Is there someplace that I could find books with no formats available in Calibre list?

MrJamesEMcBride · 10-29-2019, 07:30 PM

Hello,
I went and did something stupid.....used the 'Remove Books of a specific format from selected books' and, of course, selected all books in my library. For the most part, it looks like I didnt screw myself up TOO badly. I removed all EPUBs, LIT, DOC, PDF, and a few others.

What I am finding is that I have some books that only have an OPF file in their directory and nothing else.

Is there a way that I can get a list of all books that have no available formats by using Calibre? I am sure that I can find some other solution, either by using a file manager program or writing some kind of script to scan all of the folders.

Thanks in advance for the help

--Jim

davidfor · 10-29-2019, 08:06 PM

In the Tag browser, click on the "Formats" entry twice. The first will change the icon for it to a green plus and display all books that have a format. The second click changes the icon to a red minus and shows all books that do not have a format. The search bar will show the search used for this.

thiago.eec · 10-29-2019, 08:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrJamesEMcBride

What I am finding is that I have some books that only have an OPF file in their directory and nothing else.

The opf file holds the metadata for the book entry.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrJamesEMcBride

Is there a way that I can get a list of all books that have no available formats by using Calibre?

Just type this on the search bar:

Code:

formats:false

It will find all books with no formats available.

theducks · 10-29-2019, 08:37 PM

The OPF is a backup of the DB entry
cover is the cover CALIBRE shows (the book could have a different one or none. The quality check PI can help sniff those out)

MrJamesEMcBride · 10-31-2019, 04:52 AM

Thank you so much for the help, guys! Welp, it looks like I DID screw myself over royally. There are a ton of books that I deleted that I didnt have any other formats of. At least now, I can look at the ones that are missing and seek to replace them.

Grrrrr....the things we do in a moment of stupidity

theducks · 10-31-2019, 10:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrJamesEMcBride

Thank you so much for the help, guys! Welp, it looks like I DID screw myself over royally. There are a ton of books that I deleted that I didnt have any other formats of. At least now, I can look at the ones that are missing and seek to replace them.

Grrrrr....the things we do in a moment of stupidity

NO MAJOR ISSUE.... Yet

(other than if you deleted cover.jpg That one is gone because Calibre does NOT immediately embed that into the LIBRARIES COPY. The one in the book may be different. But we can cover

that ) DO NOT TRY THINGS without discussion here first. We might have a way to retrieve some, that will disappear if you do other things in the mean time

To restore those missing OPF (from the current metadata being show. Which they should have matched)
Right click the Library Icon: Library Maintenance: Check Library Backup Status: Click the Queue All Books... Button
Note this is quite a "grinder". It will run for quite a while depending on the size of your library. The Amount To Go shows above the button.
Let'r rip, and you can do anything else while it happens in background (with calibre running).

ON to your cover problem

In the Search bar:

Code:

formats:true and cover:false

That finds those books with formats, BUT that CALIBRE has no cover to show

This may not work in your case, because you used the OS to remove the covers: Calibre does NOT know this.
NEVER CHANGE anything in the LIBRARY FOLDERS using the OS. Calibre is really showing you the log view of the stuff it has done.

OK, Tell us more about some of those WITH FORMATS, that you deleted the covers using the OS

(I do have a way to create an missing cover Error Log file, but that is just a LOG)

MrJamesEMcBride · 11-01-2019, 06:27 AM

No, that I have not done......deleting anything from the Calibre library using the OS. I didnt mention that there are JPG files is the folders with the OPF files because it just didnt fit in with what I was talking about (or, so I thought). There are still a bunch of JPG files, one in each folder with the OPF files.

For now, I am just using the list generated with 'formats:false' to see what MAY BE missing. It turns out that I had a lot of duplicates and many of the books that show up in that report are still in the library....a good thing in this case, a bad thing if my goal is to get rid of redundancies.

Something that I am finding out even more pointedly after this mess is that I use about 10% of the features and functions that Calibre has available.

