How Can I Check for File Path Issues?

[MarjaE]

I've encountered some file path issues. I'm not sure how to predict these and protect against them.

1. If I'm exporting books to certain devices, especially Android devices, these will truncate long file paths.

2. If I'm transferring my library to a Windows computer, it will refuse to import files with long file paths.

The best I can see is to *manually* go through the book list and pre-emptively truncate or abbreviate each long title, and each author list. Which makes it a pain to re-type these when it's time to cite these books. But if there's some way to identify books which *might* cause trouble, that would help.

[DNSB]

My personal workaround is to use template when saving to disk or exporting to devices.

For saving to disk, I use:

{author_sort:sublist(0,1,&)}/{series:|[|} {series_index:0>2s||] - }{title} - {authors:sublist(0,1,&)}

Basically, books are saved into a directory based on the first entry in the author sort (the sublist(0,1,&) bit) with a filename consisting of the series/series index if it exists followed by the book title and the first author name.

i.e. Nonymous, Ann/Font Tester V3 - Ann Nonymous.epub

For sending to device I use:

eBooks/{author_sort:sublist(0,1,&)}/{title} - {authors:sublist(0,1,&)}

Basically, a directory called eBooks in the root of the device, followed by a directory based on the first entry in the author_sort and the filename based on the title followed by the first author name.

eBooks/Nonymous, Ann/Font Tester V3 - Ann Nonymous.epub

I don't include the series/series index for sending to device since my Kobo ereader handle series.

The sublist(0,1&) is the key to shortening the paths for me. I already trim book titles to the basic title trimming all the crap off. One recent example was a book my spouse purchased whose title was:

Fall I Want: A Heartwarming, Spicy Small-Town Romance Featuring a Billionaire's Unexpected Love, Fake Relationships, and Autumn Magic—Perfect for Fans ... Spice Café (Cozy Creek Collection Book 1)

The author stated the ebook left her with the title of fall i want. Anything else was added by Amazon. Even Amazon had to trim the Perfect for Fans of multiple random authors to shorten the title.

[MarjaE]

For export, I include genre folders, and not author name folders; that saves a lot of trouble finding and comparing works on the same topic, but either way, that can be too much to export to Android.

For transfer, Calibre includes author name folders, and includes the title and the 1st author name in the filename; since most papers have subtitles, that can be too much to import into Windows.

[JSWolf]

I cannot stand author named directories on my Reader. I use a directory called books which I have all of my eBooks on my Reader stored. It saved the hassle of the mess author named directories can cause.

[DNSB]

Oddly, I seldom look at the directories on my ereader but I do like the author sort directories. Much like your endless whinging about Vellum where you find the code it generates overly complex, most people are content to read the books and not worry about their structure.

Though I am curious as to what mess author named directories can cause? I do limit the use to the first entry in either the author_sort or author to avoid path length issues but what issues do you find with them?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Oddly, I seldom look at the directories on my ereader but I do like the author sort directories. Much like your endless whinging about Vellum where you find the code it generates overly complex, most people are content to read the books and not worry about their structure.

Though I am curious as to what mess author named directories can cause? I do limit the use to the first entry in either the author_sort or author to avoid path length issues but what issues do you find with them?

It can lead to many empty directories and if you use KoReader, you can have a job finding a book because you are checking empty directories.

[DNSB]

Interesting. I've use author_sort named directories for quite a few years. I just checked all the Kobo ereaders I'm currently using (Clara HD, Forma, Sage, KLC) and do not see any empty directories in the ebooks directory on any of them. Please note that since I use calibre to manage my ebooks, all deletions are done from calibre.

Fascinating that you are whinging about KOReader and empty directories. When I use KOReader, I use it's ability to search the metadata.calibre file instead of browsing through directories since so much faster and fewer taps. Are you really slowly browsing through a single directory with however many 1000s of ebook files in it rather than looking at the author sort named directories?

