons you describe. It keeps my Main library clean and relatively small so it's easy to transfer to my e-reader, tablet, or even putting it on an SD card with Calibre Portable. (Although now I keep them all on an external hard drive, so I don't do the SD card much)

It also lets me reserve Virtual Libraries for other purposes in each library, although if you're not using Virtual Libraries for something else, you could separate your libraries that way.

And of course, I use different custom columns in my Main library and my Special library, not to mention different View Manager settings.

I would recommend keeping your Mobi and Epub books together in one library, though, unless you have a real reason to separate them. Use the tag browser or Virtual Libraries to browse the different formats.

In the end, though, whether to separate books into different libraries or keep them together is up to you. There's no right or wrong answer, although a good rule of thumb is to keep them together unless you need different settings for the different libraries, especially custom columns.

[ekbell]

You can save the search formats:"=EPUB" and use the Calibre Content Server's sorted By Searches option to see just the books with ePub format. When using a web-browser the mobile interface for the content server shows the download formats immediately but doesn't give the option of using saved searches while the non-mobile interface shows the formats in the details section and also gives the option of sorting by saved searches.

I tend to use virtual libraries for library repair and maintenance work simply to avoid the need to add books back to my Main library once I've fixed things up. (I don't mind having a number of virtual libraries with different functions)

So if I wished to split my library by format I'd set up three searches as follows and save them both as searches and as virtual libraries.

(1) formats:"=EPUB" or formats:"=MOBI"
(2) formats:"=PDF"
(3) not formats:"=EPUB" and not formats:"=MOBI" and not formats:"=PDF"

If you really want separate libraries then setting up an appropriate search, selecting all the books, right clicking, selecting Save to Disk (single format), importing those books to the desired library and then removing the undesired format(s) from your orginal library would work although likely with a loss of metadata.

[BetterRed]

fidvo in parts and ekbell in other parts.

I have physical libraries for books, journals and media (video/audio clips, blog posts etc) and a test library. Not only do that have disparate custom columns but I also 're-purpose' the Author and Title columns in the journals and media libraries, differently, so combining all three would confuse the user no end.

It probably took me a year or two before I finally arrived at a configuration of physical and virtual libraries that suited me.

BR

[cconti]

Thank you for your replays.

I guess now that I have read your responses, my strategy may be as follows:

Tag filter all PDF books.
Export to a folder called "Calibre_PDF"
Then go back to the main library and delete all PDF books from that.
Next Go to Calibre_PDF and delete all books that are not PDF that got transferred over.

That should leave me with a Calibre library containing no PDF books and one with only PDF.

I can then repeat for the other formats, convert those formats that will work well converted to EPUB or MOBI (PDF for instance often doesn't convert well or at all) and merge these books back to the main library deleting all duplicates.

Going forward, I should also import books selectively by manipulating the import filters.

I think the above will work for my main purpose: making sure that I only see books I can import when using a calibre compatible App on my iPhone.

For Mobi, I may export all MOBI books to another library but making sure that the structure of that library leaves all the actual books at top level in the directory so I can browse them by title in one of my file management apps in my iPhone.

Thank you again for your help.

[eschwartz]

I agree with the people above who suggested using a Virtual Library.

I'd like to add, that you can create a Content Server that is restricted to the contents of a Virtual Library, and connect to that Content Server with your OPDS-compatible app.

You can also start multiple servers via the CLI:

calibre-server --port "8080" --with-library "/path/to/library/" --restriction "EPUB-only"
calibre-server --port "8081" --with-library "/path/to/library/" --restriction "MOBI-only"
calibre-server --port "8082" --with-library "/path/to/library/" --restriction "PDF-only"

And create the matching "EPUB-only", "MOBI-only", and "PDF-only" Virtual Libraries.

[fidvo]

Originally Posted by cconti

Thank you for your replays.

I guess now that I have read your responses, my strategy may be as follows:

Tag filter all PDF books.
Export to a folder called "Calibre_PDF"
Then go back to the main library and delete all PDF books from that.
Next Go to Calibre_PDF and delete all books that are not PDF that got transferred over.

That should leave me with a Calibre library containing no PDF books and one with only PDF.

I can then repeat for the other formats, convert those formats that will work well converted to EPUB or MOBI (PDF for instance often doesn't convert well or at all) and merge these books back to the main library deleting all duplicates.

Going forward, I should also import books selectively by manipulating the import filters.

I think the above will work for my main purpose: making sure that I only see books I can import when using a calibre compatible App on my iPhone.

For Mobi, I may export all MOBI books to another library but making sure that the structure of that library leaves all the actual books at top level in the directory so I can browse them by title in one of my file management apps in my iPhone.

Thank you again for your help.

A couple of other points:

1. Do you have any books that are both PDF and Epub/Mobi? If so, you need to decide ahead of time what to do with them. Keep them in both libraries? Default to one or the other library? Decide on a case-by-case basis? Just make sure you don't accidentally lose both formats when you split your library.

2. Calibre can convert between Epub and Mobi pretty seamlessly. One option would be to convert all your non-PDF books to both formats so they're available for both your readers, then keep them both in the same library.