Is My Calibre's Going Blind from All the Many e

[BewilderedUser]

Hello, All,

Please see my screenshot, which is attached to this post.

Even though I'm clearly in the right directory, my Calibre installation just doesn't see the books that are there for some reason. Anyone know why not??

If it matters, perhaps I should note that prior to this, I'd "merged" multiple Calibre Libraries folders -- consolidated three different Caliber Library directories, to be exact, using the Move function.

No problems whatsoever merging the first two, but this third one occasioned this problem with the "invisible" books not having been moved (most have been but not these remaining titles for some reason).

Please advise; thanks!

[Sirtel]

How did you merge the libraries? From the Calibre, using the Copy to library function? Or moving the files directly? The latter is NOT the way to do it. Calibre does not *see* anything you do with the files and those changes won't get recorded in its database. All actions must be done in the Calibre program, not with the files themselves. Now you just have to re-import these invisible books, using the Add books button.

[BewilderedUser]

Thanks for taking the time to help!

I followed the instructions given at https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=140376 to the best of my ability; they weren't very clear to me but basically I clicked on the large "Calibre Library" icon on top and just changed the directory. Once I was in the source directory, I selected all the ebooks with CTRL+A, right-clicked, and chose some copy function presented in the context-menu...in the resultant dialog-box, I checked "move" instead of simply "copy" and that's that.

Incidentally, Windows 10 shows my merged/consolidated Calibre Library directory to have only 1,670 items in it whereas the Calibre program itself lists 1,987 eBooks here. Problem?

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by BewilderedUser

Thanks for taking the time to help!

I followed the instructions given at https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=140376 to the best of my ability; they weren't very clear to me but basically I clicked on the large "Calibre Library" icon on top and just changed the directory. Once I was in the source directory, I selected all the ebooks with CTRL+A, right-clicked, and chose some copy function presented in the context-menu...in the resultant dialog-box, I checked "move" instead of simply "copy" and that's that.

Incidentally, Windows 10 shows my merged/consolidated Calibre Library directory to have only 1,670 items in it whereas the Calibre program itself lists 1,987 eBooks here. Problem?

Seems you did it the right way. Best run the Library Maintenance (right-click on the library icon) to see what errors your library may have.

[BewilderedUser]

So here's a third screenshot (my second one was added as an edit while you were replying; it's about the discrepancy between the number of items my OS reports for the Calibre Library directory and what the number of eBooks Calibre itself lists for that directory).

Do you know what's going on now? I can't make any sense of it but they don't seem like serious issues.

[BewilderedUser]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Seems you did it the right way. Best run the Library Maintenance (right-click on the library icon) to see what errors your library may have.

Here's that Library Maintenance report, attached as another screenshot. Is it serious?

[Sirtel]

Seems so. Click on the tiny arrows to see in detail. And then you have to repair these errors. As for missing formats, you can re-import the formats via the edit metadata window for each such book, of course you must have a backup of the files somewhere to do that. As to extra formats, make a back-up of them first, then let the program delete them and re-import them the same way.

Edit: is your library in a cloud storage (OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox etc.) and constantly syncing in the background?

[BewilderedUser]

Hey! Just wanted to say that the problem seems resolved now; I had Library Maintenance rebuild the database and that woke up Calibre and it now sees the rest of the eBooks!

Thanks again for all your time and thoughts!!

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by BewilderedUser

Hey! Just wanted to say that the problem seems resolved now; I had Library Maintenance rebuild the database and that woke up Calibre and it now sees the rest of the eBooks!

Thanks again for all your time and thoughts!!

Glad you got it resolved. A bit of advice re cloud storage: if your library is in a folder that's being constantly synced with a cloud provider (e.g. OneDrive), move it out of there. That can easily cause database corruption. If you want to have a backup in the cloud, use FreeFileSync or the like to mirror your library folder to the cloud (one way sync only).

[BewilderedUser]

UGH -- SPOKE TOO SOON (of ocurse!).

Calibre's now not seeing other folders I'm trying to point it to (so that I can continue to "consolidate all my eBooks within the Calibre system").

Any idea why it's not seeing what's there???

[BewilderedUser]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Glad you got it resolved. A bit of advice re cloud storage: if your library is in a folder that's being constantly synced with a cloud provider (e.g. OneDrive), move it out of there. That can easily cause database corruption. If you want to have a backup in the cloud, use FreeFileSync or the like to mirror your library folder to the cloud (one way sync only).

Actually just good old-fashioned local storage -- microSD on my Windows tablet, actually.

Unfortunately, Calibre's again giving me problems, now not even getting into folders it knows is there!

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by BewilderedUser

Actually just good old-fashioned local storage -- microSD on my Windows tablet, actually.

Unfortunately, Calibre's again giving me problems, now not even getting into folders it knows is there!

Possibly there is a problem with the card. Can you create a new library on a local drive (not on the card)? If so, try to do that and re-import all your books to this new library.

[BewilderedUser]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Probably because the database file is missing.

How can I ascertain its presence?

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Again, do you have the library folder syncing to a cloud provider in the background?

No, just local storage on removable media.

So, um, just to be clear (sorry for all my obtuse rambling): now, right now, I'm trying to "change the source" or to put it another way I'm trying to "point" Calibre's sights on to another directory. Until now, I've done that by clicking the large Calibre Library button on top but now Calibre simply keeps saying "not a Calibre Library" or "not empty folder"....

[BewilderedUser]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Possibly there is a problem with the card. Can you create a new library on a local drive (not on the card)? If so, try to do that and re-import all your books to this new library.

Hmm, sounds like a plan...but how exactly do I re-create a new library (on my SSD), please?

[BewilderedUser]

Originally Posted by BewilderedUser

Hmm, sounds like a plan...but how exactly do I re-create a new library (on my SSD), please?

Oops -- never mind; just found out how!

But I'm still curious...why doesn't what worked before work anymore?

Why's Calibre now telling me that any directory I try to point it at is either "not an existing calibre library" or "not empty"???