Output file name

gafitz · 11-01-2011, 08:02 PM

I'm not sure if I'm the slowest learner on the planet or just quirky but I have never been able to find a way in this or any of the earlier versions of calibre to manage file names in a way that I can use.
My files are all named "Author Last Name, First Name - Book Title". When I import books calibre treats the data to the left of the hyphen as the Book Title and to the right of the hyphen as the Author. Have looked everywhere to see where I can configure calibre to switch the input template but no luck. S when I try to import three books by the same author, calibre warns me that there are three books with the same title!!?? I then need to change the author name and book title in the Metadata to correct it; ok for one title painful for a batch!
After a conversion the file is saved in the same name format; "Book Tile - Author First Name Last Name. I have over 1800 titles that are named in my format. I like it this way as all my books are sorted by author and then by title and I have no intention of changing this system. I have used ebooks since I bought the first Sony when it was first released and since then have used 3 or 4 Sony variants, a couple of pocketbooks and an iRex. In all cases I can find my books easily by my naming convention, since I'm more interested in authors than titles. I know that I can build series or tags in metadata but that presumes that the only library that I will ever use is calibre and/or that my device will respect these tags.
Surely there is a way for calibre to work for me and not me for calibre. I think that Kovid has done a fantastic job in committing himself to calibre over many years and building a wonderful program but, as I have had to do, with each of the versions that I have tried, I reluctantly walk away since the program does not answer my needs.
Am I wrong and is there a way to configure input and output file names without python prgramming or am I going to have to walk away yet again?
Sorry for the verbose posting but any help appreciated.

theducks · 11-01-2011, 08:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gafitz

I'm not sure if I'm the slowest learner on the planet or just quirky but I have never been able to find a way in this or any of the earlier versions of calibre to manage file names in a way that I can use.
My files are all named "Author Last Name, First Name - Book Title". When I import books calibre treats the data to the left of the hyphen as the Book Title and to the right of the hyphen as the Author. Have looked everywhere to see where I can configure calibre to switch the input template but no luck. S when I try to import three books by the same author, calibre warns me that there are three books with the same title!!?? I then need to change the author name and book title in the Metadata to correct it; ok for one title painful for a batch!
After a conversion the file is saved in the same name format; "Book Tile - Author First Name Last Name. I have over 1800 titles that are named in my format. I like it this way as all my books are sorted by author and then by title and I have no intention of changing this system. I have used ebooks since I bought the first Sony when it was first released and since then have used 3 or 4 Sony variants, a couple of pocketbooks and an iRex. In all cases I can find my books easily by my naming convention, since I'm more interested in authors than titles. I know that I can build series or tags in metadata but that presumes that the only library that I will ever use is calibre and/or that my device will respect these tags.
Surely there is a way for calibre to work for me and not me for calibre. I think that Kovid has done a fantastic job in committing himself to calibre over many years and building a wonderful program but, as I have had to do, with each of the versions that I have tried, I reluctantly walk away since the program does not answer my needs.
Am I wrong and is there a way to configure input and output file names without python prgramming or am I going to have to walk away yet again?
Sorry for the verbose posting but any help appreciated.

YOU MAY NOT CHANGE THE OUTPUT FILE NAMES. read the sticky in Library management.

Input file name are controlled by the REGEX in Adding Books.

(BTW the input REGEX has been basically the same for over a year)

dwig · 11-01-2011, 08:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gafitz

...
Am I wrong and is there a way to configure input and output file names without python prgramming... ? ...

Yes, but I think your concept of "output" is incorrect.

The filenames created by calibre for the files in its library are not changeable. They are for calibre's use and not your's.

The naming pattern of a true output file, one that has been exported from calibre via the Send to Device or Save to Disk functions, can be altered via the settings in their respective Preferences sections. Explore the Save Template portion of the Send to Device and Save to Disk sections.

Serpentine · 11-01-2011, 09:35 PM

Do you wish to change the pattern which is applied during the import process?
If so it is in Preferences -> Adding Books

The current pattern is :
(?P<title>.+) - (?P<author>[^_]+)

You are looking for :
(?P<author>[^_]+) - (?P<title>.+)

There's also an option to swap the first/last names around, if that's needed.

jackie_w · 11-01-2011, 09:50 PM

@gafitz,

The specific page you need to configure to suit importing your books into Calibre is Preferences - Adding Books

You will need to make sure that Read metadata from file contents rather than filename is unchecked and you will need to edit the Regular expression box to reflect your current file naming convention.

This won't change the filenames in the Calibre library but it should get the metadata imported correctly into the library in one hit.

{Edit:] Oops, too late, Serpentine got there first!

gafitz · 11-02-2011, 01:47 PM

Thanks for everyone's help; have solved half of my problem. However when I convert a book that I have added to the library calibre still saves the newly created file as "Title - Author first name last name". Still can't find how to save converted file as "Author last name, first name - Title" which is the structure of the original file name that was added to calibre.
Sorry to keep beating on about this, but it matters and I do appreciate your quick and helpful responses.

gafitz · 11-02-2011, 02:02 PM

OK, have got it sorted. When books are converted I can't seem to change the file name format that they are converted to, but when I then save the book to disk I can edit the file name format. Seems a strange two-step process; first convert book which is saved to disk in calibre's own name format then save the book to disk again but with my file name format. Can't understand why the two steps could not be combined and have the convert save format modifiable by the user, but since I'm a 100 miles ahead of where I was I will take this as a win since I can now continue using calibre and save myself considerable time and effort.
Thanks again to those who helped.

