strange thing when sending to device

[marp68]

Hi

When I send a book from calibre to the device, it creates a folder with the author name (family name, surname) and then only one book file inside the folder.

But in calibre the book is stored in a folder with author named the opposite (surname, family name) and inside the folder there are the book file, the metadata file and the cover.

So why three file in calibre library and only one in the device? And why different naming convention?

So sending with calibre or manually moving the books results in different organizing. Why does not calibre just copy and send as is in the calibre library?

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by marp68

Hi

When I send a book from calibre to the device, it creates a folder with the author name (family name, surname) and then only one book file inside the folder.

But in calibre the book is stored in a folder with author named the opposite (surname, family name) and inside the folder there are the book file, the metadata file and the cover.

So why three file in calibre library and only one in the device? And why different naming convention?

So sending with calibre or manually moving the books results in different organizing. Why does not calibre just copy and send as is in the calibre library?

The metadata information is stored in the database on your Kobo ereader, the covers are parsed and stored with rather strange names in their own directories (start at .kobo-images on the internal storage, koboExtStorage/images-cache on the external storage). When you send the ebooks to the Kobo, the directory and path is generated from the save to device preferences (my setting is eLibrary/{author_sort}/{title} - {authors} ) while in the Calibre library, the author name (normally firstname lastname) is used.

In either case, I really don't care what the directory structure is since I use the Calibre GUI with it's search and sort capability on one hand and the Kobo's search capability on the other. Modifying Calibre's library structure is not supported and is "NOT A GOOD IDEA". Changing the template for the save to device is supported and since you don't see the directory structure while using the Kobo ereader, it doesn't seem to have any adverse effects. OTOH, it doesn't seem to have any benefits.

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by marp68

So why three file in calibre library and only one in the device? And why different naming convention?

The metadata.opf and cover.jpg files are only for calibre's own use. There is no point transferring them to the Kobo.

As for the send-to-device filename on the Kobo - this is configurable and controlled by the calibre Kobo driver 'Save template' setting. You can see what yours is by going to the following in calibre:
Preferences - Change calibre behaviour - Plugins - Device Interface plugins - KoboTouch (or maybe KoboTouchExtended if you use it) - Customize plugin - Save template

[marp68]

Okej, thanks for the explanation. I want to understand and build a good routine from the start, since along the way I will end up with a big archive of books. With my 20 book it's easy now, but when I have 150 in different language and a lot of genre/subgenre, then I want it to be easy to sort them and find them on the device. And since electrical devices generally breaks down sometimes or I will probably end up buying a new better one in the future, I also want to secure a good backup and restore system.

I've learnt a lot through this forum and I'am very greatful to you all for answering my question.



Is it possible to change the default destination folder before sending to device? I would like to at least have a "Book" folder to separate the books from the kobo folder on the device.

[pipcat]

Is it possible to change the default destination folder before sending to device? I would like to at least have a "Book" folder to separate the books from the kobo folder on the device.

You got the answer in DNSB response:

When you send the ebooks to the Kobo, the directory and path is generated from the save to device preferences (my setting is eLibrary/{author_sort}/{title} - {authors} )

His example puts transferred ebooks to eLibrary folder, subfolder {author_sort}.
JSWolf in this forum recommended not to use so many subfolders because if books are removed from device, folders are not removed. https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=274085

I ended with this parm: calibre/{title:.80} - {author_sort:.40}

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by pipcat

You got the answer in DNSB response:

His example puts transferred ebooks to eLibrary folder, subfolder {author_sort}.
JSWolf in this forum recommended not to use so many subfolders because if books are removed from device, folders are not removed. https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=274085

I have to say, who cares? There are empty folders on the device. It has absolutely zero affect on anything. OK, maybe if you have enough folders to use all the directory entries, but that is a lot of folders (yes, and I even know why that statement is pure BS). Don't worry about it.

If worries you that much, use calibre to delete the books. It will cleanup the empty directories as well.

[marp68]

Originally Posted by pipcat

You got the answer in DNSB response:

His example puts transferred ebooks to eLibrary folder, subfolder {author_sort}.
JSWolf in this forum recommended not to use so many subfolders because if books are removed from device, folders are not removed. https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=274085

I ended with this parm: calibre/{title:.80} - {author_sort:.40}

Sorry, don't know why I missed that part.

I don't fully understand the two examples would look like. What does "_sort" stands for? And in your own hat does ":.80" and ":.40" stands for?

[marp68]

It worked!

I used ebooks/{author_sort}/{authors} - {title}

Thanks

[marp68]

And I got the myshelves going as well...

I used this column to define genres for the books. And when loking on the device they turned up nicely as a collection. So perfect, then I can easily define it before sending it, and it will be mirrored to the calibre book.

But, just one question. I do would love to the genre as a second level collection and language as a first level collection. So first you choose language collection, and within that I would be able to choose between different genre collections.

Swedish/
/Drama
/Criminal
/History
/....
Spanish/
/Drama
/Criminal
-....
English/
/Drama
/....

As I have undrstood it from some members, it's not possible. Or have I hopefully missed something?

[marp68]

Hey, I could even edit myshelves in Edit metadata in a bulk-mode. That's great, saves time. God, I would love to be able to program myself...

[pipcat]

Originally Posted by marp68

Sorry, don't know why I missed that part.

I don't fully understand the two examples would look like. What does "_sort" stands for? And in your own hat does ":.80" and ":.40" stands for?

:.80 cuts text longer than 80 chars. If you use "ebooks/{author_sort}/{authors} - {title}" and have long ebook titles/authors, maybe your first folder "ebooks" will not be used, and a folder "es", "ebks", etc, will be created. That's because trimming, you can see an example here: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...53&postcount=4

[marp68]

Aha, I see. Thanks. What's the max number of letters in total for all folders?

[pipcat]

Originally Posted by marp68

Aha, I see. Thanks. What's the max number of letters in total for all folders?

davidfor said: "The KoboTouch driver shouldn't generate a path longer 185 characters long."

If your first folder "ebooks" is important for you, it's better to use :.num to limit chars by yourself than to let automatic trimming. That's because trimming will apply to the whole path and can change your "ebooks" folder to a shorter word.

[marp68]

I came up with an semi good idea to my language and genre problem...

I just named the collections

Swedish - Drama
Swedish - Criminal
Spanish - Drama
Spanish - Criminal
English - ...
etc.

At least the are sorted alphabetically

[pipcat]

If you need to short language in your shelves, use iso-639-1 two chars codes (sv, es, ... ;-)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ISO_639-1_codes