More comprehensive way to add books

[Cool Javelin]

I absolutely love Calibre. It is well refined, mature, stable, all good things.

One thing I would like to see is a way to select the author, and maybe modify the title during the add books cycle.

When adding books, I get to select the book to add, then Calibre tries to guess the author and stuff from either metadata in the format, or the file name.

This works..., O.K. most of the time but a lot of the time I have to edit the metadata and change the author (because it put the last name first) or change the title (the author got included there) and maybe have to add the series and pub date.

This "after the fact" change to the metadata and perhaps subsequent relocation of the book on the disk is problematic especially if the library is on a network drive.

Rather, when selecting "add book" I'd like to select the book, then have Calibre show me the metadata it is going to use, then allow me to change it before actually adding to the disk and metadata.db file.

I searched plugins for something like this, but didn't run across anything.

Any help here?

Thanks Mark.

[JSWolf]

That would not work well at all. The way it works is best.

[yonkyunior]

Originally Posted by Cool Javelin

I absolutely love Calibre. It is well refined, mature, stable, all good things.

One thing I would like to see is a way to select the author, and maybe modify the title during the add books cycle.

When adding books, I get to select the book to add, then Calibre tries to guess the author and stuff from either metadata in the format, or the file name.

This works..., O.K. most of the time but a lot of the time I have to edit the metadata and change the author (because it put the last name first) or change the title (the author got included there) and maybe have to add the series and pub date.

This "after the fact" change to the metadata and perhaps subsequent relocation of the book on the disk is problematic especially if the library is on a network drive.

Rather, when selecting "add book" I'd like to select the book, then have Calibre show me the metadata it is going to use, then allow me to change it before actually adding to the disk and metadata.db file.

I searched plugins for something like this, but didn't run across anything.

Any help here?

Thanks Mark.

Q&S or CALM maybe..

actually i have separated library just for adding books, then process the metadata before i copy to my permanent library.

[DaltonST]

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...74#post3682174

[Cool Javelin]

JSWolf, thanks for the opinion.

yonkyunior: I never thought of this, it may be a workaround. I can create the separate library on a local disk, then do a bulk add to the main lib after I get the bugs worked out.

Thanks. Mark.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by Cool Javelin

JSWolf, thanks for the opinion.

I can create the separate library on a local disk, then do a bulk add to the main lib after I get the bugs worked out.

This is what I do

• Add books to an Intake library
• Adjust/correct the metadata
• Use the Find Duplicates plugin->Find Library duplicates option to check for duplicates in the Intake and Target libraries
• If there are any duplicates I use Copy to library (delete after copy) to move them to a Duplicates library, which I sort out manually.
• Then I use Copy to library (delete after copy) to move the non-duplicates to the Target library.

.
By default the Copy to library tool is in the Book list context menu, you can add it to other toolbars and menus via Preferences->Toolbars.

I note you keep your library on a network drive. Have you read this FAQ item from the User Manual ==>> I am getting errors with my calibre library on a networked drive/NAS? ?

BR

[fidvo]

As an alternative to an intake library, I use a custom Yes/No field to identify that books have had their metadata cleaned. I use a virtual library for my "To Fix" books (books that do not have a Yes in that column), but a saved search would work just as well.

Because a newly added book doesn't have that field marked Yes by default, all books are "To Fix" until I've reviewed the metadata and manually set that field.

Both methods have their strengths and drawbacks. Because I like to play around with my custom field setup way too often, an intake library doesn't work so well because keeping the changes synchronized between the two libraries would be a headache.