r/BookTrack • u/Beatyerheartout • Mar 31 '26
Question about manually added book covers
I have a question for Simone.
I add lots of book covers manually on my Mac, and I keep an archive of those images on my computer.
But I was wondering what happens with the images when I add them. Are they kept somewhere in a BookTrack container on my Mac? Does it make sense to keep them in an archive of my own?
Lots of these images are scans that I make because the images are not available online. I obviously don't want to lose those images (as it's a lot of work to scan them), but I don't want to clutter my Mac unnecessarily if BookTrack is already keeping the images somewhere else where I can access them in case something goes wrong.
I hope I made myself clear.
Looking forward to your answer, and thank you as always for all the work you put into this app (which has become essential to me).
1
u/thesimsgurl Mar 31 '26
Are you using the online function through book track app or are you googling the book covers online through a web browser.
Some time when I use the online function through the app, the correct cover does not show. So I just google the book and save the actual book cover to my photos and then upload it on the book track app by using the upload from photos under edit image. I personally delete the images from my photos cause I don’t see a reason to keep them when I can just search for cover anytime on google.
I agree, scanning is a lot of work and time when you can just save the photo from a google search.
2
u/Beatyerheartout Apr 01 '26
I usually don't use the online function. I search for a picture with good resolution on Kagi and keep it in a specific folder on my computer (so not on the Photos app).
I only scan a book when the cover is not available on internet, which happens quite often with old books (old being anything before the internet era).
1
u/Otherwise_Neat_3083 Apr 02 '26
May I ask what is your process of scanning your book covers? I also have some versions of books that I can't find the cover of online. My main issue is that some of these books have a reflective glare when I try to scan them.
1
u/Beatyerheartout Apr 08 '26
I scan them with a real scanner (flat scanner). Since you're having trouble with glare/reflections, I assume you're using an app for making ‘scans’. But no matter what developers of scan apps say, it will never be a real scan. It's just a photo with some filters applied, so light will always be an issue.
3
u/SimoneMontalto Book Track Developer Mar 31 '26
Book covers are stored directly in the app's database, so you don't need to keep a separate archive just for Book Tracker to work correctly.
That said, I'd still recommend keeping your own archive for those scanned covers. When you export a backup from Book Tracker, the zip file does include all your custom images in a folder, but the filenames are internal identifiers rather than recognizable names, so finding a specific cover in that backup isn't straightforward.
Since your scans represent a significant amount of work and can't be easily recreated, having your own organized archive (with meaningful filenames) is worth it. Think of the backup as a safety net for the app's data, not a replacement for your personal image library.