PeterT · 11-02-2011, 02:17 PM

Remember; the files / directories in the folder that comprises your Calibre Library are, in effect, the Calibre database, and are there totally for Calibre's convenience and usage.

Read this thread --> Want to change the folder structure of the Calibre library?

Starson17 · 11-02-2011, 02:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gafitz

Seems a strange two-step process; first convert book which is saved to disk in calibre's own name format then save the book to disk again but with my file name format.

It's only multi-step because you are importing into the library, then doing a conversion, then exporting from the library. You aren't using the library for its main function - being a library. If all you want is conversion, do it all in one step with the ebook-convert command line tool. It will let you specify the output filename and reduce three steps (import-convert-export) to one.

11-01-2011, 08:02 PM	#1
gafitz Junior Member Posts: 8 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Toronto, Canada Device: PRS-500	Output file name I'm not sure if I'm the slowest learner on the planet or just quirky but I have never been able to find a way in this or any of the earlier versions of calibre to manage file names in a way that I can use. My files are all named "Author Last Name, First Name - Book Title". When I import books calibre treats the data to the left of the hyphen as the Book Title and to the right of the hyphen as the Author. Have looked everywhere to see where I can configure calibre to switch the input template but no luck. S when I try to import three books by the same author, calibre warns me that there are three books with the same title!!?? I then need to change the author name and book title in the Metadata to correct it; ok for one title painful for a batch! After a conversion the file is saved in the same name format; "Book Tile - Author First Name Last Name. I have over 1800 titles that are named in my format. I like it this way as all my books are sorted by author and then by title and I have no intention of changing this system. I have used ebooks since I bought the first Sony when it was first released and since then have used 3 or 4 Sony variants, a couple of pocketbooks and an iRex. In all cases I can find my books easily by my naming convention, since I'm more interested in authors than titles. I know that I can build series or tags in metadata but that presumes that the only library that I will ever use is calibre and/or that my device will respect these tags. Surely there is a way for calibre to work for me and not me for calibre. I think that Kovid has done a fantastic job in committing himself to calibre over many years and building a wonderful program but, as I have had to do, with each of the versions that I have tried, I reluctantly walk away since the program does not answer my needs. Am I wrong and is there a way to configure input and output file names without python prgramming or am I going to have to walk away yet again? Sorry for the verbose posting but any help appreciated.

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11-01-2011, 09:35 PM	#4
Serpentine Evangelist Posts: 416 Karma: 1045911 Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: Cape Town, South Africa Device: Kindle 3	Do you wish to change the pattern which is applied during the import process? If so it is in Preferences -> Adding Books The current pattern is : (?P<title>.+) - (?P<author>[^_]+) You are looking for : (?P<author>[^_]+) - (?P<title>.+) There's also an option to swap the first/last names around, if that's needed.

11-01-2011, 09:50 PM	#5
jackie_w Grand Sorcerer Posts: 6,269 Karma: 16544702 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: UK Device: ClaraHD, Forma, Libra2, Clara2E, LibraCol, PBTouchHD3	@gafitz, The specific page you need to configure to suit importing your books into Calibre is Preferences - Adding Books You will need to make sure that Read metadata from file contents rather than filename is unchecked and you will need to edit the Regular expression box to reflect your current file naming convention. This won't change the filenames in the Calibre library but it should get the metadata imported correctly into the library in one hit. {Edit:] Oops, too late, Serpentine got there first!

11-02-2011, 01:47 PM	#6
gafitz Junior Member Posts: 8 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Toronto, Canada Device: PRS-500	Thanks for everyone's help; have solved half of my problem. However when I convert a book that I have added to the library calibre still saves the newly created file as "Title - Author first name last name". Still can't find how to save converted file as "Author last name, first name - Title" which is the structure of the original file name that was added to calibre. Sorry to keep beating on about this, but it matters and I do appreciate your quick and helpful responses.

11-02-2011, 02:02 PM	#7
gafitz Junior Member Posts: 8 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Toronto, Canada Device: PRS-500	OK, have got it sorted. When books are converted I can't seem to change the file name format that they are converted to, but when I then save the book to disk I can edit the file name format. Seems a strange two-step process; first convert book which is saved to disk in calibre's own name format then save the book to disk again but with my file name format. Can't understand why the two steps could not be combined and have the convert save format modifiable by the user, but since I'm a 100 miles ahead of where I was I will take this as a win since I can now continue using calibre and save myself considerable time and effort. Thanks again to those who helped.

11-02-2011, 02:17 PM	#8
PeterT Grand Sorcerer Posts: 13,698 Karma: 79983758 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Toronto Device: Libra H2O, Libra Colour	Remember; the files / directories in the folder that comprises your Calibre Library are, in effect, the Calibre database, and are there totally for Calibre's convenience and usage. Read this thread --> Want to change the folder structure of the Calibre library?