How to update book file with edited metadata?

[whiteowl]

I imported a book, which has an incorrect title inside the book's metadata.

For example, lets say the book title is set to "LoTR" instead of "The Lord of the Rings". After importing book into my local library, it is shown in the list of books as "LoTR".

I immediately edit book title in the list to proper name.

But the shortened name remain inside the fb2 file on disk. And if I now try to convert-export the book to an external e-book device - it would receive the shortened name, not the corrected one.

How to synchronize the title inside the book file with the one I just typed in Calibre's GUI?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by whiteowl

I imported a book, which has an incorrect title inside the book's metadata.

For example, lets say the book title is set to "LoTR" instead of "The Lord of the Rings". After importing book into my local library, it is shown in the list of books as "LoTR".

I immediately edit book title in the list to proper name.

But the shortened name remain inside the fb2 file on disk. And if I now try to convert-export the book to an external e-book device - it would receive the shortened name, not the corrected one.

How to synchronize the title inside the book file with the one I just typed in Calibre's GUI?

There is nothing you can do. You cannot edit the metadata of an FB2 eBook.

Do you use ePub or KF8? You can update those formats.

[whiteowl]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

There is nothing you can do. You cannot edit the metadata of an FB2 eBook.

Do you use ePub or KF8? You can update those formats.

With FB2 I can open it in any text editor and edit the file. With EPUB - I can open it in epub-editor (or unzip, vi content.opf, zip back). But that is a direct file editing.

What is KF8? The `calibre 8.4` does not know how to convert into this format.

And yes, I know how to directly edit book files. But if I have a GUI - why not use it? And I am guessing there are many people who are not as tech savvy - how do they export book to device if the file's metadata does not match library's metadata?

[Sirtel]

If you send the book to the device from calibre, via the GUI (not the library folder), the metadata will be embedded in the file. I don't know if that's true for FB2 as well.

If you copy the file from the library folder, the metadata won't be embedded. In that case, you'll have to embed it before copying. There are several ways of doing that, but again, I don't know if they can be used with FB2.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by whiteowl

What is KF8? The `calibre 8.4` does not know how to convert into this format.

KF8 is Amazon's name for the ebook format that calibre calls azw3.

Originally Posted by whiteowl

And yes, I know how to directly edit book files. But if I have a GUI - why not use it? And I am guessing there are many people who are not as tech savvy - how do they export book to device if the file's metadata does not match library's metadata?

Hmmm... you could convert the fb2 file to ePub, update the metadata using either the Polish tool or the Modify Epub plugin and then convert back to fb2. Personally, since fb2 is not a very capable format, I would suggest using ePub instead. Even fb3 is not that great. Any format that stores images in Base64 is, IMO, lacking.

And note that for formats where calibre is capable of modifying the metadata, you can select to have that done on Save to disk while, as far as I am aware, it is automatic for Send to device.

[whiteowl]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Hmmm... you could convert the fb2 file to ePub, update the metadata using either the Polish tool or the Modify Epub plugin and then convert back to fb2.

That is possible, but very round-about.
I can as easy click on "folder book files" link at the bottom of detailed pane, open fb2 in vi/notepad, and modify the file directly. It is very simple if you understand the format. Easy from technical point of view, but not a GUI way.

Originally Posted by DNSB

And note that for formats where calibre is capable of modifying the metadata, you can select to have that done on Save to disk while, as far as I am aware, it is automatic for Send to device.

No, I checked. "Save to disk" as well as "Convert" and "Export to device" do not use metadata from the library. Metadata always comes from the file.

So far, the original question remain: how to update metadata in the book file from metadata in the library?

[whiteowl]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

If you copy the file from the library folder, the metadata won't be embedded.

Metadata is always embedded. It is, after all, what defines a "book" file formats - the book file always have a metadata describing the actual text.
It does not matter which format we are talking about. I use fb2 and epub in this topic only because both formats are easy to modify by external tools.

The problem here is that if we load a book into calibre (in one format), convert it to another format - we now have three sets of metadata (two book files, and library itself) and all three can differ between each other.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by whiteowl

No, I checked. "Save to disk" as well as "Convert" and "Export to device" do not use metadata from the library. Metadata always comes from the file.

So far, the original question remain: how to update metadata in the book file from metadata in the library?

This is not my experience, or the experience of other users here. So maybe Calibre is incapable of embedding metadata with the fb2 format.

[kovidgoyal]

calibre definitely supports setting basic metadata in fb2. title/author/series/tags/comments/covers. But no custom metadata IIRC.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by whiteowl

No, I checked. "Save to disk" as well as "Convert" and "Export to device" do not use metadata from the library. Metadata always comes from the file.

So far, the original question remain: how to update metadata in the book file from metadata in the library?

Interesting. My experience is that if I have the checkmark present for Update metadata in saved copies, my ePub files get the metadata updated when Saving to disk. Sending to device always gets the updated metada for my ePub files.

As I said, I can use the Polish tool for azw3, ePub and kepub books while Modify Epub works on epub/kepub books.

I tested on a single fb2 file and the basic metadata was updated. There seems to be no support for other metadata in the fb2 format. OTOH, my saved to disk copy grew by about 2MB since the new cover image was added and it was a 1125x1500 jpg compared to the original 450x600 image.

OTOH, using fb2 is about the same level as insisting on using mobi format.

The next bit is the first part of the fb2 file after the save to disk. I manually edited the metadata in calibre to make sure it was different from the metadata embedded during the conversion from ePub and the save to disk copy matched the edited metadata.

Spoiler:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<FictionBook xmlns="http://www.gribuser.ru/xml/fictionbook/2.0" xmlns:l="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">
<description>
<title-info>
<book-title>The End of All Times</book-title>
<author><first-name>Carissa</first-name><last-name>Martin</last-name></author>
<sequence name="Time Jumper" number="2"/>
<annotation><p>The peace talks have broken down and now the entire time line is at risk.</p><empty-line/></annotation>
<genre>antique</genre>
<coverpage><image l:href="#img_0"/></coverpage>
<lang>en</lang>
</title-info>
<document-info>
<author><first-name>Carissa</first-name><last-name>Martin</last-name></author>
<program-used>calibre 8.4.100</program-used>
<date>21.5.2025</date>
<id>b02426f4-7725-472b-ac24-6dbcc289878b</id>
<version>1.0</version>
</document-info>
<publish-info>
<year>2025</year><publisher>Animal Court Press</publisher><isbn>1230463210529</isbn>
</publish-info>
</description>

[whiteowl]

Originally Posted by DNSB

My experience is that if I have the checkmark present for Update metadata in saved copies

Oh! Found it. That check was not set on my machine. So yes, now metadata is updated if I "Save to disk".

But I want to update the book information while the book file is still in the library. I usually download books to cell phone through the OPDS web site. In this case the book file is sent as is. Hence the desire to update the book without exporting it out of the library.

[DNSB]

As far as I know, updating the metadata in the library is only possible for azw3 and epub/kepub. You could write a plugin to update the metadata for a fb2 ebook (most plugins are written by the person who wants the added functionality).

[kovidgoyal]

The embed metadata tool available from Preferences->toolbars will embed metadata in all formats that calibre can write metadata to.

[DNSB]

Thanks. I've never used that tool since I was under the impression that Polish did the same but with more options.

[kovidgoyal]

Polish is definitely preferable if you are working with one of the formats it supports, but for all the rest embed metadata is the ticket.