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If I may recap the Update Mode discussion:
DavidTC's initial reported problem was that he changes the default Update Mode to 'metadata only from saved column' a lot and is then unhappy when he does 'from email' while it's still set to 'meta only'.
Suggestion 1: Separate default settings for Update Mode for 1) URL download, 2) update existing, 3) Email URL download, and 4) existing anthology update (the 4 places it's used if I counted right.)
Pros
That helps with DavidTC's problem.
Can also explicitly remove 'Add New' and 'Skip' from 'update existing' default 'update mode' instead of implicitly like now.
Cons
However, that doesn't help any user who experiences the same problem but doesn't use 'from email' and uses 'update existing' manually. Example: ownedbycats. I suspect this is a significant number of users.
Where in config would these settings go? All together? Email on the email page? What about the other default Download Options settings?
Suggestion 2: New menu actions for 'update metadata only from web/from saved column' that would be equivalent to 'Update existing' if you had manually changed Update Mode each time to the select 'calibre metadata only' option.
Pros
Helps with DavidTC's problem--no reason to change default Update Mode to 'meta only' anymore.
Can have a separate hotkey/shortcut for 'meta only' updates vs real updates.
Cons
But doesn't help a user who wants to 'temporarily' use a default Update Mode that isn't one of the 'calibre meta only' modes, say Skip or Overwrite.
Plus what about URL download? I can see wanting to do 'meta only' by URL, too. More menu options?
Suggestion 3: New Customizable Actions (not previously discussed) - Add a limited number (3-5) of 'Actions' which can each be customized by what type of action and some settings.
Possible Types?
- URL download
- update existing
- Email URL download
- existing anthology update
- anthology URL download
- anthology from web page
- Individual stories from web page
And then Update Mode and possibly other settings as well.
Pros
This allows the user to define separate 'working on metadata' and 'actually downloading' actions with different own settings.
Can have a separate hotkey/shortcut for different types of actions/updates.
Cover update? Output format? Maybe even their own personal.ini sections?
Cons
Obviously much more complexity, configuration and more menu items.
A steeper learning curve for users? Possible confusion when existing settings and actions apply and when 'custom actions' settings override?
I'm not promising to do any thing about this right now, but I am curious what other people think.
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