best way of organizing actual book files on device

[marp68]

I appreciate very much all kinds of media organizer programs, since they enables a lot of nice organizing features. Use them a lot.

But I generally still like to have some sort of basic folder catagorization for the files rather than having, for example, 4000 mp3 songs in one folder. Probably generation issue (i'm 48). Like being able to see in analogue form what I have. :-)

So I stored the books on the device in a single mainfolder named Books with a few subfolders based on genre. In the calibre folder, I've however noticed that it's not possible, since calibre library needs them to be stored in main folder. All books by the same author in a auther folder. I have ebgun to think that maybe I should do the same on the device, since I noticed that, for example, the DE folder created the same structure for the annotations. And since I may want to change the folder for a book in the future, this will probably destroy the links in the database, DE folder, annotations/markups etc.

I read an interesting thread about the reason for not using different folders for the books in calibre folder. It make sense.

So, what's is your opinion about this matter on the device? How do you store the books? Creating some subfolders or just folders for each author but in the same folder? And where on the device do you put the books? I created a folder named Books.

And if I now put all authors in one folder, can I rescue the DE annotations made in two books? Could I just change the pathway to the book inside the DE annotation file? And will the calibre library app on the computer be able to resort the book on the device according to new storage order?

I'm new on this and want to start building up a good structure from the beginning, which I don't have to change later and then corrupt something in the library.

Basically, what's best for the future, what will I loose if I change storage order and what can be saved/resorted?

[meeera]

Originally Posted by marp68

So, what's is your opinion about this matter on the device? How do you store the books? Creating some subfolders or just folders for each author but in the same folder? And where on the device do you put the books? I created a folder named Books.

I don't care about directory structure one whit. I create collections in Calibre, and use them to manage my books on the device. I find books I want either by collection or by search.

[frostschutz]

I pretty much only read one genre (Fantasy) so I don't need genre folders. I don't care about author names either so I don't have author folders.

I have one folder per series and my AutoShelf mod creates a collection for each folder, so I have collections like "Harry Potter/", "Kingkiller Chronicles/", and the like.

I've however noticed that it's not possible, since calibre library needs them to be stored in main folder. All books by the same author in a auther folder.

Careful, those folders with "Author (Random Number)", that's just Calibre's internal way of storing books. You should never touch this structure, if you modify it in a file browser, Calibre will be confused and no longer be able to manage your books. It's a database as a folder structure, it should be ignored/left alone, only accessed through Calibre.

You should create a second folder and use Calibre to export books to this folder, Calibre can create any directory structure you like for you, regardless of what it's internal structure looks like. It's all a matter of how you configure Calibre.

Calibre (with Kobo addon) can also create collections for you on the Kobo Reader. Having the kobo do that directly (with autoshelf mod) is just my personal preference; I don't let Calibre copy books onto the reader directly.

[marp68]

Originally Posted by frostschutz

I pretty much only read one genre (Fantasy) so I don't need genre folders. I don't care about author names either so I don't have author folders.

I have one folder per series and my AutoShelf mod creates a collection for each folder, so I have collections like "Harry Potter/", "Kingkiller Chronicles/", and the like.

Careful, those folders with "Author (Random Number)", that's just Calibre's internal way of storing books. You should never touch this structure, if you modify it in a file browser, Calibre will be confused and no longer be able to manage your books. It's a database as a folder structure, it should be ignored/left alone, only accessed through Calibre.

You should create a second folder and use Calibre to export books to this folder, Calibre can create any directory structure you like for you, regardless of what it's internal structure looks like. It's all a matter of how you configure Calibre
Calibre (with Kobo addon) can also create collections for you on the Kobo Reader. Having the kobo do that directly (with autoshelf mod) is just my personal preference; I don't let Calibre copy books onto the reader directly.

thanks

ys, I have understood by an early thread that it's important not to touch the calibre internal way of storing books.

Hmm, what would be the benefit of creating another folder/file directory structure in Calibre? Aren't all changes in books, etc done in the books in the calibre internal structure? And when copying to a backup harddrive, then I copy this internal folder/file structure?

Or doy you mean a virtual directory structure, so any changes are still made to the original books in the original calibre internal structure?

Btw, is "shelves" the same as "collection"?

Learning a bit every day. A lot more to think about than storing and managing mp3 songs, since one normally don't make changes to songs etc. in the same way. And if you change metainformation, it's stored inside the mp3 file itself.

[marp68]

thanks

Originally Posted by meeera

I don't care about directory structure one whit. I create collections in Calibre, and use them to manage my books on the device. I find books I want either by collection or by search.

I assume you mean that you create and manage collections on the device but through the Calibre plugin, right?

So how are they actually stored on the device? If you transfer them through Calibre, than I suppose an author named folder are created in the root alongside the kobo folder, digital edition folder. Or if you copy the books manually to the device, where do you put them?

[marp68]

meera,

if I use Calibre plugin to manage books on the device, i.e, creating collections, can I then manage them also from the device, as normally?

btw, how do you create and manage collections (shelves?)? When I have the device connected, I can see the collection column. For newly added book that lack a collection belonging, I can type the collection name in the collection column field for that book. But when reconnecting the device, the defined collection has now disapeared from the book.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by marp68

if I use Calibre plugin to manage books on the device, i.e, creating collections, can I then manage them also from the device, as normally?

Not really. If you have the driver configuration done correctly in calibre, it will set the collections for each book on the device that is also in the calibre library the next time you connect. So, if you change collections for the book on the device, then it will be changed the next time you connect to calibre.

btw, how do you create and manage collections (shelves?)? When I have the device connected, I can see the collection column. For newly added book that lack a collection belonging, I can type the collection name in the collection column field for that book. But when reconnecting the device, the defined collection has now disapeared from the book.

