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Old 08-26-2013, 08:15 PM   #16
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Originally Posted by icallaci View Post
I should have been more explicit...
Yes you should have . So can see your point.

But the truncation is not something that would have affected me as I am agnostic to the structure of the Calibre library folders and when loading books into Calibre (drag and drop) I always do a visual title check first within Calibre rather than relying on the file name, etc. being the same and Calibre warning me, so I don't get duplicates (well not often, and if so it is my own fault ).
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Old 08-26-2013, 10:42 PM   #17
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Filenames have always been truncated. The truncation was made more strict in the new backend to workaround problems that could occur in some corner cases with the old truncation code, the full path length could occassionally go over the windows path length limit.
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Old 08-26-2013, 11:30 PM   #18
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Originally Posted by Adoby View Post
Why do you care about how the book is named inside the calibre library?

And why did you add the same books twice to the library?
When a book has typos, I copy the file from its folder, fix the typos, then use Edit Metadata in Calibre to replace the old version with the new version.

And I care about how the book is named inside the OS's file structure because duplicate filenames cause problems when I try to move those files to the iPad. No OS (as far as I know) can differentiate between two files with the same name, so when adding files to the iPad, the first file is overwritten when the second file is added, unless I change one of the file names.

Last edited by icallaci; 08-26-2013 at 11:43 PM.
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Old 08-27-2013, 12:29 AM   #19
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Originally Posted by icallaci View Post
When a book has typos, I copy the file from its folder, fix the typos, then use Edit Metadata in Calibre to replace the old version with the new version...
I suspect that approach is always fraught with the possibility of problems.

My approach is that I have a Library called Temporary and copy the book to be worked on into that (using the Calibre "Copy to Library" command) then open it (with the "Open With" plugin) with the editing tool one favours (in my case normally Sigil). I also use that library for conversions or for tidying new books up, if required, before adding them to my "permanent" libraries.

When editing is finished and the epub, in my case, is verified I just delete the old copy in the library it originally came from and copy the edited one back using Calibre's "Copy to Library, delete after copy" command.

That keeps everything inside Calibre, so the fact that the filename may get truncated differently when returned to the library is of no consequence (nor in my case, of any interest).

On the odd occasion that I may edit a book file taken directly from the library folders themselves I return it direct to the folder myself with the filename unchanged, not by returning it via Calibre. To copy a file from the library folders oneself, and then return it to the library with Calibre is something that I would always suspect to have the potential for problems unless you delete the original copy from the library before adding back the new.

In the end, even though I am quite at home working with files directly, it is much quicker for me to do it all within Calibre and doing so presents little opportunity for error.

Last edited by AnotherCat; 08-27-2013 at 12:31 AM.
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Old 08-27-2013, 01:37 AM   #20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by icallaci View Post
When a book has typos, I copy the file from its folder, fix the typos, then use Edit Metadata in Calibre to replace the old version with the new version.
First you don't need to know the filename to open the folder. Calibre has a Click to open link on the book details page that will open the folder for the book you're looking at. I choose to bypass that step by using the Open With plugin to open the book in (for me) Sigil to edit the contents.

Quote:
Originally Posted by icallaci View Post
And I care about how the book is named inside the OS's file structure because duplicate filenames cause problems when I try to move those files to the iPad.
I don't have an Ipad, but I don't think I would be manually moving files to it. I think I would be using one of the Send to device setups outlined in the "Calibre + Apple iDevices: Start here" sticky post at the top of the Calibre Devices sub-forum. Using any of the methods described makes worrying about filenames a thing of the past.

Last edited by DoctorOhh; 08-27-2013 at 01:43 AM.
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Old 08-27-2013, 09:39 AM   #21
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We have multiple computers and multiple users in our house, so I can't always use the same computer to fix ebook files. And I never copy a fixed ebook file directly back into the Calibre book directory because often the file size has changed (and Calibre doesn't register the change unless I re-import it using the Add Books button). None of this should matter, though, because this method has always worked in the past, and Calibre does have a setting to "overwrite existing book formats," which it is definitely not doing.

Edit: Oops, sorry, I am mixing threads here. Over in Calibre's Library Maintenance section, there is a thread about Duplicate Formats, which is tangentially related to this one. (https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=220948) The problem of orphaned ebooks in Calibre 1.0 is related to the new way of truncating. That problem has now been solved (thanks, Kovid!), which has also solved most of my major headaches with truncation of file names.

Last edited by icallaci; 08-27-2013 at 10:39 AM.
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Old 08-27-2013, 10:49 AM   #22
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Quote:
Originally Posted by icallaci View Post
We have multiple computers and multiple users in our house, so I can't always use the same computer to fix ebook files. And I never copy a fixed ebook file directly back into the Calibre book directory because often the file size has changed (and Calibre doesn't register the change unless I re-import it using the Add Books button). None of this should matter, though, because this method has always worked in the past, and Calibre does have a setting to "overwrite existing book formats," which it is definitely not doing.
The Quality check PI can rescan and update file sizes. ( running various PI also can affect file sizes. Using the PI brings things up-to-date )
Editing the file CONTENTS and DIRECT replacement, should not be an issue as long as the existing file is not open.
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Old 08-30-2013, 12:46 PM   #23
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Originally Posted by icallaci View Post
And I care about how the book is named inside the OS's file structure because duplicate filenames cause problems when I try to move those files to the iPad. No OS (as far as I know) can differentiate between two files with the same name, so when adding files to the iPad, the first file is overwritten when the second file is added, unless I change one of the file names.
Well, if you're on OSX, new Mavericks (coming out soon) now has tags built into Finder. I think it might obviate the need for calibre's book management for me (it won't replace it for all the metadata fetching and conversion of course).

