"Ghost" formats for book entries shown

[PsiHazard]

First, I apologize if this is in the wrong place or an issue that's been covered already; I'm new to the board and did try to search, but TBH I wasn't really sure how to phrase my questions.

I'm seeing a variety of formats for most of the entries in my Calibre library that do not exist in the actual file folder for that entry. For example, for Title A, .EPUB, .AZ3, ORIGINAL_EPUB, and ORIGINAL_AZ3 are shown in the Information (I) pane, and in the information listed in the rightmost panel of Calibre's default layout. However, the actual folder (accessed via "O" or through the file system) may contain only some or even none of those files/formats. Typically, the formats starting with ORIGINAL_ won't be in the folder.

I don't know when this happened or what may have caused it. The library has moved around a bit and seen some changes over the years. I'm not brand-new to Calibre, but I wouldn't consider myself an advanced user either. I probably attempted something odd involving file conversion at some point to create the "ghost" formats, but I have no idea why some folders are completely empty.

My questions are these:

First, where is the information on which formats are available for a given entry in the library stored, and can that be refreshed/rebuilt/recreated? If so, what is the preferred or recommended method?

Second, is there a way to determine which of my library entries have no ebook files at all, despite showing several available formats in Information?

Ideally, any solution would be able to applied to the library as a whole rather than manually editing each individual library entry

Thanks for reading!

[BetterRed]

ORIGINAL_<format> files are created if you do like to like conversion e.g. EPUB to EPUB. They are what's written on the tin, i.e. the <format> file prior to conversion. They are also created by the Polish Book tool, and perhaps the Modify EPUB optional plugin.

The creation of ORIGINAL_XXXX files can be turned off via the save_original_format Tweak, but doing that won't get rid any that already exist.

Suggest you run the Library Maintenance->Check library tool and clean up any anomalies reported in stage three. Then to get rid or all the ORIGINAL-XXXX formats: select all books (Ctrl+A), and use the Remove books->Remove files of a specific format from selected books tool to remove the ORIGINAL_XXXX formats

BR

[Karellen]

Originally Posted by PsiHazard

I'm seeing a variety of formats for most of the entries in my Calibre library that do not exist in the actual file folder for that entry.

It might be a case that you had these formats at one time then, instead of using Calibre to remove the formats, you used a file manager to access and delete them. When you do this "behind the scenes" Calibre has no idea the books are deleted. Best to manage your books through the Calibre interface, rather than attempting clean ups using a file manager.

Also if you move files into the same folder as the ebook, then Calibre won't know about them and they may get deleted without your knowledge. I learnt this the hard way.

[theducks]

This can also be a side effect from using a network drive. The DB was restored while the files were being removed by another instance
Calibre is NOT network or SHARED safe. Only 1 instance allowed at a time and that is still not proof against cloud caching.
Local connected drive only