What do you use Calibre For?

[twowheels]

My primary Calibre use case:

ebook-convert book.epub book.mobi
ebook-viewer book.mobi
cp book.mobi /media/Kindle/documents

Convert, check, copy...

[tubemonkey]

I don't use it.

[applesauce]

I use Calibre as my library. But I have to admit I spend a lot of time smacking my head on the desk trying to work things out on it. I find the how to things helpful but find actually finding the helpful stuff is beyond painful. Everything is a chore to find, and I feel like a pain in the ass constantly asking how do I do something to be given a link to helpful easy to understand info. Just I seriously feel like the time spent looking for it is really putting me off.
When I got my kindle friends shared some books to start me off, I tho have to convert some for my husband and getting calibre to recognise and android is beyond giving me a headache. It does worry me if I get an ereader not on its list for my kids.
I do not think of myself as an internet idiot and have been online for ever. Maybe I am getting old, but it drives me nuts.

applesauce

[mbovenka]

Originally Posted by twowheels

My primary Calibre use case:

ebook-convert book.epub book.mobi
ebook-viewer book.mobi
cp book.mobi /media/Kindle/documents

Convert, check, copy...

Yep, If you don't want to deal with the GUI and the database, you don't need to. I used ebook-convert and predecessors for a good while before switching to managing my ebooks from within the GUI.

[EowynCarter]

Well, i used calibre once to convert all my mobi to ePub.

For the rest, it causes more problems than it helps.

[Terisa de morgan]

I use it in two different ways:

• To convert books and edit metadata: I use the command line tools, not the user interface
• To manage the books I have in my devices: when I read a book I delete from calibre

I manage my whole book database out of calibre, it has a lot of functionalities I'm not interested on and it lacks of some ones I require, and I am able to manage my own access database, that's OK.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by applesauce

I use Calibre as my library. But I have to admit I spend a lot of time smacking my head on the desk trying to work things out on it. I find the how to things helpful but find actually finding the helpful stuff is beyond painful. Everything is a chore to find, and I feel like a pain in the ass constantly asking how do I do something to be given a link to helpful easy to understand info. Just I seriously feel like the time spent looking for it is really putting me off.

I'm a little curious what it is that you find difficult about it? You say it's "beyond painful", but personally I find it it a pretty easy program to use. If you want to "do something" to a book you just right click on the book in the list and choose the "thing" ("Convert", "Send to Device", "Edit Metadata",etc) from the pop-up menu. I don't think I ever use any of the toolbar buttons, except "Preferences".

[spindlegirl]

I use calibre as an all purpose library sorter. I frequently download "news recipes" from the free versions of newspapers. I also occasionally use the built in reader because to me, it is (functionally) the best reader bar none. I do read more on my T1 though, but occasionally reading on my little netbook is ok.

I use the metadata editor quite a bit for books I newly obtain so I can remind myself where I got them and what prompted me to be interested in it in the first place. Before putting a book on my e-reader I often like to convert to insert the metadata in the start of the book for my own convenience.

[Cpl Punishment]

I use Caliber as a Caliber updater......

[jj2me]

Absolutely the #1 use for me is free magazines and newspapers, automatically delivered wirelessly to my Kindle, thanks to Calibre's scheduling and Amazon's free.kindle.com e-mailing. It's the main reason I have a Kindle (also for wireless "Send to my Kindle" bookmarklet clipping), and it's the reason I just added a Kindle Fire (because I want to peruse the magazines/newspapers more quickly). Who doesn't like no-effort free content?

#2: format conversions: mobi to epub, and specifying added fonts via CSS for non-PRS+ ereaders.

#3 (tie): book searching (Get books); reading on a tiny 5" PC (View).

Library organization is almost an afterthought, as I know the original location of my books on my PC (and of course don't need to know the locations of purchased Kindle books). Calibre nicely deletes old newspapers/magazines (you set the interval), but keeps all my ebooks I've imported.

Love it!

[applesauce]

where do my books go does it make copies of them and place them where.
when it converts books where do the physical converted copies go and which version is then in my shown in my calibre.
how do I clean out the books from my ebook folder without moving the ones calibre has created when I have no idea which ones they are.
can I just put all my books into calibre then select convert all to mobi and be able to find all the mobi files including the ones it didnt need to convert or do I have to pick my way though.
how do I select a mass of books IN ORDER for a series to add and have them actually go to calibre in order so I dont have to renumber ever damn one as they all get jumbled.
how do I add books to an android tablet not on the list
how do I add books to an ereader not on the list

now I do not expect anybody to answer all those but seriously they are things I should be able to work out without having to ask yet it is driving me nuts and that is just off the top of my head.

applesauce

I use Calibre for about everything related to ebooks, except actually reading them. And sometime that as well when I want to quickly search for a quote in a book I have already read. So with Calibre I:

• Strip DRM from purchased books and format to epub if necessary
  
• Whenever I add an ebook to my collection I immediately enter it into Calibre and use it to edit meta data, to add tags I want, and remove those that I don't want. Often this also means using the search for meta data and/or cover feature of Calibre
  
• I add entries in custom columns I have created for number of pages (using a count pages plugin), marking whether I have read the book or not, whether it is in my priority list, and once read a number of stars rating.
  
• I use the search feature to select a list of of books from which to choose my next read based on the various bits of information I described above.
  
• I use it to transfer books to by Sony reader and to delete books I have finished from that reader.
  
• I use the feature it provides to search the Internet for ebook titles I am interested in.
  
• Linking my Dropbox account to the Calibre library on my hard drive gives my automatic cloud backup of all my ebooks.

[DrNefario]

Originally Posted by Cpl Punishment

I use Caliber as a Caliber updater......

There always seems to be a newer version ready when I run mine, too.

I only use it for sideloaded books, and therefore don't really need to run it all that often. It's a bit cramped on my netbook screen, and I wasn't aware of some of the features others seem to be using.

Edit: I forgot to say, I did use it to convert my own unfinished books from RTF to MOBI/EPUB, but it isn't really a great way to create ebooks. There are no chapter breaks. I've gone over to Scrivener for a more complete version of the one I want to publish (if I ever finish working on it).

[slussen2]

Hi All,
Sorry to be a pain but I was advised to start a new thread as the latest post in the thread I entered was in February 2012. But how to start a new thread? Couldn't find that answer on MR or by googling. Maybe I was in too much of a hurry.

Anyhow, I give my problem here and perhaps some kind soul can help!

I've been trying to install a downloaded Swedish dictionary on my new Kindle Touch via Calibre, with my Macbook, but have had no success.

I checked out Doitsu's post, as well as Terry Lang's, did as instructed and changed the Preferences reference in Calibre to Swedish.
I then tried downloading the ePub version of the dictionary (the pdf version encountered a problem when Calibre tried to convert it to .mobi - don't know what the problem was here but the conversion process went on and on and when I looked at the progress bar, there was none!), converted it in Calibre to .mobi and transferred it to my KT. But it doesn't work.

Hope someone can tell me what I shd be doing!

[HarryT]

To start a new thread, go to the forum in which you wish to post (so that you see the list of threads in the forum), then click the "New Thread" button at the upper left of the screen.