How do i restore my library

chris2288 · 06-03-2019, 08:13 AM

I installed Calibre today on my pc and love the program, but i ran into a problem. I showed it the path to 30 gb of books that were organized by topic. The program only imported 14 gb, then sorted them by author and placed them in over 500 folders. I dont know who 90 % of these authors are, and im lost now. Is there a way to revert all changes so that i can keep my original library structure, and still use Calibre ? I spent the last 20 years collecting these and really dont want to lose them. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

jhowell · 06-03-2019, 08:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chris2288

Is there a way to revert all changes so that i can keep my original library structure, and still use Calibre ?

See the post: Want to change folder structure or file names in the Calibre library?

Quote:

Originally Posted by chris2288

I spent the last 20 years collecting these and really dont want to lose them.

Importing into calibre should not have done anything to the original files.

Adoby · 06-03-2019, 09:33 AM

If you care about the books, as you seem to do, then you have several good backups of them. If you do something very wrong and tell calibre to delete the books when importing them, then you can easily restore the books from your backups.

It is possible to import copies of the books into calibre and leave the original books where they are.

It is also possible to later add tags and other metadata to the books so that you then can save the books to the exact same folder structure you have now. Or one even better and more wonderful.

You can also use calibre to create a catalog over the books and "publish" your collection on your network. And do searches and conversions and update covers and metadata and even edit the books and much more.

In calibre the books will be stored exactly as calibre require them to be stored, and you can't do anything about that. But you can at any time save a copy of all the books to some other place as well. With a wonderfully intricate hierarchical folder structure that feels very meaningful to you.

chris2288 · 06-03-2019, 10:14 AM

ok, thank you very much for your help.

06-03-2019, 08:13 AM	#1
chris2288 Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jun 2019 Device: pc	How do i restore my library I installed Calibre today on my pc and love the program, but i ran into a problem. I showed it the path to 30 gb of books that were organized by topic. The program only imported 14 gb, then sorted them by author and placed them in over 500 folders. I dont know who 90 % of these authors are, and im lost now. Is there a way to revert all changes so that i can keep my original library structure, and still use Calibre ? I spent the last 20 years collecting these and really dont want to lose them. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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06-03-2019, 09:33 AM	#3
Adoby Handy Elephant Posts: 1,737 Karma: 26785684 Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Southern Sweden, far out in the quiet woods Device: Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra	If you care about the books, as you seem to do, then you have several good backups of them. If you do something very wrong and tell calibre to delete the books when importing them, then you can easily restore the books from your backups. It is possible to import copies of the books into calibre and leave the original books where they are. It is also possible to later add tags and other metadata to the books so that you then can save the books to the exact same folder structure you have now. Or one even better and more wonderful. You can also use calibre to create a catalog over the books and "publish" your collection on your network. And do searches and conversions and update covers and metadata and even edit the books and much more. In calibre the books will be stored exactly as calibre require them to be stored, and you can't do anything about that. But you can at any time save a copy of all the books to some other place as well. With a wonderfully intricate hierarchical folder structure that feels very meaningful to you.

06-03-2019, 10:14 AM	#4
chris2288 Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jun 2019 Device: pc	ok, thank you very much for your help.

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