Export Library, Tag Mapper, Add From ISBN

[edeniz]

I have three questions, actually.

First: I know calibre allows to export the library. To be precise, not the files themselves, but the list of books in the library. But I'm not sure how. Pretty sure I keep overlooking it in my search of its options.

Second: I would like to export the rules in my calibre tag mapper. Is that possible? If so, how?

Third: Some time ago, I was told that I could also use calibre to manage my physical library, that I would only need to simply create empty ebooks or add it via ISBN to get the metadata. Problem is, when I try to add the books via ISBN, I get the message that the metadata of the ISBN in question could not be downloaded, and afterward the whatitsname, prompt window? "Adding" still remains frozen, and I have to force calibre shut and open it again. I simply go to the "add books" icon on the left, click on "add from ISBN", and choose download metadata and cover. I suspect that the problem lies in the fact that the books I'm trying to add to the library are German books, and from what I've seen in the "configure metadata download" setup page, among the metadata sources there is no German source listed, and I can't see how I could add some. What do I need to do?

Can someone help me please?

[BetterRed]

First - the Catalog feature is what you want, you can add it to a toolbar/menu, or its available via the Convert Books sub menu.

Can't answer the other two

BR

[theducks]

Look the Plugin index here at MR, IIRC there are a number of .DE metadata source plugins

Been a long time since I used Add from ISBN (for the same reason you want it)
I am not sure why it would hang, no download just resulted in Author Unknown, Title unknown. I had to match up the ISBN in the record, to resolve the real names

[edeniz]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

First - the Catalog feature is what you want, you can add it to a toolbar/menu, or its available via the Convert Books sub menu.

Can't answer the other two

BR

That helps a lot. I simply could not find it.

Originally Posted by theducks

Look the Plugin index here at MR, IIRC there are a number of .DE metadata source plugins

Been a long time since I used Add from ISBN (for the same reason you want it)
I am not sure why it would hang, no download just resulted in Author Unknown, Title unknown. I had to match up the ISBN in the record, to resolve the real names

So it's not just some configuration thing that I simply overlooked? Good to know. I'll do as you suggested and get the plugins.

Yeah, no idea why it freezes up on me like that.

[dickloraine]

Don't know if it works just from isbn, but some of the source plugins can also be configured. For example, for the amazon source you can specify the country, for example to de.

For german there is also a bol-source plugin. This and the amazon plugin find most books.

[edeniz]

Originally Posted by dickloraine

Don't know if it works just from isbn, but some of the source plugins can also be configured. For example, for the amazon source you can specify the country, for example to de.

For german there is also a bol-source plugin. This and the amazon plugin find most books.

I configured amazon, and installed the bol-source plugin. Tested it on a few books, and it seems to work with at least the newer ones. Will have to try it with the older ones as well.

But a few problems I noticed:

If I add an empty book with only author name and book title, maybe even language, and do a metadata download based only on these things, chances are it will find another book by the same author and entirely disregard the title given to the empty book. So that's a no go.

If I tried to add a book via ISBN, not only does it not work, but calibre freezes and crashes. But if I add the very same book as an empty book, manually enter the isbn into the metadata later, and then download the metadata, it works, I can get the metadata, though with semi-limited success: Some little details such as publish date may be incorrect. But that's apparently the best I'm gonna get, so it'll have to suffice.

It makes me wonder just why ISBN adding simply won't work. I tried to see if it'll work with an English book, but it's still the same. ISBN adding will freeze calibre.


Aside from this, does anyone know if the tag mapper rules can be exported and/or backed up?

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by edeniz

Aside from this, does anyone know if the tag mapper rules can be exported and/or backed up?

The Tag mapper is very new, so probably not many are using it.

Calibre stores its settings/preferences etc either in the configuration folder or in the library database. To 'find' the former in main GUI program (library manager) go to Preferences->Miscellaneous and click Open configuration directory that will open the folder.

I note that there's a file in the configuration folder called 'tag-map-rules.json' - so my guess is that they're in there, you can read .json files best with a text editor like Notepad++, Text Wrangler etc.

FWIW I back up the calibre library folders, its configuration folder (and everything else) as a one-way mirror to external USB drives and an off-site FTP server via a file/folder synchronisation tool.

BR

[edeniz]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

The Tag mapper is very new, so probably not many are using it.

Calibre stores its settings/preferences etc either in the configuration folder or in the library database. To 'find' the former in main GUI program (library manager) go to Preferences->Miscellaneous and click Open configuration directory that will open the folder.

I note that there's a file in the configuration folder called 'tag-map-rules.json' - so my guess is that they're in there, you can read .json files best with a text editor like Notepad++, Text Wrangler etc.

FWIW I back up the calibre library folders, its configuration folder (and everything else) as a one-way mirror to external USB drives and an off-site FTP server via a file/folder synchronisation tool.

BR

That helps a lot.