What is the merging logic?

loviedovie · 06-04-2018, 01:56 PM

Hi

I am really confused about how book merging works

Sometimes Calibre merges to first selected sometimes second selected sometimes, order does not matter.

What is the logic of merging order? The reason I want this to be on certain order because sometimes when I merge books one has a cover the other one does not, or I might prefer one cover over other. WHen it is arbitrary I loose cover or other details sometimes

To me it seems like it does not follow the selection order at all even though it says that is what is going to happen.

For instance

-I selected pdf then epub, press "m" or "alt-m" or "shift-alt-m", it says merging to pdf.

-I selected epub then pdf, press "m" or "alt-m" or "shift-alt-m", it says merging to pdf.

As you see the result it the same.

I am using 4.24.2 on Linux x65

theducks · 06-04-2018, 02:45 PM

IIRC it is the top one that is the destination.
I think the instructions elude to the first selected is the destination

But if it is just the cover (and it had been embedded either originaly or by you), open the MDE: select the format that has the desired cover: click the blue book (on the top left of that area)

loviedovie · 06-04-2018, 03:08 PM

@theducks

What is "top one" in this context?

Like I said the select order makes no difference, and Calibre pretends that it makes a difference. You can see in the popup window or in the menu part. I do not know how else to describe the issue.

theducks · 06-04-2018, 03:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by loviedovie

@theducks

What is "top one" in this context?

Like I said the select order makes no difference, and Calibre pretends that it makes a difference. You can see in the popup window or in the menu part. I do not know how else to describe the issue.

Top position IN the list (as sorted) . Yup! that one got me too

BetterRed · 06-04-2018, 06:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by theducks

{ . . . ] Yup! that one got me too

- still does

IMO drag-n-drop would work well for this -- drag the book line you don't want to keep into the book line you do want to keep.

Having to disturb the current sort order to force the book line you want to keep to the top of list seems out of line with calibre's normally intuitive UX.

BR

loviedovie · 06-04-2018, 08:57 PM

Word Up.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BetterRed

- still does

IMO drag-n-drop would work well for this -- drag the book line you don't want to keep into the book line you do want to keep.

Having to disturb the current sort order to force the book line you want to keep to the top of list seems out of line with calibre's normally intuitive UX.

BR

kovidgoyal · 06-04-2018, 10:52 PM

Works for me, steps I tried:

1) Click book number 5

2) Click book number 1

3) Select merge: Target book is book number 1

4) Click some other book

5) Click book number 1

6) Click book number 5

7) Select merge: Target book is book number 5

I agree D&D would be nicer, but IIRC there were some technical problems that made implementing it a little hairy, but it may be worth another look, open a bug report for it and I will get to it when I have the time.

BetterRed · 06-05-2018, 01:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

I agree D&D would be nicer, but IIRC there were some technical problems that made implementing it a little hairy, but it may be worth another look, open a bug report for it and I will get to it when I have the time.

Done.

BR

loviedovie · 06-05-2018, 04:07 PM

That definetely does not work for me, that was the original point that I was trying to make. I guess time to bug this.

Is there a specific "click" that you are using here? I am in cover mode and I tried ctrl selection and shift selection.

Btw I am trying to merge books with different formats if that makes sense, like pdt and epub into one record.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

Works for me, steps I tried:

1) Click book number 5

2) Click book number 1

3) Select merge: Target book is book number 1

4) Click some other book

5) Click book number 1

6) Click book number 5

7) Select merge: Target book is book number 5

kovidgoyal · 06-05-2018, 09:14 PM

I am in book list mode and I use Ctrl+click, not shift+click,

loviedovie · 06-06-2018, 12:26 PM

Ok, so this only work in list mode. It does not work in cover mode. At least that is the case on Linux x64 3.24.2

Quote:

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

I am in book list mode and I use Ctrl+click, not shift+click,

kovidgoyal · 06-11-2018, 10:44 PM

https://github.com/kovidgoyal/calibr...726bf6ed4c3689

BetterRed · 06-14-2018, 07:04 AM

Hey guys, I found this at github ==>> https://github.com/kovidgoyal/calibr...363b16bd374c63

Thanks Kovid

BR

JohnnyBook · 06-14-2018, 09:22 PM

I came here today specifically for this problem (merged books into wrong target).

[in book list mode]
I had a bunch of book entries that I merged together. In all cases (since I sorted the list by title) as it happened, the ones I wanted to Keep was the Second title.
ie:

Book1 dup
Book1 Master
Book2 dup
Book2 Master
Book3 dup
Book3 Master

So I would click on the second title, and then use cursor keys to ALSO include the first title in the selection. Then merge them.

In every case it ended up that the First Title became the target/master instead of the Second title.

This happened to about 6 books before I noticed what was happening. So I reverse sorted the list by titles so that the entries I wanted to keep were the first in the list and finished merging the books without problems.

