Open Calibre to a specific library?

[funnyguy]

It does not work for me.
I typed the command in the target box of a shortcut but no difference.

Any solutions?

[eschwartz]

What, precisely, did you type into the target box?

Details please -- without details, all we know is that you are having "a" problem. And we know if it was done correctly it should work, so that rules out the only easy answer.
Which is okay if you just want our sympathy, but it makes it hard to provide help.

[eorstail]

Originally Posted by BookJunkieLI

Is there a way I can force Calibre to open to a specific library that is *not* the last one it had open?

Based on the past responses to this question, I am a little nervous to ask a similar/more basic question. I too do not know how to use a command line without step by step instructions. If you are over 50, then it is likely you NEVER had a formal computer class. Anyway, I'm frustrated with searching google for a simple way to open Calibre (seems I am not searching with the "right" question and going in circles). I've tried FAQs, looking at the beginner/intro videos, etc. This question has been on/off my back burner for months. There's so many things that can be tweaked in Calibre, awesome BTW, but it's hard to find answers sometimes.

I would like Calibre to open to the LAST view used and where I left off. It always opens to my full library at listing #1.

I tried Preferences--Look & Feel, Behavior--I can't see/missed any appropriate setting. I adjusted preferences within "View Manager" plugin to use the "last view used" but that doesn't give me the content last viewed.

Lately my last view used is looking at a collection under a certain genre. The closest thing I've come to get what I want is by creating a virtual library from that genre search. I added new books to the genre and they DID show up in subsequent uses of the virtual library.

It works ok, but is this the best I can get? Surely there must be a simple setting to open Calibre right where I left off when last used?

If it means using the command line every time to open Calibre to the place I left off, then I don't think it's worth the hassle.

Using 2.4.2, 64-bit. Thank U for any guidance.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by eorstail

It works ok, but is this the best I can get? Surely there must be a simple setting to open Calibre right where I left off when last used?

@eorstail - AFAIK what you've done is as good as it gets

Originally Posted by eorstail

If it means using the command line every time to open Calibre to the place I left off, then I don't think it's worth the hassle.

Nor can it be done via the command line

BR

[eschwartz]

to what BetterRed said.

This is not a stupid question. Questions about "How do I achieve this goal" are rarely stupid.

Spoiler:

Questions about "what does this word mean" are not looked upon nearly as kindly...

Just a thought... if you are using searches to find particular sets of books, the searchbar remembers its history, you can arrow up and down to quickly get at the last search.
I use this all the time.


As for pre-selecting the last book you highlighted, there is no way I am afraid.
And as you discovered, you can create Virtual Libraries out of those searches if you use them often

[cybmole]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

@eorstail - AFAIK what you've done is as good as it gets


...

BR

preference : mimimise to task bar on close, is a pretty good substitute. it means that calibre never fully closes unless you reboot, so all settings will stay as you left then though a sleep-wake cycle, or a hibernate-wake.

there is no real need to ever close it, except to run an update or a synced backup, and having it running in background means that calibre companion is always available.

even on a complete restart, my install opens to my preferred restricted view of all "in progress" i.e. all books where I have "i" in my red column. I forget exactly how I did that, but it was by following instructions given on this board, ages ago- maybe that is a virtual library- I had a quick look at my preferences & could not see how it was done!

[theducks]

Originally Posted by cybmole

preference : mimimise to task bar on close, is a pretty good substitute. it means that calibre never fully closes unless you reboot, so all settings will stay as you left then though a sleep-wake cycle, or a hibernate-wake.

there is no real need to ever close it, except to run an update or a synced backup, and having it running in background means that calibre companion is always available.

!

This does require that your system have more than the bare minimum RAM or switching programs to<>from Calibre will be sluggish (while 'swapping')

[cybmole]

Originally Posted by theducks

This does require that your system have more than the bare minimum RAM or switching programs to<>from Calibre will be sluggish (while 'swapping')

not really

looking at my task manager ( win 10 ) with calibre minimised to system tray, all I see is two calibre worker processes running, using 0.5Mb and 0.4MB of memory- not a lot !


OOPS scratch that, I was sorting by name and only seeing two entries for calibre... if I sort on memory used I see , filed under "T" for The - "The main calibre program" is also a background process and still has 51MB - still not a huge amount though
.
PS I do seem to be using a virtual library config to get my initial launch view- but I am clueless as to how I set that up, still.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by cybmole

not really

looking at my task manager ( win 10 ) with calibre minimised to system tray, all I see is two calibre worker processes running, using 0.5Mb and 0.4MB of memory- not a lot !


