chaley: Thanks for your help—that's brilliant.
I did read the manual's Search section, but it describes only
finding ("searching for") terms, not
excluding (filtering) them. (One does run into a bit of a semantics problem...)
Also, while I appreciate your explanation of the tag browser, I was lucky enough to know the tags I wanted to exclude. The books I've imported have such a crazy number of tags, my Tag Browser is an overwhelming, pointless cascade of detail. I suppose if one had the time and the OCD tendencies, one could hack through all of one's books and impose some kind of order. Perhaps in another life... E:?|
In case anyone else should want to exclude books by tag, I'll describe the actual procedure below. No need to make everyone reinvent the wheel, eh? Cheers, Ander
- - - - - -
How to:
• Filter out books containing certain tags
• Do it again whenever you wish with just a couple of clicks
• Set Calibre to do it automatically when it starts
For this example, we'll use the tags "sci-fi" and "science fiction". Substitute the actual tag(s) you want to exclude.
(Note: Calibre calls everything a "search"—even though in a case like this, where we're
excluding stuff rather than looking for it, it would normally be called a "filter".)
1. In the Search box, type:
not tag:"sci-fi", not tag:"science fiction"
(Notice how each exclusion must be separated by a comma and space. If you're excluding just one tag, the comma isn't necessary.)
2. The list refreshes, excluding books with
either of those tags.
3. In the Saved Searches box (to the right of the main Search box), type a name that you want to call this search, e.g.:
Exclude sci-fi books
4. To the right of the Saved Searches box, click the far-right "magnifying glass with plus sign" button—which, when you hover over it with your mouse pointer, says:
"Save the current search under the name shown in the box..."
5. In the Tag Browser at the left (the list that begins "Authors, Series, Formats..."), a new category appears called "Searches". If you click the category to expand it, you'll see your search has been added there. You can click your saved search at any time to toggle your exclusions on and off.
Now, to apply your search (filter) automatically when Calibre starts:
1. At the top of Calibre's window, click Preferences. The Preferences window appears.
2. In the "Interfaces" section, click Behavior. The Behavior window appears.
3. At the upper right, in the list that says "Restriction to apply when the current library is opened", select your saved search's title.
4. Click Apply, then click Close.
To search for other stuff, leaving your exclusions in effect: In the Search box, type a space after your saved search's text, then type the text you're looking for.
To cancel your search (that is, filter) and show all books again, delete your search's text from the Search box (or toggle it off in your Saved Searches, as described above).