How to get rid of duplicate & different authors

brielp · 12-29-2017, 07:49 AM

While cleaning up the different ways authors are defined in an existing EPUB (like "Pieter Aspe", "P. Aspe", "Aspe P.", ... Calibre correctly inserts the "Aut" ID, but doesn't remove nor updates the existing "Author" ID. The result is that books appear multiple times in my EPUB reader(s) because they read both IDs. I'm guessing that this is because of a mixture of EPUB 2 & 3 syntax in the same file, but I can't find an easy way to REMOVE the 'wrong' ID while moving the EPUB to my device

What does work, is either remove the ID manually in content.opf within each EPUB, or convert the EPUB to EPUB (which automatically cleans up), but are these the only solutions? Both are a lot of work because I have hundreds of books to 'convert' (and would either need to 'modify one by one', or 'delete all ORIGINAL_EPUB' files manually.

theducks · 12-29-2017, 10:33 AM

Please indicate all your steps from book/author selection to openong on your reader.

It sounds like you are bypassing calibre in some of these steps. FWIW the book metadata in the library is not updated automatically, but the copy sent is updated on the fly.

The best ways to fix the Author mess, is:
1) the Quality check Plugin. Detect, fix Initials or order
2) the Tag Browser, all else

brielp · 12-29-2017, 10:54 AM

Thank you for the reply. I imported the book(s) via 'Add books from directories', then changed the meta-data (Author and Author_Sort) and saved the changes: Calibre wrote a separate Metadata file in the EPUB book's folder (as expected). Upon export to my mobile (I use FBReader Premium) I suppose that it updated the 'Aut' ID in the EPUB embedded metadata (the ID was already there).

However, the original EPUB also has an 'Author' ID which obviously doesn't get removed by Calibre (why would it :-), nor updated. Unfortunately FBReader detects and uses it. Even worse: it remembers it... updating the EPUB file on the mobile isn't enough, even clearing FBReader cache isn't enough: I must clear all data (which resets the app to all default values). So I want to good way (in Caliber) to remove all 'Author' ID's before I move them to my mobile... The only way I found until know is a multiple book convert from EPUB to EPUB, and then manually remove the 'ORIGINAL_EPUB' files via Calibre. But we're talking many hunderds here... so I'd prefer a batch that removes the 'Author' ID from all my EPUB books without creating a copy.

theducks · 12-29-2017, 11:02 AM

The OPF inside the Library is intended for recovery.
Sending to device should have followed the current rules and rewritten the books metadata.

OTOH many devices (fbreader?) frequently do not forget the initial transfer values. Sometimes, removing the book (using the devices method) and adding a fresh book works.

I think this is a FBreader issue

brielp · 12-29-2017, 11:16 AM

You're certainly right about the device (FBReader) not forgetting the initial transfer value... I lost an entire day trying to solve a 'problem' on Calibre that was really one on FBReader :-| It probably happened when I restored my books after a phone factory reset: to be 'fast' I copied the Calibre library directly (using a file manager), instead of sending it to the device via Calibre. This ruined the metadata on FBReader, but I didn't expect that re-send via Calibre including clear cache on device would be insufficient. Ah well... thank you very much for your insight. Very helpful.

12-29-2017, 07:49 AM	#1
brielp Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2017 Device: none	How to get rid of duplicate & different authors While cleaning up the different ways authors are defined in an existing EPUB (like "Pieter Aspe", "P. Aspe", "Aspe P.", ... Calibre correctly inserts the "Aut" ID, but doesn't remove nor updates the existing "Author" ID. The result is that books appear multiple times in my EPUB reader(s) because they read both IDs. I'm guessing that this is because of a mixture of EPUB 2 & 3 syntax in the same file, but I can't find an easy way to REMOVE the 'wrong' ID while moving the EPUB to my device What does work, is either remove the ID manually in content.opf within each EPUB, or convert the EPUB to EPUB (which automatically cleans up), but are these the only solutions? Both are a lot of work because I have hundreds of books to 'convert' (and would either need to 'modify one by one', or 'delete all ORIGINAL_EPUB' files manually. Last edited by brielp; 12-29-2017 at 08:23 AM.

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12-29-2017, 10:33 AM	#2
theducks Well trained by Cats Posts: 31,048 Karma: 60358908 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: The Central Coast of California Device: Kobo Libra2,Kobo Aura2v1, K4NT(Fixed: New Bat.), Galaxy Tab A	Please indicate all your steps from book/author selection to openong on your reader. It sounds like you are bypassing calibre in some of these steps. FWIW the book metadata in the library is not updated automatically, but the copy sent is updated on the fly. The best ways to fix the Author mess, is: 1) the Quality check Plugin. Detect, fix Initials or order 2) the Tag Browser, all else

12-29-2017, 10:54 AM	#3
brielp Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2017 Device: none	Thank you for the reply. I imported the book(s) via 'Add books from directories', then changed the meta-data (Author and Author_Sort) and saved the changes: Calibre wrote a separate Metadata file in the EPUB book's folder (as expected). Upon export to my mobile (I use FBReader Premium) I suppose that it updated the 'Aut' ID in the EPUB embedded metadata (the ID was already there). However, the original EPUB also has an 'Author' ID which obviously doesn't get removed by Calibre (why would it :-), nor updated. Unfortunately FBReader detects and uses it. Even worse: it remembers it... updating the EPUB file on the mobile isn't enough, even clearing FBReader cache isn't enough: I must clear all data (which resets the app to all default values). So I want to good way (in Caliber) to remove all 'Author' ID's before I move them to my mobile... The only way I found until know is a multiple book convert from EPUB to EPUB, and then manually remove the 'ORIGINAL_EPUB' files via Calibre. But we're talking many hunderds here... so I'd prefer a batch that removes the 'Author' ID from all my EPUB books without creating a copy.

12-29-2017, 11:02 AM	#4
theducks Well trained by Cats Posts: 31,048 Karma: 60358908 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: The Central Coast of California Device: Kobo Libra2,Kobo Aura2v1, K4NT(Fixed: New Bat.), Galaxy Tab A	The OPF inside the Library is intended for recovery. Sending to device should have followed the current rules and rewritten the books metadata. OTOH many devices (fbreader?) frequently do not forget the initial transfer values. Sometimes, removing the book (using the devices method) and adding a fresh book works. I think this is a FBreader issue

12-29-2017, 11:16 AM	#5
brielp Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2017 Device: none	You're certainly right about the device (FBReader) not forgetting the initial transfer value... I lost an entire day trying to solve a 'problem' on Calibre that was really one on FBReader :-\| It probably happened when I restored my books after a phone factory reset: to be 'fast' I copied the Calibre library directly (using a file manager), instead of sending it to the device via Calibre. This ruined the metadata on FBReader, but I didn't expect that re-send via Calibre including clear cache on device would be insufficient. Ah well... thank you very much for your insight. Very helpful.

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