Is renumbering the Calibre #bookid possible?

[JohnnyBook]

I have had my library of e-books in Calibre for almost 15 years. In that time I have have deleted many duplicate books entries, or merged entries in different formats, or deleted books I no longer keep in my library.

As a result, my library has (for example) 10,000 book entries, but is currently at #bookid number 15,000.

It really stood out to me recently when I added 8 books, that I did not realize were already in my Library. So I deleted them immediately, but when I added the next new book, the #bookid skipped the deleted book entries and incremented the #bookid past them.

i.e.
I added 8 books, entered library as #bookid 15,001-15,008.
Realized they were dups, and deleted them from Library,
Added a new book, its assigned #bookid 15,009, instead of 15,001.

The OCD in me would like to renumber all the entries in my library to remove the thousands of #bookid gaps.

Is this possible? Or do I just need to close my eyes when I look at that column.

[Karellen]

Try this... https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=348642

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by JohnnyBook

Is this possible? Or do I just need to close my eyes when I look at that column.

This is the best option. But if you really want, you can create a new library and copy all the books to it. This'll remove gaps, though won't prevent new ones from forming.

Several users on here have a separate 'intake library' where they clean and check everything before copying it to their proper one.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by JohnnyBook

Or do I just need to close my eyes when I look at that column.

Better yet don't look at that column.

The only time a user needs to know about the book id is if they want to use some of the command line utilities, e.g. calibredb set_metadata

Even if you jump through the hoops to get them contiguous today, when you do any book removals or merges they will be discontiguous… again.

BR

[JohnnyBook]

95% of the time I sort my books by most recent added to library. So sorting by #bookid is what I use.

[BetterRed]

+

Originally Posted by JohnnyBook

95% of the time I sort my books by most recent added to library. So sorting by #bookid is what I use.

Providing you don't change the Date column, then if you sort the book list by Date you'll get much the same result as sorting it by book-id.

As well as gaps caused by book removals and merges, changes to book title and/or authors have resulted in a book being given a new id. So Book #38 might become Book # 1793, but the Date (added to library) didn't change. I'm unsure whether that can still happen, IIRC it was tied up with the vagaries of one of the file systems calibre supports.

BR

[theducks]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

+
Providing you don't change the Date column, then if you sort the book list by Date you'll get much the same result as sorting it by book-id.

As well as gaps caused by book removals and merges, changes to book title and/or authors have resulted in a book being given a new id. So Book #38 might become Book # 1793, but the Date (added to library) didn't change. I'm unsure whether that can still happen, IIRC it was tied up with the vagaries of one of the file systems calibre supports.

BR

↑ ↑ ↑ ✔
Another fine reason to not repurpose (tamper with) a (system) column

+1 for using an intake Library (Not a VL)

[JohnnyBook]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

+
Providing you don't change the Date column, then if you sort the book list by Date you'll get much the same result as sorting it by book-id.

As well as gaps caused by book removals and merges, changes to book title and/or authors have resulted in a book being given a new id. So Book #38 might become Book # 1793, but the Date (added to library) didn't change. I'm unsure whether that can still happen, IIRC it was tied up with the vagaries of one of the file systems calibre supports.

BR

But if the book you add has already been entered in Calibre at some time in the past, and comes with a "metadata.opf" (which conveniently contains the info such as: summaries, tags, publishers, etc.) it also brings with it, the Date Added to library, from the previous calibre library.

So unless you strip out the "metadata.opf" files your date added info is not always correct.