questions about importing books

[elnino5]

I have been collecting e-books for awhile, but my files are overwhelming and scattered all over my PC. So I'm looking at using calibre to manage them and help me organize them, and actually start reading them. =). After viewing the video, I think calibre will work very nicely!

When I import them by directory and sub directories into calibre, will:

1) all the files will be copied and stored in the Calibre Library\ folder?
2) I then be able to delete the original files?
3) will it maintain the original file date?

More questions:
When I copy other books from my phone, can I then delete those copies too?
Will it recognize any duplicates?
Is there a max number of books? After a quick scan, and I apparantly have 6700 PDFs in one directory/sub directory.

I'd really love to have all my e-books stored in one place. =)

Thank you for answering my questions.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by elnino5

I have been collecting e-books for awhile, but my files are overwhelming and scattered all over my PC. So I'm looking at using calibre to manage them and help me organize them, and actually start reading them. =). After viewing the video, I think calibre will work very nicely!

When I import them by directory and sub directories into calibre, will:

1) all the files will be copied and stored in the Calibre Library\ folder?

Yes.

2) I then be able to delete the original files?

Yes.

3) will it maintain the original file date?

I don't think so, but I've also never looked. Calibre does record the date you add the book to the library and when you modified it. The GetFileName plugin can store the last modified date in a custom column when adding the book to calibre.

More questions:
When I copy other books from my phone, can I then delete those copies too?

Yes.

Will it recognize any duplicates?

Calibre can recognise duplicates based on the author and title. It will give some options when this is detected as to what happens (and I've completely forgotten what they are).

Is there a max number of books? After a quick scan, and I apparantly have 6700 PDFs in one directory/sub directory.

At 6700 books, your library will still be on the small size. If you search, people have asked about whether calibre can handle libraries in the hundreds of thousands. And the answer is yes.
[QUOTE]

[theducks]

and there is the Find Duplicates PI that offers more options as well as compare 2 Libraries.

I use an 'intake' library where I clean up books, metadata. I can also find if I have a duplicate in my 'main' library

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by theducks

and there is the Find Duplicates PI that offers more options as well as compare 2 Libraries.

I use an 'intake' library where I clean up books, metadata. I can also find if I have a duplicate in my 'main' library

- IMO definitely the way to go

And don't add all your books in one go, do it in batches whose size is based on how long you want to spend adding/adjusting metadata before taking a break. For me that was 100-200 books.

BR

[ekbell]

An intake library (or a custom column which indicates when the metadata is fixed) allows for mass importation of books and gradual fixing of metadata for those of us who find it easier to add a folders worth of books all at once and not have to keep track of which books have been added from that folder.