TAGS: removing outliers

[alexxxm]

after years spent using calibre just for format conversion & news download,
I finally found the strength to import my ebooks into it, using it at last as it is primarily intended.
Having entered almost 600 ebooks my fingers are shaking, but I'm in ecstasy browsing my books covers.

I defaulted to downloading metadata for my books, so a lot of them have a large number of tags I find unnerving, for two separate reasons:
1) there are outliers that appear just once in 600 books, say a tag "Douglas Adams" for the Rudy Rucker book dedicated to Douglas Adams
2) there are tags whose utility I really cannot understand, as "General", which almost ALL my ebooks have

I think tags should be used mainly for filtering, so I'd like to remove them in some way... is it possible?
For point 2) I can select all the books and remove, say, "General", but for point 1) I dont know how to do it without doing it manually for each ebook.

thanks for any help...


alessandro

[itimpi]

I use the following technique:
- Select all (CTRL-A)
- Use Edit Meta
- Click on the button against Add Tags to bring up the Tag Editor. This shows all tags and I can select those I want removed.
- On exiting the Tag Editor cut the string that is now in Add tags across to the Remove tags input box
- Press OK to remove the selected tags from any book that might have them.

I am not sure why the Remove tags input box does not make the Tag Editor available as it would be convenient.

You can later do fine tuning by typing in tag:tagvalue into the search box to see what books have a particular tag (when you do not want it deleted from all books) and select just those required. You can then bring up the Edit Metadata dialog and proceed as described above

[alexxxm]

the method seems to be working - I just dont understand why the removed tags keep on appearing in the list, both in the "available" in the Tag Editor, and in the tag browser, where they appear as "[0] tagname", indicating that - correctly - no book is available with that tag.
Do I need to consolidate in some way the database?

alessandro

[itimpi]

Normally I would expect tags that are no longer used to disappear. I guess someone more knowlegeable in the Calibre internals will have to comment.

[alexxxm]

Originally Posted by itimpi

Normally I would expect tags that are no longer used to disappear.

me too... yet they're still there, and they also survive to a calibre shutdown/restart...
hope it doesnt depend on my slightly old version (0.6.29), since under old Linux systems like mine I cannot upgrade to newer versions (glibc problems...)!

alessandro

[Scott Nielsen]

Originally Posted by alexxxm

me too... yet they're still there, and they also survive to a calibre shutdown/restart...

Ah - I have that problem too and have been meaning to ask the same very question on here.

[kovidgoyal]

Going to Preferences->Advanced and clicking check database integrity should automatically remove unused tags

[Scott Nielsen]

It did indeed. Thanks much!

[alexxxm]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

Going to Preferences->Advanced and clicking check database integrity should automatically remove unused tags

sorry Kovid - that didnt work for me.
I did it, and also restarted calibre after it,
but the same tons of unused tags (showing [0] usage in TAG view) remain.

Dont know if I mentioned it already, but I have to keep on using v.0.6.29 since I'm on an old fedora fc8 version.

thanks!

alessandro

[kovidgoyal]

Use the tag editor to remove them manually in that case.

[alexxxm]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

Use the tag editor to remove them manually in that case.

but that's exactly what I did!
Following the suggestion above (since there's not a tag editor for the "remove tags") I:
1) selected all books
2) used the tag editor for "add tags"
3) selected all the tags I want removed
4) cutted that line and pasted in the "remove tags" entry

then, after database integrity check and calibre restart, the [0] entries are still there

I tried to remove in the "Tag View", but there doesn seem to be a way


alessandro

[kovidgoyal]

I mean the tag editor in the edit meta information dialog

[theducks]

Originally Posted by alexxxm

but that's exactly what I did!
Following the suggestion above (since there's not a tag editor for the "remove tags") I:
1) selected all books
2) used the tag editor for "add tags"
3) selected all the tags I want removed
4) cutted that line and pasted in the "remove tags" entry

then, after database integrity check and calibre restart, the [0] entries are still there

I tried to remove in the "Tag View", but there doesn seem to be a way


alessandro

It is easy

Pick a single title with a Tag that you will not be removing.

Edit Meta-data
Click the Tag-Editor button next to the Tag line

now select all the tags you wish to remove.

click th icon to the Left of the list

confirm (paste to clipboard if desired)

normal exit