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Coronach · 09-20-2012, 02:16 PM

So, I'm not sure if this is possible in Calibre. But I've been searching for a ebook manager with this functionality. Given I have a TON of ebooks, I definitely need a manager. The thing is...the searching on them always tends to fall short.

Here's an example.

I'm in the mood to read a spy book today. So offhand, I know a couple authors who deal in this. Let's say I'm going for Tom Clancy.

I start the search using the Author category, and select Tom Clancy. And say 20 or 30 books pop up.

Most would be happy with that. But maybe sometimes the mood is for a bit more thorough search.

Here is where the tricky part comes in. The field on the left of Calibre, with Authors, Languages, Series, etc, doesn't seem to update. In fact, on most of the managers I've tried, this area tends to remain fixed.

What exactly am I looking for, you might be asking yourself. Well it's like this.

If I have Authors, Series, Tags on that area. When I click Tom Clancy, I want it to be able to update, so the excess information in those areas is removed.

So I'm gonna try to lay it out here as best I know how.

--Authors--
Tom Clancy (30 books)
Terry Brooks (10 books)

--Series--
Jack Ryan (10 books)
Net Force (10 books)
Shannara (10 books)

--Tags--
Dwarves (4)
Elves (1)
Magic (10)
Cyber Crime (10)
Russia (4)
China (2)

Now, when I mean update, I mean to say the list above changes based on your search.

If I do a search for Tom Clancy, Authors should change to only have Tom Clancy on there. If there are other authors attached to any of those books, their name would be on the list as well.

But more importantly is what happens in Series and Tags.

Series would only now show Jack Ryan and Net Force, because Tom Clancy isn't associated with the Shannara books.

Tags would show Russia, China, and Cyber Crime. Dwarves, Elves, and Magic would be removed.

So I could then continue to narrow my search down to find only books I would be interested in reading in at that given time.

This is less important with Authors, and moreso with Tags or Custom Categories.

If it's possible in Calibre, that is great. Could someone tell me how to accomplish it.

I realize that if I wanted books containing Dragons and Elves, I could just do a tag+tag search for those two terms, and come up with all books that have both in their tag structure. But what about when you -don't- know what you want to read.

Say I want a book on Dragons, so I do the tag search for that. And it gets me say....60 books total. If the tag list updated to show all tags associated with just those 60, I could then narrow things. Granted, tags show up in the main tree, if you have the column wide enough to reveal all, or if you hover over it. But that still has you going down a long list of books.

I just think it might be easier if the Tags category was able to update, and go from say..30+ tags, to only the 10 or so applicable to the particular books shown.

09-20-2012, 02:16 PM	#1
Coronach Member Posts: 10 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2012 Device: none	Searching and Search Updates So, I'm not sure if this is possible in Calibre. But I've been searching for a ebook manager with this functionality. Given I have a TON of ebooks, I definitely need a manager. The thing is...the searching on them always tends to fall short. Here's an example. I'm in the mood to read a spy book today. So offhand, I know a couple authors who deal in this. Let's say I'm going for Tom Clancy. I start the search using the Author category, and select Tom Clancy. And say 20 or 30 books pop up. Most would be happy with that. But maybe sometimes the mood is for a bit more thorough search. Here is where the tricky part comes in. The field on the left of Calibre, with Authors, Languages, Series, etc, doesn't seem to update. In fact, on most of the managers I've tried, this area tends to remain fixed. What exactly am I looking for, you might be asking yourself. Well it's like this. If I have Authors, Series, Tags on that area. When I click Tom Clancy, I want it to be able to update, so the excess information in those areas is removed. So I'm gonna try to lay it out here as best I know how. --Authors-- Tom Clancy (30 books) Terry Brooks (10 books) --Series-- Jack Ryan (10 books) Net Force (10 books) Shannara (10 books) --Tags-- Dwarves (4) Elves (1) Magic (10) Cyber Crime (10) Russia (4) China (2) Now, when I mean update, I mean to say the list above changes based on your search. If I do a search for Tom Clancy, Authors should change to only have Tom Clancy on there. If there are other authors attached to any of those books, their name would be on the list as well. But more importantly is what happens in Series and Tags. Series would only now show Jack Ryan and Net Force, because Tom Clancy isn't associated with the Shannara books. Tags would show Russia, China, and Cyber Crime. Dwarves, Elves, and Magic would be removed. So I could then continue to narrow my search down to find only books I would be interested in reading in at that given time. This is less important with Authors, and moreso with Tags or Custom Categories. If it's possible in Calibre, that is great. Could someone tell me how to accomplish it. I realize that if I wanted books containing Dragons and Elves, I could just do a tag+tag search for those two terms, and come up with all books that have both in their tag structure. But what about when you -don't- know what you want to read. Say I want a book on Dragons, so I do the tag search for that. And it gets me say....60 books total. If the tag list updated to show all tags associated with just those 60, I could then narrow things. Granted, tags show up in the main tree, if you have the column wide enough to reveal all, or if you hover over it. But that still has you going down a long list of books. I just think it might be easier if the Tags category was able to update, and go from say..30+ tags, to only the 10 or so applicable to the particular books shown.