Book opens after remove bookmarks unexpectedly

[kovidgoyal]

iterator.pickle is the only config file that contains local paths, feel free to sync it, a path that does not match anything will not harm anything.

[CeeDub]

Okay, I just transferred the %APPDATA%\calibre folder to another machine and get the following error when I start Calibre, because this machine does not have an E: drive:

calibre, version 2.46.0
ERROR: Failed to create library: Failed to create calibre library at: u'e:\\Users\\CeeDub\\Documents\\eBooks\\CalibreLib raries\\Main'.
You will be asked to choose a new library location.

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "site-packages\calibre\gui2\main.py", line 143, in get_library_path
File "os.py", line 150, in makedirs
File "os.py", line 150, in makedirs
File "os.py", line 150, in makedirs
File "os.py", line 150, in makedirs
File "os.py", line 150, in makedirs
File "os.py", line 150, in makedirs
File "os.py", line 157, in makedirs
WindowsError: [Error 21] The device is not ready: u'e:\\'

Apparently, there are other config files that contain local paths.

I'm pretty sure there used to be a time when all relevant (to me) settings were stored either in the metadata_db_prefs_backup.json or in the metadata.db, because I only synced the library folder itself and I used to get search history, recently viewed books, bookmarks, and everything else I can think of all synchronized with no effort.

The only thing that's really important to me (besides the library itself, obviously) are the bookmarks, though.

ETA: On the bright side, after I manually specify the correct library path, the bookmarks are synced now.

[kovidgoyal]

Well, obviously things that refer to specific locations on your computer have to be stored as paths. The path to the currently opened library being one of them.

You can work around that by creating a shortcut to launch calibre that uses the --with-library option, then it wont used the stored path.

And note that I recommended syncing iterator.pickle not the entire config directory. Although, syncing the entire config directory is perfectly possible, I do it myself.

[CeeDub]

Okay, when I sync just the iterator.pickle, the bookmarks are synced perfectly between my computers, thank you very much for your help.

If you allow my curiosity, I'd like to understand why, though. As far as I can tell, the iterator.pickle has several entries for each book, one for every machine it's been opened on, each with its own path and different bookmarks, both current_page and possibly others, if I create a static bookmark. How does Calibre know to open the book on the correct page when the entry that corresponds to the machine I'm on has an outdated bookmark?