Since I know that I have in the past used Mouse clicks to select books to merger (when they were Not next to each other in the list) and it worked as I wanted, I suspect that because I was using the cursor key (up arrow) to include the dup entry in the selection that this was the cause of the failure, and maybe what caused other people to have the same problem.

Dopedangel · 06-15-2018, 01:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnnyBook

I came here today specifically for this problem (merged books into wrong target).

[in book list mode]
I had a bunch of book entries that I merged together. In all cases (since I sorted the list by title) as it happened, the ones I wanted to Keep was the Second title.
ie:

Book1 dup
Book1 Master
Book2 dup
Book2 Master
Book3 dup
Book3 Master

So I would click on the second title, and then use cursor keys to ALSO include the first title in the selection. Then merge them.

In every case it ended up that the First Title became the target/master instead of the Second title.

This happened to about 6 books before I noticed what was happening. So I reverse sorted the list by titles so that the entries I wanted to keep were the first in the list and finished merging the books without problems.

Since I know that I have in the past used Mouse clicks to select books to merger (when they were Not next to each other in the list) and it worked as I wanted, I suspect that because I was using the cursor key (up arrow) to include the dup entry in the selection that this was the cause of the failure, and maybe what caused other people to have the same problem.

I think you did it opposite of the way you are supposed to select the dup first then the target for merge

06-04-2018, 01:56 PM	#1
loviedovie Addict Posts: 295 Karma: 2139988 Join Date: Nov 2014 Device: bookeen	What is the merging logic? Hi I am really confused about how book merging works Sometimes Calibre merges to first selected sometimes second selected sometimes, order does not matter. What is the logic of merging order? The reason I want this to be on certain order because sometimes when I merge books one has a cover the other one does not, or I might prefer one cover over other. WHen it is arbitrary I loose cover or other details sometimes To me it seems like it does not follow the selection order at all even though it says that is what is going to happen. For instance -I selected pdf then epub, press "m" or "alt-m" or "shift-alt-m", it says merging to pdf. -I selected epub then pdf, press "m" or "alt-m" or "shift-alt-m", it says merging to pdf. As you see the result it the same. I am using 4.24.2 on Linux x65 Last edited by loviedovie; 06-04-2018 at 02:00 PM.

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06-04-2018, 02:45 PM	#2
theducks Well trained by Cats Posts: 29,801 Karma: 54830978 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: The Central Coast of California Device: Kobo Libra2,Kobo Aura2v1, K4NT(Fixed: New Bat.), Galaxy Tab A	IIRC it is the top one that is the destination. I think the instructions elude to the first selected is the destination But if it is just the cover (and it had been embedded either originaly or by you), open the MDE: select the format that has the desired cover: click the blue book (on the top left of that area)

06-04-2018, 03:08 PM	#3
loviedovie Addict Posts: 295 Karma: 2139988 Join Date: Nov 2014 Device: bookeen	@theducks What is "top one" in this context? Like I said the select order makes no difference, and Calibre pretends that it makes a difference. You can see in the popup window or in the menu part. I do not know how else to describe the issue.

06-04-2018, 10:52 PM	#7
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,858 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	Works for me, steps I tried: 1) Click book number 5 2) Click book number 1 3) Select merge: Target book is book number 1 4) Click some other book 5) Click book number 1 6) Click book number 5 7) Select merge: Target book is book number 5 I agree D&D would be nicer, but IIRC there were some technical problems that made implementing it a little hairy, but it may be worth another look, open a bug report for it and I will get to it when I have the time.

06-05-2018, 09:14 PM	#10
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,858 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	I am in book list mode and I use Ctrl+click, not shift+click,

06-11-2018, 10:44 PM	#12
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,858 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	https://github.com/kovidgoyal/calibr...726bf6ed4c3689

06-14-2018, 07:04 AM	#13
BetterRed null operator (he/him) Posts: 20,568 Karma: 26954694 Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Sydney Australia Device: none	Hey guys, I found this at github ==>> https://github.com/kovidgoyal/calibr...363b16bd374c63 Thanks Kovid BR

06-14-2018, 09:22 PM	#14
JohnnyBook Groupie Posts: 174 Karma: 126824 Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Out There Device: K3 W/3G (Fixed screen!) & Paperwhite Wifi	I came here today specifically for this problem (merged books into wrong target). [in book list mode] I had a bunch of book entries that I merged together. In all cases (since I sorted the list by title) as it happened, the ones I wanted to Keep was the Second title. ie: Book1 dup Book1 Master Book2 dup Book2 Master Book3 dup Book3 Master So I would click on the second title, and then use cursor keys to ALSO include the first title in the selection. Then merge them. In every case it ended up that the First Title became the target/master instead of the Second title. This happened to about 6 books before I noticed what was happening. So I reverse sorted the list by titles so that the entries I wanted to keep were the first in the list and finished merging the books without problems. Since I know that I have in the past used Mouse clicks to select books to merger (when they were Not next to each other in the list) and it worked as I wanted, I suspect that because I was using the cursor key (up arrow) to include the dup entry in the selection that this was the cause of the failure, and maybe what caused other people to have the same problem.