When I import and duplicates are detected how do I delete the old copy?

truth1ness · 05-09-2015, 03:38 PM

Sometimes I import books and Calibre finds that the new books are duplicates which is great and it asks me whether I want to import the books anyway. However, many times the new book is the one I want to keep but I see no option to keep the new one and delete the old one. I have to choose to import the new ones anyway then manually find all the duplicates which is pretty annoying.

If there is no way to do this could you add an option to "Keep newer" (in addition to the current "Keep older" and "Keep both"?

theducks · 05-09-2015, 03:58 PM

Depends on your Preferences:Adding Books Duplicates setting

Replace overwrites the same format
As New records = 2 books. YOU must manually solve the dilemma. Keep/Toss/Merge

truth1ness · 05-09-2015, 04:30 PM

Ok, so I see how to not get it to duplicate the record, but what I specifically need is to delete the old record and create a new one OR at least update or mark the duplicate record so I can work with it after importing.

Here's an example: Say I import a pre-made collection of 100 epubs I want to keep/group together in Calibre after importing. However, 50 of them already exist in my library from past piecemeal imports. Turning on automerge+overwriteexisting prevents the duuplicates and uses the new versions, but since it does not mark or update the old record's Added date I still have to find them all manually if I want to make them into a collection. If I create new records then I can easily group them but then I have to hunt down all the old duplicate records.

Is there a way to accomplish what I'm trying to do that I'm not seeing?

BetterRed · 05-09-2015, 05:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by truth1ness

Sometimes I import books and Calibre finds that the new books are duplicates which is great and it asks me whether I want to import the books anyway. However, many times the new book is the one I want to keep but I see no option to keep the new one and delete the old one. I have to choose to import the new ones anyway then manually find all the duplicates which is pretty annoying.

If there is no way to do this could you add an option to "Keep newer" (in addition to the current "Keep older" and "Keep both"?

@truth1ness - I add books to a NewBooks library, and I run calibre server against my Main library.

I use the [GUI PI] Find Duplicates->Find Library Duplicates feature to look for duplicates

For any duplicates I can look at the NewBooks 'item' metadata via the calibre library manager and at the duplicate 'item' metadata in Main via calibre server - if necessary I can do side-by-side compares of the content to determine which one is 'better'.

Yes -- I do have to 'find' the book in calibre server, either via its 'tag browser' or via its 'search box'. Yes -- it would be nice if the PI did all that for me, but I'm too lazy/old/incompetent to modify the PI myself. Besides I rarely get duplicates - maybe one in a couple of hundred.

After examining and resolving any duplicates I 'merge' items in NewBooks into Main via the copy to library feature - my setting will overwrite any duplicates.

BR

05-09-2015, 03:38 PM	#1
truth1ness Zealot Posts: 126 Karma: 50000 Join Date: Mar 2015 Device: none	When I import and duplicates are detected how do I delete the old copy? Sometimes I import books and Calibre finds that the new books are duplicates which is great and it asks me whether I want to import the books anyway. However, many times the new book is the one I want to keep but I see no option to keep the new one and delete the old one. I have to choose to import the new ones anyway then manually find all the duplicates which is pretty annoying. If there is no way to do this could you add an option to "Keep newer" (in addition to the current "Keep older" and "Keep both"?

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05-09-2015, 03:58 PM	#2
theducks Well trained by Cats Posts: 30,957 Karma: 60358908 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: The Central Coast of California Device: Kobo Libra2,Kobo Aura2v1, K4NT(Fixed: New Bat.), Galaxy Tab A	Depends on your Preferences:Adding Books Duplicates setting Replace overwrites the same format As New records = 2 books. YOU must manually solve the dilemma. Keep/Toss/Merge

05-09-2015, 04:30 PM	#3
truth1ness Zealot Posts: 126 Karma: 50000 Join Date: Mar 2015 Device: none	Ok, so I see how to not get it to duplicate the record, but what I specifically need is to delete the old record and create a new one OR at least update or mark the duplicate record so I can work with it after importing. Here's an example: Say I import a pre-made collection of 100 epubs I want to keep/group together in Calibre after importing. However, 50 of them already exist in my library from past piecemeal imports. Turning on automerge+overwriteexisting prevents the duuplicates and uses the new versions, but since it does not mark or update the old record's Added date I still have to find them all manually if I want to make them into a collection. If I create new records then I can easily group them but then I have to hunt down all the old duplicate records. Is there a way to accomplish what I'm trying to do that I'm not seeing?

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