[CLI] Adding all EPUBs from given directory?

[Shohreh]

Hello,

This is my first try at adding books to Calibre through the command line… and neither works:

"C:\Program Files\Calibre2\calibredb.exe" --add .\*.epub
"C:\Program Files\Calibre2\calibredb.exe" add .\*.epub

Also, can the CLI then be used to upload those books to the Kobo currently connected, so that I never have to bother with the GUI?

Thank you.

[JSWolf]

You have to use the GUI to send books to your Kobo. And since you have to use the GUI to send books to your Kobo, you may as well use the GUI to add books.

If you don't use the GUI, you'll nver know if there are any errors in the metadatda.

[Shohreh]

Too bad. Thank you.

I might wipe up my own script to keep track of books and copy the files to the Kobo :-)

[thiago.eec]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

You have to use the GUI to send books to your Kobo. And since you have to use the GUI to send books to your Kobo, you may as well use the GUI to add books.

If you don't use the GUI, you'll nver know if there are any errors in the metadatda.

That's incorrect.

Originally Posted by Shohreh

Hello,

This is my first try at adding books to Calibre through the command line… and neither works:

"C:\Program Files\Calibre2\calibredb.exe" --add .\*.epub
"C:\Program Files\Calibre2\calibredb.exe" add .\*.epub

Also, can the CLI then be used to upload those books to the Kobo currently connected, so that I never have to bother with the GUI?

Thank you.

1) Check the help for options for using calibredb do add books from a directory (calibredb add -h). But, if it is a single directory with books in it, just run:

calibredb add "path/to/your/local/folder" "path/to/device/destination/folder"

In case you open the terminal from that directory, you can run:

calibredb add ./

2) To send books to your device, you need to use ebook-device cp. It's not documented in the Manual, but you can find help in the terminal as usual (ebook-device cp -h).

3) If you need to send books from the library, you must first export (calibredb export) them to a temporary folder, then send to your device (ebook-device cp). You can write a script to run it with a single click, if you use this often.

[JSWolf]

That (IMHO) is way too complicated. It's much easier to use the GUI.

[DNSB]

Once you have stepped through it once and created a script to perform the actions, it simply becomes a matter of launching the script.

[BetterRed]

What's the point of adding ebooks to a calibre library**, which is what the calibredb add command does, if you never use the calibre library manager - i.e. the "GUI"?

** - a folder with a metadata.db sqlite database with a calibre specific schema, a hidden .calnote subfolder, a hidden .caltrash subfolder… and a hierarchical author/book subfolder structure. The hidden folders are not empty, they contain fixed name subfolders and the one for notes contains another calibre specific sqlite database.

How does one create a calibre library, as defined above, other than via the calibre library manager (GUI) Choose library→Switch/create library action?

BR

[Shohreh]

It's getting complicated.

Can an expert summarize the CLI commands to…
1. export *.EPUB from a given directory to Calibre's DB
2. export documents from Calibre's DB to Kobo
3. list+search documents from Calibre's DB so I can find if I ever read that document
?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

What's the point of adding ebooks to a calibre library**, which is what the calibredb add command does, if you never use the calibre library manager - i.e. the "GUI"?

** - a folder with a metadata.db sqlite database with a calibre specific schema, a hidden .calnote subfolder, a hidden .caltrash subfolder… and a hierarchical author/book subfolder structure. The hidden folders are not empty, they contain fixed name subfolders and the one for notes contains another calibre specific sqlite database.

How does one create a calibre library, as defined above, other than via the calibre library manager (GUI) Choose library→Switch/create library action?

BR

I agree. It's not a good idea to just use CLI commands. or one thing, you cannot see if the metadata needs editing before the books are sent to the Reader.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Shohreh

It's getting complicated.

Can an expert summarize the CLI commands to…
1. export *.EPUB from a given directory to Calibre's DB
2. export documents from Calibre's DB to Kobo
3. list+search documents from Calibre's DB so I can find if I ever read that document
?

Using the GUI is much easier. You won't have to jump through so many hoops to do something that's easy to do with the GUI.

Wha is it you have against the GUI?

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Using the GUI is much easier. You won't have to jump through so many hoops to do something that's easy to do with the GUI.

Wha is it you have against the GUI?

Probably the same objections that many people have expressed: calibre has too many features they don't use and that makes the GUI too bloated for them. Also some folks want to keep their own folder/directory system, and that pretty much rules out calibre as a library management tool.

I agree that using the GUI for automatic tracking is much easier than fiddling with command line tools, but those who hate the calibre GUI presumably don't share this viewpoint.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

For one thing, you cannot see if the metadata needs editing before the books are sent to the Reader.

You do know that there are people out there who have absolutely no wish to bother with editing metadata, right? They load a book, read it, delete it, and that's pretty much all they want to do.

Of course, if they also want to start tracking their reading, that does make things more complicated. On one hand, they don't want to mess with library management, but on the other hand they want to know what they've read, and that means there has to be some management, like it or not...

Of course there are alternatives to calibre, like Goodreads, Storygraph or just a plain Excel sheet. All those mostly require manual management, though.