Love the new 0.8.38 Update

[pchrist7]

Hi All
Just a thought.
Instead of deleting files in watch folder, could we tell Calibre to MOVE the added files into an other folder ?

I've been doing the following, manually, for quite some time:
Files I want to add to Calibre are moved to a tmp folder
Once I've added these into Calibre, I manually move the files from the tmp folder to a "Sent to Calibre" folder.
Why ? I might mess up the original files hopelessly during conversions (done that a LOT of times), so I can always get the original from "Sent to Calibre folder" if needed.

Also I would be very carefull not to let Calibre sniff into K4PC folder and delete/move - could be tricky. I think.

Haven't tried the new feature yet, so ..

Have a nice weekend,
Per

[AndrewH]

Thank you! I love this feature!

Originally Posted by dwanthny

Then you shouldn't use a folder used by another program. Just create a unique drop folder where anything you drop in the folder will be added to calibre..

This.

[sdow1]

The perfect use for something like this seems to be (for me at least) when I use something like dotepub to create epubs from web content that I want to read later. Rather than saving to my desktop and then having to manually add to calibre, I now save to a folder on my desktop called "ebooks for calibre", and then *poof*, they're just in calibre without having to do ANY additional work. it's like magic.

I would agree that I wouldn't hook it up to something like my digital editions folder, as that contains not only ebooks that I wouldn't want deleted, but other adobe-related files (logs, etc.) that calibre shouldn't import whether or not they're deleted.

[mikaelalind]

Originally Posted by dwanthny

Then you shouldn't use a folder used by another program. Just create a unique drop folder where anything you drop in the folder will be added to calibre.

. I decided to stay away from ADE and K4PC create a new folder with two subfolders. One named backup, and the other named To add to Calibre. Works like a charm, plus I decluttered my Download folder. And I can easily backup all my e-books by copying the Backup folder to an USB.

Next up is deleting old library books from ADE. Something I haven't done in a long time..

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by dwanthny

Then you shouldn't use a folder used by another program. Just create a unique drop folder where anything you drop in the folder will be added to calibre.



This isn't normal adding of books. If you place a book in the folder for automatic adding to calibre then calibre owns the book as soon as it is added to the folder. Simple and low maintenance, drop the book in the folder and forget about it.

Just don't try to complicate things by using a folder not dedicated to the automatic adding feature.

I was just about to post these same recommendations when I read this post! As usual, good job dwanthny!

[cybmole]

Originally Posted by dwanthny

. If you place a book in the folder for automatic adding to calibre then calibre owns the book as soon as it is added to the folder. Simple and low maintenance, drop the book in the folder and forget about it.

Just don't try to complicate things by using a folder not dedicated to the automatic adding feature.

isn't that utterly pointless / no better/quicker than dropping the book directly onto main calibre window ( which is how I currently add books! )

why go via a dedicated intermediate folder at all ?

[FizzyWater]

Does this only work if you put books in the folder while Calibre is open? Or, does it search for things added to that folder at start-up?

[itimpi]

Originally Posted by cybmole

isn't that utterly pointless / no better/quicker than dropping the book directly onto main calibre window ( which is how I currently add books! )

why go via a dedicated intermediate folder at all ?

If you are sitting at your PC there may be no gain. However I can think of a number of scenarios where this might be useful to me:
- working on another machine where the folder is on a shared resource.
- having the folder in Dropbox so I can easily add books even if away from home.
However since both these scenarios mean I will have to have left Calibre running on a PC I am not sure how often they would actually apply.

I think that whether this feature is of any use to you is likely to depend on your workflow. It is obviously not a key requirement for most people or the feature would have arrived much earlier.

[kovidgoyal]

Originally Posted by FizzyWater

Does this only work if you put books in the folder while Calibre is open? Or, does it search for things added to that folder at start-up?

It searches at startup as well.

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by itimpi

However I can think of a number of scenarios where this might be useful to me:
- working on another machine where the folder is on a shared resource.
- having the folder in Dropbox so I can easily add books even if away from home.
However since both these scenarios mean I will have to have left Calibre running on a PC I am not sure how often they would actually apply.

Good examples and your scenarios don't require calibre to be on. Next time you run calibre it will look in your dropbox folder and add any books it finds. In essence the folder is an add books queue that you can use whenever you come across something you later want to add to calibre.

[FizzyWater]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

It searches at startup as well.

Thanks, Kovid. This is a very cool option. I need to read up on how it handles duplicates (someone mentioned something above about it), but after I figure that out, I'm going to have to give this a try!

[Valkrider]

This functionality doesn't seem to work if the books are in folders within the parent folder. Is this correct? Also if you add the same book in multiple formats it treats them as separate books, is this correct?

[theducks]

Originally Posted by cybmole

isn't that utterly pointless / no better/quicker than dropping the book directly onto main calibre window ( which is how I currently add books! )

why go via a dedicated intermediate folder at all ?

Not really.
Think about it
Your computer has the Calibre Library. Calibre currently only allows 1 computer to maintain the Library.

Someone else in your family has a book to add.

Previously, they had to bug you to add it so the content server could supply it to others.

NOW you can have Calibre monitor a folder, so you can set up a shared 'Book Drop' folder and anyone in the share group can make a deposit and have it appear in the Library.

[ClairePMR]

Originally Posted by Gardenman

It would be nice to be able have more than folder for Calibre to add books from.

I agree - I have at least three source files based on where different providers put their materials - Sony, Kindle, etc... This would be an awesome addition to an extremely useful new function.

Thanks again, Kovid, for an outstanding tool!

[kovidgoyal]

Originally Posted by Valkrider

This functionality doesn't seem to work if the books are in folders within the parent folder. Is this correct? Also if you add the same book in multiple formats it treats them as separate books, is this correct?

Yes and yes.