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Old 10-10-2014, 04:37 AM   #1
bald
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Question How to tell the original book format?
Hi,

A quick and simple question that I've been unable to find an answer for...

I have some books in my Calibre library in multiple formats (e.g. mobi & epub) as I have Kobo Aura HD and my partner has a Kindle - I would like to know which format was the original book I imported in the library and which is the converted version, is there an easy way to tell?

Thanks!
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Old 10-10-2014, 04:50 AM   #2
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@bald - press 'O' on the book and look at the Date Created of the MOBI and EPUB. The earlier date is likely to be the one you originally added, and unless you changed it the Date column in Calibre will be the same date. If you do the conversion immediately after you add a book then you'll need to look at the times as well as the date.

BR
Last edited by BetterRed; 10-10-2014 at 04:53 AM.
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Old 10-10-2014, 05:54 AM   #3
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@bald - press 'O' on the book and look at the Date Created of the MOBI and EPUB. The earlier date is likely to be the one you originally added, and unless you changed it the Date column in Calibre will be the same date. If you do the conversion immediately after you add a book then you'll need to look at the times as well as the date.

BR
Hi,

Many thanks for the reply. This does indeed appear to work even when changing the book title (which updates the file name).

Would still be interested to know if there is a way within Calibre to do this.

Thanks again.
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Old 10-10-2014, 06:10 AM   #4
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No standard way that I know off.
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Old 10-10-2014, 07:12 AM   #5
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I had the same problem so I added a custom field to track that. When I first add a book I always fill that in, so I'll know later on. A small annoyance, but it takes almost no time to update each record.
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Old 10-10-2014, 09:56 AM   #6
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Originally Posted by loximuthal View Post
I had the same problem so I added a custom field to track that. When I first add a book I always fill that in, so I'll know later on. A small annoyance, but it takes almost no time to update each record.
Thanks for the suggestion that's a good workaround for new books that I add to my library.
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Old 10-10-2014, 02:04 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by loximuthal View Post
I had the same problem so I added a custom field to track that. When I first add a book I always fill that in, so I'll know later on. A small annoyance, but it takes almost no time to update each record.

I made the field (Mstr Fmt) to use a predefined list. I added 'Multi' to that list for the case (usually Baen) where I grab both EPUB and Mobi formats as part of my order.
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Old 10-11-2014, 03:13 AM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bald View Post
Hi,

Many thanks for the reply. This does indeed appear to work even when changing the book title (which updates the file name).

Would still be interested to know if there is a way within Calibre to do this.

Thanks again.
No there isn't, but there is a program mode template function formats_modtimes(date_format) see ==>> Using functions in templates - template program mode

You could make an enhancement request for a new template function - formats_createtimes(date_format). You may even be able to write the function yourself see Preferences->Template functions - you probably need someone like Kovid or chaley to chime in and advise.

Armed with that function, and the rest of the template functions you could write a template that returns the 'format' of the format file with the earliest create time - eg EPUB, or MOBI... or WMP

BR
Last edited by BetterRed; 10-11-2014 at 06:31 AM.
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Old 10-12-2014, 02:55 AM   #9
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One thing that might help, if the Kindle book originally came from Amazon then it will have an exth 113 field, otherwise known as ASIN. calibre will record that as the mobi-asin identifier-type metadata during the Add books process.

If the book has a mobi-asin, it can be assumed that the original format was an Amazon-sourced MOBI/AZW3.
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Old 10-13-2014, 07:00 AM   #10
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Thanks for all the suggestions, seems like it would a good feature request!
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