Re-importing updated books into Calibre. How do you do it? Do you do it?

[Inukami]

Do you re-import updated books into Calibre? Or do you just import them once and that is it?

I note that Amazon does update the content of the books occasionally, or authors may do a review/rewrite of a book and Apple iBooks is crazy with its updates. The covers can update quite frequently but I find Calibre is good at finding various covers and updates so no problem there.

If you do re-import updated books, for content purposes, what sort of problems do you run into? Some thoughts below..

• You have changed the title of the book so Calibre doesn’t find that you have two version. You can use the find duplicates plugin.
• Metadata does not match or different
• Cover is different and you prefer to keep the current cover
• Do you import another version and edit the new one and delete the older version? But if you do that, it is a lot of work doing the metadata again?
• What do you do when the book content changes but the metadata is the same? Can you transfer the metadata from the old version to the new and then delete the old?

Any other issues with re-importing updated books into Calibre? Or the best way of doing so?

Thanks,

Inukami

[theducks]

I prefer:
Open the Metadata Editor (on the title to be updated ): Then drag n drop the UPDATED book into the FORMATS: OK

That's it

[BetterRed]

@Inukami - I import into an "Intake" library, where I do adjustments to metadata - e.g. move subtitles into a custom column, remove and add tags, set custom columns, etc, and then use the Find Library Duplicate feature of the Find Duplications plugin to help identify duplicates between the "Intake" and "Target" libraries. Non-duplicate books are moved to a "Target" library

Originally Posted by Inukami

[*]You have changed the title of the book so Calibre doesn’t find that you have two version. You can use the find duplicates plugin.

I do my standard adjustments (strip subtitles, apply AP Title style rules) before I get to running FD->FLD, so "Fuzzy" matching will usually find them.

Originally Posted by Inukami

[*]Metadata does not match or different

If the changed metadata changes were relevant to me then I would manually change what I have

Originally Posted by Inukami

[*]Cover is different and you prefer to keep the current cover

I would keep the original, if I wanted to keep the 'new' cover I would put it in a multi-image TIFF (creating it, if needs be) which I would keep in book folder as a 'format' file.

Originally Posted by Inukami

[*]Do you import another version and edit the new one and delete the older version? But if you do that, it is a lot of work doing the metadata again?

I never delete the original, see previous answers regarding metadata and cover, and the following answer regarding the format files

Originally Posted by Inukami

[*]What do you do when the book content changes but the metadata is the same? Can you transfer the metadata from the old version to the new and then delete the old?

If I wanted to replace the existing content, I would first copy the book from the "Target" library to an "Archive" library, and then make an entry to that effect in the book's Notes custom column, and then I would drag-drop the new content file into Book Details panel of the book in the "Target" library.

If I wanted to keep the existing content, but not throw away the new content, I would do the same except I would drag-drop the new content file into Book Details panel of the book in the "Archive" library.

On most occasions I simply replace the existing content with the new content by dragging it into the book's Detail panel (left right sidebar).

BR

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

On most occasions I simply replace the existing content with the new content by dragging it into the book's Detail panel (left sidebar).

except my book details panel is on the right side.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by DoctorOhh

except my book details panel is on the right side.

- I never did get this difference between right and left, and my Book Details panel is normally at the bottom edge

BR

[Inukami]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

- I never did get this difference between right and left, and my Book Details panel is normally at the bottom edge

BR

My Book Details panel is also on the right. Didn't realise you can have it on the right or left.

Originally Posted by theducks

I prefer:
Open the Metadata Editor (on the title to be updated ): Then drag n drop the UPDATED book into the FORMATS: OK

That's it

Originally Posted by BetterRed

@Inukami

On most occasions I simply replace the existing content with the new content by dragging it into the book's Detail panel (left sidebar).

BR

Thanks for that. It seem relatively simply and easy to update the content of a book. Just to clarify, this only works if the book titles are the same?

Originally Posted by BetterRed

@Inukami

If I wanted to replace the existing content, I would first copy the book from the "Target" library to an "Archive" library, and then make an entry to that effect in the book's Notes custom column, and then I would drag-drop the new content file into Book Details panel of the book in the "Target" library.

If I wanted to keep the existing content, but not throw away the new content, I would do the same except I would drag-drop the new content file into Book Details panel of the book in the "Archive" library.

BR

I like the way of managing the books into different libraries before making it final. Are the different libraries in the same instance or do you have them in different instances do you can see them side by side?

Does that mean you also have a massive "Archive" library as well as your "Target" Main/Normal library?

Inukami

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by Inukami

My Book Details panel is also on the right. Didn't realise you can have it on the right or left.

You can't, that was a mistake (since corrected)

Originally Posted by BetterRed

On most occasions I simply replace the existing content with the new content by dragging it into the book's Detail panel (left sidebar).

Originally Posted by Inukami

Thanks for that. It seem relatively simply and easy to update the content of a book. Just to clarify, this only works if the book titles are the same?

