folder and file organization on computer

ChipAHoy · 11-07-2016, 10:17 AM

I am on a Macbook. I went crazy with ebooks and now have about 50. Using apps like Calibre, Kindle for Mac, Kobo reader, etc. I have ebook files all over the place. Does anyone have their ebook organization on their computer set-up in a consistent and well-structured manner? I would like to try to organize all of mine and get ride of the many duplicate and unnecessary files.

Dr. Drib · 11-07-2016, 10:21 AM

calibre is your friend.

You may wish to go there. The weather is pleasant and the visit is most enjoyable.

Here you go:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=166

JSWolf · 11-07-2016, 10:22 AM

Calibre is what I use to organize.

Apache · 11-07-2016, 11:13 AM

Same. I even manually organize my music the same way Calibre organizes my books.
Apache

theducks · 11-07-2016, 11:21 AM

Just understand that you are passing all the WORK to Calibre and l et it worry where-how it files things (your original folders are backups and can be archived once Calibre copies the books.

Think Parts counter.

You place your order at the GUI desk, and Calibre delivers. No need to know where it stored the book

PeterT · 11-07-2016, 01:08 PM

Also remember to leave the contents of the folders where calibre has made the library alone; resist the temptation to muddle with what you see there.

barryem · 11-07-2016, 07:46 PM

Personally I've never liked using file managers. I have a folder on my hard drive called ebooks and within that I have first a folder called __Pending (the __ is so it will sort first) and following that I have a folder for each author, lastname, firstname.

In each author's folder I put all his books. If a book has 2 real authors I put it in each of their folders, although I don't have many books with two authors. I read novels amost exclusively.

In the __Pending folder I have any books that have to be checked and, if need be, fixed. Those are also in folders by author since I'll never catch up with that.

In addition I keep an ebook folder in Dropbox and also in OneDrive in which I put books I might want to read in the coming year. Actually that's where I usually select my next book but not always.

The problem with my system is too much redundancy. If I update a book I have to remember to update it in all those places. That's okay. I like the safety of that. I also back up the folder on my hard drive onto a thumb drive and I keep the last 4 backups. Lots and lots of redundancy. I'm only 76 years old so I have to work at making sure I have books for the coming century.

I do realize most people like to use some sort of manager. To me this is much simpler. It's not perfect but managers tend to be far less perfect. I don't care about tags and such or descriptions of the books. I remember most of them and I go through them from time to time reminding myself of the ones I've forgotten.

Barry

Katsunami · 11-07-2016, 08:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChipAHoy

I am on a Macbook. I went crazy with ebooks and now have about 50. Using apps like Calibre, Kindle for Mac, Kobo reader, etc. I have ebook files all over the place. Does anyone have their ebook organization on their computer set-up in a consistent and well-structured manner? I would like to try to organize all of mine and get ride of the many duplicate and unnecessary files.

You went crazy and now have 50 e-books?

I almost laughed aloud when I read that. 50 e-books is nothing. There are people around here who buy that many in one go if Kobo as has a big multiple-use coupon. (

)

Just install Calibre, find Apprentice Alf's tools and install them too, then download your books using the Kindle/Kobo PC apps, and import everything into calibre. If you installed Alf's tools right, importing the books into calibre will remove the DRM.

Now tag them in calibre, and use the polish function to put all the tags into the books.

Remove the books from the Kindle/Kobo apps, and remove them from the respective folders on the hard drive. (DON'T touch the calibre library folder. Ever. The only thing you do with that, regularly, is make a backup to an external drive.)

Done.

With 50 books, you should be done in about two hours

theducks · 11-07-2016, 09:28 PM

50?

That is one years worth of purchases

PeterT · 11-07-2016, 10:33 PM

What happened to treating members with respect? Sure it's a small collection, but so what... You all started some where.

AnemicOak · 11-07-2016, 10:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChipAHoy

I am on a Macbook. I went crazy with ebooks and now have about 50. Using apps like Calibre, Kindle for Mac, Kobo reader, etc. I have ebook files all over the place. Does anyone have their ebook organization on their computer set-up in a consistent and well-structured manner? I would like to try to organize all of mine and get ride of the many duplicate and unnecessary files.

When I started out I had an eBooks folder on my computer with 26 "letter" folders insider that and then author folders Last Name, First Name inside those. It worked pretty well for quite a while, but eventually I found dumping everything in Calibre and using that as my book repository worked better for me. Being able to look not just by author, but by title, series and any tags I've chosen to set (all of my tags are genres) and have an easy read y/n column plus an approximate word count all together makes my library work well for me using Calibre. Having conversion and editing tools right there in the same software package is another bonus.

You're at a good place to start a Calibre library and lay down some ground rules for yourself on how you want to do things before your library grows larger and it takes you days instead of a few hours to get tags and series info in place (if you want them that is).

william z · 11-07-2016, 11:45 PM

I simply have a folder called EBOOKS and sub-folders in it either by genre or the name of the author if I have several books by the same author.

Terisa de morgan · 11-08-2016, 12:50 AM

I use calibre and a folder structure like this:

Initial of the author
Author
Series if exists

And an Access database to add information (as I began with it prior to calibre). Now I add a book to calibre, and with catalogs and external tools I maintain the other two sources.

Redundant, but it is my way and it helps in some occasions for finding information in a fast way.

pwalker8 · 11-08-2016, 04:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Katsunami

You went crazy and now have 50 e-books?

I almost laughed aloud when I read that. 50 e-books is nothing. There are people around here who buy that many in one go if Kobo as has a big multiple-use coupon. (

)
...

