any way to prevent calibre from making a copy of the book when added to its library?

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by dwanthny

At some point in the future indexing may be an option in calibre but currently there isn't any great customer demand for this feature.

Actually, I'm pretty sure there is. Just look at how many threads there are in this forum regarding that particular topic. I'm guessing that's also part of the reason why the "Save to Disk" feature was added. However, for simplicity's sake, Kovid has mentioned that he has no plans to support it for Calibre's internal structure.

It's not like anyone's forced to use Calibre to manage their libraries anyway. A lot of the functions such as downloading news, metadata and conversion, the command line versions work just as well. You really only need the GUI and library management for "Send to Device" and "Content Server".

[theducks]

Originally Posted by ilovejedd

Actually, I'm pretty sure there is. Just look at how many threads there are in this forum regarding that particular topic. I'm guessing that's also part of the reason why the "Save to Disk" feature was added. However, for simplicity's sake, Kovid has mentioned that he has no plans to support it for Calibre's internal structure.

It's not like anyone's forced to use Calibre to manage their libraries anyway. A lot of the functions such as downloading news, metadata and conversion, the command line versions work just as well. You really only need the GUI and library management for "Send to Device" and "Content Server".

Save to Disk exists for all those devices that Calibre can't deal with for whatever reason, with Send to Device , but appear as a disk drive to the OS.

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by theducks

Save to Disk exists for all those devices that Calibre can't deal with for whatever reason, with Send to Device , but appear as a disk drive to the OS.

It is but it's not the only reason. I'm pretty sure there's a thread here somewhere before the Save to Disk feature was implemented where Kovid inquired whether allowing books to be exported into the user's preferred file/folder structure would be a reasonable work around to indexing. I do believe that majority answered yes.

[speakingtohe]

Bizarrely enough, I prefer to have all my books in one location instead of in various user chosen locations. I can find them all easily and backup them all easily with or without calibre. I can also see why someone chooses to keep another copy elsewhere.
Calibre's method of file storage is actually pretty space efficient and you can find anything easily.

While it is possible that there are those that know better, I am pretty sure they are out there developing and marketing their own amazing software and not wasting time trying to
make someone else do it their way.

Helen

[VicLavigne]

My initial reaction to calibre was that I didn't like the fact that it copied all my added books to its own folder. It really bothered me that it was duplicating ebooks, although looking back I'm really not sure why. At the time I was in the middle of editing a few books, and so I guess part of the reason was that I wanted a way to separate ebooks that were being edited from ebooks that were fine.

So now I've been using it for about 2 years, and I find that the organization built-in to calibre actually makes things easier for me. I don't have to worry about ebooks scattered in different folders - once added to calibre, I can delete the original version. Also, I can find specific books much faster with a variety of ways to search via calibre. And I have a tag so I can find books that are due for editing.

Vic

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by VicLavigne

My initial reaction to calibre was that I didn't like the fact that it copied all my added books to its own folder. It really bothered me that it was duplicating ebooks, although looking back I'm really not sure why. At the time I was in the middle of editing a few books, and so I guess part of the reason was that I wanted a way to separate ebooks that were being edited from ebooks that were fine.

So now I've been using it for about 2 years, and I find that the organization built-in to calibre actually makes things easier for me. I don't have to worry about ebooks scattered in different folders - once added to calibre, I can delete the original version. Also, I can find specific books much faster with a variety of ways to search via calibre. And I have a tag so I can find books that are due for editing.

Vic

I still have two locations where I keep my books. The Calibre library and a source library. As I can't add those to Calibre without Calibre (sorry for the language) **** them up... The compiled books are all in Calibre. I also have a custom column to specify if a book is still in its raw form (as I always will reformat).

Originally Posted by GoldThreader

like the title says is it possible to prevent it from making a copy and just add the books?

Yes. But it'll require some manual work.

1) Create a custom column: "location". A simple text field will do (it would be nice if there was a kind of path column type, but text will do for now).
2) Add your book to Calibre. This will create the entry into the database.
3) Edit the metadata for the book
4) Remove "physical" book and paste the location where the "physical" book is residing into the custom metadata column.

Naturally, you won't be able to copy from Calibre to your device as Calibre won't know where to find the book...

[toddos]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

Yes. But it'll require some manual work.

1) Create a custom column: "location". A simple text field will do (it would be nice if there was a kind of path column type, but text will do for now).
2) Add your book to Calibre. This will create the entry into the database.
3) Edit the metadata for the book
4) Remove "physical" book and paste the location where the "physical" book is residing into the custom metadata column.

Naturally, you won't be able to copy from Calibre to your device as Calibre won't know where to find the book...

