Folder names in calibre library

AlexBell · 05-14-2011, 04:42 AM

The folder names that calibre set up on my computer running Windows 7 are sorted by first name, so that Howard Zinn is before Kate O'Hearn.

Is there some way I can get calibre to make the folders Zinn, Howard and O'Hearn, Kate the same way they are displayed on calibre itself and on my Sony PRS 650?

Regards, Alex

Manichean · 05-14-2011, 05:04 AM

Read the sticky. If you absolutely have to muck about in there, though, the sorting available depends on what your OS/file manager can do.

AlexBell · 05-15-2011, 12:11 AM

Thanks, Manichean, but I don't think you're answering the question I asked - perhaps I didn't express myself clearly.

I'm not in any way trying to change the calibre library structure. I just want to find out how I can get calibre to name the folders so that they are in order by author's surname.

Regards, Alex

Manichean · 05-15-2011, 02:13 AM

I know. That's called changing the folder structure. To reiterate: You can't do that.

itimpi · 05-15-2011, 04:29 AM

The folder names are always based on the Author field in Calibre, so the only way to get them re-ordered is to change that field on books. Users are not expected to be accessing the Calibre library structure directly (but use the Calibre GUI instead) so this does not normally matter.

AlexBell · 05-15-2011, 04:56 AM

Well, you are the experts and I'm certainly not. But it still doesn't make sense to me.

I'm preparing a book in ePub format for a publisher who also wants it in mobi format. I had occasion several times recently to send the book in ePub format and the mobi conversion to a friend, so went to the author folder on my computer. It just seems odd to be searching for the author by her first name.

Is there a way to email the ePub and mobi versions from the library shown by calibre on my desktop?

Regards, Alex

Regards, Alex

Manichean · 05-15-2011, 05:10 AM

Sure, either set up their email address for emailing books in Calibre, or use the save to disk action to save the books and attach that to an email.
You should never, ever go into the library folder manually. Nor should you have to.

Oh, and judging by a recent thread, you shouldn't store your library on your desktop.

AlexBell · 05-15-2011, 06:41 AM

Now that's a scary thread. Not even I would store files on the desktop.

I guess I should accept that there are better ways to do what I wanted from within calibre, and find and use them.

Thanks again for your help.

Regards, Alex

AlexBell · 05-16-2011, 04:46 AM

After the above discussion I worked out how to save books to disk. It's interesting to know that the folders calibre puts them in have the form Author surname, author given name. I still don't understand why calibre can't or won't do the same with the library folders on my hard drive.

Regards, Alex

catbehemoth · 05-16-2011, 05:54 AM

I didn't want to open another thread about folder structure. It's just my point of view which may count one day to tip the scales toward manageble folder structure. ;-)

I hope you wont be offended if i'd compare folder structure policy of Calibre with ITunes. Yes it makes life easier for many people but also many people love their own way to sort stuff out. As much as i like software that just works, at the end of the day the only software that survives on my computer is the ones which give freedom of choice and most flexibility. Itunes didn't survive a day. I use Mediamonkey instead and will never go back. I love the way i can create and manage folders any way i want. I'd say music tagging is more complecated than book one.
And by giving people option to manage libraries the way the want will only benefit/advance Calibre. We are talking about an additional feature not a replacement for existing system, and this may convince some people stay with Calibre (Myself i stick to Calibre - it's still the best piece of software i found for book management, but that's not the point).
This is how i understand open software - freedom of choice for users.

PS. I'd even vote for a single click operation to wipe my harddrive without any confirmations=)
PSS. Anyway, Happy Monday Everyone!

Manichean · 05-16-2011, 06:38 AM

Apart from the sticky I linked to earlier in this thread, there is some further explanation of the decision regarding Calibre's folder structure in the FAQ.
The bottom line is to view the library as a database. You need programs to interface with a database, or it is a black box. The programs here are Calibre and its CLI tools.

avantman42 · 05-16-2011, 08:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by catbehemoth

And by giving people option to manage libraries the way the want will only benefit/advance Calibre. We are talking about an additional feature not a replacement for existing system, and this may convince some people stay with Calibre (Myself i stick to Calibre - it's still the best piece of software i found for book management, but that's not the point).

The problem is, implementing such a feature will take time and effort. I don't know how much time and effort, but I suspect it wouldn't be trivial. The Calibre developers only have a finite amount of time and effort to spend, and so they have to prioritise. As I understand it, right now, this feature is a very low priority.

