Is there any way to fix this Calibre nightmare?

[ar]

Okay, so I had a fabulous Calibre library set up. It was all perfect--all the cover images I liked best, only about 50 tags so I could find everything I needed really easily, etc. But then I realized it was starting to take over my computer! So I moved it to a flashdrive.

When I installed Calibre Portable onto the flashdrive, I moved my previous Calibre library into the new Calibre Portable library instead of picking "Add Books" in Calibre itself. And then I opened Calibre and realized I would still have to use the "Add Books" feature. So I did that and added all the books in my library.

When my library was finished loading, it was like all the changes I'd made to my library were gone. But not only that, there are double the number of books. Half of them aren't actually books--as far as I can tell, they're just the settings I had previously! Is there a way to merge these together? The idea of fixing/deleting 500 books is making me want to cry, lol.

Comments

[nestra]

I don't know if this is exactly what you're looking for, but there is apparently a Calibre plugin to Find Duplicates. I haven't used it myself, but the blog post explains it pretty thoroughly.

[thejeopardymaze]

Is there an app like Calibre I can just pay for?

[ar]

I beg your pardon?

[thejeopardymaze]

Sorry, I didn't mean to appear rude, I've just been reading about the problems with that piece of software the past year or two and am now starting to hope there might be a closed source ebook app out there.

[ar]

Thank you! If nothing else, it's easier to copy the information over between the two copies. ♥

[ar]

Oh, gotcha! I was just a little confused. ♥ This is the first time I've had trouble with Calibre, truthfully, so I don't know about for-pay versions.

[beatrice_otter]

As far as I know, there isn't anything even remotely like it. Personally, I've had fewer problems with Calibre than many programs that are for-pay, so even if there were a for-pay one, I wouldn't switch. (Money isn't a factor in this, as I donate to Calibre about what I think it's worth to me.)

[eldritch_panda]

Calibre is a bit of a PITA; however, that's because it does a lot of stuff that pay apps would likely not offer. That's the beauty of open source, it's the work of many people which makes it uber specialized and intricate.

[lynnoconnacht]

Is there a way to merge these together? The idea of fixing/deleting 500 books is making me want to cry, lol.

Calibre does have a merge function, but it's a bit cumbersome to use and it's entirely manual. Did you add the library to Calibre Portable using the "Create/Switch library" feature before using "Add Books"? Do you still have the original library intact?

If you still have the original library on your harddrive and you haven't used the "Create/Switch" library feature, delete what you've got in Calibre Portable, delete everything in your flashdrive's library folder, copy it over again and try it with that feature. It should work. (By which I mean: It's never given me trouble, your mileage may still vary.)

[ar]

This might be a doable fix! This might be a stupid question, but where can I find the Create/Switch Library feature? I didn't know it existed, or I would have used it from the start. ^^;

[lynnoconnacht]

I hope it is!

Not a stupid question at all! It's pretty easy to miss. (I only know because I like poking buttons to see what they do.)

In your toolbar, there's an icon that mentions the amount of books you have in your library. It's the same one as Calibre uses for its logo and its shortcuts. That's the button you want. That is one vague manual entry, though. *ruffles hair*

Anyway, that's the button that gives you the "Switch/Create library" option. However you can't use this on your Calibre Portable library as it stands now. It'll just give you an error message: "The location X:\Calibre Portable\Calibre Library contains the current calibre library" if you do.

There are several ways to go from here, so I'll outline the one that strikes me as the least complicated in case it helps. I'm not sure how tech-savvy you are, so my apologies if you go either "Well, duh" or "Help!" at this. ^-^;; (If the latter, I'd be happy to try and clarify! I'm wondering if it might be worth making a short "How To" guide in general, actually.)

I hope you've still got the original library on your harddrive! This won't help at all if you don't, I'm afraid, because you'd only be re-importing the screwed up version. (If you want to try anyway, make a back-up first.)

If you do still have the original library intact, delete Calibre Portable from your flashdrive entirely and reinstall it. This way you've got a nice clean (empty!) portable library to work with. Copy the files from your original harddrive's library into "Calibre Portable Library" and override the metadata files if prompted about them. Open Calibre Portable and go to that books button to create a new library.

You'll be given a pop-up menu offering you three options and asking you to select a folder/location. You'll want to select the Calibre Library folder on your flashdrive as the location and ensure that the first option, "Use the previously existing library at the new location", is checked. And that's it! That'll import your back-up library into Calibre Portable with the metadata intact. ^-^ I hope it helps!

Note: You can move your library anywhere else on your flashdrive, rename it to whatever you want as long as it doesn't have too many characters, or create multiple libraries for sorting purposes, but it'll be a PITA to use. You'll have to reimport your library every single time your flashdrive changes drive letters and every time you update Calibre Portable to a new version.

Is there any way to fix this Calibre nightmare?

[(Anonymous)]

Hi, "ar." I don't use Calibre Portible, so I'm perhaps adding info you don't need. "lynnoconnacht" seemed to have a good reply. The only 2 things I want to add as you hunt for a solution: 1] Hate me. Get angry. I'd do it if I were in your shoes! But: ALWAYS back up ANYTHING you don't want to lose -- 100% of the time! Yeah. .. it doesn't work with people. . . but it does, at least, prevent data-loss heartache! 2] Every file written on any drive has a "date" for creation. If you looked through the current messed-up directory housing your Calibre library: sorting the files by date _might_ allow you to delete all the NEWER versions that you don't want. Naturally, you'll want to copy EVERYTHING to a safe place _before_ trying this, but it could be a way to approach the problem outside of Calibre, just relying on your operating system's file manager. Best of luck, SilverBear

[(Anonymous)]

All I did was copy my calibre library and paste it in calibre portable libray and then opened calibre and clicked on calibre library and then library maintenance and then restore database, all went well