need help organizing ebooks.

oncdoc · 10-11-2009, 02:18 AM

Hi, I have many diff ebooks and pdfs

any suggestion on a program to help me organize them.

my readers are kindle 2 and pocket reader pro (five inch)

i need a program to handle all kind of files prc, lit etc and organize

any thoughts?

AnemicOak · 10-11-2009, 02:53 AM

Calibre

oncdoc · 10-11-2009, 03:01 AM

i tired that.

when adding books (my library is a mess) it makes folders in a new calibre folder organized by author. its all a mess.

I guess I have to go in and clean up and organize my self eh? no way around that i guess.

AnemicOak · 10-11-2009, 04:16 AM

I don't know, Calibre's about the only thing I know of software wise. Personally I don't use a program, I just keep a folder for each author on my hard drive.

rogue_ronin · 10-11-2009, 05:11 AM

Once you put it into Calibre, you don't really need to keep the original source files. Calibre will copy your file, and keep any formats that you convert it to, in a well-organized directory system.

If you put in good metadata, and tag properly, for each book you would then manage everything from Calibre, instead of trying to manage the directory system yourself. In fact, once you give a book to Calibre, it helps to think of Calibre's system as a "black box" that you don't go in and mess with.

Calibre gives you a lot of tools for managing your books, but you should commit to it, and let it do its thing.

You don't have to delete the source files -- you can do whatever you want. Once you have worked with it long enough, though, I expect that you'll see that they are really redundant (especially if you don't want to manually sort them.)

m a r

ps: it can be overwhelming, if you have thousands of books. I'm working through similar issues myself.

Sweetpea · 10-11-2009, 11:03 AM

I don't like Calibre... I want a folder structure for my book library. Windows Explorer is the best tool so far...

oncdoc · 10-11-2009, 12:36 PM

appreciate ur responses. considering that books take nominal hd space, copying and organizing by callibre own method is acceptable to me.

i will try program later today.

Grauheim · 10-11-2009, 01:25 PM

I've noticed considerable confusion about how Calibre works. Much of this comes from an important Calibre feature that a lot of people fail to realize exists.

As others have said above, you should ignore how Calibre represents your books internally. Treat it like a black box.

If you want to also have your files available in a directory structure outside Calibre, the way to do it is (1) first enter your books into Calibre, and then (2) use Calibre's "Save to Disk" command to save them to your own file hierarchy.

Now here's the trick that a lot of people miss: in the Preferences|Add/Save|Saving Books dialogue, you can specify exactly how books are saved. For example, I put mine in a folder structure of Subject area (e.g., history, science fiction)->Author name (last name, first name)->book title. Calibre gathers this information from the meta-data and automatically puts the book in the right place. This is much easier than trying to fight Calibre by manually maintaining your own folder structure on the side.

I personally keep all my books in Calibre, and use the Save to Disk feature to transfer them to my Opus in a folder structure useful for that device.

While nothing's perfect, over all, Calibre is an immensely well designed system with a lot of rich customizability allowing you to tailor it to your needs.

Superlucky · 10-11-2009, 01:56 PM

The Hooded Claw · 10-11-2009, 02:01 PM

I'm going to be using a Kindle 2 for my reader....I'm expecting to receive it tomorrow so haven't actually used it yet, but my understanding is that it has no folder structure available.

Do I understand correctly that Calibre will help me keep mobi, pdf, and other format books organized on my hard drive, but that it is not able to go on the Kindle and put any kind of structure or organization there?

Leep · 10-11-2009, 02:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Hooded Claw

I'm going to be using a Kindle 2 for my reader....I'm expecting to receive it tomorrow so haven't actually used it yet, but my understanding is that it has no folder structure available.

Do I understand correctly that Calibre will help me keep mobi, pdf, and other format books organized on my hard drive, but that it is not able to go on the Kindle and put any kind of structure or organization there?

You are correct. Calibre will mate with your Kindle and allow you to easily transfer books from your Calibre library to your kindle. Calibre offers added features for keeping track of your ebooks, with synopis, cover pictures, user generated tags and rating system and easily converts from all undrm'd formats to .mobi for your Kindle.

If you have specific issues or problems, post and someone will help you. Kovid is always very prompt in handling any technical questions.

cheers

Idoine · 10-11-2009, 02:46 PM

Just trying All My Books, seems interesting... Not free, of course !

Hellmark · 10-12-2009, 12:42 PM

Nothing is going to be 100% automatic. You're going to have to enter some info on your own. Many PDFs do not have good metadata, plus different people name their files in different ways. I prefer naming like "Author - Title.extension" but, many I get are not like that. End result, expect to do some work, no matter what you do.

DawnFalcon · 10-12-2009, 01:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grauheim

As others have said above, you should ignore how Calibre represents your books internally. Treat it like a black box.

That's an immediate blocker for me. Any program which hides file organisation and potentially causes major data loss because it's messing with normal file organisation has to justify itself on a far higher level - one reason I like Pegasus Mail is you can (and I sometimes have) pull emails out via windows search when you need to.

I'll stick with folders.

Elfwreck · 10-12-2009, 01:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DawnFalcon

That's an immediate blocker for me. Any program which hides file organisation and potentially causes major data loss because it's messing with normal file organisation has to justify itself on a far higher level - one reason I like Pegasus Mail is you can (and I sometimes have) pull emails out via windows search when you need to.

I'll stick with folders.

It doesn't hide file organization; it's just somewhat complex and non-intuitive, in order to allow the program to manage the data.

You can ignore Calibre's file-sorting and use the files how you'd like; you may just have to re-load them if you move them around from its pre-set structure. Since it's open source, if someone figures out how to make it work well with user-specified folder structures, that could be added to the program.

