Some suggestions for Calibre

dotancohen · 12-27-2010, 07:12 AM

I have been using Calibre for a few days, I have some suggestions to improve this terrific application:

1) User defined keyboard shortcuts. For instance, I would like to open Ebooks by clicking on the Spacebar. The fine manual implies that it is in fact possible to reconfigure the shortcuts (http://calibre-ebook.com/user_manual...ound-an-e-book) however I could not find how to set them.

2) Respect Qt/KDE accessibility settings. I have Single Click set in Qt/KDE. Calibre should respect this and open the Ebook on single click.

3) Tag Icons. It would be great if the user could choose different icons for the different tags.

4) Tag order. It seems that tags are ordered by popularity (how many books are tagged with each) rather than alphabetical order. It would help if we could order them alphabetically.

5) "Open With..." Context Menu. It would be nice if the main view's context menu had the "Open With..." feature common to file managers. I have several CHM and PDF readers, each with their own cons and pros, and it is a pain to open the book's containing folder each time to open with a different application.

6) Null value for "Published Date", for books which the user has yet to set the published date.

7) Additional column for "Cover" which would show an icon of the book's cover.

8) Additional column for "File Format" which would show in which format the book is stored.

Thanks!

Sweetpea · 12-27-2010, 07:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dotancohen

7) Additional column for "Cover" which would show an icon of the book's cover.

8) Additional column for "File Format" which would show in which format the book is stored.

Thanks!

You can show the entire cover -> shift+alt+D

And the file format can be added, by making a custom column, "Column built from other columns", with template "#formats".

dotancohen · 12-27-2010, 07:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

You can show the entire cover -> shift+alt+D

For one thing, Shift-Alt is mapped to change keyboard layout. Although I can change this in Kubuntu, Windows users cannot change this.

For another, I do not want to see the cover of the currently highlighted book, rather, I prefer to browse by cover and see the cover in it's own column.

Quote:

And the file format can be added, by making a custom column, "Column built from other columns", with template "#formats".

Thanks, I will try this.

dotancohen · 12-27-2010, 07:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

And the file format can be added, by making a custom column, "Column built from other columns", with template "#formats".

Thank you, but this did not work. The new column has the text #formats in every row, but does not show the formats.

GRiker · 12-27-2010, 08:10 AM

Try "{formats}" (no quotes)

G

dotancohen · 12-27-2010, 08:16 AM

Thanks, GRiker, that worked.

Is there a bug tracker where I could file the rest of my suggestions?

Sweetpea · 12-27-2010, 08:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GRiker

Try "{formats}" (no quotes)

G

duh! I was hovering over the column name and it says the lookup/search name is "#formats"... I was being lazy and didn't check the definition in the properties screen

GRiker · 12-27-2010, 08:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dotancohen

Is there a bug tracker where I could file the rest of my suggestions?

http://bugs.calibre-ebook.com/

You will need to register to create new tickets (enhancement requests or bug reports).

G

DoctorOhh · 12-27-2010, 08:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dotancohen

2) Respect Qt/KDE accessibility settings. I have Single Click set in Qt/KDE. Calibre should respect this and open the Ebook on single click.

Clicking on the book image in the cover browser opens the book in one click.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dotancohen

5) "Open With..." Context Menu. It would be nice if the main view's context menu had the "Open With..." feature common to file managers. I have several CHM and PDF readers, each with their own cons and pros, and it is a pain to open the book's containing folder each time to open with a different application.

Investigate the Open format externally GUI plugin it should allow you setup open external menu items for external viewers or editors.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dotancohen

7) Additional column for "Cover" which would show an icon of the book's cover.

The cover browser allows you to browse by cover while in the library view.

ThePage · 12-27-2010, 04:42 PM

8) Additional column for "File Format" which would show in which format the book is stored.

Search on ThePage - discussed this with others some time ago - there's a description of how I worked out a custom column for this.

DoctorOhh · 12-27-2010, 11:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ThePage

8) Additional column for "File Format" which would show in which format the book is stored.

Search on ThePage - discussed this with others some time ago - there's a description of how I worked out a custom column for this.

Or ... maybe he has already, as stated in post 6 above, followed the info in this thread to add the extra column for book format.

Even if the OP has figured out and implemented this feature it is great that you took the time to try and help out.

CWatkinsNash · 12-27-2010, 11:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dotancohen

4) Tag order. It seems that tags are ordered by popularity (how many books are tagged with each) rather than alphabetical order. It would help if we could order them alphabetically.

