Removing doubles dangerous?

[denetoet]

Something weird

I discovered a folder named 'Books' on my MAC. The size of this folder is some 1.6 GB. It contains almost exclusively .pdf files - old and new - and also a large folder named 'Audiobooks' which itself again contains folder with names beginning with sha1- ..... that each contain only one .mp4 file.
Did I create that situation - not on purpose - by misusing a command somewhere? I suspect I did it when fumbling around with a new Rakuten KOBO ereader on which I was trying to download books. But how?

All files in 'Books' are in the iCloud. But all of them are also found in Documents etc. under their proper 'normal' subject folder. And these are also in iCloud. They show the iCloud sign. It looks as if I have an enormous amount of doubles.

Now my question: Could I safely delete the content of the 'Books' folder without loosing their doubles that are on their 'proper' place and endangering their iCloud status?

Thanks in advance for your answers
Dirk
MacBook Air macOS Sonoma 14.2.1

 

[MacsBug]

If the folder is located in your Home Folder/Library/Containers/ Then you need to leave it. This is where the system stores your books used by the Books.app as well as a refernce point for iCloud syncing.