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Originally Posted by honeyrose
Similarly I do know how to open a function on a toolbar (I use InDesign for ..... sake). But on my Calibre toolbar the down arrows on the toolbar options also generate error messages. Yet when I come here for advice I am told I do not understand how to use it.
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I am surprised that you do not get help with genuine errors. I would expect some initial sceptism that the problem is not simply "User Error" but as long as some good evidence is supplied I would expect active involvement from relevant developers in trying to identify the cause. This is one area that having a good pro-forma for how to usefully report issues would be useful. For instance a screen shot of a problem is often much more useful that a lot of words - but is rarely provided.
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The feeling I am getting is that some of you think its use should be reserved for programming types only and anyone who does not understand how it works/cannot debug it, and is not a long term user, is a nuisance who is clogging up the space in the big boys' playpen.
This is a shame - if it is such a great piece of software and you can't make it a bit simpler to use, can't you at least show some sympathy to those of us struggling with its idiosyncracies.
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I do not believe that is the case. There have been lots of new users who get good advice. I think the key point is to recognise that any support is voluntary and that the user is expected to try and actively participate in resolving any issues. Some of the topic areas are also, by their very nature, complex - which is probably why there is not good, cheap, commercial software to do the same thing that Calibre does.
Another issue can be that there is NO simple answer to many issues. Part of that can be the heritage of Calibre in that initially one had to know some of the technicalities to get non-trivial items done. A side-effect of this issue is that in some cases no way has yet been developed to hide the complexity of achieving the desired result, or no developer has been found who is willing to contribute the required effort. As a result one has to either live with the current technical requirements or accept that a solution may be some way off (or never arrive). This is one area that Calibre is continually progressing and the regular incremental improvements add up over time.