series designator "no series"

CEW4 · 11-11-2010, 09:45 AM

Hi everyone, and, if I may, especially "Mr. Calibre" Kovid, ;-)

I'm currently building my ebook library with Calibre. For that, I'm importing a number of books together, then edit them individually for correct metadata, series sequence number and so on. I've also created custom columns for the information I wish to enter for each book.

The problem is that right after each import, I'm exactly one mouse click away from chaos: After import, the new, un-metatagged books are grouped together on top of the library, making it fairly ease to work on them one by one. But, should the sorting order of the library be changed only once, it's good-bye: The new books will slip into the mass of existing books and it is very hard to find them again and properly work on them.

A solution would be if imported books were automatically made part of a special series that could be selected for display using the tree view on the left. When tagging a new book, one would either remove or replace the series tag, thereby officially "taking over" the book from "scratchpad" to "tagging complete" status.

Maybe it would even be possible to create a "imported books get this preset metadata" dialog: Here you could define which metadata field (including custom fields) is auto-populated with which value (static or generated from source file, like original filename or directory) on importing a book. Then, those settings could even be designated an "import profile", which in turn could be selected on the import dialog.

I've noticed that much in Calibre can already be scripted in some way - is something like this already possible? If not - could such a mechanism be worth considering for a future release?

Regards,
CEW4

kiwidude · 11-11-2010, 09:55 AM

Not directly answering your question I know, but are you aware that in preferences->Behaviour you can automatically add a tag for each new book?

I add a 00New tag to every new book, then remove that tag as I later process it. As you can sort by tags you can bring the unprocessed ones to the top very easily.

MSWallack · 11-11-2010, 10:16 AM

I had the same problem and solved it with a simple fix. I added a Yes/No/blank column called MetaFix. By default, that column is blank. When I clean or fix a book's metadata, I check that column and turn it to yes (a green check mark). Now, if I have to close Calibre, I can simply sort on the MetaFix column to group the books for which the metadata has not yet been edited.

Manichean · 11-11-2010, 10:39 AM

I second the designate-a-tag-for-new-books- thing. I do the same and have actually set up a saved search for this, so when I import multiple books, I just restrict my library to that saved search and see only the newly imported books. Once I'm done with the metadata, I remove the tag.

CEW4 · 11-11-2010, 10:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kiwidude

Not directly answering your question I know, but are you aware that in preferences->Behaviour you can automatically add a tag for each new book?

I'm not sure whether this would be the same: Each book can have many tags, but only one "series". There is a much greater variety of tags, because they are imported with online search for metadata. Therefore, the sheer mass of tags is much more extensive than the series designator that I issue myself.

But yes, for now it is certainly helpful for my problem, thank you for the tip.

Another solution would be to have a "no series" option available for selection in the tree on the left - any book that hasn't been edited will show up there, regardless of how it got into the library, with or without auto-tagging.

Regards,
CEW4

CEW4 · 11-11-2010, 10:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MSWallack

I had the same problem and solved it with a simple fix. I added a Yes/No/blank column called MetaFix.

I like that, but you can only sort by that column, not filter by it (can you?). Just for clarity's sake I'd like the option to only display new entries, without the old ones entirely.

I know, small difference, just a personal preference.

Regards,
CEW4

kiwidude · 11-11-2010, 10:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CEW4

I'm not sure whether this would be the same: Each book can have many tags, but only one "series". There is a much greater variety of tags, because they are imported with online search for metadata. Therefore, the sheer mass of tags is much more extensive than the series designator that I issue myself.

I'm not quite sure why a book having multiple tags in this way is a problem? Using "00New" means it always appears first in the list, you can filter the books by just this tag etc.

Obviously not understanding something, sorry. Besides for me series is quite often populated from the filename so reusing it for new books as well wouldn't work very well for me.

One final point - you know you can sort by the Date column too right? That can be another way to get your newly added books to the top. A few ways to skin the cat

Have fun.

theducks · 11-11-2010, 11:00 AM

I use a Automatic tag "00New" (Zeros sort before letters)

AND I have a "Last Edited" Date custom Date column that gets filled AFTER I "fine tune" the book (or I, again bump the date to Today when I make another change to a book).

I use those in combination to help keep track of which need to be "tuned" and/or (re)sent to my reading device.

I later remove the 00New tag when I find it no longer useful.

Starson17 · 11-11-2010, 01:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CEW4

you can only sort by that column, not filter by it (can you?). Just for clarity's sake I'd like the option to only display new entries, without the old ones entirely.

You can filter by the column (boolean).
#bool_column_name:Yes
will work, as do False, True, and No

CEW4 · 11-13-2010, 09:06 PM

Thank you, I didn't know that.

