Advanced Dropbox + Calibre

A couple of years back I wrote a very popular post on using the best eBook manage on the planet, Calibre, with Dropbox in a way that didn’t require public folders or hosting your entire eBook library. It’s still one of my most popular articles. Since that time I’ve received emails asking me to detail more about my setup of the library folder, and if I have customized Calibre at all. You should read that article since something in this one reference it like library folder.

UPDATE (6OCT2017): This method is not affected by the Apple and Calibre updates that remove connecting through iTunes.

UPDATE (15AUG2021): I just recently switched to a completely new computer, and just moved the whole hard drive where my Calibre library is stored. After reinstalling the program, and the plugins, everything is back as it was. All searches, almost all plugin configurations, it's so easy. I just wanted to share because it's a big deal to be back up and running with so little effort, just another tick in the plus column for this wonderful program! Also, yes, this article is still hugely popular with you guys so thank you for that!

UPDATE (06MAR2022): I've updated the formula because I no longer want books without series to be in a subfolder. Just a subfolder for any book part of a series.

The Library

Get DropBox for free though my link and get some extra space for free!

One of the pains of having a large ebook library is keeping everything tidy when sending books to my eBook reader (a 1st gen iPad) Samsung 5e tablet. The problem really comes into play when some of the books are part of a series, and some aren’t. If you just send books to your library this way, it’s probably a mess. I couldn’t easily figure out which books from the series I had on my reader because books without a series can jumble the whole default folder structure.

Luckily, Calibre has a great feature for addressing this particular pain very well. It’s called a save template. The idea is simple. You can configure the save location within your root library folder using variables. It can be a bit daunting, and if you’re not familiar with how to enter things the right way, you can end up making things much worse.

Clever Series and Author Organization

Based upon having a library with items in a series and items without a series, I wanted a clever system that could create a folder of the series name, and inside put any ebook from that series inside in the format number in the series – title (e.g. Forgotten Realms: The Moonshae Trilogy/1 – Darkwalker on Moonshae). This way I could easily keep track of which books in the series I had on my device.

If the book didn’t have a series, then I just want the ebook in my root “library” folder with just the title. If that is a system that will work for you, follow these steps to make it happen.

Note: This won’t affect any books you already have in your device library folder.

The Magic

First, copy this save template, it’s what does the work in Calibre. (yes, it has been updated since the screenshots were taken, this article, while still immensely popular, was first written in 2016!)

{series:||/}{series:'first_non_empty(finish_formatting(field('series_index'),"",""," - {title}"), finish_formatting(field('title'),"","",""))'}

Now open Calibre, Click the Preferences menu and choose Change Calibre Behavior. (or press CTRL+P)

Under Import/Export click Sending books to devices.

In the “Save Template” box paste the text from above.

Now click Apply, then Close.

You should be back at the Calibre main screen. Now connect to your library folder as you do, and send a test ebook. Open up your Dropbox folder outside of Calibre to verify that if the book has a series, the series folder was created and the ebook is in it. Otherwise, you should have an ebook in your root library folder.