What's the point of that? You're basically adding an empty book with a pointer to your own location. Because it's an empty book, you can't do anything with it in calibre -- you can't convert it, open it to read, sync it to a device, etc. You may as well just manually write your books down in Excel or something, for all the benefit this gives you.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by toddos

What's the point of that? You're basically adding an empty book with a pointer to your own location. Because it's an empty book, you can't do anything with it in calibre -- you can't convert it, open it to read, sync it to a device, etc. You may as well just manually write your books down in Excel or something, for all the benefit this gives you.

What's the point in not letting Calibre handle the location of the books? I never said it was the best way to do things, I only said it was possible (as that was the original question, wasn't it?)

But, I don't really agree with your statement that writing it down in Excel would achieve the same thing. Once I have my lounge ready, I'll be adding all my paper books to Calibre as well. I already have my audible books in there too. It can still be a handy tool to keep track of your books. Why else is there an option for entering empty books?

[toddos]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

What's the point in not letting Calibre handle the location of the books? I never said it was the best way to do things, I only said it was possible (as that was the original question, wasn't it?)

But, I don't really agree with your statement that writing it down in Excel would achieve the same thing. Once I have my lounge ready, I'll be adding all my paper books to Calibre as well. I already have my audible books in there too. It can still be a handy tool to keep track of your books. Why else is there an option for entering empty books?

I agree that there's no point in not letting calibre handle books. I think it's the Right Way to Do Things (tm) and hacking around it is silly. But the "solution" provides only a catalog interface without any of the actual functionality of calibre like syncing or conversion, so just ... why? People who have historically asked for calibre to stop doing this have done so because they have their own file system-based cataloging structure that they don't want calibre to mess up. So what's the point in using calibre to catalog a set of data that you* already technically have cataloged?

* That is the collective "you", not you in particular

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by toddos

I agree that there's no point in not letting calibre handle books. I think it's the Right Way to Do Things (tm) and hacking around it is silly. But the "solution" provides only a catalog interface without any of the actual functionality of calibre like syncing or conversion, so just ... why? People who have historically asked for calibre to stop doing this have done so because they have their own file system-based cataloging structure that they don't want calibre to mess up. So what's the point in using calibre to catalog a set of data that you* already technically have cataloged?

* That is the collective "you", not you in particular

I know I didn't use Calibre at all (except for conversion) when I simply couldn't use that feature of Calibre (it was a hindrance for me), so don't ask me

But, on the other hand, writing out a "hacking" method, does show why Calibre does as Calibre does.

[SiriusEx]

Hi guys,

1st post, although I've read various threads while I was considering which reader to get and while I was setting up—thanks for all the help this forum has given .

Just thought I can give a use case for an ebook manager to not copy books, and perhaps give Kovid more incentive to consider implementing the feature:

I'm in the middle of my Masters degree and got an ebook reader to manage all the various resources, datasheets, reports, etc that I read. I also have a few novels, and non-Masters-related material on it for reading in my free time.

At the beginning of my Masters, I got a Dropbox account to do automatically back up all the stuff related to my research, and Dropbox insists on using its own folder structure. No biggie, since I only just started, so I copied everything over. However, now that I need to transfer all those things to the reader, I don't really feel like making and maintaining a second copy.

In my Dropbox folder are things that the reader can't handle properly: HTML archives, Word/Excel/Powerpoint documents, proprietary data files, video files, etc. Many PDFs and ePub files are also derived from those proprietary documents, and I'd really prefer to keep those together rather than make a new folder full of assorted documents purely so I can transfer them to the reader. So establishing the Calibre Library in the Dropbox isn't a solution either. Having Calibre manage all my books would be nice, yes, but when I already have an established folder structure, I'd rather keep that intact.

The more I read up on it, the more I realise I only want a way to easily sync documents and make collections on my PRS-T1, instead of a full-blown manager. Unfortunately that kind of software doesn't seem to exist, and Calibre is the closest thing I can find.

The comparison with iTunes is quite apt, actually. In the early days, iTunes couldn't handle a lot of the files that came with MP3 albums (eg cover scans, insert notes, lossless files, interactive what-nots), and even now, iTunes is being asked to handle many other files (iBooks, movie files, apps, photos, contacts, etc). I think Apple provided for file linking simply because they realise not everyone would use iTunes in the same way, and wanted it to be flexible.

Sorry for the long post, but a complex issue requires a detailed explanation

[toddos]

Originally Posted by SiriusEx

Hi guys,

1st post, although I've read various threads while I was considering which reader to get and while I was setting up—thanks for all the help this forum has given .

Welcome, though it's generally frowned on making posts to old threads that have otherwise died.

At the beginning of my Masters, I got a Dropbox account to do automatically back up all the stuff related to my research, and Dropbox insists on using its own folder structure. No biggie, since I only just started, so I copied everything over. However, now that I need to transfer all those things to the reader, I don't really feel like making and maintaining a second copy.