No, when you drag-'n-drop a file into the book details panel any metadata within the file and its file name are irrelevant. If a file of the same type already exists for the book then it will be replaced by the file dropped into Book Details, otherwise the file dropped will be added to the book. Similarly with covers, if you drag the file "FreddyFrog.png" into Book Details, you end up with that image in a "cover.jpg" file.

Originally Posted by BetterRed

If I wanted to replace the existing content, I would first copy the book from the "Target" library to an "Archive" library, and then make an entry to that effect in the book's Notes custom column, and then I would drag-drop the new content file into Book Details panel of the book in the "Target" library.

If I wanted to keep the existing content, but not throw away the new content, I would do the same except I would drag-drop the new content file into Book Details panel of the book in the "Archive" library.

Originally Posted by Inukami

I like the way of managing the books into different libraries before making it final. Are the different libraries in the same instance or do you have them in different instances do you can see them side by side?

They are different physical libraries.

The major benefits result from importing books into a separate "Intake" library and getting the metadata correct before moving them to the "Target" library. Bit like preparing a meal in the kitchen and taking it to the dining room. The "Archive" library is an embellishment.

Calibre does not support concurrent use of multiple libraries, or multiple instances of calibre, so you can't look at two libraries side-by-side. I work around this to some degree by running multiple version 2 content server instances against my "Target" libraries, version 2 content-server has no update capability so it's pretty safe.

Originally Posted by Inukami

Does that mean you also have a massive "Archive" library as well as your "Target" Main/Normal library?

No, because, a) I only move books there occasionally and b) I don't leave books in "Archive" for very long.

After putting a book in "Archive" then at some later time (days/weeks) I will review the content and decide whether I want to keep what I put there in addition to what's in the "Target" library. I should rename that library to something like "Abeyance", "Parking Lot", or "For Review".

BR

[Inukami]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

Calibre does not support concurrent use of multiple libraries, or multiple instances of calibre, so you can't look at two libraries side-by-side. I work around this to some degree by running multiple version 2 content server instances against my "Target" libraries, version 2 content-server has no update capability so it's pretty safe.

BR

Thanks for your detailed responses.

I thought you could have multiple instances if the versions are different?

By the way, I note you are in Sydney, you wouldn't be interested in meeting up sometime when I'm next in Sydney to talk about Calibre? Not sure if there are any others in Sydney as well who would be interested...

Inukami

[Tarana]

I don't update books once I've read them. Unless it's a whispersync title or rare book where DRM can't be removed, I delete book from my Amazon cloud after reading. If I haven't read it yet, I update, download, import with DRM, save the preferred cover and delete the old one.

What do you do when the book content changes but the metadata is the same? Can you transfer the metadata from the old version to the new and then delete the old?

Why wouldn't the metadata remain the same? An UPDATE is supposed to fix grammar and typos, not change the content.

[Inukami]

Originally Posted by Tarana

Why wouldn't the metadata remain the same? An UPDATE is supposed to fix grammar and typos, not change the content.

Sometimes the metadata can also change. For example, the publisher changes, the title changes or year published if updated version (unless you count that as a different copy?).

Inukami

[TheArtfulDodger]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

@Inukami
On most occasions I simply replace the existing content with the new content by dragging it into the book's Detail panel (left right sidebar).
BR

Hello, BR:

I must be confused! Here's what I understand you to mean:

1. First, in Calibre, I click on the book that has been updated; it brings up information about the book (is that the "Detail Panel"?) such as the cover, book details, and the description of the book, all to the right of the library listings.
2. In Windows 10, I click on the updated book file in explorer, for example z.azw3, and "carry" it over to the "Detail Panel", as above, and attempt to drop it.
3. When I attempt to drop it, I get the prohibited sign and cannot do it.

So, I would appreciate any clarification you could make.

Thanks in advance.

Sparky

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by TheArtfulDodger

Hello, BR:

I must be confused! Here's what I understand you to mean:

1. First, in Calibre, I click on the book that has been updated; it brings up information about the book (is that the "Detail Panel"?) such as the cover, book details, and the description of the book, all to the right of the library listings.
2. In Windows 10, I click on the updated book file in explorer, for example z.azw3, and "carry" it over to the "Detail Panel", as above, and attempt to drop it.
3. When I attempt to drop it, I get the prohibited sign and cannot do it.

So, I would appreciate any clarification you could make.

Thanks in advance.

Sparky

Works for me -

When i drag a file from File Explorer to Book Details with left button down, I see



When I drop it I get this pop-up



I don't think there are any special settings in calibre or File Explorer to make it happen. What version of calibre are you using?

BR

[TheArtfulDodger]

Hello, again, BR:

That's exactly what I was describing. When I do that I get a black circle with a diagonal line through!

Calibre version 3.29 Portable.

I am lost!! :>((

Sparky

[kovidgoyal]

Drag and drop typically does not work on windows if you run calibre as a different user such as the administrator. In any case you can always update files ina book record by selecting the book then right lcicking the add books button and choosing "Add files to selected book records"

[TheArtfulDodger]

That worked - because the format was .azw3, I then converted it to epub. That resulted in an epub file and an original_epub file. Very clever!!

Thanks, Kovid.