Get metadata from parent folders

[wladdy]

I have a bunch of ebooks stored in a structure of nested folders all going back up to a root folder.

How can I import the books into Calibre while keeping the information contained in the pathname from the root folder down to the file itself? For instance, is there a way to put the parent folder hierarchy into the Calibre 'Comments' field, just as easily and automatically as I can put the filename in the 'Title' field?

I realize that I could use a bulk renamer or write a shell script (I'm on Mac OS X), but any help to solve my problem without leaving Calibre would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance! W.

[eschwartz]

Adding Books can only read metadata from the immediate filename, not the fully qualified path.
You will need to rename them.

Also note only certain (builtin) metadata fields can be filled, I don't recall if comments is one of them.
The Preferences dialog shows all of the valid fields.

[BetterRed]

@wladdy - bit of hack - but, perhaps you put the path in a custom column ex post facto.

• You would use the calibredb set_metadata command in script of some sort.
• You'd need to devise a way to 'match' the book id with the path, a csv catalog might assist in doing that.
• And then use Bulk Metadata Edit->Search and Result to extract values out of the custom column into target columns - eg author, series, publisher etc -
• You might be able to do all of the above in the calibredb set_metadata script - depends on the folder tree, and your scripting proficiency.

An alternative might be use an advanced file renamer to pre/ap-pend the folder path into the format file names and use a suitable template in Add Books to pull it apart into relevant metadata columns.

@eschwartz - seems that the oft discussed 'feature' to inject the original path into a custom column on adding a book would be useful here.

BR

[eschwartz]

Yes, it is becoming a more and more common request. Sadly my current solution is hackish and not terribly extendable.

You can use calibredb add and filter the output for book_id, then apply custom path matching with set_metadata.

[wladdy]

Thank you for your replies.

I ended up using 'A better Finder Rename' to append their paths at the beginning of a few thousand files. The files are now in Calibre, whose 'Search and replace' among other features will help me clean up that mess relatively effortlessly.

However, I do hope that the possibility to involve file paths when importing will be implement in a future version. I any case, many thanks to the people who created and who improve this great software.