In my Dropbox folder are things that the reader can't handle properly: HTML archives, Word/Excel/Powerpoint documents, proprietary data files, video files, etc. Many PDFs and ePub files are also derived from those proprietary documents, and I'd really prefer to keep those together rather than make a new folder full of assorted documents purely so I can transfer them to the reader. So establishing the Calibre Library in the Dropbox isn't a solution either. Having Calibre manage all my books would be nice, yes, but when I already have an established folder structure, I'd rather keep that intact.

This I don't understand. Dropbox doesn't enforce an internal folder structure. You just tell it, "Sync everything in this folder to the cloud," and it does it. Many folks have used Calibre by putting their library in their dropbox sync folder. Just create a folder underneath the root and let Dropbox and Calibre do their respective things. Once you've imported a file into Calibre, you can delete the original source since Calibre takes care of managing the file for you. For things not managed by Calibre, put them in other folders under the dropbox root.

The more I read up on it, the more I realise I only want a way to easily sync documents and make collections on my PRS-T1, instead of a full-blown manager. Unfortunately that kind of software doesn't seem to exist, and Calibre is the closest thing I can find.

It sounds like you want Sony's Reader software for PC or Mac (no Linux, but you didn't say you use Linux so I'm assuming you don't). It will sync documents to your T1 and should have collection functionality as well. Basically everything you need for basic syncing and management of your reader. Why try to make Calibre fit a scenario that it wasn't designed for, when there's already perfectly good software to do what you want already?

[speakingtohe]

I am assuming if you are using dropbox for backup you have an existing calibre library on your PC?

If you don't than how are you keeping your books organized? I understand that your system works for you as you have done itthis way for a reason.

Calibre has to keep files in a very consistent manner because of the many many functions it performs. The developer settled on one which works for calibre and his methods.

It does not suit all users but 90% or more are happy with it once they get over the initial horror that it is not how they might do it given a choice. Possibly several of these methods might be slightly better, possibly not.

My advice is to maintain your own structure but maintain a calibre library on your computer as well for a while. Use it for a month or so or until you find a better option.

Calibre library is really zero user maintenance for the file structure other than importing and organizing your books and documents. And if you decide not to use it pretty easy to delete.

Life is too short to worry about disk space and cloud space is getting cheaper too

Helen

[SiriusEx]

Originally Posted by toddos

Welcome, though it's generally frowned on making posts to old threads that have otherwise died.

Sorry! I couldn't find any specific guidelines on old topics, so I assumed 3 months was ok. Please let me know what the forum's guideline is on this!

Originally Posted by toddos

This I don't understand. Dropbox doesn't enforce an internal folder structure. ... For things not managed by Calibre, put them in other folders under the dropbox root.

It sounds like you want Sony's Reader software ... It will sync documents to your T1 and should have collection functionality as well. ... Why try to make Calibre fit a scenario that it wasn't designed for, when there's already perfectly good software to do what you want already?

My bad; I meant to say that Dropbox wanted to use it's own folder, which is different from the folder I had just started to use to keep my Masters material. The folder structure was put in by myself—which I'd like to keep intact.

Sony's Reader software has the same problem as Calibre: It refuses to directly manipulate the files on the reader, but insists on importing everything onto the computer, then managing it, then reflecting the changes back on the reader. The "import everything" bit is what I want to avoid, because having a second copy of literally hundreds of PDFs (some in the 20-30 MB range) is not ideal, especially when I already have a folder structure that I've sorted and would need to keep up-to-date anyway.

Yes, Calibre may not be designed for what I'm doing, but I was just hoping that, being more open than Sony's software will ever be, I could make it work...

I'm on a Mac, for what it's worth, but the laptop that had been lent to me for the Masters (i.e., my main work machine, but will have to be given up after, so I don't want to pair my reader with that) runs Windows. Dropbox is sync'd across both.

Originally Posted by speakingtohe

If you don't than how are you keeping your books organized? I understand that your system works for you as you have done itthis way for a reason.
...
My advice is to maintain your own structure but maintain a calibre library on your computer as well for a while. Use it for a month or so or until you find a better option.
...
Life is too short to worry about disk space and cloud space is getting cheaper too

Well I haven't really started using Calibre for this very reason. To have to sort out hundreds of documents in Calibre is no small task, so I don't want to go through with it unless there's something to be gained in ease of management after—moreso since my Masters will end in July, after which I'll be removing everything related to it off the reader (and also out of Calibre/Sony's Reader). Unfortunately maintaining two folder/library structures is not worth it...

I guess I should be looking for software that will directly manipulate the reader's collections, or, failing that, do everything manually on the reader . But thanks for the replies!