Organizing your library

Arcagrad reads your existing folders — you don’t reorganize anything to get started, and a flat pile of archives works fine. But a light folder convention unlocks nicer grouping, and it’s all just folders and files you already understand.

One folder, one kind

Each top-level folder inside your library becomes a kind — a tab across the top of your library. The folder name is the label, so you decide how it’s grouped:

• Directorycontent/

  • DirectoryManga/

    • …
  • DirectoryComics/

    • …
  • DirectoryBooks/

    • …

Anything sitting loose at the top level shows up under Uncategorized, so nothing is ever hidden or rejected. Group by type, language, source — whatever suits you. The folders are just labels.

Bring your own structure

Already have a flat library, or one organized by artist? Point Arcagrad at it as-is — it all works, and anything outside a kind folder simply appears under Uncategorized. Add kind folders later whenever you feel like tidying up.

Series and standalone works

Inside a kind, the folder layout tells Arcagrad what’s a series and what stands alone:

• A subfolder is a series — every archive inside it is a volume.
• A loose archive is a standalone work — a one-shot, an art book, a single issue.

• DirectoryManga/

  • DirectoryBerserk/

    • Berserk v01.cbz
    • Berserk v02.cbz
    • Berserk v03.cbz
  • A Standalone Story.cbz

A series collapses to a single cover in your grid; open it to see its volumes in order. Volume numbers come from the filenames (v01, v02, Chapter 5…), so consistent naming keeps them sorted. Extra sub-folders for arcs or batches inside a series don’t split it — everything beneath the series folder belongs to the same series.

The right reader, automatically

You never pick a “type” for a file. Arcagrad looks at each file’s contents, not its name, and chooses the reading experience: image archives (CBZ, CBR, and friends) page like a comic, and EPUBs reflow like a book. A comic and a novel can sit in the same library, and each opens the way it should.

Adding and removing

Three ways to get items in:

• Drop files into the folder — Arcagrad notices and indexes them within seconds; covers fill in as it works.
• Upload from the web app — choose the kind, and it lands in the right folder for you.
• Download with a plugin — browse an external source and pull an item straight into your library.

Removing an item from the web app deletes the actual file. Arcagrad only ever adds or removes whole files — it never rewrites the contents of one.

Scanning

Arcagrad scans when it starts and then watches for changes, so new files appear on their own — you don’t run scans by hand. Folders that haven’t changed are skipped, which is why even a very large library re-checks quickly.