Out of curiosity, how long have you been using KOReader as your primary reading tool?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Interesting. I've use author_sort named directories for quite a few years. I just checked all the Kobo ereaders I'm currently using (Clara HD, Forma, Sage, KLC) and do not see any empty directories in the ebooks directory on any of them. Please note that since I use calibre to manage my ebooks, all deletions are done from calibre.

Fascinating that you are whinging about KOReader and empty directories. When I use KOReader, I use it's ability to search the metadata.calibre file instead of browsing through directories since so much faster and fewer taps. Are you really slowly browsing through a single directory with however many 1000s of ebook files in it rather than looking at the author sort named directories?

Out of curiosity, how long have you been using KOReader as your primary reading tool?

I used to use KoReader a lot more on my H2O. But I don't use it so much on my Libra 2. I really should update it.

I've been deleting eBooks from my Libra 2 since I start keep track of the reading position. But I can see many people deleting from the Kobo and leaving empty author directories (if they use calibre).

[DNSB]

A bit strange, Jon. I just sent 11 ebooks to my device that were singletons so 11 different authors. After the files were imported, I checked that I could open them. I then reconnected to calibre and deleted the files from calibre's remove matching books from device and oddly, the empty directories were also deleted. I did not test this by deleting books from the Kobo GUI since your statement above seems to say that using calibre to delete the last book in a directory does not also remove the directory.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by DNSB

A bit strange, Jon. I just sent 11 ebooks to my device that were singletons so 11 different authors. After the files were imported, I checked that I could open them. I then reconnected to calibre and deleted the files from calibre's remove matching books from device and oddly, the empty directories were also deleted. I did not test this by deleting books from the Kobo GUI since your statement above seems to say that using calibre to delete the last book in a directory does not also remove the directory.

I created an author directory on my Kobo. I put a book in this directory. I deleted this eBooks from the Kobo using Kobo's UI and the directory is still there but is now empty.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I've been deleting eBooks from my Libra 2 since I start keep track of the reading position. But I can see many people deleting from the Kobo and leaving empty author directories (if they use calibre).

Originally Posted by DNSB

I just sent 11 ebooks to my device that were singletons so 11 different authors. After the files were imported, I checked that I could open them. I then reconnected to calibre and deleted the files from calibre's remove matching books from device and oddly, the empty directories were also deleted. I did not test this by deleting books from the Kobo GUI since your statement above seems to say that using calibre to delete the last book in a directory does not also remove the directory.

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I created an author directory on my Kobo. I put a book in this directory. I deleted this eBooks from the Kobo using Kobo's UI and the directory is still there but is now empty.

Jon, Jon, Jon... Please read what you write. In your first post, you wrote "leaving empty author directories (if they use calibre). In your response to my post stating that calibre removes the directory when the last book file in it is deleted, you now claim that you are using the Kobo GUI to delete the file and the directory is left after the last file is deleted.

Please let us know by what convoluted logic you went from one statement where you explicitly stated "I can see many people deleting from the Kobo and leaving empty author directories (if they use calibre)" to your response about using the Kobo GUI to delete files. I most certainly hope that you do realize that calibre and Kobo's GUI are not the same?

[PeterT]

I have submitted an enhancement request on the Kobo Utilities gitHub to add a function to clean-up empty directories.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by PeterT

I have submitted an enhancement request on the Kobo Utilities gitHub to add a function to clean-up empty directories.

It is already in Quality Check: Fix section (Kiwidude added it way back in the beginning. I tried it on my Kobo and it found-fixed 62 cases )

[DNSB]

I'm assuming that you are referring to the Cleanup .opf files/folders option under Fix? It didn't find anything in my library folder on my Sage. I then tried deleting one of my test files from the Kobo GUI and the directory was cleaned up when I connected to calibre and used Quality Check:Fix.

[PeterT]

Originally Posted by theducks

It is already in Quality Check: Fix section (Kiwidude added it way back in the beginning. I tried it on my Kobo and it found-fixed 62 cases )

UGH. I'd like it to skip certain locations on the Kobo!