Share Calibre library between devices

[dolma33]

After using Calibre for years, I have a well curated Calibre library in my old MacBook Pro, that now will be mainly used at work.
I would like to keep the library synced between home computer and work computer, and due to bandwidth restrictions, I won't be able to use the Dropbox solution.
Can I move the entire library (books, settings, plugins, tags, ...) to an hardrive and use it on the home computer when I am at home and on the work computer when I am at work?
In this case, is there a 'good' way to do it?

[fidvo]

Yes, you can move the library to an external hard drive and run it from there. Normally I would recommend Portable Calibre at this point, but since at least one of the computers you want to run it on is non-Windows, that's not an option.

If you're not too worried about keeping your configuration consistent, just copy the library over to the external HD and point Calibre to it on both computers. Most of the major library settings, such as custom fields, are stored as part of the library itself, so you won't have to worry about losing any data this way.

If you really must have all the configuration and settings the same between computers, I've heard there's a way to change the location of the configuration folder, but I've never used it myself. If that's the case, I'd imagine that moving your configuration folder to the external hard drive would work. Maybe someone with more knowledge can comment.

[theducks]

You can run the Portable Calibre on that external drive
OR
Access that Library from Installed Calibre.
Just don't do both at the same time

[dwig]

If your library is not excessively large and if you don't convert or import many books at any one time, you can put your library on a thumb drive.

I keep my master copy of my library on my Windows10 tablet's secondary drive, which is a microSD card. Most library operations are responsive enough for my use. Adding books is a bit slow, as is converting books, but I do that somewhat rarely (2-4 per week).

Whether you use a thumb drive, external HD, or external SSD, it is still highly recommended that you keep a complete copy as a backup somewhere else. Murphy's Law rules. Just as carrying your umbrella seems to prevent it raining, having a backup seems to prevent loss of the primary file(s). Failure to carry the umbrella and failure to have a good backup tend to lead to having a bad day.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by fidvo

... I've heard there's a way to change the location of the configuration folder, but I've never used it myself. If that's the case, I'd imagine that moving your configuration folder to the external hard drive would work. Maybe someone with more knowledge can comment.

@dolma33 - the CALIBRE_CONFIG_DIRECTORY Environment variable can be used to relocate the configuration data.

I use it without any major problems on Windows, and in past on Linux, but never on OSX. The only glitch I've struck is if the two computers have different monitor size/resolution, the window geometry values that calibre saves could be cockeyed when you switch to using the other computer.

If the two computers use disparate operating/file systems there are other, and arguably more important, issues you'll need to consider, such as: path lengths, case sensitivity, support for non ASCII file names etc.

BR

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

@dolma33 - the CALIBRE_CONFIG_DIRECTORY Environment variable can be used to relocate the configuration data.

I use it without any major problems on Windows, and in past on Linux, but never on OSX. The only glitch I've struck is if the two computers have different monitor size/resolution, the window geometry values that calibre saves could be cockeyed when you switch to using the other computer.

The View Manager plugin will help with this. I also switch between two devices with different screen resolutions (a Windows 10 laptop and a Surface Pro tablet) and I had the plugin save two separate views with different column widths, one for my laptop and one for my tablet. Now I just switch the views too after switching the devices and all looks perfect.