Keeping two libraries synched

[sonofthe]

I thought I found a reference to this before, but after searching around here and elsewhere online today, I can't seem to find anything.

I mainly use my Calibre library on my laptop, but I've got an external drive where I keep a variety of portable apps including Calibre. I'd like to keep these libraries in sync, but can't find an easy way of doing that. Most solutions that seem closest to what I'm looking for talk about manually selecting all the books to import.

Other tools I use have a basic menu option for syncing databases. Am I just missing one here?

Thanks!

[itimpi]

I use the FreeFileSync tool to keep my live and backup copies of my Calibre libraries in sync.

[sonofthe]

Originally Posted by itimpi

I use the FreeFileSync tool to keep my live and backup copies of my Calibre libraries in sync.

And this doesn't result in any database problems? What if I want to add something to the portable drive database and sync both ways?

[itimpi]

Originally Posted by sonofthe

And this doesn't result in any database problems? What if I want to add something to the portable drive database and sync both ways?

You can sync both ways BUT you must do the sync before using Calibre on the other system. Failure to do so would result in updates being lost.

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by itimpi

You can sync both ways BUT you must do the sync before using Calibre on the other system. Failure to do so would result in updates being lost.

Yup, this.

You can’t have two different sets of changes.

e.g.
Main Lib: ABCDEF GHI
Portable Lib: ABCDEF JKL

With the above example, you can’t use FreeFileSync to merge the two libraries into:
ABCDEF GHI JKL

[sonofthe]

Originally Posted by ilovejedd

Yup, this.

You can’t have two different sets of changes.

e.g.
Main Lib: ABCDEF GHI
Portable Lib: ABCDEF JKL

With the above example, you can’t use FreeFileSync to merge the two libraries into:
ABCDEF GHI JKL

Hm. The last thing is what I'm looking for, ideally. I can do it with my password locker. Version control can do it. I'm hoping it can be done somehow in Calibre.

[BetterRed]

And as well syncing the libraries (book format files, metadata, and library specific preferences), you will find you will probably want to synch a subset of global preferences - e.g. add books, plugins and their config settings, but not monitor geometry settings.

The CalibreSpy plugin provides a Read Only GUI interface to calibre libraries, see ==>> Index of plugins. You can run it against multiple libraries on multiple clients.

BR

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by sonofthe

Hm. The last thing is what I'm looking for, ideally. I can do it with my password locker. Version control can do it. I'm hoping it can be done somehow in Calibre.

Just by manually selecting the books then using Copy to library.

If you sort by date added, it's fairly easy to select just the new books.

If you prefer not to create a separate intake library: Using the same example as above, what I would do is 1.) copy JKL from portable to main lib and 2.) use FreeFileSync to do one-way mirror from main lib to portable so they're back in sync