Multiple Libraries

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by alanHd

When I sent some books to my second Library to cut down on space I just deleted the formats from my main library and left the details, so I can still see everything in one library.

Interesting solution.

[speakingtohe]

Steps to add a library with tags
Create new library with the same library columns that you use.
Create a custom column called Library comma seperatedtext like tags

Change to an existing library such as fiction.

Select all books CTL+A
Right click on selected books and choose copy to library and select new library from the list
Switch to new library
Select all books CTL+A
Bulk edit metatdata
Put fiction in the library field
Hit enter

For the remaining libraries
Switch to next library
Right click on selected books and choose copy to library and select new library from the list
Switch to new library
Click twice on the library line in the tag browser so it shows red minus
Select all books CTL+A
Bulk edit metatdata
Put the next library name in the library field

Helen

[JSWolf]

I have separate libraries. One for me. One for my wife. One for my mother. One for my mother-in-law and one for eBooks I've not yet put in any other library/sorted.

I like having these different libraries instead of using Virtual libraries. And with the quick switch feature, I'm able to go to the library I want at the time.

[AnotherCat]

@speakintohe: I have around 4,500 books using 55GB; once one gets into heavily illustrated PDFs, for example, as many references and magazines are (even magazines often being well over 50MB) the overall size soon blows out.

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In my case I also have multiple libraries (for reasons I need not get into, but I can assure the Virtual Ones that they are valid for me) with everything on the same drive. I have all the Calibre libraries as sub folders of the same top folder, all indexed for Windows Explorer searches which I limit to that folder and sub-folders so the search returns books only and is instant. One library is a temporary one.

That said, a Windows Library, as suggested by BetterRed, is a better suggestion for those happy with using Windows Libraries than my single folder with libraries in subfolders under it though and allows working across multiple connected drives (including networked ones) if that is wanted.

But if using Windows 8 the Search Charm>Files allows a readily accessible and effectively instant search through everything on even large drives so the libraries can be anywhere spread across it. It also automatically groups ebooks with other documents so avoiding the mess one gets with an Explorer search of a whole drive turning up irrelevant file types having the same search term in their names. This is what I tend to use now.

[theducks]

I don't think the size of the books much affects the basic performance of the Library which is really metadata.db

For the most part, the DB will be pretty much the same (with same fields populated) for a 100K or a 25G book. What mostly varies is the amount in thecomments field.

My 5.7K book (6.35G) Library has a metadata.db of 19MB

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by AnotherCat

@speakintohe: I have around 4,500 books using 55GB; once one gets into heavily illustrated PDFs, for example, as many references and magazines are (even magazines often being well over 50MB) the overall size soon blows out.

----------------

In my case I also have multiple libraries (for reasons I need not get into, but I can assure the Virtual Ones that they are valid for me) with everything on the same drive. I have all the Calibre libraries as sub folders of the same top folder, all indexed for Windows Explorer searches which I limit to that folder and sub-folders so the search returns books only and is instant. One library is a temporary one.

That said, a Windows Library, as suggested by BetterRed, is a better suggestion for those happy with using Windows Libraries than my single folder with libraries in subfolders under it though and allows working across multiple connected drives (including networked ones) if that is wanted.

But if using Windows 8 the Search Charm>Files allows a readily accessible and effectively instant search through everything on even large drives so the libraries can be anywhere spread across it. It also automatically groups ebooks with other documents so avoiding the mess one gets with an Explorer search of a whole drive turning up irrelevant file types having the same search term in their names. This is what I tend to use now.

@AnotherCat - does Win 8 search (i.e. index) epub and other ebook contents?

In practice I do the same as yourself - multiple physical libraries within a single higher level folder (Calibre_Libraries) and I use Win7 Search on them. I use the Windows Library approach on an ad-hoc basis to get a flat earth view.

I use Virtual libraries where I previously used Saved Searches - avoids having to have the Tag (Category) Browser open.

BR

[FizzyWater]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I have separate libraries. One for me. One for my wife. One for my mother. One for my mother-in-law and one for eBooks I've not yet put in any other library/sorted.

I like having these different libraries instead of using Virtual libraries. And with the quick switch feature, I'm able to go to the library I want at the time.

Oh, my, God. I'm going to agree with Jon.

But yes, I prefer having real libraries, too. I like keeping my tags very simple (no more than 1 or 2 per book). So I wouldn't want to have to use tags to track Virtual Libraries.

And I've never bothered to learn to use custom columns. I've been very happy with the way Calibre works "out of the box" so far.

[AnotherCat]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

@AnotherCat - does Win 8 search (i.e. index) epub and other ebook contents?..

BR

Yes, from the desktop it searches contents just to the extent Win 7 does as far as I have noticed, so does not do searches in .epub.

