Calibre does not remove books with "Missing book formats"

[excaliber]

Hi all,

I have many books, for which their book format is missing and I want to remove. So, I did "Check Library" and found them with "Missing book formats". According to Help:

In the case of missing formats, checking the fixable box and pushing this button will tell calibre that the formats are really gone. Use this if you are not going to restore the formats from a backup.

So, I checked the box and clicked "Fix marked". I was expecting that Calibre removes them, instead Calibre has removed the entries in the "Check Library" and left them in the Library.

Am I missing something?

Is there a way to remove them automatically now?

[BetterRed]

If you do a search for formats:false, you'll get a list of books with no format files.

If you select them all with Ctrl+A and press the Del key they'll be gone.

Some people use the absence of any formats file as an indicator that they want to get the book.

BR

[excaliber]

I forgot, that I can sort them with "Formats" Column. So, I can find this way which books don't have any format.
The question remains though, why Calibre didn't remove them?
And one more thing. I check some of them and I see that Calibre reports "book x has no available formats." but when I open the folder there is a format.
Any idea why?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by excaliber

I forgot, that I can sort them with "Formats" Column. So, I can find this way which books don't have any format.
The question remains though, why Calibre didn't remove them?
And one more thing. I check some of them and I see that Calibre reports "book x has no available formats." but when I open the folder there is a format.
Any idea why?

One thing to try is to make a copy of the library directory and using that copy, try to rebuild the database and see what happens.

[excaliber]

@BetterRed: thanks for the quick response. We posted almost simultaneously...
The method you suggested is better.

[excaliber]

@JSWolf:
Do you mean this way:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...01&postcount=6

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by excaliber

@JSWolf:
Do you mean this way:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...01&postcount=6

Nope. Do not delete the original directory.

1. Copy the existing library directory
2. Point Calibre to the new directory
3. Click on the library icon in the toolbar
4. Select Library Maintenance > Restore database

Now you can check the restored database and see if any of the missing eBooks have returned.

[excaliber]

@JSWolf: Thanks.
Calibre could see the formats after rebuilding the DB.

[theducks]

Formats: False does NOT find 'Missing' formats (as reported by Maintenance).

'Missing' implies Calibre THINKS there are supposed to be those formats ( DB entry exists)

formats: false finds KNOWN 'Empty Books' (details with no formats) AS CREATED with Calibre

2 typical causes of this error
1) Using the OS to make ANY change to a files name or presence
2) Running the Library in 'the cloud' / net share
(Dual boot Win/Linux will also cause EXTRA books at the same time due to case issues )

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by excaliber

@JSWolf: Thanks.
Calibre could see the formats after rebuilding the DB.

Glad it worked.

[BetterRed]

Best thing is to stay out of library folders and its sub-folders.

The calibre software can do everything you need to do and maintain integrity between the library folder tree and the database. Using a file manager to add, rename or delete folders/files in a library won't do that.

I have several libraries with up to 150K books, I run library check on them weekly. I get very few errors, when I do get one I can invariably put it down to something I did within the last week. And because I know what I did I know how to fix it.

BR