Quote:

Originally Posted by catbehemoth

This is how i understand open software - freedom of choice for users.

In so far as the source code is available, and can be modified, yes, there is absolute freedom of choice. You can change the code to do anything you like. Or pay someone to do so.

Open source does not, however, mean that the software will do anything you like out of the box. Firefox will not store my bookmarks in a MySQL database. Because the source is available, I could modify the code to make it do so. Same with Calibre - it won't do what you want out of the box, but you could modify the source to make it to do so.

Sweetpea · 05-16-2011, 08:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlexBell

After the above discussion I worked out how to save books to disk. It's interesting to know that the folders calibre puts them in have the form Author surname, author given name. I still don't understand why calibre can't or won't do the same with the library folders on my hard drive.

Regards, Alex

If you use the "save to disk" method, you can define exactly how you want your books saved, including folder name.

And in case of Calibre's internal folders, just look at them not as a folder structure, but a database structure. It's part of how Calibre works and how it's set up ages ago. They could have made a "real" database with so called blob fields which contain the books. But this way, you make use of the strength of the OS and keep the application a lot more simple.

Manichean · 05-16-2011, 09:45 AM

You should also keep in mind that, if the internal database were to be rewritten to, say, use templates, that would incur a performance penalty every time a book was accessed, because the template would have to be evaluated. And if the structure were to be user-definable, it would also encourage users to poke around in there, which would lead to breakages and unhappy feelings all around.

Starson17 · 05-16-2011, 11:21 AM

No one has said it, but if the user converts to saving his author names as LastName, Firstname, his folders will be sorted as he wants them as Lastname_Firstname.

He still shouldn't access the books directly, unless he knows what he's doing, but it's not that hard to learn how to do it right. Just don't change anything. Copying is OK, although he will lose some features of metadata update doing it that way.

There's no need to convert to LastName, Firstname format, but it's a legitimate option for him.

05-14-2011, 04:42 AM	#1
AlexBell Wizard Posts: 3,413 Karma: 13369310 Join Date: May 2008 Location: Launceston, Tasmania Device: Sony PRS T3, Kobo Glo, Kindle Touch, iPad, Samsung SB 2 tablet	Folder names in calibre library The folder names that calibre set up on my computer running Windows 7 are sorted by first name, so that Howard Zinn is before Kate O'Hearn. Is there some way I can get calibre to make the folders Zinn, Howard and O'Hearn, Kate the same way they are displayed on calibre itself and on my Sony PRS 650? Regards, Alex

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05-14-2011, 05:04 AM	#2
Manichean Wizard Posts: 3,130 Karma: 91256 Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Germany Device: Cybook Gen3	Read the sticky. If you absolutely have to muck about in there, though, the sorting available depends on what your OS/file manager can do.

05-15-2011, 12:11 AM	#3
AlexBell Wizard Posts: 3,413 Karma: 13369310 Join Date: May 2008 Location: Launceston, Tasmania Device: Sony PRS T3, Kobo Glo, Kindle Touch, iPad, Samsung SB 2 tablet	Thanks, Manichean, but I don't think you're answering the question I asked - perhaps I didn't express myself clearly. I'm not in any way trying to change the calibre library structure. I just want to find out how I can get calibre to name the folders so that they are in order by author's surname. Regards, Alex

05-15-2011, 02:13 AM	#4
Manichean Wizard Posts: 3,130 Karma: 91256 Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Germany Device: Cybook Gen3	I know. That's called changing the folder structure. To reiterate: You can't do that.

05-15-2011, 04:29 AM	#5
itimpi Wizard Posts: 4,553 Karma: 950151 Join Date: Nov 2008 Device: Sony PRS-950, iphone/ipad (Marvin/iBooks/QuickReader)	The folder names are always based on the Author field in Calibre, so the only way to get them re-ordered is to change that field on books. Users are not expected to be accessing the Calibre library structure directly (but use the Calibre GUI instead) so this does not normally matter.

