Removing Identifiers from calibre library

[jprice]

I found an old post about this but the solution given did not work.
Then got to bottom of thread and found moderator say this was old post and things had changed. However, I did not find a new solution.
I have the same issue as the old post, many isbns, google, amazon and other stuff that need to be removed from a large amount of books. I am not very savy on the computer and could not understand the manual at all.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[gsparks2]

1) setup a temporary Library and put all of your books in it. This process can destroy your library if you do it wrong
2) in the temporary library, select some books
3) open the Edit Metadata dialog
4) open the search and replace dialog
5) in the search field select identifiers
6) select an identifier type
7) in the Search for field enter ".*" without the quotation marks
8)leave the Replace With field blank
9) review the Test Text dialog to preview changes, if nothing appears in the Test Text fields, then select another identifier type in 6) above
10) If you are happy with the results in the right hand fields, click apply.
11) review the metadata for the books that was just modified
12) repeat this process as necessary

[jprice]

gsparks2,
Thanks so much for your prompt reply.
I did all the steps you mentioned as well as...
There are two "Identifier Type" in search and replace. Until the bottom one was completed there was a red "you must complete "Identifier Type". I used mobi-isbn which populated four of the books on the left hand side. The right hand side showed these blank. I hit apply. It showed it was "processing 14 books" and then defaulted to the open search and replace. However, when I close the search and replace and go to the four books with mobi-isbn identifiers, the mobi-isbn identifiers are still there. I tried isbn same results.
I'm telling you everything that happened in hopes you will see what I am doing wrong. This was why I contacted this forum as on my own I had tried the same steps. (I did use *.* for search where you use .* but this did not make any difference at all)
If you have any ideas why this search and replace is going through the motions but not actually doing anything, I would love the help.

[chaley]

Use the following bulk metadata search/replace

[jprice]

gsparks2,
Thanks so much for your prompt reply.
I did all the steps you mentioned as well as...
There are two "Identifier Type" in search and replace. Until the bottom one was completed there was a red "you must complete "Identifier Type". I used mobi-isbn which populated four of the books on the left hand side. The right hand side showed these blank. I hit apply. It showed it was "processing 14 books" and then defaulted to the open search and replace. However, when I close the search and replace and go to the four books with mobi-isbn identifiers, the mobi-isbn identifiers are still there. I tried isbn same results.
I'm telling you everything that happened in hopes you will see what I am doing wrong. This was why I contacted this forum as on my own I had tried the same steps. (I did use *.* for search where you use .* but this did not make any difference at all)
If you have any ideas why this search and replace is going through the motions but not actually doing anything, I would love the help.

[jprice]

Chaley, This works like a charm. So much easier!! Thank you very much.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by chaley

Use the following bulk metadata search/replace

@chaley - since I started using calibre, the bulk MDE Basic Tab has been incrementally enhanced with quite a few convenience options. Maybe a Remove all Identifiers option could be added too.

I have an S&R specification like yours saved as kill_idents, but I'd prefer an option in the General tab.

BR

[gsparks2]

Originally Posted by chaley

Use the following bulk metadata search/replace

Much easier! Thanks!