Be nice now. 50 books is right at that point where you start needing a good way to organize your collection.

Most here use Calibre. Leaving aside the laugh part, I agree with what he said. Get Calibre and the DRM tools so you can still read the books when you switch reading devices. Depending on how diligent the publisher was with the meta data, you might need to clean it up a bit. Depending on the type of ebooks you read, it could be important (series information and category information) or it might not be. Some simply toss their books into Calibre and perhaps normalize the title and author info, others go to great lengths to make sure everything is just so, including editing the ebooks to fix typos and get a common look. It all depends on your personality.

I

John F · 11-08-2016, 04:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by theducks

50?

That is one years worth of purchases

One Year.

That's like 6 months worth of purchases.

11-07-2016, 10:17 AM	#1
ChipAHoy Thistle Sifter Posts: 187 Karma: 24088 Join Date: Sep 2016 Location: San Diego Device: Kindle Paperwhite	folder and file organization on computer I am on a Macbook. I went crazy with ebooks and now have about 50. Using apps like Calibre, Kindle for Mac, Kobo reader, etc. I have ebook files all over the place. Does anyone have their ebook organization on their computer set-up in a consistent and well-structured manner? I would like to try to organize all of mine and get ride of the many duplicate and unnecessary files.

11-08-2016, 12:50 AM	#13
Terisa de morgan Grand Sorcerer Posts: 6,234 Karma: 11768331 Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Madrid, Spain Device: Kobo Clara/Aura One/Forma,XiaoMI 5, iPad, Huawei MediaPad, YotaPhone 2	I use calibre and a folder structure like this: Initial of the author Author Series if exists And an Access database to add information (as I began with it prior to calibre). Now I add a book to calibre, and with catalogs and external tools I maintain the other two sources. Redundant, but it is my way and it helps in some occasions for finding information in a fast way.

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11-07-2016, 10:21 AM	#2
Dr. Drib Grand Sorcerer Posts: 44,748 Karma: 55645321 Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Peru Device: Kindle: Oasis 3, Voyage WiFi; Kobo: Libra 2, Aura One	calibre is your friend. You may wish to go there. The weather is pleasant and the visit is most enjoyable. Here you go: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=166

11-07-2016, 10:22 AM	#3
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 74,015 Karma: 129333114 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	Calibre is what I use to organize.

11-07-2016, 11:13 AM	#4
Apache Readaholic Posts: 5,140 Karma: 90000000 Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: South Georgia Device: Surface Pro 6 / Galaxy Tab A 8"	Same. I even manually organize my music the same way Calibre organizes my books. Apache

11-07-2016, 11:21 AM	#5
theducks Well trained by Cats Posts: 29,809 Karma: 54830978 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: The Central Coast of California Device: Kobo Libra2,Kobo Aura2v1, K4NT(Fixed: New Bat.), Galaxy Tab A	Just understand that you are passing all the WORK to Calibre and l et it worry where-how it files things (your original folders are backups and can be archived once Calibre copies the books. Think Parts counter. You place your order at the GUI desk, and Calibre delivers. No need to know where it stored the book

11-07-2016, 01:08 PM	#6
PeterT Grand Sorcerer Posts: 12,168 Karma: 73448616 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Toronto Device: Nexus 7, Clara, Touch, Tolino EPOS	Also remember to leave the contents of the folders where calibre has made the library alone; resist the temptation to muddle with what you see there.

11-07-2016, 07:46 PM	#7
barryem Wizard Posts: 2,459 Karma: 68781975 Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Arkansas Device: Paperwhite 4	Personally I've never liked using file managers. I have a folder on my hard drive called ebooks and within that I have first a folder called __Pending (the __ is so it will sort first) and following that I have a folder for each author, lastname, firstname. In each author's folder I put all his books. If a book has 2 real authors I put it in each of their folders, although I don't have many books with two authors. I read novels amost exclusively. In the __Pending folder I have any books that have to be checked and, if need be, fixed. Those are also in folders by author since I'll never catch up with that. In addition I keep an ebook folder in Dropbox and also in OneDrive in which I put books I might want to read in the coming year. Actually that's where I usually select my next book but not always. The problem with my system is too much redundancy. If I update a book I have to remember to update it in all those places. That's okay. I like the safety of that. I also back up the folder on my hard drive onto a thumb drive and I keep the last 4 backups. Lots and lots of redundancy. I'm only 76 years old so I have to work at making sure I have books for the coming century. I do realize most people like to use some sort of manager. To me this is much simpler. It's not perfect but managers tend to be far less perfect. I don't care about tags and such or descriptions of the books. I remember most of them and I go through them from time to time reminding myself of the ones I've forgotten. Barry

11-07-2016, 09:28 PM	#9
theducks Well trained by Cats Posts: 29,809 Karma: 54830978 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: The Central Coast of California Device: Kobo Libra2,Kobo Aura2v1, K4NT(Fixed: New Bat.), Galaxy Tab A	50? That is one years worth of purchases

11-07-2016, 10:33 PM	#10
PeterT Grand Sorcerer Posts: 12,168 Karma: 73448616 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Toronto Device: Nexus 7, Clara, Touch, Tolino EPOS	What happened to treating members with respect? Sure it's a small collection, but so what... You all started some where.

11-07-2016, 11:45 PM	#12
william z Connoisseur Posts: 56 Karma: 4622408 Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: B.C., Canada Device: Kobo Touch	I simply have a folder called EBOOKS and sub-folders in it either by genre or the name of the author if I have several books by the same author.

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