Problems Getting Desired FileName Format

[American_Desi]

I seem to be doing something wrong with my E-book library.

I want my E-book files (mostly PDFs) to be saved in a format that has the filename identical to the title.

What is happening is the files are being saved in my E-book directory/AuthorName/Title(####)/truncated title - author.pdf

I'm not sure what the #### - some number with no significance to me which is fine.

But the filename in truncatedtitle-author format is problematic.

How can I make Calibre rename all my existing Ebooks/pdfs in its library so that the filename matches the title only, and do this for all future Ebooks/pdfs that I add later?

When I go to Preferences/Import-Export/Saving books to disk, I get something that looks like what I want, but what I have there doesn't seem to match what Calibre is doing (screenshot below)

[DNSB]

Easy answer is you don't. The format of the calibre library is to be treated as a black box. Stop trying to peek under the skirts. See the calibre faqs for Why doesn’t calibre let me store books in my own folder structure?

What you do with the filenames you export is up to you and any templates you may create.

The number is the bookid in the database for that library. As an example, it will be used when rebuilding the library database if the database gets corrupted.

As for the truncation, that is due to the maximum path lengths in many operating systems. For Windows, that would be 254 characters. Again, the database records the full title and you can see it in your exported files.

You don't like this? calibre is open source so feel free to modify it for your use.

You may also want to read the following message: Want to change folder structure or file names in the Calibre library?. Nothing has really changed since it was written back in 2011.

Edit: Manichean's message is stickied in the Library Managment subforum.

[Quoth]

Also even if you could, it won't work. Titles can easily have characters illegal in file names (varies with OS and filesytem in use).

As DNSB says, pretend the Calibre files don't exist. They only exist at all because it's never worked well for any database to import that sort of thing inside a database.

That's why there is an Export to Disk File command and also why Calibre creates a copy of any file imported (as if it was really inside a database).

[American_Desi]

OK, thanks. But if we can't determine the filename format, what is that menu I took a screenshot of? That's what it looks like it's supposed to allow one to do. It specifically says, "You can control what folders the files are saved in and what filenames they are given."

[BetterRed]

Adding Books to a library and Saving Books to Disk are separate Actions, see ==>> The Graphical User Interface — calibre 6.7.1 documentation

BR

[kacir]

Originally Posted by American_Desi

When I go to Preferences/Import-Export/Saving books to disk, I get something that looks like what I want, but what I have there doesn't seem to match what Calibre is doing (screenshot below)

This preference is for saving books to the disk when you use "Save to disk" function from the right-click menu.

You can not change how the Calibre saves the books to its library folder. We have had this discussion numerous times here. Not possible. Out of question. Calibre has milions of users and has version for Windows, Mac, Linux. There is also FreeBSD port but appears to be older version. You can even use Library created on one operating system under another one (or at very least do an import).

You are supposed to treat the library as a black box and only access the files through the Calibre interface. When you want to have a subset of your books for export to a device, for example, you use "save to disk" function or "send to device" function. Calibre interface is much more powerful for working with books than any file manager. The books are in individual files, with cover images and metadata.opf file only to make the system more robust in case something catastrophic happens - like disk corruption, irreparable crash of Calibre database or whatever. It is not supposed to be accessed by user under normal circumstances.

[American_Desi]

OK sorry to dredge this topic up again. Your answers are clear. The reason I was asking this is, when sync the files Calibre Companion on my iPad and then export the files from Calibre Companion to one of my various e-book platforms, the files display in those e-book apps as the filename rather than with the title & author metadata that I edited and saved in Calibre.

If I can't change the file name, is there a way to sync files to my Calibre Companion and other e-book programs in a way that they understand and import all relevant metadata?

[chaley]

Originally Posted by American_Desi

OK sorry to dredge this topic up again. Your answers are clear. The reason I was asking this is, when sync the files Calibre Companion on my iPad and then export the files from Calibre Companion to one of my various e-book platforms, the files display in those e-book apps as the filename rather than with the title & author metadata that I edited and saved in Calibre.

If I can't change the file name, is there a way to sync files to my Calibre Companion and other e-book programs in a way that they understand and import all relevant metadata?

CC is abandonware. I doubt you will get any help with this.

[American_Desi]

Originally Posted by chaley

CC is abandonware. I doubt you will get any help with this.

OK, granted, but even if I load the files onto my apps directly, I'm still having the same problem with them importing files with weird file names that show up as the titles of these e-books.