bulk add has File Path instead of author name

[Merischino]

Hi,

I'm on a MacBook air on Sequoia 15.4.1, running Calibre 8.3.

I have been trying and failing to resurrect my calibre library, and have been through several iterations including efforts to relocate a library, backup and restore a library, migrate books from one library to another using the "copy to" function, export and later importing. Something seems to always go wrong, and I have referred to many good threads here but have yet to have success.

My latest attempt is to begin again, by adding 20 years worth of original ebook files and formats to a completely new calibre library. Unfortunately, this is naturally going to result in having to compile and correct a lot of metadata, again. I'm ok with that, but only up to the point where it's truly necessary. The problem right now is that when I try to add groups of books, they come in with the kind of data that requires individual, manual correction. Like putting file paths into the database instead of author name, title, or series information. or random nonsensical system gook instead of proper data.

The nuances of importing formerly exported libraries has caused me to put a lot of time into correcting calibre settings, and I have spent a good deal of time with the "adding books" settings. Thank God for the "ignore file formats" and "merge" options there! I am still struggling though with the correct file name / metadata conventions for arriving at a calibre instance with authors where they belong, titles where they belong, series if present where it belongs, and of course file paths, not being wanted, nowhere to be found.

When I test my settings from within the settings dialog, my authors/titles/series mostly fit where they ought to. However, when I perform a "bulk" import of a folder full of books, the Author is the Title and the Title is the path to the file.

Does anyone have an idea how I can fix that? Where I need to I can flip author and title as i need, and where series exist i can usually bulk-edit metadata for the series to get where i need to go. I just do not want to have to manually go through 80k books to remove a file path and figure out what needs to be there instead.

the adding books settings also seem to rely on the filename for the metadata... i'm wondering how I could either force the filename as source, or alternatively force the scraping of metadata from within the file instead.

[kovidgoyal]

Preferences->Adding books->Read metadata from file contents instead of file name

controls where metadata is read from.

[Merischino]

Thank you for your reply, Kovid, but if you see from the screenshot, I already have that checked....

[Merischino]

Im not sure where the body of my initial reply went (when i try to edit the empty message above it tells me invalid message), but it was supposed to say:

Thank you, Kovid, for the reply! But, if you see in the screenshot, I do already have the "read metadata from file" box checked.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Merischino

Im not sure where the body of my initial reply went (when i try to edit the empty message above it tells me invalid message), but it was supposed to say:

Thank you, Kovid, for the reply! But, if you see in the screenshot, I do already have the "read metadata from file" box checked.

How are you ADDING?
Was this SOURCE a normal Calibre Library?
If yes, does each (title) sub folder have a Metadata.opf? Use RESTORE

[kovidgoyal]

Originally Posted by Merischino

Thank you for your reply, Kovid, but if you see from the screenshot, I already have that checked....

Then you will get metadata from inside the file not the filename, unless

1) the file has no internal metadata
2) You have disabled the plugins for reading metadata from various file types in preferences->plugins

[Merischino]

Originally Posted by theducks

How are you ADDING?
Was this SOURCE a normal Calibre Library?
If yes, does each (title) sub folder have a Metadata.opf? Use RESTORE

Thank you for your reply.

I have been adding two different ways..
1. "add books" button in Calibre, navigating to a folder containing .epub files, and adding

2. navigating to a folder of ebooks in my mac file structure, and choosing "open with....calibre"

In either case, I am getting file paths in place of data such as title or author or both.

I have had calibre libraries for many years, but for some reason they all appear to either be recognizable but corrupted, or not at all even recognizable by calibre. So, having tried many other things, I am now going back to the beginning, and just adding the original ebook formats as I had them before adding and organizing into calibre libraries in the past.

I do in some cases have .opf files in folders with ebooks, and in other cases I just have the original ebook without the evidence of having ever been in calibre.

Files I'm working with are .epub, .mobi, .azw3, .lit, .pdf and rarely .rtf. If that helps.

[Merischino]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

Then you will get metadata from inside the file not the filename, unless

1) the file has no internal metadata
2) You have disabled the plugins for reading metadata from various file types in preferences->plugins

1. I'm not sure about this one.... I don't know how to check if a file has internal metadata. But, This problem is happening with all the files I'm adding, it's not limited to a single file. it's hundreds of files, various formats, all collected at various times throughout the years.

2) I have not disabled any plugins... I just went and double checked that all my plugins are installed and updated. I added a few more while I was at it. But no, I have not made any recent changes to how any of my plugins work. The only recent changes have been updating from 6.29 (i think) to 8.3, and adding some audiobook plugins which I have not customized or utilized yet.

[BetterRed]

@Merischino - long shot.

Is the GetFileName plugin installed?

If it is installed, try disabling it:



BR

[Merischino]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

@Merischino - long shot.

Is the GetFileName plugin installed?

If it is installed, try disabling it:

Attachment 215437

BR

Nope, I don't have that one....