Is there a way to replace existing books when adding?

[Phssthpok]

I have a Calibre server running on another machine, and I update it by copying books to it from my laptop every so often (all books that have changed since the previous update are copied to the server's auto-add directory). This is fine for new books, but for updated versions of existing books I want to replace the old versions with the new versions.

I have unchecked "Check for duplicates" in "Automatic adding"; under "Adding actions" I have checked "Auto-merge added books" and have selected "Overwrite existing duplicate formats". Unfortunately this doesn't do the trick, and I just end up with both old and new versions of the book on the server, with the same author and title as each other.

Is there any way to do what I want, and replace the old version with the new one?

[kovidgoyal]

auto-add does not have a merge facility, it is not safe, since duplicates cannot be identified with 100% accuracy. Currently, you can do it vice the command line calibredb tool. At some point I will add some UI to the server to add formats to existing books via the browser as well, similar to how you can add new books already.

[Phssthpok]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

auto-add does not have a merge facility, it is not safe, since duplicates cannot be identified with 100% accuracy. Currently, you can do it vice the command line calibredb tool. At some point I will add some UI to the server to add formats to existing books via the browser as well, similar to how you can add new books already.

How do I do it with calibredb? All I see is the -d (Add books to database even if they already exist), which is basically what I'm already doing -- this doesn't remove older duplicates, does it? And it's based on title only, rather than author & title.

Even if it's dangerous, a "use at your own risk" merge facility based on author & title would be very useful, from my point of view...

[kovidgoyal]

calibredb add_format