I think there's something to be said about the simplicity of using Finder/ (Windows Explorer if it's still called that?) to do basic file management.

The biggest missing feature of calibre, to me anyway, is full-text search. Searching metadata is mediocre at best when it comes to my workflow (I'm a grad student) and I use Spotlight (OSX's built-in full text search) to find books about 99% of the time. And Spotlight can find text in PDF's, epubs, mobis etc. And when I do find a book, I can just use QuickLook to preview it and copy text out of it or read a section. It's so fast and makes me productive and calibre just doesn't support a workflow like that (it can't even do QuickLook right now… you have to open PDF files).

Anyway, there are options and you don't have to use calibre for everything. Calibre is a superb piece of software but its cross-platform nature and non-native widgets and weird user interface idiosyncrasies that sometimes make little or no sense are not its strengths. Metadata fetching and conversion are must-haves and irreplaceable features right now.

I understand why Kovid is truncating filenames but that doesn't mean that the file structure of calibre is not important. It clearly is because if it was that critical to have bullet-proof file names, Kovid would have used hashes as filenames which would make it more robust on any FS (always 256bits long and filename's characters would be compatible with any FS). But that would raise even more ire since people would complain even more.
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Old 10-09-2013, 04:55 AM   #24
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Joining this late but I can confirm that something indeed has changed in the way that Calibre (Excellent product btw) works in the way it renames files.

Yes I know that the physical file name shouldn't be an issue with the metadata etc however like others here I use the file name for other purposes (generating webpages, database links etc ) and the file-name IS important.

having looked into this Ive too tried a few things. My Calibre library is set to write to C:\A\... so one of the shortest possible root there can be and its still truncating the filename - the longest one Ive found so far is 124 characters, well within the 256 (win 7 64 bit and XP versions) limits.

I can also now seethat having kept a few older versions that this definitely changed with the release of 1.0 as 0.9.35 does not exhibit this behavior yet everybody (including Im afraid Kovid) seems to deny its happening....

Has anybody found a solution yet please (bar going back to 0.9.35)

Thanks.
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Old 10-09-2013, 07:18 AM   #25
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Sigh, how many times do I need to say the same things.

Yes, the file name truncation logic has changed in 1.x. File names are now truncated a little more strictly than before, this was because of a bug in the old logic that could, in some corner cases, cause file paths to become longer than 265 characters.

The length at which filenames are truncated has nothing to do with the location of the library. If it did, it would be a recipe for disaster. Suppose you create a library at c:\library and tomorrow decide to move it to c:\users\me\my documents\my school library. Boom, your files would become inaccessible. calibre allows for ~70 characters for the path to the library and truncates the file/folder names so that any library path upto 70 characters will work. And no those numbers are not exact, if you want the exact calculation, use the source, Luke.

And yes, I know that you can use UNC style paths to access paths longer than 265 characters on windows, however, while calibre itself could do that, lots of other tools would choke and be unable to even see the files, including Windows Explorer itself.
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Old 10-11-2013, 02:49 PM   #26
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Ok I understand

Anyway, can I suggest an update then to provide something to maybe highlight a too long file name, show the shortcut/edited/truncated name so you have an idea that it may change the name before you convert it..?? as I like I'm sure many others use Calibre to rename files like dgfdjjje.epub to something more meaningful/book title. It keeps folders etc nice and neat and makes finding stuff outside Calibre nice and easy...

Also keep up the good work. it truly is an excellent product
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Old 10-11-2013, 04:18 PM   #27
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Suggestion for Kovid - if mouse hover on format in Book details show full path as a tooltip/hint.

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Old 10-11-2013, 04:36 PM   #28
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Suggestion for Kovid - if mouse hover on format in Book details show full path as a tooltip/hint.

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If you hover 'Click to Open' in details, guess what you see
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Old 10-11-2013, 05:02 PM   #29
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If you hover 'Click to Open' in details, guess what you see
No need to guess, I know what it shows - the path to the book folder - not the path to the book (format) file. It was that very feature which led me to hover on a format.

The truncated author folder and book folder names do not map precisely to the truncation of author and title as they appear in the format file name - for starters there's no book ids in format file names and for dessert they are reversed i.e. title - author

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Old 10-11-2013, 06:16 PM   #30
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No need to guess, I know what it shows - the path to the book folder - not the path to the book (format) file. It was that very feature which led me to hover on a format.

The truncated author folder and book folder names do not map precisely to the truncation of author and title as they appear in the format file name - for starters there's no book ids in format file names and for dessert they are reversed i.e. title - author

BR
I don't see why you can't just open the folder and Look if that level of detail is needed on rare occasions
In the metadata editor, you can see the timestamp of the format (this is useful if you wish to drop an updated format version)
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