Override database path

[ama]

I would like to keep my wife's and my metadata.db files in different directories on our computers, yet access the same library files. I have my Calibre Library on a shared Windows10 folder that my wife and I have access to from separate laptops. We're running Calibre 4.5 at present. I've tried editing the Path statement as mentioned in the Calibre manual section on Environment variables, but it does seem to have any effect. I've tried it two ways, but neither has any effect:

CALIBRE_OVERRIDE_DATABASE_PATH=E:\TestCalibre
and
CALIBRE_OVERRIDE_DATABASE_PATH=E:\TestCalibre\meta data.db

What am I doing wrong?

Thank you.

[jhowell]

That isn’t going to work. Having two different database files associated with one set of library files will cause things to get out of sync very quickly.

[ama]

Thanks. I guess I don't understand then what is the point of this Calibre customization description in the documentation?

"CALIBRE_OVERRIDE_DATABASE_PATH - allows you to specify the full path to metadata.db. Using this variable you can have metadata.db be in a location other than the library folder. Useful if your library folder is on a networked drive that does not support file locking."

[jhowell]

The calibre database file must be on a file system that supports locking. In some cases if you want your library on a network drive because you do not have enough local storage, you can make it work by keeping the database file local and putting the actual book files on the network drive. But you still need a one-to-one match between a single database file and a single set of library files.

You might want to look into using the calibre content server if you need to access books from multiple locations.
https://manual.calibre-ebook.com/server.html

[ama]

Thanks. The content server is probably the way to go.

[theducks]

Consider what User differences are needed and create custom columns for the individual to use. eg Rating and #rating2