OOPS scratch that, I was sorting by name and only seeing two entries for calibre... if I sort on memory used I see , filed under "T" for The - "The main calibre program" is also a background process and still has 51MB - still not a huge amount though
.
PS I do seem to be using a virtual library config to get my initial launch view- but I am clueless as to how I set that up, still.

Preferences: Behavior: (on the Right)

You have a modern system (it can run W10)
Many MR folk have older systems. Some are LOTS older. Single core, No SSE2, 512M RAM, PATA HD of well under 100G (I have one (AMD) I am about to part-out)

[eorstail]

OK, BetterRed, thanks for the reassurance that I've found the best solution for what I want.

And also thanks to all who answered.

I'll keep cybmole's suggestion if I'm frequenting Calibre, but usually it's a 2-4x weekly update. It just became a hassle and a chore clicking through the hoops to get where I was... until I discovered virtual library use.

[TheArtfulDodger]

Hello:

I got to this thread because of the title but I haven't found the answer to my question so, with trembling heart, I'll ask it: I want to do what the question was (start Calibre in a specific library instead of Calibre Library) using portable calibre. [I'm using version 1709 of Windows 10].

Here's what I entered: "Q:\Calibre Portable\calibre-portable.exe" --with-library "Q:\My Main Calibre Library" where everything Calibre is on a flash drive Q:. The program is at Q:\Calibre Portable and my Library is at Q:\My Main Calibre Library.

The program started correctly but ignored the "with-library" part. Does the portable version not answer to that command? I saw that BetterRed mentioned the portable version but wasn't specific about details!

Thanks in advance.

Sparky

[ilovejedd]

I believe Calibre Portable requires portable libraries to at least be inside the "Q:\Calibre Portable". I'm not absolutely sure but I think it may even default to "Q:\Calibre Portable\Calibre Library" every time.

As a work around, you can replace "Q:\Calibre Portable\Calibre Library" with a junction that points to "Q:\My Main Calibre Library".

Alternately, you can DIY your own portable Calibre by creating a copy of the batch file "Q:\Calibre Portable\Calibre\app\resources\calibre-portable.bat" and modifying it. Caveat, I'm not sure if multiple libraries are supported when using the batch file.

[BetterRed]

@TheArtfulDodger - Calibre Portable for Windows is designed to be self contained on a portable storage device -- i.e. something you can put in your pocket and use on another computer. I don't think calibre-portable.exe accepts any arguments to pass onto calibre.exe, I just tried --help and --start-in-tray without success.

You could do as ilovejedd suggests, use a junction point to the external library folder, but doing that will subvert the purpose of Calibre Portable. You could overcome that by using a symbolic link referencing a relative path; a junction point can only reference an absolute path.

However, you wrote the library in question, "My Main Calibre Library", is on the same storage device as the "Calibre Portable" folder - so why not move the "My Main Calibre Library" folder into the "Calibre Portable" folder - KISS.

IIRC calibre portable will start with the last used library.

---

FWIW: ==>> windows - What is the difference between NTFS Junction Points and Symbolic Links? - Stack Overflow. It's the best comparison of the two I've come across.

BR

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

IIRC calibre portable will start with the last used library.

It depends. I tested Calibre Portable behavior (on either 3.30 or 3.32, iirc).

last used: X:\Calibre Portable\libraries\tmp
-> opens to X:\Calibre Portable\Calibre Library

last used: X:\libraries\tmp
-> opens to X:\Calibre Portable\Calibre Library

last used: X:\Calibre Portable\tmp
-> opens to X:\Calibre Portable\tmp (iirc, although not too sure)

[BetterRed]

I added an absolute symlink referencing a library (Media) on another drive to D:\Sandpit\Calibre-3-xx, started calibre-portable, pointed it at the Media symlink via Switch/Create - and there was my Media library

Closed calibre portable and started it again - and there was my Media library.

You must put any additional libraries in the "Calibre Portable" folder, not in sub-folders - i.e. not in "Calibre Portable\tmp".

FTR: you can rename the Calibre Portable folder, and have more than one - I have three. Calibre-1-48, Calibre-2-85, and Calibre-3-xx.

BR