Feature request: change filename

[Fitz]

Since changing file names in Calibre's library appears to be fraught with peril, would it - could it - be possible to change them from within Calibre, and have it update its db accordingly?

It may be that this is already possible, but if so I haven't found how to do it.

My reason for wanting to mess with file names at all is that I own a cheap but useful ereader, a MiGear, which ignores any title or author stored in metadata and just displays books in its library alphabetically, by file name.

[mbovenka]

Originally Posted by Fitz

Since changing file names in Calibre's library appears to be fraught with peril, would it - could it - be possible to change them from within Calibre, and have it update its db accordingly?

It may be that this is already possible, but if so I haven't found how to do it.

My reason for wanting to mess with file names at all is that I own a cheap but useful ereader, a MiGear, which ignores any title or author stored in metadata and just displays books in its library alphabetically, by file name.

Use the Connect To Folder option (Connect/Share -> Connect to Folder) and adjust the save template (Preferences -> Sending Books To Devices) to taste.

Assuming your reader shows up as a USB disk.

[dwig]

Originally Posted by mbovenka

Use the Connect To Folder option (Connect/Share -> Connect to Folder) and adjust the save template (Preferences -> Sending Books To Devices) to taste.

Assuming your reader shows up as a USB disk.

Or do the same with Calibre's "Save to Disk" function instead of the "Connect to Folder". I prefer using "Save to Disk" for collecting files to be manually moved elsewhere (archive, copies for friends, moving to a reader, ...)

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by dwig

Or do the same with Calibre's "Save to Disk" function instead of the "Connect to Folder". I prefer using "Save to Disk" for collecting files to be manually moved elsewhere (archive, copies for friends, moving to a reader, ...)

Or change the save template in the Send to Device.

As you can see from the responses calibre lets you control the format of the file names when you export books from calibre and provides you with multiple ways to export those files. This flexibility makes ignoring how calibre stores files very easy, since calibre's file names have no effect on the file name when exported.

Good Luck.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Fitz

Since changing file names in Calibre's library appears to be fraught with peril, would it - could it - be possible to change them from within Calibre, and have it update its db accordingly?

It may be that this is already possible, but if so I haven't found how to do it.

My reason for wanting to mess with file names at all is that I own a cheap but useful ereader, a MiGear, which ignores any title or author stored in metadata and just displays books in its library alphabetically, by file name.

Calibre's filename restriction ONLY applies to files WITHIN the Calibre managed Library, Not to exported (to your device) files.
Think of Calibre as a (big) storeroom full of shelves and boxes with the location kept on a 3x5 card.

You have a Box labeled: "Brand X HDTV wall mounting kit (keep)"
You put the box on the top shelf in the middle of row nnn and write the location on the 3x5 card with "Brand X HDTV wall mounting kit (keep)" at the top of the card, and file it under "Brand x".

Someone comes along and spots the box: ("Just the right size") and dumps the contents into another box that won't fit the original location, so it gets moved elsewhere... (no label, no 3x5 update of the new location).

Time passes.. The wall has been prepared with all the connections, the paint is dry, time to mount the Big Screen at a decent height

Where is the mount kit

Calibre is the warehouseman. Keeper of the location records.
All you have to do is use the GUI at the counter, to ask that the book be brought to your device. You don't need to know the LOCATION in the warehouse, that the book was stored. It is delivered to your readers bookshelf. Templates are the map to where on that bookshelf to deliver the book.

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by Fitz

Since changing file names in Calibre's library appears to be fraught with peril, would it - could it - be possible to change them from within Calibre, and have it update its db accordingly?

Read all the posts that have already been made. They're correct and they are probably how you want to handle this. But if I put on my blinders and just answer your question, the answer to this question: "could it - be possible to change them from within Calibre, and have it update its db accordingly?" is "Yes" and it's very easy. Just change the title and author inside Calibre's GUI and Calibre will change the filename and folder name to match and "update its db accordingly"

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Originally Posted by theducks

Calibre is the warehouseman. Keeper of the location records.
All you have to do is use the GUI at the counter, to ask that the book be brought to your device. You don't need to know the LOCATION in the warehouse, that the book was stored. It is delivered to your readers bookshelf. Templates are the map to where on that bookshelf to deliver the book.

Since I worked in warehousing for 30 years, I love your anology. It fits perfectly.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Lady Fitzgerald

Since I worked in warehousing for 30 years, I love your anology. It fits perfectly.

I have been on both sides of the "counter".

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by Lady Fitzgerald

Since I worked in warehousing for 30 years, I love your anology. It fits perfectly.

Personally, I like the librarian analogy. I ask the librarian to get my book and stick it on my device. I ask him to get all the books I haven't read, that are on my list (not my wife's) that are in the naval fiction genre, but not the naval history genre, and that are the first of a series (since if I like it, I want to read the whole series). That librarian guy is great and he works for free!

If I want to know what shelf the book is on or how its filed, he'll tell me, and even let me go into the stacks and get the book myself, but if I screw up his filing system I've only myself to blame when he stops working.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Originally Posted by Starson17

Personally, I like the librarian analogy. I ask the librarian to get my book and stick it on my device. I ask him to get all the books I haven't read, that are on my list (not my wife's) that are in the naval fiction genre, but not the naval history genre, and that are the first of a series (since if I like it, I want to read the whole series). That librarian guy is great and he works for free!

If I want to know what shelf the book is on or how its filed, he'll tell me, and even let me go into the stacks and get the book myself, but if I screw up his filing system I've only myself to blame when he stops working.

While that is also a good analogy, every librarian I ever dealt with would just point me toward the card catalogue (at least the computerized ones have good search engines).

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by Lady Fitzgerald

While that is also a good analogy, every librarian I ever dealt with would just point me toward the card catalogue (at least the computerized ones have good search engines).

Yes. Except the point is that this librarian is personalized and better than the others we've dealt with before

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Originally Posted by Starson17

Yes. Except the point is that this librarian is personalized and better than the others we've dealt with before

True that!