Organizing library

[crescere]

Hello all. I have close to 1000 books that need to be organized. I want main headings like History with sub-headings like American, World, etc. Please give me some ideas as to how all of you deal with large collections like this. I have noticed that there are many ways and I am confused.

[Hampshire Nanny]

You might create tags like this ...
History
History: USA
History: Europe
History: China
History: South Africa
History: Medieval
History: 19th Century

And then add as many tags as appropriate to any given book.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by crescere

Hello all. I have close to 1000 books that need to be organized. I want main headings like History with sub-headings like American, World, etc. Please give me some ideas as to all of you with large collections do this. I have noticed that there are many ways and I am confused.

I use hierarchical Tags (very similar to what Hampshire Nanny showed, Except )

Use a dot and no space

You double click Parent (you get 2 Green +), you see ALL History
You select the sub group and you see just that one.

You do need to configure (set up) Hierarchical settings in Preferences: Look and Feel: Tag Browser

[Hampshire Nanny]

Originally Posted by theducks

I use hierarchical Tags (very similar to what Hampshire Nanny showed, Except )

Use a dot and no space

You double click Parent (you get 2 Green +), you see ALL History
You select the sub group and you see just that one.

You do need to configure (set up) Hierarchical settings in Preferences: Look and Feel: Tag Browser

I think I just learned something useful about Calibre. I've been avoiding using any but the simplest tags because I didn't know about this hierarchical setting option.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Hampshire Nanny

I think I just learned something useful about Calibre. I've been avoiding using any but the simplest tags because I didn't know about this hierarchical setting option.

I have been using calibre for almost 4 years and a month does not go by that someone comes up with a tip on how to use a feature, that has been hiding from me for a long time

[crescere]

Originally Posted by theducks

I use hierarchical Tags (very similar to what Hampshire Nanny showed, Except )

Use a dot and no space

Ducks while searching in Google I found this:
http://manual.calibre-ebook.com/sub_groups.html

Is this similar? I want the method to be simple to use, but detailed enough that I can find the book I want quickly.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by crescere

Ducks while searching in Google I found this:
http://manual.calibre-ebook.com/sub_groups.html

Is this similar? I want the method to be simple to use, but detailed enough that I can find the book I want quickly.

That sure looks like it

[theducks]

BTW I also use this for series that have branches/cycles:

Main
Main.cycle1
Main.cycle2
Main.cycle3
Main.cycle4

You can assign books to any of the levels


The send ti device/disk template did get a bit trickier
I wanted to maintain the nest on my simple minded device

[crescere]

I am new to Calibre, so I am unsure how it works in practice. I see that Calibre made a list of books maintained on my computer drive, but these are listed by author.

When I finally compile a fancy library with categories and sub-categories using tags how do I save it? If my computer breaks or I get a new one how do I transfer all of it?

Thank you for your patient help.

[eschwartz]

Use Save to Disk to save your library as a backup according to whatever template you set in Preferences. Many people do this because they prefer some method of finding books in the filesystem instead of through calibre, and want a fine-tuned structure.

If you just need to transfer the library, copy your whole Calibre Library folder over to the new computer. See: http://manual.calibre-ebook.com/faq....ter-to-another

[BetterRed]

@crescere - a calibre library has two main components the author/book folders which are the equivalent of library shelves, and a database (metadata.db), the equivalent of a library catalogue. It is the latter that is the heart and soul of calibre.

When you tag your books, correct author name, rate a book etc the database is updated automatically - you don't have to save it as such.

You would transfer the entire library(ies) folder to a new computer. If you were changing your operating system at the same time I would suggest you post a question here seeking advise in moving from your current OS to a new one. I'm thinking of a change say from Apple OS/X to Ubuntu Linux, not a new version of the same operating system.

There is another set of data which is called the configuration or settings data. The location varies depending on which operating system you use. It can be accessed via Preferences->Miscellaneous>Open calibre configuration directory. You'd probably want to also move it to a new computer.

BR

[Inferno]

I regularly close calibre and rar the library I want to backup. All I need to do to put it on another computer or disk is unrar it to the disk. I name the rar by date and library name in case I need it as a backup or "rollback".

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by Inferno

I regularly close calibre and rar the library I want to backup. All I need to do to put it on another computer or disk is unrar it to the disk. I name the rar by date and library name in case I need it as a backup or "rollback".

Much easier to do something like this: http://www.mikerubel.org/computers/rsync_snapshots/

Not sure how you'd get that working on Windows.

[Inferno]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Much easier to do something like this: http://www.mikerubel.org/computers/rsync_snapshots/

Not sure how you'd get that working on Windows.

Actually for me I find a full backup of the directory as a file is a level of comfort or safety for me. Oldschool thinking I guess.

Since the days of having to restore incremental backups on servers (in the 90s so pre win95 days lol) I have a dislike of them.

In the case of my library I am a great believer in a full backup that can be put on any drive or computer. Makes it easier for me.

My main library is almost 90000 now and a bit of redundancy on external drives is nothing compared to having to redo all that work.

Making a rar of the library is not a difficult thing. I just start it before going to sleep and it is done when I wake up lol.

[eschwartz]

It is a full backup. Hardlinks save space -- but the file is still there. No file deltas in sight. It leverages rsync --link-dest to perform full copies, hardlinking files to the dest folder if available.

It's not a matter of how easy is it, is a matter of how much of your hard drive do you want to use storing the same file hundreds of times (when it hasn't been changed -- the modified date is still the same).

Once you have it setup (you can schedule it automatically), it creates a snapshots folder that contains timestamped backup folders -- not zipped storage -- which can be easily browsed through the file explorer and you can copy the folder elsewhere and zip it and do whatever and and and...

You are by no means required to use it, or course. I just thought I'd make sure you know what kind of option it is.