MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Metadata transfer *from* device to calibre?

lamerc · 11-05-2018, 07:12 PM

I’ve looked as best as I can but I can’t quite find anything to address my situation.

I’m running Calibre as my library on my PC. I regularly download, read, and edit metadata on ebooks on my iPad.

I want to be able to send/add/save the books I’ve added/changed metadata to while on my iPad to my Calibre library.

The basic problem: How can I get custom/added metadata that I entered while on a device into my Calbre library?

(FWIW, I don’t need xfer of annotations or bookmarks or even “read” status or dates. Title and author come through just fine with the ebook file. I just need series, tags, and description metadata.)

Ideas I’ve tried to work out:

• Specific ereader?— Due to a serious crash* I’ve lost all the books and metadata I had in Marvin, so I’m hunting around and perfectly open to starting back up from any ereader at the moment if that can help. But, best as I can tell, they all make a point of not including the metadate in the epub (which would presumably help me), but in a reader-specific database I’d have no way of importing into calibre with the new books.

• Calibre Companion?— Something in the Calibre Companion app sounded like I could do a reverse transfer (book & metadata from device to calibre) with it, but it talks about only updating “read” status. It sounds like—if I knew what I was doing—I might be able to access the calibre library from the device and thus enter the new metadata directly into calibre from the device (I’d be the only one using it, so no conflict of multiple users or anything), but I suspect my uncertainty comes from trying to read into the descriptions what I want it to do, not what it actually can do.

• Some sort of epub editor/recompiler app that I can run them through in order to embed the metadata while on the iPad before transferring to calibre?

They don’t have to be real-time transfers, I can transfer books/metadata to the library every so often by plugging in the device. I can merge/add to a database if something compatible can be found. I’m easy.

So: Is there any way I can edit metadata fields on an ipad and transfer them to my PC Calibre library? Or is it an inherently flawed concept I won’t be able to work around?

I download and read a lot of short works (fanfic) on the iPad and sort it all by tag fields, series fields, etc., which do not come embedded in the downloaded epub and which I have to add by hand. And, having inadvertently been given a clean slate, I don’t want to end up yet again with a separate “PC ebook library (Calabre)” and “iPad library (whatever ereader I use).

TIA for any help!
(And congratulations on getting this far—economy of words is not my forte!

)

Dianne

—-
*as in “physically flung from roof of my car to crash to the ground somewhere on the 134 freeway”—and in attempting to recover from this disaster finding out that my auto-backup arrangement settings had been messed up almost a year previous & and all my Marvin books & metadata were gone. (In 35 years of driving I’ve never accidentally left *anything* on the roof of my car—so, of course the one time I do, it’s my entire purse—wallet and iPad mini included—and it manages to stay up there for 3/4 of a mile until I’m on the freeway at full speed. )

11-05-2018, 07:12 PM	#1
lamerc Junior Member Posts: 4 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jun 2010 Device: iPad	*Metadata transfer from* device to calibre? I’ve looked as best as I can but I can’t quite find anything to address my situation. I’m running Calibre as my library on my PC. I regularly download, read, and edit metadata on ebooks on my iPad. I want to be able to send/add/save the books I’ve added/changed metadata to while on my iPad to my Calibre library. The basic problem: How can I get custom/added metadata that I entered while on a device into my Calbre library?** (FWIW, I don’t need xfer of annotations or bookmarks or even “read” status or dates. Title and author come through just fine with the ebook file. I just need series, tags, and description metadata.) Ideas I’ve tried to work out: • Specific ereader?— Due to a serious crash* I’ve lost all the books and metadata I had in Marvin, so I’m hunting around and perfectly open to starting back up from any ereader at the moment if that can help. But, best as I can tell, they all make a point of not including the metadate in the epub (which would presumably help me), but in a reader-specific database I’d have no way of importing into calibre with the new books. • Calibre Companion?— Something in the Calibre Companion app sounded like I could do a reverse transfer (book & metadata from device to calibre) with it, but it talks about only updating “read” status. It sounds like—if I knew what I was doing—I might be able to access the calibre library from the device and thus enter the new metadata directly into calibre from the device (I’d be the only one using it, so no conflict of multiple users or anything), but I suspect my uncertainty comes from trying to read into the descriptions what I want it to do, not what it actually can do. • Some sort of epub editor/recompiler app that I can run them through in order to embed the metadata while on the iPad before transferring to calibre? They don’t have to be real-time transfers, I can transfer books/metadata to the library every so often by plugging in the device. I can merge/add to a database if something compatible can be found. I’m easy. So: Is there any way I can edit metadata fields on an ipad and transfer them to my PC Calibre library? Or is it an inherently flawed concept I won’t be able to work around? I download and read a lot of short works (fanfic) on the iPad and sort it all by tag fields, series fields, etc., which do not come embedded in the downloaded epub and which I have to add by hand. And, having inadvertently been given a clean slate, I don’t want to end up yet again with a separate “PC ebook library (Calabre)” and “iPad library (whatever ereader I use). TIA for any help! (And congratulations on getting this far—economy of words is not my forte!) Dianne —- as in “physically flung from roof of my car to crash to the ground somewhere on the 134 freeway”—and in attempting to recover from this disaster finding out that my auto-backup arrangement settings had been messed up almost a year previous & and all my Marvin books & metadata were gone. (In 35 years of driving I’ve never accidentally left anything* on the roof of my car—so, of course the one time I do, it’s my entire purse—wallet and iPad mini included—and it manages to stay up there for 3/4 of a mile until I’m on the freeway at full speed. )