Step-by-step manual on How to convert

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by banjomike

What happens that you don't expect?

I can see why he didn't know where the converted book was located. The Calibre documentation avoids telling users much about the location of the library. It mostly assumes you own an e-reader and simply send your converted book to the e-reader from the Calibre GUI interface. The whole concept that Calibre actually holds your books in its own database is a bit foreign to many first-time users.

The delete message is an example. At first, it's scary. It says it will permanently delete a book from your computer. That's true if you are using Calibre the way it was designed, but many users haven't even realized that Calibre made a copy of their book when they first encounter that message. They think the their source book will get deleted, not realizing that their source book isn't part of Calibre.

[banjomike]

Originally Posted by Starson17

I started using Calibre to convert a few odd formats, but the more I used it, the more I realized that it would solve my access problems. I can see why its design would be frustrating if you don't actually use it to store your books.

I run Calibre on an old PC which is basically used only for media storage, illegal downloads er, I mean purchasing media, converting etc. It is slow. I dread to think how long it would take to do anything useful with 60GB of books & comics. Geez.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by citac

Hee, it's not that I'm actually converted, just that circumstances have conspired to thrust me into working at a library. I've been learning a lot about metadata and classification etc. and can now see the reasoning behind some of the decisions made in writing this program.

That doesn't mean I'm 100% on board. I still hate the duplication. Saying "buy more hard disk space" is all nice and good, but you can't presume that is as easy and as cheap in all parts of the world; I had to save for months on end to buy my computer, and still had to pay for it in installments because my expenses are just too big. Also, I'm used to my folder structure, and it's never easy changing year long habits.

Why do you need more hard disk?
Just Archive (I hate throwing things away ) the original OFFLINE after it has been in-processed by Calibre.

Calibre is your retrieval clerk (among other things) when it comes time to retrieve (does someone have a better word? since Calibre does not remove the file unless instructed) ) that delivers the requested document from within the bowels of the "Library", to the check-out window.
Shelving books in Sections and Author order thinking should be left behind at the public library, where they existed to allow Humans to quickly locate and file/retrieve a physical book.

Only the interface limitations imposed by portable e-readers require that the file name contain human relevant information, otherwise we could simply use file numbers like Project Gutenberg does.
/files/24135/ which relates to a title: The Measure of a Man by Randall Garrett
Did I need the file number to get the document? No. The computer does this for me. All I need to do is select a formant with a click and ther file is delivered from the bowels of the server room, directly to my requesting location.
Do I know what drive the file is on? No.
Do I even know where the server is? No.

The UI does it all.

Sorry for the rant., we now return to our regularly scheduled book.

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by citac

Yep, when I first tried it out, that's what I expected to use it for.

So did I. You're in a very full boat of other users

[itimpi]

Most calibre files can be anywhere and facilities are provided to specify non-standard locations. I have run off both a NAS server and a a USB stick as appropriate.

I use a batch file to allow me to explictly specify the locations for:
- Calibre binaries
- ebook files
- metadata database
- config information
although most users can probably simply use default values.

If you run off a network drive (NAS) for the actual ebook files then performance is considerably improved if you can still keep the metadata database locally.

[citac]

Originally Posted by Starson17

Perhaps I'm missing something, but why do you have to duplicate books?

If I want to read a book on the computer that Calibre runs on, I hit "View" and read it. If I want to read it on something else, I send it to that device or other computer and give it whatever name I want. I don't consider a copy on another device as being a duplicate. Do you? What else is there, other than backups?

It's those backups on my computer that drive me crazy. I have a folder for ebooks. When I import them into calibre, it backs them up - duplicates them - in it's own folder. Right now, since I've got Calibre running from a usb disk, that's not that important. Just knowing there would be an additional copy on my computer bothers me for some reason. I've got a backup on DVDs according to fiction, nonfiction etc., and I'm thinking why should there be another one, especially if it's going to make folders and subfolders for I don't know how many levels? I remember people mentioning problems this causes on Windows machines, so I don't know, maybe there's a fundamental difference in how a Linux and Windows users think and use their computers.

I think I've begun rambling. Does any of this make any sense to you?

[banjomike]

Originally Posted by theducks

Shelving books in Sections and Author order thinking should be left behind at the public library, where they existed to allow Humans to quickly locate and file/retrieve a physical book.

I sort my paper books, 2000+, partly in size order.

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by itimpi

I have over time transferred the majority of my library into Calibre and then removed the originals so I avoid duplication. Actually if anything I have reduced my reqirements as the transfer into Calibre has encouraged me to any duplicates thqat were in my original library.

This describes my situation exactly. I have about 30% less space used than before. I found that I had two (and a half) very large overlapping groups of books (same formats). Those duplicates are now gone. I also had every single multiple author book stored as a duplicate for each individual author. Those duplicates are now gone. I also found a very large group of overlapping formats (same book different formats). Most of them were the result of a few massive automatic format conversion attempts I made a long time ago. I found all the books with that format created on the day I made those formats and deleted them. Calibre does a much better job of conversion, without all the garbage in the headers.

For a while I tried to keep my old folder system, but I wasn't using it, so I just compressed it up, burned it to a DVD and stored it away as a backup. I doubt I'll ever look at it again.

[citac]

Originally Posted by banjomike

What happens that you don't expect?

Well, I'm trying to convert three books right now (630 kb), but it's going slowly so I don't know if you have the patience to wait. I'll try to take note of what happens. What I remember from last night is that I started convert, made sure the input was txt, output epub, left the defaults the way they were and clicked OK. Once that was done, I clicked the Jobs button, opened the target folder, found several log reports and an epub version which was named something like calibre_14_38_jsxnc.epub. Is that supposed to happen?

