Series N/A

tarisea · 12-25-2012, 09:12 PM

I would like to know if there is a way to put N/A or -n-a or anything in the series column that won't require a number to let me know that this is a stand alone book.

Can it be done?

Thanks again for all of your help. I love this forum

theducks · 12-25-2012, 10:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tarisea

I would like to know if there is a way to put N/A or -n-a or anything in the series column that won't require a number to let me know that this is a stand alone book.

Can it be done?

Thanks again for all of your help. I love this forum

Blank (un-assigned) is a stand-alone book. any number is ignored then.
If you have an Unknown Series, Type 'unknown'
Note: a blank Author or a blank title is treated as 'Unknown', but not for series.

Sabardeyn · 12-26-2012, 09:30 AM

Theducks is absolutely correct and he mentions the optimal way to handle things. Basically in any field, a blank or un-assigned value means null, non-applicable, non-existent.

If it is your intention to have an easy way to find stand-alone books, you can either click on the Series header in the Book/Table view of calibre. Or enter series:false into the search field.

However, if for some reason you don't want to leave the series field blank, you could use something like "None" or "--" (use two dashes so you know it's not simply a typo).

However, doing this would cause the series index to want a number entered. Resulting in "None [1]" or "--[1]" showing up. Further if you haven't changed things in Preferences>Tweaks, additional books edited to show series: None will increment this number. Making it look more and more like a legitimate series.

Worse, doing so creates an artificial connection between the books. So if you had three wildly different books in calibre (say a Bible, a Romance and an Accounting textbook) they would now all be part of the "None" series - despite having nothing to do with each other.

tarisea · 12-26-2012, 01:33 PM

Linking them is exactly what I don't want to do. My reason behind this is I have the most disorganized library and I as I'm working through it I want to be able to say that I looked at the book and its not part of a series. With it blank I don't know if it is not part of a series or I just haven figured out which series it belongs to.

chaley · 12-26-2012, 01:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tarisea

Linking them is exactly what I don't want to do. My reason behind this is I have the most disorganized library and I as I'm working through it I want to be able to say that I looked at the book and its not part of a series. With it blank I don't know if it is not part of a series or I just haven figured out which series it belongs to.

Perhaps you could add a yes/no custom column that you set to "Yes" when you have finished updating the metadata, "No" when you have partially done the work, and empty when you haven't yet begun. Or if your workflow is more complex, then more than one column or a text column that can contain multiple "state" indications.

theducks · 12-26-2012, 01:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tarisea

Linking them is exactly what I don't want to do. My reason behind this is I have the most disorganized library and I as I'm working through it I want to be able to say that I looked at the book and its not part of a series. With it blank I don't know if it is not part of a series or I just haven figured out which series it belongs to.

Create a (temporary) tag: 'series_checked',
Once completed, you can discard the tag.

BTW the search: not tags:series_checked
should give you a list of what still needs review

Sabardeyn · 12-26-2012, 05:57 PM

Using a tag or custom column is definitely the better way to handle things. To my thinking a tag would be slightly better if you don't plan to keep the edited/updated status forever.

Or you could perform a search on the Modified column where any record not updated in 30 days or more is displayed. I don't think Modified is shown by default; you would have to go into Preferences I believe.

It all really depends on your work method.

12-25-2012, 09:12 PM	#1
tarisea Zealot Posts: 114 Karma: 6288 Join Date: Dec 2012 Device: iphone	Series N/A I would like to know if there is a way to put N/A or -n-a or anything in the series column that won't require a number to let me know that this is a stand alone book. Can it be done? Thanks again for all of your help. I love this forum

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12-26-2012, 09:30 AM	#3
Sabardeyn Guru Posts: 644 Karma: 1242364 Join Date: May 2009 Location: The Right Coast Device: PC (Calibre), Nexus 7 2013 (Moon+ Pro), HTC HD2/Leo (Freda)	Theducks is absolutely correct and he mentions the optimal way to handle things. Basically in any field, a blank or un-assigned value means null, non-applicable, non-existent. If it is your intention to have an easy way to find stand-alone books, you can either click on the Series header in the Book/Table view of calibre. Or enter series:false into the search field. However, if for some reason you don't want to leave the series field blank, you could use something like "None" or "--" (use two dashes so you know it's not simply a typo). However, doing this would cause the series index to want a number entered. Resulting in "None [1]" or "--[1]" showing up. Further if you haven't changed things in Preferences>Tweaks, additional books edited to show series: None will increment this number. Making it look more and more like a legitimate series. Worse, doing so creates an artificial connection between the books. So if you had three wildly different books in calibre (say a Bible, a Romance and an Accounting textbook) they would now all be part of the "None" series - despite having nothing to do with each other.

12-26-2012, 01:33 PM	#4
tarisea Zealot Posts: 114 Karma: 6288 Join Date: Dec 2012 Device: iphone	Linking them is exactly what I don't want to do. My reason behind this is I have the most disorganized library and I as I'm working through it I want to be able to say that I looked at the book and its not part of a series. With it blank I don't know if it is not part of a series or I just haven figured out which series it belongs to.

12-26-2012, 05:57 PM	#7
Sabardeyn Guru Posts: 644 Karma: 1242364 Join Date: May 2009 Location: The Right Coast Device: PC (Calibre), Nexus 7 2013 (Moon+ Pro), HTC HD2/Leo (Freda)	Using a tag or custom column is definitely the better way to handle things. To my thinking a tag would be slightly better if you don't plan to keep the edited/updated status forever. Or you could perform a search on the Modified column where any record not updated in 30 days or more is displayed. I don't think Modified is shown by default; you would have to go into Preferences I believe. It all really depends on your work method.

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