Share a Library

[Forester1]

Hi folks! New member here. I have a great Calibre Library on my own computer, and I would like to share (not sync) it with my wife's computer on the network. Is this possible? I tried to share the folder, then map a drive to it on my wife's computer. But when I installed Calibre on her computer and tried to point it there, it complained there was something wrong with the database. I did not want it to "fix" it, as it works great on my computer. Her computer does not have as much drive space as mine, which is why I wanted to share it. Does anyone know a way to get this to work? I did not see anything quite like this on the forum, so my apologies if this is a duplicate. Thanks!

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Forester1

Hi folks! New member here. I have a great Calibre Library on my own computer, and I would like to share (not sync) it with my wife's computer on the network. Is this possible? I tried to share the folder, then map a drive to it on my wife's computer. But when I installed Calibre on her computer and tried to point it there, it complained there was something wrong with the database. I did not want it to "fix" it, as it works great on my computer. Her computer does not have as much drive space as mine, which is why I wanted to share it. Does anyone know a way to get this to work? I did not see anything quite like this on the forum, so my apologies if this is a duplicate. Thanks!

IMHO Don't
Calibre is Single user access. Bad things can happen if 2 Calibre's access the same folder.
Consider using the Content-server feature to give the 2nd and additional users, read access

[Forester1]

Thank you TheDucks! I will see if I can give it a try. Hopefully lots of hand-holding instructions.... :O)

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Forester1

Thank you TheDucks! I will see if I can give it a try. Hopefully lots of hand-holding instructions.... :O)

Inside your home (LAN), piece of cake (I like double fudge )

Preferences: Sharing over the net
Note the settings and/or change the Username and Port. Pay attention to the Red Note. Try First without, then you can try with if you want to limit which users (under 18 ) for some libraries.
Unless you have set your router to 'port forward' to the specific port OR if you are running an un-secured WiFi, those outside you home LAN can't see your library.

Oh! you need to START the server once the configuration is done.
2 ways
1) the tick box on the configuration page: will Start the server Any time Calibre Starts
2) Manual: Right click the Connect/Share Icon and change the state of the server (Start)

NOW for a
Set up a 'Calibre Auto Add folder' on your system. Preferences: Adding books: The tab with Automatic in it's name. The choices are yours.

Now Use the File system to SHARE this folder (It SHOULD NOT be inside the Library folder).

Now any share user can drop a (new) book into that folder and Calibre will add it. YOU will have to massage the metadata


The users just enter the IP (or computer name for some better routers) and the port number you made note of into the address bar:
Here is the one (you can't get at it ) for my wife's T.N. (Trashy Novels) collection http://192.168.0.11:8081/ that is on one of my Linux Systems.

[Forester1]

I got it working, but it does not appear to show a full listing of books, just seemingly random samples with no apparent option to show more?