Single Libraries vs. Split? (to simplify search-by-content)
 

I keep running into this problem when using a single Calibre library for all genres--

I am trying to find a book covering one obscure topic. I haven't listed the topic in my Calibre tags. I try to find relevant keywords using Finder or another search-by-content tool.

Sometimes I find nothing.

Sometimes I find many results, most of which are on unrelated topics, and most of which lack the search terms... (Exact search? Who needs that? You need more results!)

If I could search genre x + content y, that would help narrow things down. So maybe I should split my Calibre library into several libraries, by genre or groups of genres. If I did that, I could run the search on the folder/directory for the right library and ignore the rest.

Except I don't know if multiple Calibre libraries can update Kindle collections without cancelling the other libraries' collections. I know multiple virtual libraries couldn't a few years ago.

This is why I am slowly adding C-CIP/P-CIP data to the books in my Calibre Library. Search by Dewey Decimal, Library of Congress, or even Cutter Number has far fewer false positives than keywords. Especially the keywords publishers like to use.

Have you spent some time learning about virtual libraries? That may help you significantly in reducing the areas of search.

I agree with @Tarana.

I frequently use virtual libraries to narrow down the books I need to search through. And you don't need to create permanent vl's to do so.

Let's say you're looking for, idk, a Fantasy book that has unicorns in it. You've tagged your books with the Fantasy tag but not unicorns but you know they're mentioned in the book summary. Do a search however you normally would for the Fantasy tag then click on the Virtual Library to the left of the search box and then select *current search. See the image attached.
This restricts the searchable books to just the ones marked Fantasy while allowing you to conduct new simple searches. Otherwise you'd have to create a search something like: tags:"=Fantasy" and unicorns
You can also just keep hitting *current search as you narrow down the field. It might get a little unwieldy depending on far you're drilling down but it is doable.

I'm trying to search for the things these don't cover. Such as trying to find which books refer to a certain event, or a certain person.

I use virtual libraries for other things in Calibre. But virtual libraries do not create their own folder structures. My search tools, such as Finder, and Easyfind, can search specific folders. They can search separate libraries with their own folders. They cannot search virtual libraries unless the libraries have their own folders.

I thought Calibre could only search books by metadata? If it can search by content, I should try that. If it can't, I still need a solution which works with my other search tools.

@MarjaE - the Quality Check plugin has a content search, but IIRC it has to convert books on the fly so it's slow.

The Multi-column search plugin also has full text search, IIRC you have to convert books to TXT to use it. I believe you can combine metadata searches with text searches, e.g. tags:"=history", and book contains "waterloo" - not neccesarily with that syntax :)

BR

Thank you. I'm not familiar with multi-column search. Maybe it would be easier to get Kindle Collections to work with multiple libraries...?

If you can't get Collections to work with multiple libraries on your Kindle, MCS can act as a Backstop.

BR