metadata lost between e-readers

[Gilles94]

Hello,
We have 3 Kindle PaperWhite readers and I run Calibre V6.28. I have a Windows directory in which I store the e-books in various formats. I use this directory as a global source to add books to the e-books libraries.

If I want to add the same e-book to the 3 kindle, I have to change the metadata 3 times ( reorder name/first Name, etc...).

I have tried to create a global library with all the books with the right metadata and then I have used it as a source to add the books to the kindle libraries. I also lose the updated metadata.

Is there a way to update the metadata only once to then update the 3 kindle?

Thanks for your help
Gilles

[pdurrant]

I don't understand your reference to a Windows directory if you're using calibre. Just store the books in calibre.

How are you getting the books onto the ebook readers? Are the readers on the same Amazon account or different accounts?

[Gilles94]

I download free ebooks from some free web sites .
( ex french one :https://www.ebooksgratuits.com/ ) so I store them in a directory on my laptop.
Then, using calibre, I add the ebook , depending on the kindle ( mine, my wife or kid), to its own library, then I update the metadata before I send it to the reader.

[pdurrant]

OK, you download to a directory, And then import them into calibre and delete the copy in the directory?

Do you really have separate libraries for each person in your household, or do you have virtual libraries?

When you say "send it to the reader", do you mean over USB, or by emailing it to Amazon, or by use of a "Send it to Kindle" app?

Whatever you do, if you import into calibre, fix up the metadata, and then only use that calibre entry, you shouldn't need to fix up metadata more than once.

[pdurrant]

Ah, reading your first post again, you really DO have separate libraries for each person in your household.

Yes, you should definitely not need to redo the metadata update, but you have to do that because you're importing the same (unchanged) download each time.

The reason importing into a calibre library, updating the metadata, and then importing from that library into other didn't work is because calibre doesn't ordinarily change the original file, it just stores the new metadata separately. To get the updated metadata into the book file you need to "Polish" the book, or export the book. Since I think the "Polish" plugin only works on AZW3 and ePub, you would probably have more certain results by using the export function.

You should really treat the calibre database as a black box. You shouldn't really access files stored in there unless you really know what you're doing. Use the calibre functions to get access in this case, the export function

Although unless the members of your houehold maintain their own calaibre libraries, I'd recommend on central library. You could add a custom column that lists the household members interested in a book, and then have "virtual" libraries for each of them. This way you'd definitely only need to change the metadata once.

[Ghostcat]

You could just import it into one of your libraries, fix the metadata and then use Calibre's "Copy To Library" to put it into the other libraries.

[Gilles94]

thanks for your help.
I need to reorganize the libraries , keep only one and use it for all the kindles.
On the other hand, I will check the "Polish" plugin and the "Copy To library" option just in case ...

[Gilles94]

It seems that "Copy To library" is what I was looking for.
Thanks to you all and Happy New Year.