How to bulk import book metadata from another catalog?

Floating Quietly · 01-20-2020, 05:20 PM

I used Delicious Library forever but then I moved from the Mac to Windows. On Windows I'm using Librarian Pro and it's a painful experience. I'd like to move all my reviews, book covers, comments, etc. to Calibre. My current library has 1000s of entries. My Calibre library already has my ebooks but that is only in the low hundreds. So I need to move all my ratings/reviews/ISBNs/Tags/etc. from Librarian Pro into Calibre (using empty books for the non-EBook entries).

So far the only way I've found to do this is to use the calibredb command line and then use a combination of "add" plus "set_metadata" for non-Ebooks. And then use calibredb list to get existing books to detect collisions.

I was a software developer for a bunch of years so this isn't exactly brain surgery but usually there have been easier ways, such as using XML or JSON as an import format. Is there any equivalent to that for Calibre or is Command Line my only realistic option?

Thanks for any pointers!

BetterRed · 01-20-2020, 05:28 PM

If Librarian Pro can produce a CSV you could use the Import List plugin, and if that doesn't suit the JobSpy plugin has an advanced CSV import tool. See Index of plugins

BR

Floating Quietly · 01-23-2020, 01:10 AM

Thank you! That was exactly the answer I needed!

01-20-2020, 05:20 PM	#1
Floating Quietly Member Posts: 10 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2020 Device: Kobo Forma	How to bulk import book metadata from another catalog? I used Delicious Library forever but then I moved from the Mac to Windows. On Windows I'm using Librarian Pro and it's a painful experience. I'd like to move all my reviews, book covers, comments, etc. to Calibre. My current library has 1000s of entries. My Calibre library already has my ebooks but that is only in the low hundreds. So I need to move all my ratings/reviews/ISBNs/Tags/etc. from Librarian Pro into Calibre (using empty books for the non-EBook entries). So far the only way I've found to do this is to use the calibredb command line and then use a combination of "add" plus "set_metadata" for non-Ebooks. And then use calibredb list to get existing books to detect collisions. I was a software developer for a bunch of years so this isn't exactly brain surgery but usually there have been easier ways, such as using XML or JSON as an import format. Is there any equivalent to that for Calibre or is Command Line my only realistic option? Thanks for any pointers!

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01-20-2020, 05:28 PM	#2
BetterRed null operator (he/him) Posts: 21,722 Karma: 29711016 Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Sydney Australia Device: none	If Librarian Pro can produce a CSV you could use the Import List plugin, and if that doesn't suit the JobSpy plugin has an advanced CSV import tool. See Index of plugins BR

01-23-2020, 01:10 AM	#3
Floating Quietly Member Posts: 10 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2020 Device: Kobo Forma	Thank you! That was exactly the answer I needed!

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