Q: Adding books without creating multiple authors?

[crdf]

Hi guys and sorry if this has been discussed.

Calibre looks like a really good problem but gosh I am unable to do it what I want. Maybe I haven't done enough research, but asking people is always easier.

I made an experiment. I had a folder with few books by the same author.
I added those books to calibre and it created a separate author for each book and a separate folder for each author and sometimes just for the book titles.

I'm guessing this is because of the way Calibre reads the data (metadata). Can you guys please advise what settings I should use so that all the books are under the same author and in the same folder (subfolder are ok, but not a folder for each book).

Thank you.
crdf

[Sabardeyn]

crdf,
The question you asked cannot be answered directly because it depends on the books that you want to add. There are three ways to do this:

1)With some books you will get valid metadata from inside the ebook file. For other books, the metadata inside is useless. There is no way to know for sure without looking inside the book (which might be too advanced for you just yet) or simply adding the book and seeing what you get.

2) Other books have the metadata incorporated within the ebook's filename. There are several different naming schemes that are in use, so adding these books requires an appropriated regex for each naming scheme. If the regex doesn't sufficiently match the scheme, the metadata that is imported will be partially or totally wrong. Regardless, any variation(s) in data will result in non-conforming records (like the author issue you've already seen).

You could take a look at this older topic, Tyrannosaurus Regex for a regex posted by me (but created by multiple people) that is pretty good at handling an Author - Series Series_Index - Title filename scheme. That is a very complex regex. There are similar regexes for other schemes posted in here somewhere.

3) Finally, it is possible to obtain metadata from the internet from a variety of websites. This requires getting the Author, Title and (usually) the ISBN metadata correct before you can make use of this feature. Generally this should be done slowly and carefully until you are more familiar with the feature as it overwrites metadata.

None of these methods are perfect. You will want to manually edit your book records to arrange things to best suit your needs.

[davidfor]

If you fix the authors once they are in calibre, the underlying directory structure will automatically be fixed as well. To do this, select all the books that should have the same author, press the edit metadata button and enter the correct authors name. Or select it from the drop down list. When you press the OK button, the metadata will be updated and the files renamed and moved as needed.

[fidvo]

If you're asking about the folder structure in Calibre's library on your hard drive, my advice to you can be summed up in two words. Don't touch.

For a more detailed explanation, read this.

[theducks]

Besides the 'don't touch (and you don't really need to even go there in 99% of the cases)

Multiple (similar) Authors is usually because of differences in Naming
E. E. Smith
E. E. "Doc" Smith
E.E. Smith
E E Smith
Edward Elmer Smith

Use the 'Tag Browser' Authors section
Find the unwanted variant: Right click Rename

You will need to type the desired name as there is no lookup help to 'remap to an existing name'

[crdf]

Sabardeyn so far that regexp works very nice while importing folders.

davidfor thank you for the helpful tips. I liked the metadata edit and it worked as well. Now I have only one folder not 26 for the author.

theducks the problem was probably because not all books had a proper metadata, Calibre used titles for authors names. That is why I prefer taking the name from the folder because I have already done that with another program and have sorted my folders.

Now it would be nice If I find a way to extract series info as well.

Thank you all for the help so far.

Edit: I see there is (?P<series_index>\d+) in the regexp provided from Sabardeyn. Is it possible there is just no data on the series?

Edit 2: Few more questions:

1. How can I remove author name from title name?
2. Can I assign genre to author?

[theducks]

Originally Posted by crdf

Edit 2: Few more questions:

1. How can I remove author name from title name?
2. Can I assign genre to author?

1) select all books with 1 Kind of author - Title formatting
Bulk Metadata edit: Search and replace tab
This is where you can Trim/Move/modify field contents in bulk
You can write a REGEX to match the current data pattern and apply it
Just remember, some kinds of changes will take 3 or 4 passes to reach the end results.

Repeat book selection loop for each new pattern

You can save your searches if you think you will need them later.

BACKUP YOUR LIBRARY before starting. If things go wrong (bulk changes can be dangerous, fast ) , a restore might be needed. There is no other UNDO

[crdf]

Thank you theducks.

[speakingtohe]

Originally Posted by crdf

Sabardeyn so far that regexp works very nice while importing folders.

davidfor thank you for the helpful tips. I liked the metadata edit and it worked as well. Now I have only one folder not 26 for the author.

theducks the problem was probably because not all books had a proper metadata, Calibre used titles for authors names. That is why I prefer taking the name from the folder because I have already done that with another program and have sorted my folders.

Now it would be nice If I find a way to extract series info as well.

Thank you all for the help so far.

Edit: I see there is (?P<series_index>\d+) in the regexp provided from Sabardeyn. Is it possible there is just no data on the series?

Edit 2: Few more questions:

1. How can I remove author name from title name?
2. Can I assign genre to author?

If you have the books in folder name with author correct you can bulk import each folder and then bulk edit metadata
Takes a bit longer but easier than hunting down the errors
Helen

[Sabardeyn]

crdf,
Yes, it is possible there is no series info for a particular book.

But one thing to be very careful of with that regex is that all the fields are separated by the exact pattern of " - " (space dash space). If other characters are used in the filename, the data will not be imported incorrectly. Or, if the filenames follow a different field pattern (like: Title - Author - Series Series_Index) then data will not be imported correctly.

[crdf]

Thank you Sabardeyn, but still this regexp gives less error then the default one.

When I search for a book that I have in few formats, all the formats are shown in the "formats" column and there is only one entry for the book. That is great, but can I remove just some of the formats for only selected books? Edit metadata - right upper corner - remove formats. Right? Similar with the bulk option.

[CWatkinsNash]

Originally Posted by crdf

That is great, but can I remove just some of the formats for only selected books? Edit metadata - right upper corner - remove formats. Right? Similar with the bulk option.

Select the desired books in the library view, then:

Right click > Remove Books > Remove files of a specific format from selected books.

A window opens showing which formats are available for deletion. Select the format to delete, click ok.

[Sabardeyn]

Yes you can use the Edit Metadata screen to delete formats. Or you can use the method that CWatkinsNash suggested. Both will work.

Just make sure you highlight the correct book(s) with her suggestion. It's easy to change the highlighting and not realize you have done so.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Sabardeyn

Yes you can use the Edit Metadata screen to delete formats. Or you can use the method that CWatkinsNash suggested. Both will work.

Just make sure you highlight the correct book(s) with her suggestion. It's easy to change the highlighting and not realize you have done so.

At least the newer versions of Calibre now show the number of books selected down on the bottom (status line)

[Claudio_ch]

Hi, I am new here.
Before posting this ticket I tried to find the answer looking around the various posts and threads. Not find anything that solves my problem I come to ask for help here even if the thread is not exactly the proper one, please excuse me if I did it wrong.
I have quite a lot of files in a format readable by the regex I already used or modified, but when I have the format Surname Name - Title.format and use the standard regex (?P<author>[^_]+?) - (?P<title>.+)
I obtain in return in the Author(s) column field
Name Surname and in the author_sort Surname,Name.
I didn't found any explanation on how to do it.
Second request, how can I bulk correct the hundreds of books already inserted in the wrong way?

Thank you in advance for amy help