A Total New Beginner - please help me.

[TheScientist]

I have over 11,000+ documents in the Calibre, but they are not all books.

Some of the files are from other applications, for example, txt and rtf in the Scrivener application.

How can I delete everything, and then add only the .pdf and .azw?

I even have files dating back 2010 which state:

ERROR: Cannot view: A cold day for murder has no available formats.

I have read the User Guide and watched the Grand Tour Video, as well as some of the other video tutorials.

I am completely lost.

Step 1: Can I "select all" then delete all the files?

Step 2: How do I then add only .pdf and .azw files/books

Thank you advanced for any help you may give me.

[Martinoptic]

Back up your library first in case things go pear shaped.
Then open calibre library you want to change.
Select all the books then right click on remove books in the icon at the top and you will find an option to remove all file types except…
Click on that and the files types you want to remove will be no more. The deleted files will be kept hidden for a few days and then completely removed.

[TheScientist]

Originally Posted by Martinoptic

Back up your library first in case things go pear shaped.
Then open calibre library you want to change.
Select all the books then right click on remove books in the icon at the top and you will find an option to remove all file types except…
Click on that and the files types you want to remove will be no more. The deleted files will be kept hidden for a few days and then completely removed.

I discovered how to delete all my files by using the Windows "select all feature" Ctrl-A. What I need to know now is how can I add only .pdf and .azw files.

Thank you and cheers.
John

[pdurrant]

Why delete everything? Just delete everything that's not pdf or azw.

How long have you had your calibre library? Have you only just created it by adding everything on your hard disk?

[TheScientist]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Why delete everything? Just delete everything that's not pdf or azw.

How long have you had your Calibre library? Have you only just created it by adding everything on your hard disk?

This on my end is a bit complicated, I'll try to make this brief.

Literally, I have installed and uninstalled Calibre since 2015 without deleting the documents/books. I had over 11,000+ documents. Why did I do any of this, it is because I have no idea what I am doing.

I ended up using the Windows feature "Select all" (Ctrl+A) and deleted 2 times all the files.

Why I had to delete twice, I don't know. A guess, is that I have 2 Hard Drives, on the C: Drive, a Calibre Library, and on the D: Drive named Calibre2.

I cannot reproduce the steps, again, because I don't know I got there and all the files in Calibre app are gone, but the .pdf and many other files were not deleted and still exist on both Drives.

I have used both the "Add books from folder" and "Add from folder and "Add from folders and subfolders". I see no option to add books by their file types, for example, .pdf and .azw (extensions)

What am I missing?

Thank you for your question, it helped me put this issue into words.

TheScientist

[Comfy.n]

this might help (I'm assuming you're on Windows):

why don't you open the root folder in file explorer, I mean, the folder one level above where all .azw and .pdf are located, then do a search for * (wildcard).

that will list all files and you can sort them by type.

then you can select the files you want to add and drag them over onto calibre in the taskbar, until calibre window takes focus and becomes active, then drop it

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by TheScientist

I have used both the "Add books from folder" and "Add from folder and "Add from folders and subfolders". I see no option to add books by their file types, for example, .pdf and .azw (extensions)

What am I missing?

Thank you for your question, it helped me put this issue into words.

TheScientist

It sounds to me like you need to start afresh. So

1. Only access ebooks stored in calibre using the calibre GUI interface. Do not fiddle with the files and folders it creates and stores inside the calibre library folder.

2. I suggest deleting any existing calibre library folders, so that calibre creates a new one.

3. If your ebook files are scattered all over your hard disks, I would suggest using the "Add from folders and sub-folders". By default calibre will only add files that have a file name extension that's an ebook format. But you can override this using the "Control the adding of books" menu. in the Adding actions tab of the dialog that appears, create some "Rules to Filter Added Files" that accept files with .pdf and .azw, and ignore everything else.


That should get you a calibre library with only your pdf and .azw files in it.



You don't mention how you got the .azw files onto your hard drive. You might want to look into how to remove the DRM from those files BEFORE doing a massive import into calibre.