This program is that f&%$ing good

theducks · 11-01-2019, 10:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrJamesEMcBride

No, that I have not done......deleting anything from the Calibre library using the OS. I didnt mention that there are JPG files is the folders with the OPF files because it just didnt fit in with what I was talking about (or, so I thought). There are still a bunch of JPG files, one in each folder with the OPF files.

For now, I am just using the list generated with 'formats:false' to see what MAY BE missing. It turns out that I had a lot of duplicates and many of the books that show up in that report are still in the library....a good thing in this case, a bad thing if my goal is to get rid of redundancies.

Something that I am finding out even more pointedly after this mess is that I use about 10% of the features and functions that Calibre has available.

This program is that f&%$ing good

Other way to really mess things up: Use a cloud sync while RUNNING Calibre. Restoring metadata.db from a different backup BUNDLE. (metadata.db is paired to the current set of file/folders at that time ONLY)

10%, I think you are using more than I do

(I have no clue on % I use. It is low I have about 20 PI installed: I use about 5 frequently)

MrJamesEMcBride · 11-03-2019, 01:00 PM

Hmmm, don't know why I didnt think of this (oh so easy) answer to my original question.

- List all of my books, and sort on the 'SIZE' column.

That does the task right smartly

Now a question related to that....when there are multiple formats available, which filesize is being shown in that column? Which file format?

chaley · 11-03-2019, 01:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrJamesEMcBride

Now a question related to that....when there are multiple formats available, which filesize is being shown in that column? Which file format?

It is the size of the largest format.

MrJamesEMcBride · 11-19-2019, 09:01 AM

Wow......now that I have done all that work to try to restore the books that I lost, I find that there are directories named 'Calibre Library deleted *****' that have all of the books that I deleted.

Why didnt I pay attention to those directories the first time that I saw them back when this all happened?

There are at least 4k books in those directories.....

At least I didn't delete them like I thought about doing

theducks · 11-19-2019, 10:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrJamesEMcBride

Wow......now that I have done all that work to try to restore the books that I lost, I find that there are directories named 'Calibre Library deleted *****' that have all of the books that I deleted.

Why didnt I pay attention to those directories the first time that I saw them back when this all happened?

There are at least 4k books in those directories.....

At least I didn't delete them like I thought about doing

?? What OS (because I don't ever remember seeing a folder with that name)?

Caution to all: Books that are in the trash need to be added as a new book or a new format to an existing book. Not simply do a 'restore' from trash. The reason: This is an OS function and we remember the rules about going beneath the skirts, right? This would drop a 'now unknown to Calibre' book into the Library because the DB does not know it was returned.

DNSB · 11-19-2019, 11:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrJamesEMcBride

Wow......now that I have done all that work to try to restore the books that I lost, I find that there are directories named 'Calibre Library deleted *****' that have all of the books that I deleted.

You should be able to try re-adding those books to calibre using the second option on the add books dropdown (the one book per directory, assume e-book files are the same e-book in a different format). You may have to play with the auto-merge setting since you have entries with no e-book files.

MrJamesEMcBride · 11-19-2019, 11:22 AM

I am using Win 10.

So, you are saying that this isnt a normal function of Calibre? I am not sure how those directories got created if it wasnt Calibre that did it.

MrJamesEMcBride · 11-19-2019, 11:23 AM

Thank you DNSB, I already did that. I was relieved to find them, for sure!

