Get Metadata with Less Clicks, is it possible?

[Starko]

My hobby is "making" ebooks by OCR and subsequent low level HTML editing. After that i get all the metadata and then convert the book to ePUB and Mobi.

Up until now i was getting metadata by
1) clicking on "Edit Metadata" toolbar icon,
2) Clicking on "Download metadata" button
3) A handy wizard window appears...
From here it's all straight forward... Yet at some point i started wondering whether it was possible to avoid point 1) and 2) but go to metadata download wizard directly.

I have found that there is a menu item (under the "Edit Metadata" icon) called "Download metadata and covers" with a handy key shortcut Ctrl + D.
Unfortunately i found this short cut to take me to my metadata by completely different scenic (read lengthy and rather counterintuitive) way. First you get a "Schedule Download?" (why this name?) window with FIVE buttons. Upon choosing one, there is no progress window. Then another message box appears "Finished downloading metadata for 1 book(s). Proceed with updating the metadata in your library? Yes/No". What's the point of this window if there is no visual representation of the metadata?
And then i had no way of making any last second changes to the newly acquired metadata...

So yes, for now i am back to making one extra click on Edit Metadata, but still wonder if a better way is justified.

[kovidgoyal]

Ctrl+D is for bulk metadata download, it runs a job in the background. Try downloading the metadata of 10 books at once.

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by Starko

I have found that there is a menu item (under the "Edit Metadata" icon) called "Download metadata and covers" with a handy key shortcut Ctrl + D.

I agree - it's handy.

Unfortunately i found this short cut to take me to my metadata by completely different scenic (read lengthy and rather counterintuitive) way.

To me, it seems perfectly intuitive. It puts all the options I need in one handy place.

First you get a "Schedule Download?" (why this name?)

Because it runs in the background as a scheduled job that can run for hours if you select multiple books

window with FIVE buttons.

Yes - 5 buttons: a "Cancel" button to get out, one button each for retrieving only covers, only metadata and both, plus a configure button. That's pretty simple. Configure it if you don't like the defaults and decide if you want covers or data.

Upon choosing one, there is no progress window.

Check the job window or the log when it's done.

Then another message box appears "Finished downloading metadata for 1 book(s). Proceed with updating the metadata in your library? Yes/No". What's the point of this window if there is no visual representation of the metadata?

It's in the button next to the one you are complaining about that says "View Log."

And then i had no way of making any last second changes to the newly acquired metadata...

It's designed for multiple books. They remain selected. Hit "E" and edit them.

So yes, for now i am back to making one extra click on Edit Metadata, but still wonder if a better way is justified.

I do them in bulk, provided author/title are good.

[speakingtohe]

You can click on next at bottom of page to get to the next book instead of clicking ok and going back to the GUI

[transmitthis]

Always worth doing a visual check on the covers after a bulk download, as sometimes they can be a few wrong ones.

Also make sure you select the options you need, ie don't let amazon change your authors and titles if you know there correct.

it is a great time saver to do it in bulk, but do try a few first, and if you have the space, save a copy of you library folder just in case.