Do you mean in the left-hand user category pane (authors, formats, tags, etc)? At the bottom there is a drop-down "sort by" button that will let you sort by name, popularity or avg rating.

dotancohen · 01-03-2011, 02:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GRiker

http://bugs.calibre-ebook.com/

You will need to register to create new tickets (enhancement requests or bug reports).

G

Thanks, GRiker. I'll be a pester there!

dotancohen · 01-03-2011, 03:06 PM

> Clicking on the book image in the cover browser opens the
> book in one click.
>

Indeed, however I find the cover browser to be too limited to find the book that I need. I have a few hundred books, and I would like to narrow down by a tag or two before I start looking for covers. Also, the whole animation thing is nice but not productive.

> Investigate the Open format externally GUI plugin it
> should allow you setup open external menu items for
> external viewers or editors.
>

Terrific, thanks! The newest version of the plugin requires Calibre 0.7.34, a bit newer than my *.32 and I'm in no position to build at the moment, so I will test later. But nice find, thank you!

> The cover browser allows you to browse by cover while in
> the library view.
>

Only by cover, and in a very limited way. Ideally, an image of the cover would be in a column.

dotancohen · 01-03-2011, 03:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dwanthny

Or ... maybe he has already, as stated in post 6 above, followed the info in this thread to add the extra column for book format.

Even if the OP has figured out and implemented this feature it is great that you took the time to try and help out.

Yes, I managed to get that aspect working as I had liked. Calibre is very flexible, it was obviously designed with _users_ in mind, not a simple scratch-one-guys-itch hack. Not much software today is this well thought out and customizable. It has that nice KDE3 feel to it!

12-27-2010, 07:12 AM	#1
dotancohen Enthusiast Posts: 42 Karma: 68 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Be'er Sheva Device: none	Some suggestions for Calibre I have been using Calibre for a few days, I have some suggestions to improve this terrific application: 1) User defined keyboard shortcuts. For instance, I would like to open Ebooks by clicking on the Spacebar. The fine manual implies that it is in fact possible to reconfigure the shortcuts (http://calibre-ebook.com/user_manual...ound-an-e-book) however I could not find how to set them. 2) Respect Qt/KDE accessibility settings. I have Single Click set in Qt/KDE. Calibre should respect this and open the Ebook on single click. 3) Tag Icons. It would be great if the user could choose different icons for the different tags. 4) Tag order. It seems that tags are ordered by popularity (how many books are tagged with each) rather than alphabetical order. It would help if we could order them alphabetically. 5) "Open With..." Context Menu. It would be nice if the main view's context menu had the "Open With..." feature common to file managers. I have several CHM and PDF readers, each with their own cons and pros, and it is a pain to open the book's containing folder each time to open with a different application. 6) Null value for "Published Date", for books which the user has yet to set the published date. 7) Additional column for "Cover" which would show an icon of the book's cover. 8) Additional column for "File Format" which would show in which format the book is stored. Thanks!

12-27-2010, 04:42 PM	#10
ThePage Connoisseur Posts: 76 Karma: 4430 Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Chicagoland Device: Kindle 4, eBookwise & Literati	Format Column 8) Additional column for "File Format" which would show in which format the book is stored. Search on ThePage - discussed this with others some time ago - there's a description of how I worked out a custom column for this.

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12-27-2010, 08:10 AM	#5
GRiker Comparer of the Ephemeris Posts: 1,496 Karma: 424697 Join Date: Mar 2009 Device: iPad	Try "{formats}" (no quotes) G

12-27-2010, 08:16 AM	#6
dotancohen Enthusiast Posts: 42 Karma: 68 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Be'er Sheva Device: none	Thanks, GRiker, that worked. Is there a bug tracker where I could file the rest of my suggestions?

01-03-2011, 03:06 PM	#14
dotancohen Enthusiast Posts: 42 Karma: 68 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Be'er Sheva Device: none	> Clicking on the book image in the cover browser opens the > book in one click. > Indeed, however I find the cover browser to be too limited to find the book that I need. I have a few hundred books, and I would like to narrow down by a tag or two before I start looking for covers. Also, the whole animation thing is nice but not productive. > Investigate the Open format externally GUI plugin it > should allow you setup open external menu items for > external viewers or editors. > Terrific, thanks! The newest version of the plugin requires Calibre 0.7.34, a bit newer than my *.32 and I'm in no position to build at the moment, so I will test later. But nice find, thank you! > The cover browser allows you to browse by cover while in > the library view. > Only by cover, and in a very limited way. Ideally, an image of the cover would be in a column.

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