Calibre: Can I change books in my library?

[agnostyc]

I mean add new bookmarks in pdf, change text in .docx files etc.. located in my calibre-library.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by agnostyc

I mean add new bookmarks in pdf, change text in .docx files etc.. located in my calibre-library.

1 way is to open the metadata editor and drop in the replacement format
(can also be done in the details pane)

caution on What book you drop it into (Why I like using the ME window)

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by agnostyc

I mean add new bookmarks in pdf, change text in .docx files etc.. located in my calibre-library.

If you uncheck PDF and DOCX in Preferences->Interface->Behaviour->Use internal viewer for: then when you view those file types whatever programs you have in your Operating System file associations will be used to open the file - eg Adobe Acrobat for PDF's and MS Word for DOCX's

If you then View the PDF it will be opened in Acrobat where you can annotate etc, when you do a regular Save (ctrl/s) in Acrobat it will save (overwrite) the PDF in the library book folder. Same with DOCX - except you'd edit in Word.

BR

[eschwartz]

In general it would be a good idea that calibre does not use the internal viewer for those formats -- PDF conversion is horrible and Word is superior than ebook-viewer for DOC/X. In fact, that (unchecked) is the default.

As BetterRed said -- just open the format in your OS-default application, it probably has some builtin way of doing what you need.


PDF and DOCX should be fine -- but not EPUB or other standard ebook formats, since they don't have standards for embedded annotations. But that may not be necessary -- you only mentioned PDF and DOCX. Just thought I'd mention it to cover all the bases.

[agnostyc]

=) Thank you all for such a detailed reply. there is still one question, can I completely replace some file in my calibre-library?
I mean in case if u recognized the text in your pdf and u want to replace old file by new one??

[theducks]

Originally Posted by agnostyc

=) Thank you all for such a detailed reply. there is still one question, can I completely replace some file in my calibre-library?
I mean in case if u recognized the text in your pdf and u want to replace old file by new one??

Post #2 is how to REPLACE an existing format with one of the same type from the outside (file system), while retaining any other formats and Calibre metadata

[agnostyc]

oh, finally I`ve got it, thx

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by agnostyc

=) Thank you all for such a detailed reply. there is still one question, can I completely replace some file in my calibre-library?
I mean in case if u recognized the text in your pdf and u want to replace old file by new one??

If you open a PDF in lets say acrobat, highlight some text and annotate with stickies etc and then do a save then the pdf in the library is overwritten - open it again and the highlights and stickies will be there.

Same with DOCX - make changes in Word and save, the DOCX in the library is changed.

The library is a database and set of regular folders, containing regular files. When you 'view' a 'format' in calibre there's no substantive difference 'opening' the 'file' in a file manager.

BR

[fidvo]

I actually do this quite often. Sometimes it's useful to have a series description, yet Calibre doesn't have a mechanism to store information at the series level other than name and order.

To create a Series info record, I drag and drop an empty text file into Calibre, change the name and metadata, then double-click it to open it in my favorite text editor.

The only drawback is that the Size field doesn't automatically update in the database when you edit a file directly like that. If you don't care about the Size field anyway, it probably doesn't matter.

[agnostyc]

thx, it's advisable

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by fidvo

I actually do this quite often. Sometimes it's useful to have a series description, yet Calibre doesn't have a mechanism to store information at the series level other than name and order.

To create a Series info record, I drag and drop an empty text file into Calibre, change the name and metadata, then double-click it to open it in my favorite text editor.

The only drawback is that the Size field doesn't automatically update in the database when you edit a file directly like that. If you don't care about the Size field anyway, it probably doesn't matter.

I'm sure you know this, but another approach would be to add your own custom columns to Calibre to store the additional information you require.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I'm sure you know this, but another approach would be to add your own custom columns to Calibre to store the additional information you require.

Custom columns are only usable at the book (table) level. (Custom Columns are done with some wonderful DB Magic)

Calibre is built on a Relational DB model

My DB sensibilities are rubbed wrong, flat filing data that more properly belongs in another M-1 table

Series (Notes/comments)
Author (Notes) < I think that this one does have a 'Link' field, it is just tricky to get at to add data

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by theducks

Custom columns are only usable at the book (table) level. (Custom Columns are done with some wonderful DB Magic)

Yes, I thought that's what the OP was wanting (eg he mentioned a "size" property). Apologies if I've misunderstood.

Sure, if you just want information about the series as a whole, then the way the OP's currently doing it as absolutely fine.