For PDF I seem to recall that the Adobe plugin was required, but that requirement may have disappeared with Adobe X or XI and I cannot recall if I ever loaded the plugin or not (I think I did). But whatever, having noticed your reference to XChange viewer in another thread I have changed to that (and like it too ) and uninstalled Adobe, for reasons I have not investigated Win 8 search still searches in .pdfs. All the preceding assuming the File Contents has been checked in Search Tools as I think by default it is off.

While I have not explored the capabilities of the Win 8 Search Charm (which uses the full screen Modern user interface but is directly accessible from the desktop) much it also does the contents the same, but as far as I can see (and as I say I have not explored it much though, so stand to be corrected) it only does whole disc searches, not with choice of search location as Explorer does. Nonetheless the search is essentially instant, easy to initiate and it does automatically group files of "document" type (.doc, .txt, .epub, .pdf, etc) so one can just look at them without having to wade through other types as well.

[BetterRed]

@anothercat - PDF xChange installs a pdf IFilter, if you want to see what IFilters you have installed you can use this http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/search_filter_view.html

Thanks BR

[Azkahuna]

Thanks Speaktohe for the mini tutorial, but as I said I started with one large library before it became too cumbersome to work with, so I know how to move books back and forth. Anothercat and jswolf help make the point of my original question which was whether there was a way to create a link between the libraries so I could find a specific book or set of books regardless of what library it was in, or at least be able to open more than one library at the same time. I already use custom columns within a library and virtual libraries. AlanHd had an interesting suggestion about creating 'empty' book entries in one library for all the books in the other libraries, then creating a column to tag what library the book is in. That would give me a quasi- index of all my books without significantly increasing the size of the library, but a link to that book would still be optimal. Tagging has a way of getting out of control, especially with the tags often already supplied when you download a book. My purpose was to try to simplify my life, not make it more labor intensive by having to sort through a muriad of tags that are not relevant to me, then having to type in my own for each publication, especially with scientific publication where I already have columns for Topics which include issue and page number, as well as article titles, and authors.
Also, I don't think theducks realizes just how big 60 gigabits really is and how a single folder that large can impact performance, even when divided into sub-folders. I am exploring using windows 7 search, which I can narrow to the top library folder on each drive (all the libraries are in corresponding sub folders).
Calibre is an excellent program, for what it can do. My questions were based on trying to make best use of the program for my purposes, and determining what the program can't or doesn't do. I didn't know if there was a feature I hadn't known about, or a solution already built into the program. I was stumped when I could only work with one open library at a time, and no way to access information in other libraries simultaneously. Now that I know the limitations I can make my own workarounds. My thanks to the great responses and suggestions, I really appreciate it.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Azkahuna

Also, I don't think theducks realizes just how big 60 gigabits really is .

8.8G (2.2G @ box. 4 shown) with controller (front)
I used to push big iron around on the computer room floor
BTW each 2G box was over 1000lbs

[PeterT]

Originally Posted by theducks

8.8G (2.2G @ box. 4 shown) with controller (front)
I used to push big iron around on the computer room floor
BTW each 2G box was over 1000lbs

The dear old 3380's... Quite a change from the 3330's, 50's and of course the 2314's. I still loved the 3330's; by far the easiest way to have a recovery O/S for when you screw up! I remember a typo in the JES2 startup that left the O/S unstartable and I was using 3380's. Had to restore a starter system to a spare disk and use it to edit the production system..

[AnotherCat]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

@anothercat - PDF xChange installs a pdf IFilter, if you want to see what IFilters you have installed you can use this http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/search_filter_view.html

Thanks BR

Thanks Citizen.

Correcting my mention of Adobe needing the filter to be manually added, in case I misled anyone; after having a bit of time to get over memory lapses I think it was that Adobe X and XI installed the iFilter themselves, earlier versions did not, but I have not hunted down Adobe's advice on that to check.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by AnotherCat

Thanks Citizen.

Correcting my mention of Adobe needing the filter to be manually added, in case I misled anyone; after having a bit of time to get over memory lapses I think it was that Adobe X and XI installed the iFilter themselves, earlier versions did not, but I have not hunted down Adobe's advice on that to check.

You can still download the the Adobe PDF IFilter as a discrete item, it's free on workstations, also more than one IFilter can index the same file type.

BR

[Azkahuna]

Originally Posted by theducks

8.8G (2.2G @ box. 4 shown) with controller (front)
I used to push big iron around on the computer room floor
BTW each 2G box was over 1000lbs

My apologies, didn't realize I was facing such a heavyweight, And you're right, if the metadat for a file were able to be stored independently from the file itself, and still link to it, that would also help solve my Calibre dilemma, but the program doesn't allow for that either.