Merge Calibre Libraries

[davidm_uk]

I've got two Calibre libraries on my hard drive that I want to merge into one, either into one of the existing ones, or with a new name/location (I can always rename it afterwards). There will be some duplicates, but I can remove them afterwards.

What's the best way of doing this?

[theducks]

Originally Posted by davidm_uk

I've got two Calibre libraries on my hard drive that I want to merge into one, either into one of the existing ones, or with a new name/location (I can always rename it afterwards). There will be some duplicates, but I can remove them afterwards.

What's the best way of doing this?

Select books in the Source Library: Right click: Copy to Library

Warning: assumes all custom fields exist in the destination.

Suggestion: Read the Tweaks descriptions # Control how tags are applied when copying books to another library

[davidm_uk]

Thanks, all done!

[BetterRed]

Note for others wanting to do something similar

You can resolve the issue of duplicates in different libraries with the Find Duplicates/Find Library Duplicates feature before you do the merge - works very nicely

BR

[szweiner2]

would you mind explaining in more detail where you find source? Is it in calibre? If so where in the toolbar. Also exactly where do you right click to copy to library. I have two calibre libraries on the same drive on my iMac and want to update where I have one complete library with no dupes after the merge.
Thanks
Sandy

[theducks]

Originally Posted by szweiner2

would you mind explaining in more detail where you find source? Is it in calibre? If so where in the toolbar. Also exactly where do you right click to copy to library. I have two calibre libraries on the same drive on my iMac and want to update where I have one complete library with no dupes after the merge.
Thanks
Sandy

(Assumes that you also have previously view the destination Library so that it appears on the quick switch list)

view the source library
select (highlight books)
right-click on the selection: copy to Library: <pick option>: choose destination Library from list
Wait

[szweiner2]

Originally Posted by theducks

(Assumes that you also have previously view the destination Library so that it appears on the quick switch list)

view the source library
select (highlight books)
right-click on the selection: copy to Library: <pick option>: choose destination Library from list
Wait

Thanks but again, I am not sure where you are finding the source and what exactly are you right clicking.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by szweiner2

Thanks but again, I am not sure where you are finding the source and what exactly are you right clicking.

Lets say you have two libraries one named Main and the other Sundry - first thing you should do is to back up both libraries.

To merge the Sundry library into the Main library, both libraries must be known to Calibre, i.e. when you click the Library icon (the one with four books and a book count) you can see both the Main and Sundry libraries

Assuming that's all OK then switch to the Sundry library

Lets do one book first

Right click on the first book and select Copy to Library
Select Main - Calibre will copy the book from Sundry to Main

Switch to the Main Library and you should be able to locate the book that you just copied

Now lets do the rest of the books, switch back to the Sundry library

Delete the first book, you've already copied that
Highlight all the books (Ctrl/Cmd + A)
Right click anywhere on the highlighted list of books and select Copy to Library
Select Main - it will now copy all the books in Sundry to Main.

Once you're satisfied that the books you had in the Sundry library are now in your Main library, go back into the Sundry Library, highlight all the books (Ctrl/Cmd A) and Remove them all. Now switch back to the Main library, right click the Library icon, and remove the Sundry library.

BR

[szweiner2]

Thanks and it does work. I discovered that you have to do a very thorough job of locating duplicates and delete them before you do a copy. I did exact duplicates but should have than done similar cause there were many dups that were close.

Thanks again for your patience and help
Sandy