I'm not sure what you are saying is actually happening, but my guess is that you do not have the driver configured properly in calibre. Have a look at https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Kobo...nd_Collections for how to do it properly.

[marp68]

Hmm okej

Is "collections" the same as "shelves"? Seems a bit confusing.

I read the wiki, but don't understand everything and I don't now if I explained myself correctly. On my device I have created collections and added the books to these collections. Looking at the device through Calibre, there is now a Collection column and all books on the device showe their corresponding collection name in the collection field. Then I added some new books to the device which naturally shows up when looking on the device through Calibre. Since I haven't added them to any collection yet, the collection column fields are empty. In the collection column field for a specific book I can write an existing Collection name though and it seems to save it, since it stays when moving on to another new book doing the same thing. But when I unmount and look at the device they still haven't been added to a collection and when reconnected to the computer the fields are empty again when I look through Calibre.

First, am I at all supposed to be able to write directly in the field like this and with correct configuration be saved on the device? Second, does the fact that it's not saved on the device means that I havent configured the plug in correctly?

Which driver are we talking about? I have just added some kobo plugins in Calibre and then the reader driver was of course installed when connecting the reader for the first time.

thanks in advance

[frostschutz]

Originally Posted by marp68

Is "collections" the same as "shelves"? Seems a bit confusing.

Yes, it's the same... Kobo calls it collection in the user interface, and shelf inside the database.

[marp68]

Originally Posted by frostschutz

Yes, it's the same... Kobo calls it collection in the user interface, and shelf inside the database.

thanks

[marp68]

So, I have configured the driver according to wiki.

"Manual management: calibre updates the metadata and adds collections only when a book is sent. With this option, calibre will never remove a collection.
Only on send: calibre updates metadata and adds/removes collections for a book only when it is sent to the device.
Automatic management: calibre automatically keeps metadata on the device in sync with the calibre library, on every connect"

I suppose I choose the Automatic management.

Does this mean that, when connected the device, I can manage the collections on the device. That is, for example, add a specific existing collection name to a specific book? Or change the existing collection names already set to a book, specified in the collection column field? See my previous explanation two replies up.

And can I completely manage collections on the device from calibre. That is, create new collections, edit them, add them to books, remove them from books, delete them?

But, how can I add the device collections names to the calibre library view? So that they are in synch.

[frostschutz]

If you want to manage arbitrary collections, doing it directly on the Kobo via the regular user interface might be easiest.

What Calibre's Kobo addon and my AutoShelf mod do is automate collections entirely. In Calibre you can do this based on author, genre, series (or whichever metadata fields you desire), for AutoShelf it's based on your directory structure.

Basically if there is a rule to the way you create collections, you should automate it. Once automated no need to intervene manually on the Kobo or in Calibre.

If you have no rules but collections like "Books I enjoyed" or "Books I hate", or "Books I want to read this year", the manual way of doing things might be fine. To achieve the same thing in Calibre you might have to add custom metadata columns.

[meeera]

Originally Posted by marp68

Hmm okej

Is "collections" the same as "shelves"? Seems a bit confusing.

They're the same. There's a sticky thread in this Kobo forum that explains exactly how to configure Calibre to manage collections on a Kobo.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by marp68

Hmm okej

Is "collections" the same as "shelves"? Seems a bit confusing.

That's history. When Kobo first added the function, they called it "Shelves". Later they renamed it to "Collections". Personally, I preferred "Shelves", but "Collections" is more correct for the way that Kobo do it. And because I got used to "Shelves" first, I sometimes slip.

I read the wiki, but don't understand everything and I don't now if I explained myself correctly. On my device I have created collections and added the books to these collections. Looking at the device through Calibre, there is now a Collection column and all books on the device showe their corresponding collection name in the collection field. Then I added some new books to the device which naturally shows up when looking on the device through Calibre. Since I haven't added them to any collection yet, the collection column fields are empty. In the collection column field for a specific book I can write an existing Collection name though and it seems to save it, since it stays when moving on to another new book doing the same thing. But when I unmount and look at the device they still haven't been added to a collection and when reconnected to the computer the fields are empty again when I look through Calibre.

First, am I at all supposed to be able to write directly in the field like this and with correct configuration be saved on the device? Second, does the fact that it's not saved on the device means that I havent configured the plug in correctly?

Which driver are we talking about? I have just added some kobo plugins in Calibre and then the reader driver was of course installed when connecting the reader for the first time.

The collections column in the device list is used to display the collections the books are in on the device. While it can be changed, this is not written back to the Kobo devices. I don't know what devices it does work with.

The collection management is done by choosing one or more columns in the library and using that to define collections on the device. You put those into the driver configuration (right-click on the device icon when it is connected and choose "Configure this device") with commas separating the names. Do the rest of the configuration, automatic for the metadata management is the one most commonly missed, and the next time you connect the device, the driver will put the books into the collections as defined by the columns. If that doesn't happen, then we look at what went wrong.

[marp68]

Aha, great thanks. I have now configured accordingly to wiki and you.

I have also come to the conclusion to completely abandon "analogue" management and instead try to mirror the calibre library to the device. I would like to set/define/manage everything about a new book first in calibre library and the mirror it to the device when transferring it. For example, that i first define the collection names in the calibre library and add one to a new book and make other adjustments. And then, when transferring the new book to the device, the collection definitions and other settings about the book are transferred as well. The calibre library is the original source and the device an exact copy of the source.

Is that how you normally do it? And is this what you can do when configuring acordingly the way described on wiki and you.

And when finishing a book, since there is no way of automatically synching back the annotations etc to calibre library, I just copy the DE file and put it in a DE folder in the calibre library folder. If I would need it in the future.

What do you think about this?