Adding MASSIVE amount of books

[kiwidude]

Originally Posted by theducks

I forget the exact reason for the 100 book confirm. It might have been crash protection and or buffer flush (needed housekeeping).

Yeah it was added because (a) some of the code libraries that calibre uses leak memory like a sieve, and (b) the PDF library particularly is most prone to crashing, and (c) the prompt is necessary to ensure that the database integrity against the user also performing updates at the same time on those books and data getting lost. Because of a and b the process was broken into batches (you can control the batch size yourself in the options for the Extract ISBN plugin) so someone scanning large numbers of books would not see a crash result in *all* of the isbns extracted so far to that point having to be done again, only that batch.

If you are only scanning ePub formats in your library it is very unlikely to crash so you could crank up the batch size a bit. However any other format means either the plugin does a conversion to ePub (which has memory leaks in the conversion pipeline) or in the case of PDF it uses the pdf2html library which while better than previous versions/libraries calibre has used in the past it can still crash or have issues...

[enitro]

Thanks for the reply kiwidude.

One last question, I have categorized all my books now there is only one thing left, how do i fast review the books, what I mean is - i don't have to double click the book then it opens look up the cover or the text to see if it recognized the book but is there any side by side feature that I can see the first 10 pages on one side and metadata of the books on the other side with one click, because i have a lot to review.

Thanks.

[DedTV]

Originally Posted by enitro

is there any side by side feature that I can see the first 10 pages on one side and metadata of the books on the other side with one click

There's no native side by side comparison tool/feature in Calibre.

How I do it is, I first use the Find Duplicates plug in to find and remove exact binary dupes. No need to visually compare those.

Then I use the "Open With" plug in and map opening books with Calibre's ebook reader to a Keyboard Shortcut and just visually compare them that way.
You could also probably utilize the plug in to pass files to a diff tool or visual comparison tool if you can find one that supports opening files via command line arguments and supports whatever formats you're dealing with.

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by DedTV

Then I use the "Open With" plug in and map opening books with Calibre's ebook reader to a Keyboard Shortcut and just visually compare them that way.

Clever, but there is already a default shortcut for opening any selected book in calibre's viewer "v".

[Dopedangel]

Originally Posted by DoctorOhh

Clever, but there is already a default shortcut for opening any selected book in calibre's viewer "v".

Calibre takes ages to open most non html books as it has to convert them on the fly so using a separate app is the correct way to go if they are epub he can use the isbn extractor plugin any way

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by Dopedangel

Calibre takes ages to open most non html books as it has to convert them on the fly so using a separate app is the correct way to go if they are epub he can use the isbn extractor plugin any way

True, but has nothing to do with my comment. I agree any non-html based books (for me this means PDF) in my library I open using a separate app. But the person I replied to was using the "Open with" plugin to open books in calibre's reader (as I highlighted in blue above) which is duplicating the built-in shortcut.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by enitro

...is there any side by side feature that I can see the first 10 pages on one side and metadata of the books on the other side with one click, because i have a lot to review.

@enitro - Do you mean something like the picture below - it shows the xChange PDF viewer alongside Calibre. I also do the same with RTF using Word+Office Tabs

I can't do both at the same time because my monitors not good enough - a 30" WQXGA would do the trick, but... the bathroom also needs a makeover

I don't know how to do something similar with EPUB because I'm not aware of an EPUB viewer with a tabbed document interface or a page thumbnail sidebar - let alone both. If anyone knows of one please let me know - I tried the EPubReader for Firefox, sort of works - but my expectations have been set by Tracker's xChange and Word+Office Tabs.

BR

[enitro]

Yes this is exactly what i mean BterRed, but when you have to categorize 10 000 books opening them adds up, so I use Sumatra PDF reader, it can read almost(pdf,djvu,epub,mobi...) all formats and its super fast.

So open up a book with "v" shortcut
review it
move to the next one
automatically closes previous one
opens next one
****
also I have dual monitor so it makes it a little bit easier

Thanks for the replies, appreciate it.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by enitro

...Yes this is exactly what i mean...

Originally Posted by enitro

...so I use Sumatra PDF reader, it can read almost(pdf,djvu,epub,mobi...) all formats and its super fast.

also I have dual monitor so it makes it a little bit easier

I haven't looked at Sumatra for a long time, maybe its time to take another look

I tried using 2 monitors but it didn't work for me for this task, but I didn't have 10,000 books to do.

I saw an HP 30" WQXGA monitor on ebay recently for ~$700 - tempted - but the freight and insurance almost doubled the price, so... cheaper to buy a new one.

BR

[enitro]

Sorry BetterRed I forgot to add in my post, HOW do i do that:

So open up a book with "v" shortcut
review it
move to the next one
automatically closes previous one
opens next one

especially the bold parts.

P.S - Does your progy do that.

Thanks.

[DedTV]

Originally Posted by DoctorOhh

Clever, but there is already a default shortcut for opening any selected book in calibre's viewer "v".

That works if you only have the books in one format. 'V' won't let you compare specific formats in different records against each other.
Alt-V will, but you have to wait for a dialog box to pop up, then click or select the format you want, then repeat that with the next record.

Mapping a shortcut saves a few mouse clicks or keypresses and is a bit more efficient, especially as I use keyboard macros to make the process faster.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by enitro

Sorry BetterRed I forgot to add in my post, HOW do i do that:

So open up a book with "v" shortcut
review it
move to the next one
automatically closes previous one
opens next one

especially the bold parts.

P.S - Does your progy do that.

Thanks.

Something like that

I have epubs so I keep 'v' hooked to the calibre viewer

Via OpenWith PI

I have "ctrl/alt/p" hooked to open PDF's with xChange Viewer
I have "ctrl/alt/r" hooked to open RTF's with Word+OfficeTab

do

open first PDF with "ctrl/alt/p"

1. review
2. if needed update Summary & Tags
3. update Status & MyModified Date custom columns

while not finished and not bored

1. switch to Calibre with alt/tab
2. move to the next book
3. open with "ctrl/alt/p" or click PDF in Book Details
4. opens PDF in a new Document Tab - the previous one is still in its Document Tab
5. review
6. if needed update Summary & Tags
7. update Status & MyModified Date custom columns

endwhile

enddo

There's no extra program or script involved, just Windows, Calibre and the relevant Viewer - and the process I carry around in my head

Originally Posted by DedTV

Alt-V will, but you have to wait for a dialog box to pop up, then click or select the format you want, then repeat that with the next record.

Thanks DedTV, didn't know about Alt/V, I'm sure I'll be able to use it

Cheers BR

Addendum - Sumatra PDF doesn't support multiple document tabs, if it did then I'd seriously consider it because it can also read EPUB & MOBI files.

[enitro]

Thanks for your help BetterRed and DedTV.