Error deleting books

[VelvetElvis]

I've deleted lots of content from my Calibre library in the past, but recently have had an error generated. I've checked all my other devices, and none are actively connecting.

Thought it might've been my antivirus app, so I deleted it and went back to Windows Defender. Disconnected my PC from the router as well. Still get this error. Google has been no help. Any help would be appreciated.

[DNSB]

One possibility that comes to mind is if you have manually/accidentally added any files to that directory. If I recall correctly, calibre will not remove files that it does not know about. Does the check library function under Library Maintenance show any errors either in the check database pass or the check files pass?

[VelvetElvis]

Originally Posted by DNSB

One possibility that comes to mind is if you have manually/accidentally added any files to that directory. If I recall correctly, calibre will not remove files that it does not know about. Does the check library function under Library Maintenance show any errors either in the check database pass or the check files pass?

Haven't added anything to Calibre outside of the app itself. The errors pop up when I do the Check Library function in fact. Never had this issue before.

[theducks]

Was the Library restored from a DVD? That can make it (the Items that came from a CD) read only.
What does That files Properties (use Explorer) Show?

Another culprit is Not using Windows Defender , as some of the others take excessive protection steps, requiring you to white list Calibre.

[theducks]

What kind of drive is D: ?

[VelvetElvis]

Originally Posted by theducks

Was the Library restored from a DVD? That can make it (the Items that came from a CD) read only.
What does That files Properties (use Explorer) Show?

Another culprit is Not using Windows Defender , as some of the others take excessive protection steps, requiring you to white list Calibre.

I wondered if the files were somehow marked as Read Only, so I opened up a command prompt and ran "attrib -r -a -s -h *.* /s" to ensure all the files were not read only. No change.

I was using Bitdefender and thought that might be an issue, so I uninstalled Bitdefender and reverted to Windows Defender. Alas, it didn't solve the issue.

[VelvetElvis]

Originally Posted by theducks

What kind of drive is D: ?

My OS and apps reside on C: which is a solid state drive.
D: is an internal spinning rust hard drive. All my data resides on D:, which has been my setup for years. That's what's frustrating - nothing has changed outside of my Calibre version.

Appreciate yours (and others) responses.

[theducks]

Just checking it was not a NAS or remote drive. Was a Backup program running (might lock the folder)?

Can you use the CLI ebook viewer to read that file?

[VelvetElvis]

Originally Posted by theducks

Just checking it was not a NAS or remote drive. Was a Backup program running (might lock the folder)?

Can you use the CLI ebook viewer to read that file?

No, nothing else running. I shutdown the other PCs and tablets in the house, and even pulled the ethernet cable to my desktop. But yes, can read the book from within Windows.

Here's what I tried:
- Opened the book from Windows Explorer and was able to read it with no issues.
- Clicked "Delete" on that book in Calibre. Got the "Error Permission Denied" popup.
- Yet despite the error, the book was in fact deleted.
- Ran the Check Library function. Got "Found no errors in your Calibre library database. Do you want to check if the files in your library match the information in the database?"
-Get "Problem found" "Extra authors". I delete those issues and all is well.

Bottom line is I can't seem to delete books from within Calibre without getting the initial error.

[ownedbycats]

Something like LockHunter may be able to help identify if something else is trying to access the folder.

Also, does it happen on a test library in a different folder? That may help rule out any weird permission issues.

[theducks]

That almost sounds like a Folder delete issue.
Depending on your collection, you first remove the Title folder, then if there are no other books by that Author, that folder.

[BetterRed]

@VelvetElvis - The issue is Permissions related (which are distinct from read only, hidden etc Attributes) - open the culprit folder's Properties in File Explorer, and have a look in the Security tab for any anomalies.

If you're brave you could give Everyone permission to have Full control over Mr. Del Toro's folder and delete it manually, and then run Library check to expunge the folder from the calibre database.

PS: and please post the error text rather than images - that's why there's a Copy to clipboard button.

BR

[VelvetElvis]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

@VelvetElvis - The issue is Permissions related (which are distinct from read only, hidden etc Attributes) - open the culprit folder's Properties in File Explorer, and have a look in the Security tab for any anomalies.

If you're brave you could give Everyone permission to have Full control over Mr. Del Toro's folder and delete it manually, and then run Library check to expunge the folder from the calibre database.

PS: and please post the error text rather than images - that's why there's a Copy to clipboard button.

BR

Thanks for everyone's your comments, but no joy so far.

I copied my entire Calibre library to another folder on my drive, and opened a portable copy of Calibre.
Tried deleting files. Here’s the error box contents:

calibre, version 6.6.1
ERROR: Permission denied: Could not access Jieun Baek. Is it being used by another program? Click "Show details" for more information.

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "calibre\gui2\actions\delete.py", line 389, in do_library_delete
File "calibre\gui2\library\models.py", line 459, in delete_books_by_id
File "calibre\db\cache.py", line 77, in call_func_with_lock
File "calibre\db\cache.py", line 2034, in remove_books
File "calibre\db\backend.py", line 1854, in remove_books
File "calibre\db\delete_service.py", line 66, in delete_books
File "calibre\db\delete_service.py", line 70, in queue_paths
File "calibre\db\delete_service.py", line 100, in _queue_paths
File "calibre\utils\filenames.py", line 496, in remove_dir_if_empty
PermissionError: [WinError 5] Access is denied: 'D:\\TEST\\Calibre Library - Main\\Jieun Baek'

-------------------8<
These files are definitely not in use by another program.
Tried checking permissions, and don’t see anything out of the ordinary.
As suggested, I tried LockHunter, and I’m not sure if I understand it correctly, but pointed it to my library folder, and ran it. I’m not sure if it recursively unlocks all files in the library, but in any event, it didn’t work.

One notable point is that for every book I tried to delete, a temporary folder was created under my main library. I.e.
D:\TEST\Calibre Library – Main
D:\TEST\Calibre Library - Main deleted 1sy0qdr2
D:\TEST\Calibre Library - Main deleted ku0eowm7
etc.

EDIT:
I tried copying my library to a flash drive and opening it. I was able to delete books without an error message. So I'm not sure what could cause this same library to error out on my D: drive?

[Uncle Bing]

I have a similar problem. I can delete any book using Calibre, but if I convert a book to another format then I can delete neither of them. The error message is calibre, version 6.7.0
ERROR: Unhandled exception: <b>AttributeError</b>:'DeleteAction' object has no attribute '_remove_format_from_ids'

calibre 6.7 embedded-python: True
Windows-10-10.0.19044-SP0 Windows ('64bit', 'WindowsPE')
('Windows', '10', '10.0.19044')
Python 3.10.1
Windows: ('10', '10.0.19044', 'SP0', 'Multiprocessor Free')
Interface language: en_GB
Successfully initialized third party plugins: Quality Check (1, 12, 0) && View Manager (1, 9, 0)
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "calibre\gui2\actions\delete.py", line 189, in remove_format_by_id
AttributeError: 'DeleteAction' object has no attribute '_remove_format_from_ids'

[kovidgoyal]

https://github.com/kovidgoyal/calibr...da14054191845a