Series column & other questions

AndyW1691 · 01-20-2012, 05:32 AM

I have been using calibre for about a week now and have a few questions. Firstly what is the 'Series' column used for? Should I enter the name of the series or the number of the book within the series? Or is it used for something else?

I have installed the Count Pages plugin and created the custom field. It all works well but is there a way centre the number within the field or better still, right align it with one or two trailing spaces. I have no experience of Python

On a similar note I would like to have a column for the price I paid for the book. Creating the column is easy but again it's the formatting that is proving to be difficult.

I have to say that I'm very impressed with Calibre and the community support.

Andy

kovidgoyal · 01-20-2012, 05:39 AM

Right click on the column header and Chaange text alignment

chaley · 01-20-2012, 06:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AndyW1691

I have been using calibre for about a week now and have a few questions. Firstly what is the 'Series' column used for? Should I enter the name of the series or the number of the book within the series? Or is it used for something else?

The column is used for both the name of the series and the number of the book within the series. To see how the information is displayed, select a book, press E to edit metadata for that book, then put something in both the series and the series index boxes. Press OK and you will see how the series column displays the information.

Quote:

On a similar note I would like to have a column for the price I paid for the book. Creating the column is easy but again it's the formatting that is proving to be difficult.

What sort of formatting? I assume you created a floating point custom column. The dialog where you created the column has a format box where you can format to your heart's content. Holding your mouse over that box will show several examples including one of currency with a label "Price: $ {0:,.2f}".

HarryT · 01-20-2012, 10:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chaley

The column is used for both the name of the series and the number of the book within the series. To see how the information is displayed, select a book, press E to edit metadata for that book, then put something in both the series and the series index boxes. Press OK and you will see how the series column displays the information.

And one of the most useful things about this is that you can then use a metadata plugboard to automatically prefix the book's title with the series name and number when you send the book to your reading device. This is an amazingly useful capability.

AndyW1691 · 01-20-2012, 11:01 AM

Thanks for the replies. I now have Calibre setup exactly as I want with additional columns for Price and number of pages. Its a shame Amazon is not more open with its format as there is no way of getting the number of pages in a AZW format book unless its listed on the Amazon web site.

As suggested, I entered the series name in the metadata and I'm happy with the result. The auto incrementing is a nice touch.

Anyway, I have managed to populate the calibre library with contents of my kindle. It then took an afternoon to get the missing metadata and covers. Where this produced a mismatch between the Kindle and the calibre library I deleted the Kindle version and copied over the updated version from the library. I'm so glad I did this now as I only have 96 books! Trying to manage them on the kindle was getting tiresome. Using Calibre is so much easier.

Markske · 01-22-2012, 08:05 AM

Hello,
i've been using Calibre for over a year now and i'm stillfinding new things.
I've turned on the hierarchical feature of the series, but it's not quite wat i'm loking for.
Is it possible to number the books in a series, and renumber in a subseries?
I mean something like:

Series[1]
Series[2]
Series[3].Subseries[1]
Series[4].Subseries[2]
Series[5]
Series[6].SubseriesAnother[1]

or like:

Series[1]
Series[2]
Series.Subseries[3][1]
Series.Subseries[4][2]
Series[5]
Series.SubseriesAnother[6][1]

This gives a greater flexibility in large series.

Is there any way to do this?
I appreciaty any answer.
Greetings,

itimpi · 01-22-2012, 09:13 AM

Not directly - but you could add a cusom column of type series called sub-series

transmitthis · 01-22-2012, 10:22 AM

I just tend to use fractions as well as integer

Series[1]
Series[2]
Series[3]
Series[3.25]
Series[3.50]
Series[4]
Series[5]
Series[6]
Series[6.5]
Series[7]

Pinecone · 01-24-2012, 03:16 PM

Using fractions does not allow you to sort by the SubSeries. Or on a Sony, create another collection based on the Sub Series.

Setting a second custom column for Sub Series allows both of these.

I use fractions for books or stories that are published to fit between the main books in a series. The Stephanie Plum books have books inserted in the main series. IIRC there are a couple of Short Stoires inserted in the Harry Bosch series.

01-20-2012, 05:32 AM	#1
AndyW1691 Member Posts: 21 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2012 Device: Kindle 3 & Mac OSX	Series column & other questions I have been using calibre for about a week now and have a few questions. Firstly what is the 'Series' column used for? Should I enter the name of the series or the number of the book within the series? Or is it used for something else? I have installed the Count Pages plugin and created the custom field. It all works well but is there a way centre the number within the field or better still, right align it with one or two trailing spaces. I have no experience of Python On a similar note I would like to have a column for the price I paid for the book. Creating the column is easy but again it's the formatting that is proving to be difficult. I have to say that I'm very impressed with Calibre and the community support. Andy

01-20-2012, 11:01 AM	#5
AndyW1691 Member Posts: 21 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2012 Device: Kindle 3 & Mac OSX	Thanks! Thanks for the replies. I now have Calibre setup exactly as I want with additional columns for Price and number of pages. Its a shame Amazon is not more open with its format as there is no way of getting the number of pages in a AZW format book unless its listed on the Amazon web site. As suggested, I entered the series name in the metadata and I'm happy with the result. The auto incrementing is a nice touch. Anyway, I have managed to populate the calibre library with contents of my kindle. It then took an afternoon to get the missing metadata and covers. Where this produced a mismatch between the Kindle and the calibre library I deleted the Kindle version and copied over the updated version from the library. I'm so glad I did this now as I only have 96 books! Trying to manage them on the kindle was getting tiresome. Using Calibre is so much easier.

01-22-2012, 08:05 AM	#6
Markske me Posts: 1 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2012 Device: none	Marking Series and subseries Hello, i've been using Calibre for over a year now and i'm stillfinding new things. I've turned on the hierarchical feature of the series, but it's not quite wat i'm loking for. Is it possible to number the books in a series, and renumber in a subseries? I mean something like: Series[1] Series[2] Series[3].Subseries[1] Series[4].Subseries[2] Series[5] Series[6].SubseriesAnother[1] or like: Series[1] Series[2] Series.Subseries[3][1] Series.Subseries[4][2] Series[5] Series.SubseriesAnother[6][1] This gives a greater flexibility in large series. Is there any way to do this? I appreciaty any answer. Greetings,

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01-20-2012, 05:39 AM	#2
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,826 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	Right click on the column header and Chaange text alignment

01-22-2012, 09:13 AM	#7
itimpi Wizard Posts: 4,552 Karma: 950151 Join Date: Nov 2008 Device: Sony PRS-950, iphone/ipad (Marvin/iBooks/QuickReader)	Not directly - but you could add a cusom column of type series called sub-series

01-22-2012, 10:22 AM	#8
transmitthis Addict Posts: 288 Karma: 1003542 Join Date: May 2011 Device: Google Nexus 7 16GB	I just tend to use fractions as well as integer Series[1] Series[2] Series[3] Series[3.25] Series[3.50] Series[4] Series[5] Series[6] Series[6.5] Series[7]

01-24-2012, 03:16 PM	#9
Pinecone Guru Posts: 902 Karma: 1660722 Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Maryland Device: PRS-650, PRS-600, PRS-350	Using fractions does not allow you to sort by the SubSeries. Or on a Sony, create another collection based on the Sub Series. Setting a second custom column for Sub Series allows both of these. I use fractions for books or stories that are published to fit between the main books in a series. The Stephanie Plum books have books inserted in the main series. IIRC there are a couple of Short Stoires inserted in the Harry Bosch series.