05-15-2011, 04:56 AM	#6
AlexBell Wizard Posts: 3,413 Karma: 13369310 Join Date: May 2008 Location: Launceston, Tasmania Device: Sony PRS T3, Kobo Glo, Kindle Touch, iPad, Samsung SB 2 tablet	Well, you are the experts and I'm certainly not. But it still doesn't make sense to me. I'm preparing a book in ePub format for a publisher who also wants it in mobi format. I had occasion several times recently to send the book in ePub format and the mobi conversion to a friend, so went to the author folder on my computer. It just seems odd to be searching for the author by her first name. Is there a way to email the ePub and mobi versions from the library shown by calibre on my desktop? Regards, Alex Regards, Alex

05-15-2011, 05:10 AM	#7
Manichean Wizard Posts: 3,130 Karma: 91256 Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Germany Device: Cybook Gen3	Sure, either set up their email address for emailing books in Calibre, or use the save to disk action to save the books and attach that to an email. You should never, ever go into the library folder manually. Nor should you have to. Oh, and judging by a recent thread, you shouldn't store your library on your desktop.

05-15-2011, 06:41 AM	#8
AlexBell Wizard Posts: 3,413 Karma: 13369310 Join Date: May 2008 Location: Launceston, Tasmania Device: Sony PRS T3, Kobo Glo, Kindle Touch, iPad, Samsung SB 2 tablet	Now that's a scary thread. Not even I would store files on the desktop. I guess I should accept that there are better ways to do what I wanted from within calibre, and find and use them. Thanks again for your help. Regards, Alex

05-16-2011, 04:46 AM	#9
AlexBell Wizard Posts: 3,413 Karma: 13369310 Join Date: May 2008 Location: Launceston, Tasmania Device: Sony PRS T3, Kobo Glo, Kindle Touch, iPad, Samsung SB 2 tablet	After the above discussion I worked out how to save books to disk. It's interesting to know that the folders calibre puts them in have the form Author surname, author given name. I still don't understand why calibre can't or won't do the same with the library folders on my hard drive. Regards, Alex

05-16-2011, 05:54 AM	#10
catbehemoth Junior Member Posts: 8 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2011 Location: UK Device: Hanlin v3ext	I didn't want to open another thread about folder structure. It's just my point of view which may count one day to tip the scales toward manageble folder structure. ;-) I hope you wont be offended if i'd compare folder structure policy of Calibre with ITunes. Yes it makes life easier for many people but also many people love their own way to sort stuff out. As much as i like software that just works, at the end of the day the only software that survives on my computer is the ones which give freedom of choice and most flexibility. Itunes didn't survive a day. I use Mediamonkey instead and will never go back. I love the way i can create and manage folders any way i want. I'd say music tagging is more complecated than book one. And by giving people option to manage libraries the way the want will only benefit/advance Calibre. We are talking about an additional feature not a replacement for existing system, and this may convince some people stay with Calibre (Myself i stick to Calibre - it's still the best piece of software i found for book management, but that's not the point). This is how i understand open software - freedom of choice for users. PS. I'd even vote for a single click operation to wipe my harddrive without any confirmations=) PSS. Anyway, Happy Monday Everyone!

05-16-2011, 06:38 AM	#11
Manichean Wizard Posts: 3,130 Karma: 91256 Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Germany Device: Cybook Gen3	Apart from the sticky I linked to earlier in this thread, there is some further explanation of the decision regarding Calibre's folder structure in the FAQ. The bottom line is to view the library as a database. You need programs to interface with a database, or it is a black box. The programs here are Calibre and its CLI tools.

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05-16-2011, 09:45 AM	#14
Manichean Wizard Posts: 3,130 Karma: 91256 Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Germany Device: Cybook Gen3	You should also keep in mind that, if the internal database were to be rewritten to, say, use templates, that would incur a performance penalty every time a book was accessed, because the template would have to be evaluated. And if the structure were to be user-definable, it would also encourage users to poke around in there, which would lead to breakages and unhappy feelings all around.

05-16-2011, 11:21 AM	#15
Starson17 Wizard Posts: 4,004 Karma: 177841 Join Date: Dec 2009 Device: WinMo: IPAQ; Android: HTC HD2, Archos 7o; Java:Gravity T	No one has said it, but if the user converts to saving his author names as LastName, Firstname, his folders will be sorted as he wants them as Lastname_Firstname. He still shouldn't access the books directly, unless he knows what he's doing, but it's not that hard to learn how to do it right. Just don't change anything. Copying is OK, although he will lose some features of metadata update doing it that way. There's no need to convert to LastName, Firstname format, but it's a legitimate option for him.