Extracting correct metadata after books are added

[excaliber]

Hi all,

I've seen the option to use regex when adding books into Calibre to extract some metadata correctly. But how can I correct the metadata when the books are already added in Calibre? Is there a way to extract the correct title and the correct authors from the Title field?

Thanks!

[theducks]

Add books has 2 basic ways to choose from: (only one can be used at a time)
From filename (uses the template provided)
Read from the books metadata

Assuming you used the filename and now want to get from the book instead (This assumes that you have NOT done one of the things to update the stored book, like Polish, edit,modify epub...)

In the MDE (metadata Editor), window: select the format on the right: click the brown book icon:
if it was better: Click OK
If it was way worse: Cancel

OR
Manually fix
Or
Download

[excaliber]

@theducks: Thanks for the quick response!
Yes, but that doesn't really help in my situation. I have many books where the authors, title and some times date published are in the Title field. So, I was wondering if there is some way to extract them and put them into the right fields. Is there maybe a plugin capable of doing such manipulations? I couldn't find any.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by excaliber

I have many books where the authors, title and some times date published are in the Title field. So, I was wondering if there is some way to extract them and put them into the right fields. Is there maybe a plugin capable of doing such manipulations? I couldn't find any.

You should be able do what you want with Bulk Metadata Edit Search and Replace (select many books and press 'E'). Please heed the warning:

You can destroy your library using this feature. Changes are permanent. There is no undo function. You are strongly encouraged to back up your library before proceeding.

BR

[excaliber]

@BetterRed: Thanks that did help!

I could extract the authors from the title field like this:
Search field: title
Search For: -[a-zA-Z0-9()\s]*
Replace with: (empty)
Destination field: authors
Search mode: Regular expression
Mode: Replace Field
Split results: (yes)

For the Publication Date I used this:
Search field: title
Search For: [a-zA-Z()\s,-]*\s*
Replace with: (empty)
Destination field: pubdate
Search mode: Regular expression
Mode: Replace Field
Split results: (no)

but it worked well only if there were no other numbers in the title field.

Keeping only the right title was also complicated and didn't go well either.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by excaliber

@BetterRed: Thanks that did help!

I could extract the authors from the title field like this:

<snip>

it worked well only if there were no other numbers in the title field.

Keeping only the right title was also complicated and didn't go well either.

You did pretty well for a 'first-timer'

I prefer to get it sorted before I add the books. Then I can use a different techniques & tools to wrangle file names into patterns that conform to a specific templates. And it means I can isolate edge cases for individual editing once they're in calibre

BR

[excaliber]

@BetterRed: Thanks!

Yes, I think I should do the same...