When talking about ebook managing system, Calibre is always the first one that comes into my mind. As the open-source ebook manager and converter, many avid ebook lovers use this freeware to manage their books from different sources. Do you actually know where your Calibre ebooks are stored? Have you ever thought about changing the Calibre library location? If yes, then you come to the right place. Here you’ll discover your Calibre library location on Windows/Mac, and learn how to change Calibre library location and even sync Calibre library across different computers.
1. Calibre Library Location on Window/Mac
If you’ve ever added any ebooks to Calibre, it will generate a folder named “Calibre Library” automatically. All your added ebooks, converted ebooks will be stored in Calibre default library location.
Where is the "Calibre Library" on your Windows or Mac?
Here is the easiest way to find the location of Calibre library.
Click any book on your Calibre library, its detailed information will be displayed at the right column. Then click “Click to open” besides the “Path” option.
You can easily open your Calibre folder in this way.
Updated: Since the Calibre has changed its interface in the new version, you can explore the Calibre file location by clicking "Folder: Book Files" to open the Calibre library location.
Below is the Calibre default folder location on Windows and Mac:
Windows: C:\Users\User Name\Documents\Calibre Library
Mac: /Users/User Name/Calibre Library
2. How to Change Calibre Library Location
You are not allowed to change the default Calibre location that stored your Calibre converted books, but if you need to do so, you can do it in this way.
1 Just copy all the data from your Calibre Library folder and then store them to the new new folder.
Remember to copy the metadata.db file because it stores all the metadata of your ebooks.
2 Go to Calibre>>Calibre Library menu>> Switch/Create Library.
Click on the "Folder" icon in the pop-up window, and navigate to the new folder that stored your Calibre books and metadata.
All done, your old Calibre library will still there but you'll have a new Calibre library with the same name as your new Calibre ebook folder. And you can switch between these two libraries in your Calibre.
3. Advanced Tutorial: Sync Calibre Library across Computers
Is there any way to keep the Calibre library synced across two computers? Sure, if you can transfer your Calibre library to your cloud storage and then set it as the new Calibre library, you can always access your Calibre library from any computer. Let's see how we can make this happen.
1 Download and install the cloud storage app.
Download: Google Drive | OneDrive | Dropbox
Since I've already installed the OneDrive, here I will show you how to sync Calibre library across computer with the assistance of OneDrive.
2 Create a new folder named "Calibre cloud library" in your OneDrive, and then copy and paste all data from your original Calibre library to the "Calibre cloud library" folder. Then wait until all the data have been transferred to your OneDrive storage successfully.
3 Go back to Calibre, click "Calibre library" on the top menu bar, then fill in the location of "Calibre cloud library" and click "OK". Then the Calibre cloud library has been set up on one computer. Now close the Calibre on this computer and give it a little time to sync the metadata of your Calibre library. Otherwise, you'll end up wth a snarled library.
4 On any other computer that you want to access the Calibre Cloud library, please repeat the above steps. Then at the same OneDrive library as the Calibre Library location and you can build own web-based ebook library.
Pro tip: Location of Onedrive on Windows/Mac
Windows: C:\Users\username\OneDrive
Mac: /Users/username/OneDrive
Notifications for syncing Calibre across different computers:
1 Since Calibre is not a multi-user program, you'll have to make sure only one instance of Calibre is accessing this cloud library.
2 Once you've finished the reading, please close the Calibre and sync the metadata of your Calibre. Otherwise, you'll damage your Calibre library database and cause the inconsistent with the files in your Calibre library.
3 Make sure you sync before every usage no matter which computer you are on.
After finishing this article, can you find your Calibre library location? Or do you have more tips or and tricks about Calibre library? Please just share them in the following comments.
Iris Yan has been a passionate member of Epubor since 2017. Her mission is to enhance your ebook reading experience by sharing insightful tips and tricks. Join her on a journey towards reading excellence today!
Thank you for this! I am an ebook addict but I struggle with Calibre. I really hate that program. The interface is like something from 1995 and it doesn't work like any other program's basic commands. I am at my wit's end with it.
Also, I think I have screwed up my installation in terms of directories and locations. But now I am getting a new computer and I would like to start fresh and see if I can make it work.
You have the best tutorials and info on how to manage ebooks. Could you help me get started with pointers to the best basic tutorials and tips for how to set up and use Calibre.
Thank you again!
You are welcome. If you just want to manage your Calibre library, just follow the guide in this article.
If you want to install calibre drm plugin, just read Calibre DRM Removal Plugins: https://www.epubor.com/calibre-drm-removal-plugins.html
Any more problem, please feel free to contact us.
My books are arranged over 5 different harddrives in the same computer. Every harddrive has different books in different directories. (Tens of gigabytes of books)
Why cant the calibre work like a normal book reading program and open when i click in some book in some drive and not to try to copy the book to some "central" directory?
And why, when i am making lets say a .pdf from .epub, the calibre cant simply ask where i want that book to be saved every single time?? I do NOT want to save them to a single dir in single drive every time.
Calibre is open-source, feel free to write the features you want.
https://github.com/kovidgoyal/calibre
Hello, thanks for your comment.
Could you please describe your question more clearly so we can help you?
Any questions, please contact us via support@epubor.com.
Best regards,
Epubor Team
all of this seems very clear, and seems to work just fine on the machine that I just set up. However, I am not completely sure what "Once you've finished the reading, please close the Calibre and sync the metadata of your Calibre." means. I know how to close Calibre, but "sync the metadata" is not clear. I know where the metadata file is (at the end of the folder containing all the Calibre sub folders), but am not clear on syncing that after closing calibre.
This worries me a bit because Calibre says, directly under the dialogue box for specifying a new location for the library, "Do not put your calibre library on a networked drive."
Many thanks.
Hello Calibre
I just converted to books, one from MOBI and one from epub, both to PDF. And I can't find Calibre new Library as it was advised on your page! When I type a list of books comes up that I converted two years ago, and those two books that I just convert are not in this list!
Any suggestions greatly appreciated.
thanks for your time.
Nerses