Help - .azw file or the .mbp file?

[EricBr]

I have just started using Calibre and have some questions. I am downloading Kindle books from Amazon.

1. Should I be selecting the .azw file or the .mbp file when importing books into calibre?

2. Is there a way to have Calibre monitor a directory so that when new books are downloaded, it will automatically detect them?

3. If #2 is not possible, is there a way in the "Add books" to have Calbire only add books that are not currently in Calibre?

Thanks,

Eric

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by EricBr

I have just started using Calibre and have some questions. I am downloading Kindle books from Amazon.

1. Should I be selecting the .azw file or the .mbp file when importing books into calibre?

2. Is there a way to have Calibre monitor a directory so that when new books are downloaded, it will automatically detect them?

3. If #2 is not possible, is there a way in the "Add books" to have Calbire only add books that are not currently in Calibre?

Thanks,

Eric

1. azw (most azw's are infested with the dreaded drm so all you can do is store them)
2. not that i know of
3. during the add books process calibre'll ask if you want to add any dups

[EricBr]

Thanks. I am not worried about storing them as much as I am in using Calibre to maintain a the list of books and creating a catlog of the books.

Eric

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by EricBr

2. Is there a way to have Calibre monitor a directory so that when new books are downloaded, it will automatically detect them?

No. It's been requested before, but it's hard to do for some operating systems, and calibre needs to offer the same functions to all OS's, if possible.

3. If #2 is not possible, is there a way in the "Add books" to have Calbire only add books that are not currently in Calibre?

I wrote AutoMerge specifically to do this. If you turn it on (Preferences, Adding Books) and use the silently ignore duplicates option, it will add books as new records if they don't already exist, put new formats for existing records into the existing record and ignore any duplicate formats for book records that already exist. The "Duplicates" warning you see with AutoMerge off looks only at the title, not the author, and it's global - you have to accept all duplicates, or reject them all. That's fine for adding single books, but doesn't work well for bulk adding of books.

The best of both worlds is to add duplicates and then use the Duplicate Finder to remove dupes, but that's not much easier than adding the books one at a time.

[EricBr]

Thanks, I'll take a look at the AutoMerge.

Eric

[1611mac]

Originally Posted by EricBr

I have just started using Calibre and have some questions. I am downloading Kindle books from Amazon.

1. Should I be selecting the .azw file or the .mbp file when importing books into calibre?

-snip-

Eric

As info... the .mbp file is the file that holds your bookmarks, annotations, etc. I don't have a Kindle but I can tell you that on my iPad when I load the azw the Kindle app creates the .mbp file if there isn't one. It updates as I make highlights and bookmarks. I can transfer this .mbp file to my Mac and my annotations will "travel" with the book (using Kindle for Mac). - I realize you say you have a Kindle so this is just as info.....

[Pinecone]

But that assumes that you have not edited the Title and Author in Calibre.

I just make a sub folder for the books I haev imported to Calibre. When I import, I move them to the subfolder. When I DL new books, they are the only ones in the main folder, so I import, then move.

[DoctorOhh]

Moderator Notice
Changed title of thread. A Thread titled "Newbie Questions" will attract endless posts and we don't need any more mega threads.

To All, Please be specific with thread titles.

[EricBr]

dwanthy,
That makes sense... I do enough other forums I should have thought of that. Must have been a long day or just a brain lapse.

Eric

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by EricBr

dwanthy,
That makes sense... I do enough other forums I should have thought of that. Must have been a long day or just a brain lapse.

No problem, I didn't even think seriously about it until someone else posted a totally non-related topic to your thread. I then realized, from the other poster's point of view this thread seemed the logical place to ask their question.

I moved their post to their own thread and renamed this thread before it got out of control.

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