MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Issues with Metadata download and editing of comments.

MrBear · 11-10-2021, 03:19 PM

I did a bug report and was told that this is not an issue with Calibre as there have been no changes to metadata editing or download for some time, but my issue is this.
I am able to add a new book file to Calibre no problem. I can even covert it to a different file format no problem. but when I try to download metadata, I start having problems. First off, Calibre use to do the process of metadata download very quickly. Now it can take several minutes before I will get any results when I use the "Download metadata" button in the "Edit metadata" window.
More often than not I no longer get any results for Amazon. I know that Amazon actively works against calibre for their own stupid dumb-ass reason, so that is not what I am really having an issue with. If I get a result listing Amazon, it is just a link to the web page of the book in question. Nothing else. A fair number of times I do this process, I get a message that the application is not responding and eventually Calibre will crash. If it works and I get a link (to any site, not just Amazon) I can follow to a site with metadata, and I click "OK" to download it, I will get a text copy of the entire page downloaded to the comments section.
When I say entire, I mean everything on the source page is transferred to the comments section including ad links and suggested works for different authors and all the site links down at the very bottom of the page. But that's not all. I find that the information has been duplicated at least three times. If I go to delete all the stuff I don't want in the comments section, it doesn't delete after saving, it just creates more duplicates. Even if I manually type something in, it is duplicated when I hit OK (save). The only way to get rid of all the clutter in the comments section is to delete the entire book and add it again without doing anything to add metadata or book information in the comments section. That defeats the whole purpose of why I started using Calibre. If all I wanted was a list of books I own, then I could have uses a simple text file.

When I placed the bug report, this is the response I got:

There have been no changes to metadata download in calibre in many years
(beyond updates to individual plugins to adapt to changes in the source
websites).

You symptoms sound like something is blocking calibre. The typical culprits are
anti-virus and or firewall programs. You can try rebooting in safe mode
(with networking) to confirm. Or simply add exceptions for calibre.exe
to your firewall/antivirus.

status invalid

** Changed in: calibre
Status: New => Invalid

I am not trying to be negative at all to the Mr. Goyal. In fact I have a great amount of respect for him and the others who work so hard to make this tool such a valuable asset for serious book owners. He was lightning quick to respond to my bug report. If anything, I probably did a poor job of describing the issue. I am not technically minded so I'm worried that I am not making much sense when describing the problems I have experiencing. He did offer up a possible solution, but I am an old man who really doesn't understand the workings of a computer, no mater how hard I try. What he suggested might as well have been a foreign language to me. Is there a patient person out there who can help me understand what is happening and how to do what Mr. Goyal suggested?
I can tell you this. I went form v5.29 to 5.31.1 skipping over 5.30. I don't remember if the issue started with 5.29 but there was an noticeable slowdown before all the other issues cropped up. Other than installing 5.31.1 there have been no changes made to my computer that I am aware of.

Calibre V5.31.1 Windows 10 I don't know what other info might be useful.

11-10-2021, 03:19 PM	#1
MrBear Junior Member Posts: 6 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2021 Location: South Eastern USA. Just down the road from Terra. Device: read on android phone using kindle and kobo apps	Issues with Metadata download and editing of comments. I did a bug report and was told that this is not an issue with Calibre as there have been no changes to metadata editing or download for some time, but my issue is this. I am able to add a new book file to Calibre no problem. I can even covert it to a different file format no problem. but when I try to download metadata, I start having problems. First off, Calibre use to do the process of metadata download very quickly. Now it can take several minutes before I will get any results when I use the "Download metadata" button in the "Edit metadata" window. More often than not I no longer get any results for Amazon. I know that Amazon actively works against calibre for their own stupid dumb-ass reason, so that is not what I am really having an issue with. If I get a result listing Amazon, it is just a link to the web page of the book in question. Nothing else. A fair number of times I do this process, I get a message that the application is not responding and eventually Calibre will crash. If it works and I get a link (to any site, not just Amazon) I can follow to a site with metadata, and I click "OK" to download it, I will get a text copy of the entire page downloaded to the comments section. When I say entire, I mean everything on the source page is transferred to the comments section including ad links and suggested works for different authors and all the site links down at the very bottom of the page. But that's not all. I find that the information has been duplicated at least three times. If I go to delete all the stuff I don't want in the comments section, it doesn't delete after saving, it just creates more duplicates. Even if I manually type something in, it is duplicated when I hit OK (save). The only way to get rid of all the clutter in the comments section is to delete the entire book and add it again without doing anything to add metadata or book information in the comments section. That defeats the whole purpose of why I started using Calibre. If all I wanted was a list of books I own, then I could have uses a simple text file. When I placed the bug report, this is the response I got: There have been no changes to metadata download in calibre in many years (beyond updates to individual plugins to adapt to changes in the source websites). You symptoms sound like something is blocking calibre. The typical culprits are anti-virus and or firewall programs. You can try rebooting in safe mode (with networking) to confirm. Or simply add exceptions for calibre.exe to your firewall/antivirus. status invalid ** Changed in: calibre Status: New => Invalid I am not trying to be negative at all to the Mr. Goyal. In fact I have a great amount of respect for him and the others who work so hard to make this tool such a valuable asset for serious book owners. He was lightning quick to respond to my bug report. If anything, I probably did a poor job of describing the issue. I am not technically minded so I'm worried that I am not making much sense when describing the problems I have experiencing. He did offer up a possible solution, but I am an old man who really doesn't understand the workings of a computer, no mater how hard I try. What he suggested might as well have been a foreign language to me. Is there a patient person out there who can help me understand what is happening and how to do what Mr. Goyal suggested? I can tell you this. I went form v5.29 to 5.31.1 skipping over 5.30. I don't remember if the issue started with 5.29 but there was an noticeable slowdown before all the other issues cropped up. Other than installing 5.31.1 there have been no changes made to my computer that I am aware of. Calibre V5.31.1 Windows 10 I don't know what other info might be useful.