How does one create a Collections tag in Calibre that is separate from Series

[Deobulakenyo]

Hi, I wanted to use Calbre to define the series and Collections of books so that when I send them to the device (kobo Libra h2o) all the books would be automatically organized according to Series and collections. Example, I have the 7 Harry Potter books and their series tag is Harry Potter (and then the series numbers of 1 to 7 for each book) but I also want to tag them in Calbre under FANTASY Collections so that when i send them to the device, all 7 books will appear under Harry Potter Series tab and under Fantasy Collection Tab.

However reading this wiki instructions, i understood this as the series is the collection.



Defining Collections
Click Edit metadata in the toolbar (or right-click the first book in calibre, and choose Edit Metadata > Edit metadata individually).
Decide whether the book should be part of a Collection on the Kobo:
If the book should be in a Kobo Collection, then decide on a name for the collection (as it will appear on the Kobo) and enter that in the Series field. For subsequent entries in the same collection (series), select the series from the list. The series name can also be entered manually, but it is important that the name be EXACTLY the same for each volume, so selecting from the list is recommended for volume 2 onward.
If the book should NOT be in a Kobo Collection, then click the recycling icon to the right of Series to clear it.
Click 1.00 to the right of the Number field. For the first entry in the Series it will start at 1.00, but clicking it for subsequent books with the same Series name will increment it automatically (so the second Series entry will be 2.00). Note: If the volumes are edited out of order, calibre will put in the wrong Number and it will need to be corrected manually, which is a hassle. To prevent this, use the Previous and Next buttons to edit the volumes in the correct order.
Click Next to edit the next book. Note: It might not be a bad idea to click OK periodically as books are being edited, to save changes (just in case), then return to Edit metadata again.
Once all books have been edited, click OK.

[davidfor]

Firstly, it has been a while since I have read the guide in the Wiki. I think the bit you are looking at is new and is pointless. Using series for collections was a common thing a while ago, but, is not needed now. The instructions are senseless as they only help with series and giving instructions on setting the series metadata at that point is a waste of time.


On the Kobo devices, you can create a collection from any column. All you have to do is to put the lookup name in the "Collections columns" field of the driver (and set the other options as desired). When you next connect, the driver will do the collection management as needed. So, if you use "tags", a collection will be created for each tag and the books on the device will be put into those collections.

Of course, some columns make more sense than others. The "tags" column can be good, but, it can mean a lot of collections. As to columns not to use, the title is the most obvious, but, author and series don't make sense as the current Kobo firmware supports these.

As an example, I currently use "#kobobookshelves,#status,#book_source". The #status is mainly reading status (such as ToRead, Reading, ToRate, Finished but has others such as "Cleaning"). These are automatically maintained using the Reading List plugin. When I add a book to a list, the value is updated. The #book_source is for wherever it was that I got the book. I set that when I add the book to calibre. #kobobookshelves is for "other" collections. This is used when I want to create a collection for some other reason. All I do is set the value in it. It, and #status, is a tag-like column. The values are comma separated lists so they can have a comma separate list of values in them.

[Deobulakenyo]

That is what i have been confused about for some time now ever since i started using Calibre to edit books to make it more easthetically pleasing to read.

I do not understand the columns thingy in Calibre.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Deobulakenyo

That is what i have been confused about for some time now ever since i started using Calibre to edit books to make it more easthetically pleasing to read.

I do not understand the columns thingy in Calibre.

In what way? The columns are what you see in the book list. They make up the metadata for the books. If you edit the metadata, each column is a field in the metadata editor. You can add your own columns to store other information. And when calibre updates the book with the metadata, it writes the values from the columns to the book.

From the point of view of the collections on a Kobo device, they are just made from the values in the specified columns for each book. The driver looks at each book on the device, works out the values in the collection columns for that book, creates the collections and puts the books into them.

I'm not sure what else to say. I think to go beyond the above, I'd need to better understand what you don't understand. Or maybe someone else can do a better job of explaining.

[Deobulakenyo]

I u derstand what you are saying. It is my fault for not understanding what i must do and not being able to explain. So let me explain it this way:

I created a new colum in calibre, and let us say i labelled it "Awesome Books''

When i edit the metadata of a book, where in the editor should i put/label/tag this book so that when it gets send to the device, awesome books as a collection would automatically appear in the Columns tab of kobo?

What i do now is the tedious process of putiing one book at a time in each proper collection.

Thank you for your patience.

[davidfor]

You have it round the wrong way. The collections are not from the names of the columns, they are from the values in the columns. If you want a collection on the device called "Awesome books", you need to put "Awesome books" as the value in a column for each book you consider to be an awesome book. Then you use the look up name of that column in the driver configuration as a collection column. Then the driver will do the work when you connect the device.

[Deobulakenyo]

am I doing this correctly now?

[davidfor]

Yes, that looks right. Then you need to put "#collection" into the collection column field of the driver configuration.

[Deobulakenyo]

Originally Posted by davidfor

Yes, that looks right. Then you need to put "#collection" into the collection column field of the driver configuration.

Sorry where is this? Isn't this what i did in the first picture?

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Deobulakenyo

Sorry where is this? Isn't this what i did in the first picture?

No, That was defining the Column in Calibre
You have a box, but no Cat in it (yet ). Now you need to set what will USE that column.
In this case:
You now need to configure the Kobo driver to Match Kobos 'collections' to your Column (Lookup names all start with # )

If your other devices have 'collections', then you will do this for those

[Deobulakenyo]

Originally Posted by theducks

No, That was defining the Column in Calibre
You have a box, but no Cat in it (yet ). Now you need to set what will USE that column.
In this case:
You now need to configure the Kobo driver to Match Kobos 'collections' to your Column (Lookup names all start with # )

If your other devices have 'collections', then you will do this for those

I need to do this in the device? So i need to manually create collrction titles on my devices so that when i plugged it in calibre, calibre will match my collections with device's collections?

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Deobulakenyo

I need to do this in the device? So i need to manually create collrction titles on my devices so that when i plugged it in calibre, calibre will match my collections with device's collections?

The device Driver (when connected): right click the device icon: configure

[Deobulakenyo]

Thanks for the help