10-11-2009, 02:18 AM	#1
oncdoc Addict Posts: 299 Karma: 300 Join Date: May 2009 Device: kindle, pocket pro	need help organizing ebooks. Hi, I have many diff ebooks and pdfs any suggestion on a program to help me organize them. my readers are kindle 2 and pocket reader pro (five inch) i need a program to handle all kind of files prc, lit etc and organize any thoughts?

10-11-2009, 05:11 AM	#5
rogue_ronin Banned Posts: 475 Karma: 796 Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Honolulu Device: Nokia 770 (fbreader)	Suspenders and belt are a lot of leather. Once you put it into Calibre, you don't really need to keep the original source files. Calibre will copy your file, and keep any formats that you convert it to, in a well-organized directory system. If you put in good metadata, and tag properly, for each book you would then manage everything from Calibre, instead of trying to manage the directory system yourself. In fact, once you give a book to Calibre, it helps to think of Calibre's system as a "black box" that you don't go in and mess with. Calibre gives you a lot of tools for managing your books, but you should commit to it, and let it do its thing. You don't have to delete the source files -- you can do whatever you want. Once you have worked with it long enough, though, I expect that you'll see that they are really redundant (especially if you don't want to manually sort them.) m a r ps: it can be overwhelming, if you have thousands of books. I'm working through similar issues myself.

10-11-2009, 01:25 PM	#8
Grauheim Enthusiast Posts: 41 Karma: 200 Join Date: Sep 2009 Device: Cybook Opus; HTC TyTN II	I've noticed considerable confusion about how Calibre works. Much of this comes from an important Calibre feature that a lot of people fail to realize exists. As others have said above, you should ignore how Calibre represents your books internally. Treat it like a black box. If you want to also have your files available in a directory structure outside Calibre, the way to do it is (1) first enter your books into Calibre, and then (2) use Calibre's "Save to Disk" command to save them to your own file hierarchy. Now here's the trick that a lot of people miss: in the Preferences\|Add/Save\|Saving Books dialogue, you can specify exactly how books are saved. For example, I put mine in a folder structure of Subject area (e.g., history, science fiction)->Author name (last name, first name)->book title. Calibre gathers this information from the meta-data and automatically puts the book in the right place. This is much easier than trying to fight Calibre by manually maintaining your own folder structure on the side. I personally keep all my books in Calibre, and use the Save to Disk feature to transfer them to my Opus in a folder structure useful for that device. While nothing's perfect, over all, Calibre is an immensely well designed system with a lot of rich customizability allowing you to tailor it to your needs. Last edited by Grauheim; 10-11-2009 at 01:27 PM.

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10-11-2009, 02:53 AM	#2
AnemicOak Bookaholic Posts: 14,391 Karma: 54969924 Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Minnesota Device: iPad Mini 4, AuraHD, iPhone XR +	Calibre

10-11-2009, 03:01 AM	#3
oncdoc Addict Posts: 299 Karma: 300 Join Date: May 2009 Device: kindle, pocket pro	i tired that. when adding books (my library is a mess) it makes folders in a new calibre folder organized by author. its all a mess. I guess I have to go in and clean up and organize my self eh? no way around that i guess.

10-11-2009, 04:16 AM	#4
AnemicOak Bookaholic Posts: 14,391 Karma: 54969924 Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Minnesota Device: iPad Mini 4, AuraHD, iPhone XR +	I don't know, Calibre's about the only thing I know of software wise. Personally I don't use a program, I just keep a folder for each author on my hard drive.

10-11-2009, 11:03 AM	#6
Sweetpea Grand Sorcerer Posts: 9,707 Karma: 32763414 Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Krewerd Device: Pocketbook Inkpad 4 Color; Samsung Galaxy Tab S6	I don't like Calibre... I want a folder structure for my book library. Windows Explorer is the best tool so far...

10-11-2009, 12:36 PM	#7
oncdoc Addict Posts: 299 Karma: 300 Join Date: May 2009 Device: kindle, pocket pro	appreciate ur responses. considering that books take nominal hd space, copying and organizing by callibre own method is acceptable to me. i will try program later today.

10-11-2009, 01:56 PM	#9
Superlucky Fanatic Posts: 581 Karma: 5952 Join Date: Aug 2009 Device: PRS-505, PRS-350

10-11-2009, 02:01 PM	#10
The Hooded Claw Connoisseur Posts: 70 Karma: 6050 Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Oklahoma! Device: Kindle Paperwhite, Android phone with Kindle app, Kindle 4 in reserve	I'm going to be using a Kindle 2 for my reader....I'm expecting to receive it tomorrow so haven't actually used it yet, but my understanding is that it has no folder structure available. Do I understand correctly that Calibre will help me keep mobi, pdf, and other format books organized on my hard drive, but that it is not able to go on the Kindle and put any kind of structure or organization there?

10-11-2009, 02:46 PM	#12
Idoine Which book will be next ? Posts: 661 Karma: 2172 Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: France Device: Cybook Gen3 1.5, Sony PRS 600 RC, Samsung Omnia...	Just trying All My Books, seems interesting... Not free, of course !

10-12-2009, 12:42 PM	#13
Hellmark Wizard Posts: 2,552 Karma: 3799999 Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Foristell, Missouri, USA Device: Nokia N800, PRS-505, Nook STR Glowlight, Kindle 3, Kobo Libra 2	Nothing is going to be 100% automatic. You're going to have to enter some info on your own. Many PDFs do not have good metadata, plus different people name their files in different ways. I prefer naming like "Author - Title.extension" but, many I get are not like that. End result, expect to do some work, no matter what you do.

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