...Um. OK. This time it converted the three books just fine. I'm... baffled. Why now and not last night?? I'll try sending them to disk to see what happens.

Also, what exactly is the difference with all these ways of sending to disk? There are four; Save to Disk, Save to disk in a single directory, Save only EPUB format to disk, and Save single format to disk, with a long list of formats.

Last edit before I have to go: the conversion is now done, and the result is different from what happened last night. This time I got the epub file together with .opf files (which are...??), but last night there were only .opf files. I thought, OK, what am I now supposed to do with these??

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by citac

I've started Calibre portable, but it's extremely slow. I'm beginning to think I should install the program on my computer and test it there.

I'd recommend that. I have it installed on 3 machines. Only one is an actual library, the others are just used for testing or for my wife to do format conversion for some books she sells before they are put into the main library.

You can put all or any part of Calibre onto a USB stick, but I wouldn't bother unless you really need to.

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by citac

It's those backups on my computer that drive me crazy. I have a folder for ebooks. When I import them into calibre, it backs them up - duplicates them - in it's own folder.

It's all in your point of view. You currently have the same point of view I had when I started, and that many others do. You think of your books as being the book you got before you put it into Calibre. You think of the book in Calibre's database as a copy or a "backup".

I don't think of it that way any more. My "book" is what's in Calibre's database. The backup is what I had before I gave it to Calibre. I can delete that backup, or not, but once it's in Calibre, I never need to refer to the original book again.

I think I've begun rambling. Does any of this make any sense to you?

Oh yes! You're going through the same process I went through. I can clearly remember first being confused about the "Library". I thought it wanted to know where I kept my source books.

Then I was confused about the "Delete" command. I thought Calibre was going to delete my source books. That's what it said it was going to do - delete it from my computer. Then I was pissed off at the directory structure. It was stupid to store books sorted by author first name. Plus, it was annoying to have all those duplicates it kept making ........

Oh yes, your comments make sense to me. Eventually, you may switch to the viewpoint that I've described - where you think of your books as safely in Calibre's database and available whenever and wherever you want them, with whatever name or folder structure you want them in .... or maybe not.

[citac]

Originally Posted by Starson17

I can see why he didn't know where the converted book was located. The Calibre documentation avoids telling users much about the location of the library. It mostly assumes you own an e-reader and simply send your converted book to the e-reader from the Calibre GUI interface. The whole concept that Calibre actually holds your books in its own database is a bit foreign to many first-time users.

The delete message is an example. At first, it's scary. It says it will permanently delete a book from your computer. That's true if you are using Calibre the way it was designed, but many users haven't even realized that Calibre made a copy of their book when they first encounter that message. They think the their source book will get deleted, not realizing that their source book isn't part of Calibre.

I think this is a mistake. It should be made clear, since that might be why so many people are confused and frustrated. It's never a good thing to assume anything. I don't have an ereader right now, but I hope to change that. I read my books on my computer for the time being. It doesn't seem that Calibre is really meant for those kinds of situations, or am I wrong?

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by citac

I think this is a mistake. It should be made clear, since that might be why so many people are confused and frustrated. It's never a good thing to assume anything. I don't have an ereader right now, but I hope to change that. I read my books on my computer for the time being. It doesn't seem that Calibre is really meant for those kinds of situations, or am I wrong?

I don't have an ereader, and will probably not get one. Calibre is perfect for the needs of just about any person who reads e-books. It has many options that some won't use, but whatever they need, it will have. I don't think there are really that many people who are confused or frustrated, just beginners. It's like that for any software, but particularly one as sophisticated as Calibre that has a design philosophy that's a bit different from what the user is used to.

[citac]

Originally Posted by Starson17

It's all in your point of view. You currently have the same point of view I had when I started, and that many others do. You think of your books as being the book you got before you put it into Calibre. You think of the book in Calibre's database as a copy or a "backup".

Yes, I suppose I do.

Oh yes! You're going through the same process I went through. I can clear4ly remember first being confused about the "Library". I thought it wanted to know where I kept my source books.

Oh good, so I'm not going crazy.

Oh yes, your comments make sense to me. Eventually, you may switch to the viewpoint that I've described - where you think of your books as safely in Calibre's database and available whenever and wherever you want them, with whatever name or folder structure you want them in .... or maybe not.

Who knows - anything's possible. Though one book, one folder still seems wasteful to me. I thought that was the one thing that couldn't be changed; I didn't know I could change it into a folder structure I want. What exactly does that mean?

Never mind, you don't have to answer now, I have to start grading or I'll have another sleepless night on my hands. I'll come back later and check the comments.

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by citac

Also, what exactly is the difference with all these ways of sending to disk? There are four; Save to Disk, Save to disk in a single directory, Save only EPUB format to disk, and Save single format to disk, with a long list of formats.

They are useful, but sometimes confusing. Kovid works very very hard to make the interface simple ..... but no simpler than is needed to provide all the power sophisticated users need/want.

The Save to Disk saves all your formats and the metadata (in an .opf file) and the .jpg cover image. It saves the books in folders named the way you specify with file names created the way you specify. All that "specifying" is done on the Preferences|Add/Save page.

Save to Single Directory puts all the books in a single directory. Save only EPUB, saves out only the EPUB format. Save single format will save out only the format you want. I highlight a dozen books in a series and save out the .rtf formats only for one reader.

It's worth emphasizing that it's really no harder to hit Save to Disk than it is to go searching to find the file in a folder in Calibre's Library. Plus, it saves the file out with the name and folder name you want. I have a small PDA that I often read on. It's hard to read the end of long filenames. I like the series number first in the filename, and I want the book in a folder named for the series and author. I would never store my source book that way, but I like it that way on the PDA - so that's my default format for Save to Disk. You can use any field as any part of your filename or folder name for what comes out of Calibre. It really is very very flexible.