I've been working with a combination of all the tips mentioned in this thread for a few days now. Suffice it to say, the chaos in my library has abated significantly. :-)

Still: It would help me very much if there was a "default" series selectable in the filter tree on the left "no series" or "undefined". This selection would display all the books which have no series defined. Apart from first-time imports, it could be very much beneficial later on, too: I only assign a "series" to books that are part of a sequence. Books that stand alone are not members of a series. It would be nice (and quite logical, in my opinion) to be able to display them by themselves in a special selection.

Regards,
CEW4

kovidgoyal · 11-13-2010, 10:08 PM

put series:false in the search box

11-11-2010, 09:45 AM	#1
CEW4 Member Posts: 23 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Germany Device: Oyo, Kindle	series designator "no series" Hi everyone, and, if I may, especially "Mr. Calibre" Kovid, ;-) I'm currently building my ebook library with Calibre. For that, I'm importing a number of books together, then edit them individually for correct metadata, series sequence number and so on. I've also created custom columns for the information I wish to enter for each book. The problem is that right after each import, I'm exactly one mouse click away from chaos: After import, the new, un-metatagged books are grouped together on top of the library, making it fairly ease to work on them one by one. But, should the sorting order of the library be changed only once, it's good-bye: The new books will slip into the mass of existing books and it is very hard to find them again and properly work on them. A solution would be if imported books were automatically made part of a special series that could be selected for display using the tree view on the left. When tagging a new book, one would either remove or replace the series tag, thereby officially "taking over" the book from "scratchpad" to "tagging complete" status. Maybe it would even be possible to create a "imported books get this preset metadata" dialog: Here you could define which metadata field (including custom fields) is auto-populated with which value (static or generated from source file, like original filename or directory) on importing a book. Then, those settings could even be designated an "import profile", which in turn could be selected on the import dialog. I've noticed that much in Calibre can already be scripted in some way - is something like this already possible? If not - could such a mechanism be worth considering for a future release? Regards, CEW4

11-13-2010, 09:06 PM	#10
CEW4 Member Posts: 23 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Germany Device: Oyo, Kindle	Thank you, I didn't know that. I've been working with a combination of all the tips mentioned in this thread for a few days now. Suffice it to say, the chaos in my library has abated significantly. :-) Still: It would help me very much if there was a "default" series selectable in the filter tree on the left "no series" or "undefined". This selection would display all the books which have no series defined. Apart from first-time imports, it could be very much beneficial later on, too: I only assign a "series" to books that are part of a sequence. Books that stand alone are not members of a series. It would be nice (and quite logical, in my opinion) to be able to display them by themselves in a special selection. Regards, CEW4 Last edited by CEW4; 11-13-2010 at 09:12 PM.

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11-11-2010, 09:55 AM	#2
kiwidude Calibre Plugins Developer Posts: 4,726 Karma: 2197770 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Australia Device: Kindle Oasis	Not directly answering your question I know, but are you aware that in preferences->Behaviour you can automatically add a tag for each new book? I add a 00New tag to every new book, then remove that tag as I later process it. As you can sort by tags you can bring the unprocessed ones to the top very easily.

11-11-2010, 10:16 AM	#3
MSWallack Right, Except When Wrong Posts: 362 Karma: 4323767 Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Indianapolis Device: Kindle Oasis 3 (sometimes iPad Mini).	I had the same problem and solved it with a simple fix. I added a Yes/No/blank column called MetaFix. By default, that column is blank. When I clean or fix a book's metadata, I check that column and turn it to yes (a green check mark). Now, if I have to close Calibre, I can simply sort on the MetaFix column to group the books for which the metadata has not yet been edited.

11-11-2010, 10:39 AM	#4
Manichean Wizard Posts: 3,130 Karma: 91256 Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Germany Device: Cybook Gen3	I second the designate-a-tag-for-new-books- thing. I do the same and have actually set up a saved search for this, so when I import multiple books, I just restrict my library to that saved search and see only the newly imported books. Once I'm done with the metadata, I remove the tag.

11-11-2010, 11:00 AM	#8
theducks Well trained by Cats Posts: 30,939 Karma: 60358908 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: The Central Coast of California Device: Kobo Libra2,Kobo Aura2v1, K4NT(Fixed: New Bat.), Galaxy Tab A	I use a Automatic tag "00New" (Zeros sort before letters) AND I have a "Last Edited" Date custom Date column that gets filled AFTER I "fine tune" the book (or I, again bump the date to Today when I make another change to a book). I use those in combination to help keep track of which need to be "tuned" and/or (re)sent to my reading device. I later remove the 00New tag when I find it no longer useful.

11-13-2010, 10:08 PM	#11
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 45,251 Karma: 27110894 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	put series:false in the search box

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