Saving metadata to file?

[al35]

I might be missing something trivial here, but I can't find any way to save the manually edited metadata to file. Is there any way to update the metadata in the actual ebook file, not only in the database? Thanks.

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by al35

I might be missing something trivial here, but I can't find any way to save the manually edited metadata to file. Is there any way to update the metadata in the actual ebook file, not only in the database? Thanks.

Metadata is updated in the file when:

1. You convert the file, file in Calibre library is updated.
2. You transfer file to device, file on device is updated.
3. You save file to disk, file on disk is updated.

[Zipr]

Is metadata stored in the files (books)? I thought all that was stored in the database file. If metadata was in the files then you should be able to recreate a lost library from the files themselves, which I don't think you can do.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by Zipr

Is metadata stored in the files (books)? I thought all that was stored in the database file. If metadata was in the files then you should be able to recreate a lost library from the files themselves, which I don't think you can do.

That's correct. The metadata is stored in the database. The original ebooks are not modified in any way. That is a big mantra of Kovid's to not every modify or delete your source ebook files.

So, if you only have the ebook files and you loose the database then the edited metadata is gone.

Of course, if you have converted the files to another format that new metadata will be in it... but not all of it.

If you do a save to disk it can save out a file that contains all your metadata... so doing a "save to disk" is like doing a backup of your library. If you do an import from your "save to disk" folder then it will recover all your metadata also.

BOb

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by Zipr

you should be able to recreate a lost library from the files themselves, which I don't think you can do.

Originally Posted by pilotbob

If you do a save to disk it can save out a file that contains all your metadata... so doing a "save to disk" is like doing a backup of your library. If you do an import from your "save to disk" folder then it will recover all your metadata also.

Every now and then I select every book and do a save to disk. As Bob said this does save all your metadata. I have deleted all of my books and then added from my save to disk directory (to test) and everything was recreated. All summaries, series authors etc...

[Desertway]

Does the metadata become embedded if I convert from say, ePub to ePub? I often do that to change covers or make other small changes. It seemed to me that the metadata was written to the file.

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by Desertway

Does the metadata become embedded if I convert from say, ePub to ePub? I often do that to change covers or make other small changes. It seemed to me that the metadata was written to the file.

I did a epub to epub conversion then looked at the metadata in Sigil. What Sigil showed was

Title
Author
Language
ISBN
Tags
Book Producer
Comments (not labeled, but summary I included was there every time.)
Publisher

Items not present

Series
Rating
Published Date

[Desertway]

Originally Posted by dwanthny

I did a epub to epub conversion then looked at the metadata in Sigil. What Sigil showed was

Title
Author
Language
ISBN
Tags
Book Producer
Comments (not labeled, but summary I included was there every time.)
Publisher

Items not present

Series
Rating
Published Date

Thanks for the test! That works for me.

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by dwanthny

Every now and then I select every book and do a save to disk. As Bob said this does save all your metadata. I have deleted all of my books and then added from my save to disk directory (to test) and everything was recreated. All summaries, series authors etc...

Just a reminder for others: For this to work, there are two options in the Preferences|Save that have to be on. They are the two that start with "Save," namely the "Save metadata in OPF file" and the Save cover separately." Otherwise, you may lose the cover or metadata. Fortunately, they are on by default.

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by Starson17

Just a reminder for others: For this to work, there are two options in the Preferences|Save that have to be on. They are the two that start with "Save," namely the "Save metadata in OPF file" and the Save cover separately." Otherwise, you may lose the cover or metadata. Fortunately, they are on by default.

Thank god for default settings or in this case Kovid for the foresight.

[aritza]

I'm new to Calibre and I am liking it more and more. My heart-felt thanks to Kovid!

On this topic, however, I must say I disagree and I wish there was a simple way to save the metadata to the file, even if it wasn't by default. Having to export the files is not a simple way to do it.

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by aritza

On this topic, however, I must say I disagree and I wish there was a simple way to save the metadata to the file,

What is it you disagree with, and what file do you want to save the metadata to? Do you want to save metadata in an .opf file? (There are command line utils that create an opf file and Save to Disk will also give you an opf file.)

Do you want to update the ebook internal metadata for a copy of your ebook on your ereader device or on your disk? (Calibre does this automatically with Save to Disk and Send to Device).

Do you want to update the metadata of an ebook inside Calibre's database? (I don't know why you would want to do this, since it changes your master imported book and it's automatically updated during Send, Save and Convert operations anyway, but if you want to do it, just do a convert to the same format.)

What more do you want?

[chaley]

Originally Posted by Starson17

Just a reminder for others: For this to work, there are two options in the Preferences|Save that have to be on. They are the two that start with "Save," namely the "Save metadata in OPF file" and the Save cover separately." Otherwise, you may lose the cover or metadata. Fortunately, they are on by default.

Small warning: custom column metadata is currently not stored in the OPF at all. That is on the todo list.

[aritza]

Originally Posted by Starson17

What is it you disagree with, and what file do you want to save the metadata to? Do you want to save metadata in an .opf file? (There are command line utils that create an opf file and Save to Disk will also give you an opf file.)

Do you want to update the ebook internal metadata for a copy of your ebook on your ereader device or on your disk? (Calibre does this automatically with Save to Disk and Send to Device).

Do you want to update the metadata of an ebook inside Calibre's database? (I don't know why you would want to do this, since it changes your master imported book and it's automatically updated during Send, Save and Convert operations anyway, but if you want to do it, just do a convert to the same format.)

What more do you want?

I'm sorry I wasn't more explicit. I thought it was clear from the context.

I would really like to have the option to do #3, to save the metadata to the ebook inside Calibre's database.

I understood from the previous messages that this wasn't possible (at least without exporting and reimporting the file). Now I just learned from your message that it can be easily done inside the database by converting it to the same format. Thanks.

Still, I think this option to update the metadata inside the database should be more conspicuous and less roundabout (not necessarily the default). But that's just my opinion.

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by aritza

Now I just learned from your message that it can be easily done inside the database by converting it to the same format. Thanks.

Still, I think this option to update the metadata inside the database should be more conspicuous and less roundabout (not necessarily the default). But that's just my opinion.

Whether the files inside the database have the metadata within the file updated or not is inconsequential since every method that exports a book updates the metadata in the process of that export.