Joining two libraries

[abusch]

Hi,

I have two Bookends libraries - one is my main library, in daily use, and the other contains all the books that are on the bookshelves in my office.

Ideally, I would like to turn them into one library, but I am afraid that this will create double entries, as it is likely that a number of the 683 entries from my bookshelves were at some point entered into my main BE library (which contains upwards of 7000 entries).

How do I best proceed? I haven't found anything in this forum on joining libraries, but I am sure I am not the first one to confront this problem. I have put an identifying keyword on all the entries in the office library, so I do not lose track of where entries come from.

Any ideas? I'd be grateful for any help!

Thanks,
Andreas

[Jon]

This FAQ covers merging libraries.

You've already put keywords in all the reference in each library, but for others who might want to do this there are several ways. The obvious one is with Global Change -> Change Field -> Keywords. A less obvious way is to select all references, open the Keyword Term List window, and drop the keyword onto the reference list (at least one reference must have the keyword for it to be in the list, of course).

Post merge you can create two smart groups if you like, one for refs with keyword A and the other for refs with keyword B.

Jon
Sonny Software

[abusch]

Thanks, Jon, for the quick and helpful reply! I'll try it when I feel particularly adventurous - or bored

[Jon]

No need for adventure. In the Finder, duplicate each library and merge those, remove duplicates, make smart groups, etc. If anything goes wrong or you don't like the result, trash the copies and keep using your two-state solution. If you think you're happy with the merged library, move the original 2 libraries to a safe place and know that you can return to them at any time.

Jon
Sonny Software

[DrJJWMac]

I would perhaps create backups (within Bookends) of the two original libraries and put the two original libraries into a ZIP archive in addition to (or rather than) duplicating them.

[abusch]

No need for adventure. In the Finder, duplicate each library and merge those, remove duplicates, make smart groups, etc. If anything goes wrong or you don't like the result, trash the copies and keep using your two-state solution. If you think you're happy with the merged library, move the original 2 libraries to a safe place and know that you can return to them at any time.

Jon
Sonny Software

Thanks - that's what I'll do!

[vinschger]

I would perhaps create backups (within Bookends) of the two original libraries and put the two original libraries into a ZIP archive in addition to (or rather than) duplicating them.

@DrJJWMac , can you explain, why you would do so - instead of the simple approach of @Jon?

[DrJJWMac]

@vinschger ... When I am to do something that I should do on a "copy" of a file, I prefer to put the source file into a ZIP archive rather than making a copy of the file. I too easily loose track of why I have a "copy", for example MyLibrary copy.bdb versus MyLibrary.zip. I also prefer knowing that the ZIP archive secures everything in a format that can be transmitted elsewhere as an ASCII text file, especially when the contents may be expand to non-text formats. Sometimes, when I make a ZIP archive, I also add a date stamp, for example MyLibrary 2023-07-30.zip. I do this especially when I want to store the ZIP archive on an external drive as a true archival or extra backup copy. Finally, in those cases where storage is a premium, a ZIP archive is smaller than a copy.

In summary, my habit of making ZIP archives is more second nature to me than is my habit of making copies of files. I trust myself against loosing (or destroying) a ZIP archive more than I trust myself against losing a "copy".

[vinschger]

@DrJJWMac thank you. maybe a theoretical question: isn't zipping a library a potentially slightly higher risk for a corrupted backup?

[DrJJWMac]

I've never considered corruption via ZIP as an issue. One distinction that says even more so to make a ZIP archive is that a library does not contain the attachments. The argument from this insight might be that, before you decide to test something on a library, you should combine both the library and its attachments into one ZIP archive. Should you inadvertently also mess up not only the library but also a PDF file while testing, you can recover both the original library and its original attachments set in one ZIP archive.