Bookdrop

Add books to your library by dropping files into a folder. Bookdrop watches for new files, extracts metadata, optionally enriches it from online sources, and queues everything for review before importing.

Network Storage Limitation

Bookdrop may not reliably detect new files on network-mounted storage (e.g., NFS or SMB). Many network filesystems do not propagate real-time filesystem events to the host process, so Bookdrop may not notice newly added files.

If Bookdrop doesn’t react when you add files:

• Use a local folder instead
• Adjust mount options to enable notification support
• Restart Grimmory to trigger a manual rescan
• Open the Bookdrop UI and click the manual “Refresh” button to force a reload
• You can also enable periodic scanning for the Bookdrop folder in Settings → Tasks.

Pro Tip

Drop entire folders of books at once. Bookdrop processes them sequentially and queues everything for easy review.

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Getting Started

Mount a local directory as your Bookdrop path in docker-compose.yml:

volumes:
  - /path/to/bookdrop:/bookdrop

Permissions

Ensure the Bookdrop folder has proper read/write permissions for the Grimmory container.

Drop supported files (PDF, EPUB, CBZ, CBR, CB7) into this folder. You can drop entire folders of books at once.

Monitoring Progress

Click the bell icon in the top bar to see processing status. When processing completes, click Review to open the Bookdrop UI.

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The Bookdrop UI

Global Settings (Top)

1. Filename Pattern Preview showing how books will be renamed based on your configured pattern
2. Default Library for all books (can be overridden per book)
3. Default Subfolder within the library (e.g., “Sci-Fi”, “Non-Fiction”)
4. Apply Defaults to All to set the library and subfolder for every book in the list

Per-Book Controls (Middle)

5. Metadata Status (green = fetched from online, yellow = internal only)
6. Fetched Cover from online sources
7. Internal Cover embedded in the book file
8. Per-Book Library Override
9. Per-Book Subfolder Override
10. Metadata Comparison Panel for side-by-side fetched vs. internal metadata

Bulk Actions (Bottom)

Button	Description
Apply All Metadata (with Cover)	Copies all fetched metadata including covers to all books
Apply All Metadata (without Cover)	Applies fetched metadata but keeps original embedded covers
Reset All Metadata	Reverts all changes, restoring original file-based values
Delete All	Clears the Bookdrop queue (files remain on disk)
Finalize Import	Moves files to libraries, applies metadata, renames files

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Per-Book Metadata Comparison

Click the dropdown icon next to any book to open the comparison panel:

Single Arrow copies only missing fields from fetched metadata. Existing values are left untouched:

Current:  Title = "Book",     Author = ""
Fetched:  Title = "The Book", Author = "John Doe"
Result:   Title = "Book",     Author = "John Doe"  ← only author was empty, so only author copied

Double Arrow overwrites all fields with fetched metadata:

Current:  Title = "Book",     Author = "Unknown"
Fetched:  Title = "The Book", Author = "John Doe"
Result:   Title = "The Book", Author = "John Doe"  ← everything replaced

You can also use the copy button next to individual fields for selective updates. Updated fields are highlighted in green.

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Finalizing the Import

After clicking Finalize Import, a summary shows successfully imported books, their library placement, any skipped files, and processing statistics.

After import, original files are automatically removed from the Bookdrop folder.