puzzle - calibre changes file name when I add book

[stumped]

source file name
all_the_devils_-_Barry_Eisler.epub

after drag drop to calibre to add it to library, calibre creates a file name of
All the Devils (A Livia Lone No - Barry Eisler.epub
and a main screen entry of
title: all the devils (A Livia Lone Novel)
Author: Barry Eisler

why is calibre creating a truncated file name - I have often added books with much longer file names, and where is it getting the extra title detail from. I guess somewhere in the epub ?

but not the title file in the TOC.NCX- I checked that & that is not truncated
<docTitle>
<text>All the Devils (A Livia Lone Novel)</text>
</docTitle>

having novel truncated to No is confusing.
am i missing a "don't mess with the source file name" setting ?

I am using calibre 3.48 still
I know about the templates the control the export / save to process.... but I am not aware of one that affects import/add to library

PS I have carefully removed the book from calibre than re-added it, making sure I do not edit it in any way - I just check the created file name within calibre

[theducks]

The OPF of the book is what Calibre uses unless you chose the file name method in adding books

[stumped]

Plausible, but wrong. In content.opf there is no truncation
e.g.
<dc:title>All the Devils (A Livia Lone Novel)</dc:title>

eyeballing that entire opf, ( via Sigil) I see no instances where it says No in place of Novel

sigil confirms, in title bar, I am editing a file name of
All the Devils(A Livia Lone No - Barry Eisler.epub from within my calibre library. ( sigil is set as my default for opening epub so it will open that calibre files in-situ.

there must be a character count based truncation happening somewhere;
AFTER calibre has peeked into the epub and found the Livia Lone Novel bit which was not in the source file name, but
BEFORE the Author Name was appended to the output file name

I think this bit is exactly 32 characters, which may be a clue
"All the Devils(A Livia Lone No"

[itimpi]

You should always treat filenames within a Calibre library as a ‘black box’ and not amenable to user control. Calibre uses its own algorithm in deciding what filename to use when storing a file. You might want to read the pinned topic about this at the top of this sub-forum.

[stumped]

UPDATE
a chick scan of other recently added books show the same truncation
e.g.
calibre stored a file name of
Bookburners 1.13_ Keeping Frien - Mur Lafferty
where the actual title was
Bookburners 1.13: Keeping Friends Close

same 32 character cut off before appending author to file name.

its probably always done that and because its within the calibre "blackbox" it's not noticable or an issue.
the full title is displayed in all the book details windows - only the actual file name is truncated

I stumbled across the as I had put the same book onto two tablets via 2 different routes, and moon reader was not syncing my last page read like it usually does.
so looking around on the tablets showed 2 that I had versions of the file name and tracing back from that got me to here
I think calibre companion created a not-truncated file name on tablet, but calibre box did not ( or it was vice versa )
i eliminated dropbox as an intermediary culprit as that is an exact mirror of calibre library in my documents

[stumped]

Originally Posted by itimpi

You should always treat filenames within a Calibre library as a ‘black box’ and not amenable to user control. Calibre uses its own algorithm in deciding what filename to use when storing a file. You might want to read the pinned topic about this at the top of this sub-forum.

i am aware of that principle- see my last post for why this suddenly became a visible issue

I would not care what the file name was if not for the two apps I use to get books from calibre to tablets behaving differently.

( I use calibre companion if my library PC is on , and I used to use CC with dropbox when the PC was off - but on my newest tablet, I can't use dropbox because setting up dropbox<-> CC on a new device is now broken, so I was using a different app - calibre box, as a workaround.
a simpler workaround will be to only transfer books when the library PC is on, so that they always come via the CC route

i dont think the dropbox / CC interface is going to get fixed any time soon, and the only documented workaround is to use a gmail account for dropbox. I can't take that solution because if I mess with my dropbox email login I will trigger the 3 devices limit

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by stumped

I would not care what the file name was if not for the two apps I use to get books from calibre to tablets behaving differently.

You can use the save to disk feature to export your books to a single directory using whichever naming structure you desire.