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petzi · 08-04-2016, 05:01 AM

I started to use Calibre two month ago. At first I had to overcome some obstacles related with the (for me) unusual interface, but soon I got excited about the software and the huge possibilities to manage books. Besides of my (small) library of eBooks I have just began to catalogue my huge library of "normal" books as well. Using the app ISBN Scan in conjunction with Evernote, the Book List plugin and an appropriate Regex I found a solution where I can catalogue bulks of books easily and fast. Maybe there are other, better ways, but I am happy so far.

But here is my problem: I noticed that after a short while many tags cluttered my libraries. Even after excluding them from importing as metadata during the search via ISBN and downloa I have the problem how to organise my libraries via tags. To have better control of the tags I now fill them in manually, but even so I get the feeling that they accumulate in a way where it is difficult to maintain a logic and consistent order. Also it takes a lot of time to control which tags I have already used and should therefore – if adequate – be used again.

I know that there are many options and some tools available (e.g. Quality Check, CALM) but for a newcomer all these different possibilities are overwhelming. What I am looking for is some sound strategy in relation of the organisation of tags. Should I accept in a first run whatever there is, brought up automatically with the metadata download – and clean up later? Should I put them in manually – book for book – (as I am doing it now), or are there some ways/strategies to do it faster?

I would like to learn how others – more experienced users – are using/compiling/adding their tags. What strategies do you follow? What procedures and tools do you use?

08-04-2016, 05:01 AM	#1
petzi Connoisseur Posts: 93 Karma: 13884 Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Austria Device: Kindle Oasis, Amazon Fire 7 Tablet, iPad mini 4, iPhone XS	Need tips for managing tags I started to use Calibre two month ago. At first I had to overcome some obstacles related with the (for me) unusual interface, but soon I got excited about the software and the huge possibilities to manage books. Besides of my (small) library of eBooks I have just began to catalogue my huge library of "normal" books as well. Using the app ISBN Scan in conjunction with Evernote, the Book List plugin and an appropriate Regex I found a solution where I can catalogue bulks of books easily and fast. Maybe there are other, better ways, but I am happy so far. But here is my problem: I noticed that after a short while many tags cluttered my libraries. Even after excluding them from importing as metadata during the search via ISBN and downloa I have the problem how to organise my libraries via tags. To have better control of the tags I now fill them in manually, but even so I get the feeling that they accumulate in a way where it is difficult to maintain a logic and consistent order. Also it takes a lot of time to control which tags I have already used and should therefore – if adequate – be used again. I know that there are many options and some tools available (e.g. Quality Check, CALM) but for a newcomer all these different possibilities are overwhelming. What I am looking for is some sound strategy in relation of the organisation of tags. Should I accept in a first run whatever there is, brought up automatically with the metadata download – and clean up later? Should I put them in manually – book for book – (as I am doing it now), or are there some ways/strategies to do it faster? I would like to learn how others – more experienced users – are using/compiling/adding their tags. What strategies do you follow? What procedures and tools do you use? Last edited by petzi; 08-04-2016 at 05:11 AM.