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AnotherCat · 05-03-2014, 10:38 PM

Hi Marty

I have given this a good run. It works just as you describe and with no gremlins found so far

. Here are my comments (written in a way that also may help others looking at using the app).

While not so useful for me with a big screened PC as, in my case, that is used predominantly for maintaining the Calibre libraries, building books, and loading my eReader, it is great on a notebook (non touch, so mouse or touchpad in my case); well for those of us who have an open minded outlook that is not blindly tied to the desktop, anyway

.

As I said earlier, on my travelling notebook (a quite old 1.86GHz HP which I dare not replace as it has been totally reliable during a hard life) I use a spinning USB drive with my Calibre libraries on it which I load to my eReader or read on the notebook. And it was on this, especially also with its smaller screen compared to a desktop, that use of Calibre Viewer was attractive.

The environment I created for myself was Calibre Viewer with the app Freda for epubs, and with Microsoft's Reader app for pdfs. I found some other epub reading apps did not play nicely when played side by side on the screen with Calibre Viewer, they appearing shrunk up into a very narrow vertical window and so not filling the space available (that not Calibre Viewer's fault. In my view, Freda is the pick of the bunch anyway). All three apps can be run together with the reading one swapping on its half of the screen according to the format of the book currently selected from the Calibre library next to it.

Freda, like most other epub reading apps creates a bookshelf which is redundant for this purpose (as the Calibre Library becomes the "bookshelf"), but the books that appear on it can be deleted easily. Doing so doesn't remove the book from the Calibre library, just from Freda's bookshelf. Also,when one selects a book in the Calibre library for reading Freda presents that book itself for reading, one is not led to Freda's Bookshelf first. So from the selection of the book from the Calibre library to reading it in Freda is seamless.

Microsoft's Reader app, opens pdfs in the same manner.

I had no difficulty navigating between my various Calibre libraries with the app as it is.

As far as I am aware it is not possible in Windows to have a different default program/app according to whether one is working from the desktop interface or from the Modern interface. For example, one may want to use as defaults Microsoft's Reader app for pdfs while in the Modern interface but use Adobe's PDF Reader when in the desktop interface. But I am prepared to be surprised.

However, it is easy enough to have the Program Defaults in Control Panel set to the Modern apps (so in my case Freda and Microsoft's Reader), and if wanting to open from Calibre on the desktop to use the "Open With" plugin (with one's preferred desktop pdf reader loaded in it) or, if opening from File Explorer to just do a right click "Open With" (in my case to ADE for epubs and and PDF-XChange Viewer for pdfs).

John

05-03-2014, 10:38 PM	#10
AnotherCat .... Posts: 1,547 Karma: 18068960 Join Date: May 2012 Device: ....	Hi Marty I have given this a good run. It works just as you describe and with no gremlins found so far . Here are my comments (written in a way that also may help others looking at using the app). While not so useful for me with a big screened PC as, in my case, that is used predominantly for maintaining the Calibre libraries, building books, and loading my eReader, it is great on a notebook (non touch, so mouse or touchpad in my case); well for those of us who have an open minded outlook that is not blindly tied to the desktop, anyway . As I said earlier, on my travelling notebook (a quite old 1.86GHz HP which I dare not replace as it has been totally reliable during a hard life) I use a spinning USB drive with my Calibre libraries on it which I load to my eReader or read on the notebook. And it was on this, especially also with its smaller screen compared to a desktop, that use of Calibre Viewer was attractive. The environment I created for myself was Calibre Viewer with the app Freda for epubs, and with Microsoft's Reader app for pdfs. I found some other epub reading apps did not play nicely when played side by side on the screen with Calibre Viewer, they appearing shrunk up into a very narrow vertical window and so not filling the space available (that not Calibre Viewer's fault. In my view, Freda is the pick of the bunch anyway). All three apps can be run together with the reading one swapping on its half of the screen according to the format of the book currently selected from the Calibre library next to it. Freda, like most other epub reading apps creates a bookshelf which is redundant for this purpose (as the Calibre Library becomes the "bookshelf"), but the books that appear on it can be deleted easily. Doing so doesn't remove the book from the Calibre library, just from Freda's bookshelf. Also,when one selects a book in the Calibre library for reading Freda presents that book itself for reading, one is not led to Freda's Bookshelf first. So from the selection of the book from the Calibre library to reading it in Freda is seamless. Microsoft's Reader app, opens pdfs in the same manner. I had no difficulty navigating between my various Calibre libraries with the app as it is. As far as I am aware it is not possible in Windows to have a different default program/app according to whether one is working from the desktop interface or from the Modern interface. For example, one may want to use as defaults Microsoft's Reader app for pdfs while in the Modern interface but use Adobe's PDF Reader when in the desktop interface. But I am prepared to be surprised. However, it is easy enough to have the Program Defaults in Control Panel set to the Modern apps (so in my case Freda and Microsoft's Reader), and if wanting to open from Calibre on the desktop to use the "Open With" plugin (with one's preferred desktop pdf reader loaded in it) or, if opening from File Explorer to just do a right click "Open With" (in my case to ADE for epubs and and PDF-XChange Viewer for pdfs). John Last edited by AnotherCat; 05-03-2014 at 10:41 PM.