Deselect all books

[skb]

Not sure how to describe my issue other than "deselect all" - that is, I don't want any books selected.

I'm using the fanficdownloader plugin and if a book is already selected, then instead of picking up the URL in the clipboard, it thinks the selected book is to be updated.

Now, I'm sure a few versions of Calibre ago, I was able to click the "reset search" button and nothing would be selected, but things changed a while back.

So, the only way to use the clipboard is to put something like "zzzzzzz" in the search (so nothing is returned and therefore selected).

Clear as mud? Not sure what I'm doing wrong.

thanks,
Sue

[kovidgoyal]

There is no way to select no books other than using a search that matches nothing. The fact that clearing the search box might have worked some time ago was accidental, not a feature.

[skb]

No worries, Kovid, I suspected that may be the case. Thank you for the quick reply!

I shall continue with my current method.

Thanks again.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by skb

Not sure how to describe my issue other than "deselect all" - that is, I don't want any books selected.

I'm using the fanficdownloader plugin and if a book is already selected, then instead of picking up the URL in the clipboard, it thinks the selected book is to be updated.

Now, I'm sure a few versions of Calibre ago, I was able to click the "reset search" button and nothing would be selected, but things changed a while back.

So, the only way to use the clipboard is to put something like "zzzzzzz" in the search (so nothing is returned and therefore selected).

Clear as mud? Not sure what I'm doing wrong.

thanks,
Sue

If you are using windows then you can click on a book to select only that book then control-click on the same book to unselect it. The first click is necessary only if more than one book is already selected. I don't know if the same technique works on other operating systems.

Alternatively you could make a saved search that selects nothing, giving you two-click access to "nothing selected"

Alternatively again, depending on how the fanfic plugin works, you might be able to make a virtual library that contains no books. Show tabs for libraries, giving you one-click access to the empty library. This technique won't work if the fanfic plugin is virtual-library aware.

[skb]

Originally Posted by chaley

If you are using windows then you can click on a book to select only that book then control-click on the same book to unselect it. The first click is necessary only if more than one book is already selected. I don't know if the same technique works on other operating systems.

Alternatively you could make a saved search that selects nothing, giving you two-click access to "nothing selected"

Alternatively again, depending on how the fanfic plugin works, you might be able to make a virtual library that contains no books. Show tabs for libraries, giving you one-click access to the empty library. This technique won't work if the fanfic plugin is virtual-library aware.

Well, that's embarrassing! I never thought of the first one. And yes, that works on a Mac for me. All three will work. Excellent. Thank you!

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by chaley

If you are using windows then you can click on a book to select only that book then control-click on the same book to unselect it.

Shift/esc will return focus to the list. And in Windows at least ctrl/space will deselect current book.

Also in Windows you can do dis-contiguous selects via the keyboard: Hold down the ctrl key and use the up/down arrows to traverse the list, ctrl/space will toggle line select; you can see where you are in the list by looking at the row number - the 'current' item is shown in bold italics.

BR

[chaley]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

Ctrl/esc will return focus to the list.

For me, ctrl/esc opens the start menu and goes to the search box in that. Win 7 Pro x64.

[BetterRed]

My eyes misaligned reading the manual, SHIFT/ESC refocuses to the Book List and CTRL/ESC clears the Virtual Library (but not in windows)

I went to the manual because I knew I'd changed them to ctrl/alt/s and ctrl/alt/l respectively.

BR

[BookJunkieLI]

Or you could open up the Configure Plugin option of FFDL and under GUI Options uncheck the "Default to Update when books selected" option. It will then default to the clipboard when you click on the main icon and you'll need to click the arrow to manually select the Update option.

[skb]

Wow, some great suggestions there. Thank you, everyone!

[pjmpjm]

Originally Posted by chaley

If you are using windows then you can click on a book to select only that book then control-click on the same book to unselect it. The first click is necessary only if more than one book is already selected. I don't know if the same technique works on other operating systems.

Alternatively you could make a saved search that selects nothing, giving you two-click access to "nothing selected"

Alternatively again, depending on how the fanfic plugin works, you might be able to make a virtual library that contains no books. Show tabs for libraries, giving you one-click access to the empty library. This technique won't work if the fanfic plugin is virtual-library aware.

Have learned a lot through this discussion. Many thanks, everyone!