10-29-2019, 07:30 PM	#1
MrJamesEMcBride Enthusiast Posts: 43 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2018 Location: Beaver, PA Device: Samsung GalaxyTab S6 Lite	Is there someplace that I could find books with no formats available in Calibre list? Hello, I went and did something stupid.....used the 'Remove Books of a specific format from selected books' and, of course, selected all books in my library. For the most part, it looks like I didnt screw myself up TOO badly. I removed all EPUBs, LIT, DOC, PDF, and a few others. What I am finding is that I have some books that only have an OPF file in their directory and nothing else. Is there a way that I can get a list of all books that have no available formats by using Calibre? I am sure that I can find some other solution, either by using a file manager program or writing some kind of script to scan all of the folders. Thanks in advance for the help --Jim

11-19-2019, 09:01 AM	#11
MrJamesEMcBride Enthusiast Posts: 43 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2018 Location: Beaver, PA Device: Samsung GalaxyTab S6 Lite	Wow......now that I have done all that work to try to restore the books that I lost, I find that there are directories named 'Calibre Library deleted ****' that have all of the books that I deleted. Why didnt I pay attention to those directories the first time that I saw them back when this all happened? There are at least 4k books in those directories..... At least I didn't delete them like I thought about doing Last edited by MrJamesEMcBride; 11-19-2019 at 09:06 AM.*

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10-29-2019, 08:06 PM	#2
davidfor Grand Sorcerer Posts: 24,905 Karma: 47303824 Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Sydney, Australia Device: Kobo:Touch,Glo, AuraH2O, GloHD,AuraONE, ClaraHD, Libra H2O; tolinoepos	In the Tag browser, click on the "Formats" entry twice. The first will change the icon for it to a green plus and display all books that have a format. The second click changes the icon to a red minus and shows all books that do not have a format. The search bar will show the search used for this.

10-29-2019, 08:37 PM	#4
theducks Well trained by Cats Posts: 31,056 Karma: 60358908 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: The Central Coast of California Device: Kobo Libra2,Kobo Aura2v1, K4NT(Fixed: New Bat.), Galaxy Tab A	The OPF is a backup of the DB entry cover is the cover CALIBRE shows (the book could have a different one or none. The quality check PI can help sniff those out)

10-31-2019, 04:52 AM	#5
MrJamesEMcBride Enthusiast Posts: 43 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2018 Location: Beaver, PA Device: Samsung GalaxyTab S6 Lite	Thank you so much for the help, guys! Welp, it looks like I DID screw myself over royally. There are a ton of books that I deleted that I didnt have any other formats of. At least now, I can look at the ones that are missing and seek to replace them. Grrrrr....the things we do in a moment of stupidity

11-01-2019, 06:27 AM	#7
MrJamesEMcBride Enthusiast Posts: 43 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2018 Location: Beaver, PA Device: Samsung GalaxyTab S6 Lite	No, that I have not done......deleting anything from the Calibre library using the OS. I didnt mention that there are JPG files is the folders with the OPF files because it just didnt fit in with what I was talking about (or, so I thought). There are still a bunch of JPG files, one in each folder with the OPF files. For now, I am just using the list generated with 'formats:false' to see what MAY BE missing. It turns out that I had a lot of duplicates and many of the books that show up in that report are still in the library....a good thing in this case, a bad thing if my goal is to get rid of redundancies. Something that I am finding out even more pointedly after this mess is that I use about 10% of the features and functions that Calibre has available. This program is that f&%$ing good

11-03-2019, 01:00 PM	#9
MrJamesEMcBride Enthusiast Posts: 43 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2018 Location: Beaver, PA Device: Samsung GalaxyTab S6 Lite	Hmmm, don't know why I didnt think of this (oh so easy) answer to my original question. - List all of my books, and sort on the 'SIZE' column. That does the task right smartly Now a question related to that....when there are multiple formats available, which filesize is being shown in that column? Which file format?

11-19-2019, 11:22 AM	#14
MrJamesEMcBride Enthusiast Posts: 43 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2018 Location: Beaver, PA Device: Samsung GalaxyTab S6 Lite	I am using Win 10. So, you are saying that this isnt a normal function of Calibre? I am not sure how those directories got created if it wasnt Calibre that did it.

11-19-2019, 11:23 AM	#15
MrJamesEMcBride Enthusiast Posts: 43 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2018 Location: Beaver, PA Device: Samsung GalaxyTab S6 Lite	Thank you DNSB, I already did that. I was relieved to find them, for sure!

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