Unable to edit strange metadata

[calvin-c]

On my reader I've noticed several strange tags, such as Charlie Chan novels being listed as part of the 'Biggers' series as well as of the Charlie Chan series which I entered. In the 'regular' metadata there's no sign of this but when I use Calibre reader & view the metadata there it shows up-and I can't get rid of it except accidentally. Editing the regular metadata doesn't overwrite this 'embedded' metadata but sometimes it just disappears, replaced by the regular metadata. I'm sure there's something I'm doing that causes that but so far I haven't figured out what-but what I'd really like to know is where I can find that metadata to either change or get rid of it. I've spent quite a bit of time in Calibre assigning my own tags & now on my reader they're all mixed up with tags that seem to appear automatically. At first I thought it was my reader (Moon Reader Pro) doing it but now that I've found it in the Calibre reader I figure it must be from wherever I downloaded these books. (Guttenberg, I think, but I don't track the source.) So, any idea where this metadata is stored & how I can edit it? I can upload a book with it if you'd like. Actually if you need that it'd be more useful for me to upload 2 books-one with the strange metadata & the other where the metadata shows exactly as I've entered it in Calibre. Let me know if you need that. Thanks.

[theducks]

Biggers is the Author, not a 'series'

IMHO downloaded tags are a mess. There are no normalized tags
IMHO you need to massage each and every book
Standardize case, initials, placement of Articles (A, The), standardize tense (Mystery vs Mysteries) in series names. Standardize Publishers names (and don't count on THEM doing it the same between books)

[dwig]

Originally Posted by theducks

Biggers is the Author, not a 'series'

IMHO downloaded tags are a mess. There are no normalized tags
IMHO you need to massage each and every book
Standardize case, initials, placement of Articles (A, The), standardize tense (Mystery vs Mysteries) in series names. Standardize Publishers names (and don't count on THEM doing it the same between books)

+1

The author of the original 5 Charlie Chan books is Earl Derr Biggers and book title pages and library listings are very consistent in using all 3 names. I've never seen a book or reliable library listing for either "Earl Biggers" or "Earl D. Biggers".

Tags are by no means standardized. Personally, I wipe all tags in a newly added ebook and set my own using my choices and my choice for standardized spellings/tense. I regularly review the Authors and Tags sections of the Tags panel in calibre to spot strays. I often catch inconsistent author's names (e.g. spacing errors, differences in presence or absence of periods after initials, missing/added initials, ...) and "standardize" the odd ones.

[theducks]

The Quality check PI has a check (and a Fix) to consistently format Initials, Name order.

What it wont find is other variations:no Initial or the opposite, Full middle name

I routinely open the Tag Browser (I keep it hidden), and scan names. Usualy minor variations are nearby Not all close names are the same author. REVIEW each book before fixing [it wrongly]
I also have a custom column for Pen Names (or long author lists) for thos cases where the original was released under a Pen Name and later re-released under the authors name

[calvin-c]

Both of you seem to have completely missed my point. I agree, downloaded tags are a mess & I always enter my own. (Sometimes I'll start with downloaded metadata but I've never yet seen any I accept without changing something about it.) I'll try to describe this better. I import a book & convert it to epub. I download the metadata then fix it myself. In the example case that includes setting the series to Charlie Chan. It also includes erasing any existing tags & entering my own. Then I view the book & select 'Show Metadata'. Presto-the metadata now showing says the series is Biggers. The metadata showing is *not* the metadata I entered. That metadata is still in Calibre-but not in the Calibre book viewer. When I transfer the book to my reader tags from both sets of metadata show up-so in Calibre I have a list of 30 tags. In my reader I have a list of something like 200 tags. I'm pretty sure the strange metadata is embedded in the book-but where? I can't find it when I edit the book. The metadata *I* enter is apparently stored in the metadata.opf file. Presumably those books that display that metadata in the viewer either don't have any embedded metadata (i.e. it's a priority thing) or else something has caused Calibre to replace the originally embedded metadata with the metadata I've entered. Either way would fix the apparent problem but that's not the question I've asked-I'm pretty sure I can fix the problem myself if I can find out where the metadata is embedded. Anybody know that? Thanks.

[calvin-c]

Sorry, forgot that I was going to post an example.

[skb]

I'm sorry if this seems like a stupid question but are you polishing the epub before viewing it?

I spent ages updating metadata etc only to discover that when I went to view the book, the updates weren't there. However, after I'd polished (or whatever was there before the polish option was available), walla! If I've totally missed the point, apologies and carry on.

[dwig]

Originally Posted by calvin-c

... I import a book & convert it to epub. I download the metadata then fix it myself. ...

That's not what I feel is the best way to work.

When you edit metadata, calibre updates its own database, but that is it. It does not burden the system with a laborious re-write of the metadata in the ebook files themselves. If you change a cover, calibre only changes the JPEG that it keeps beside the ebook files. It does not change the cover inside of the ebook files. It is done this way for performance reasons.

For this reason, I prefer to massage the metadata and, if desired, create a new cover before doing any format conversions. Also, before doing any conversions, I will use Polish or Embed Metadata to write the changes into the selected ebook files if the current format supports such rewrites. I will then convert, if necessary, to my preferred format. Depending on the formats involved, this new conversion will have my massaged metadata embedded along with the new cover.

[calvin-c]

Re where Calibre stores metadata, that's what I thought was happening-my question is where in the book I can find the embedded metadata to update that myself. If I'm understanding you correctly Calibre will sometimes overwrite the embedded metadata with what I've entered. That makes sense but it doesn't solve the problem of the several thousand books I've already converted-and it leaves my original question unanswered. Where is the embedded metadata stored? Even when I edit the book I can't find it. The only time I can find it (other than when it appears in my reader) is when I view the metadata in the Calibre reader-and then I can't edit it.

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by calvin-c

Where is the embedded metadata stored? Even when I edit the book I can't find it.

EPUB metadata is stored in a file with the extension .opf within the book. (An EPUB is actually a zip file containing several sub-files.) This file will be listed under "Miscellaneous" in the calibre e-book editor.

[calvin-c]

Thank you but I'm not sure you're right. Except I think you sort of are. When I open the content.opf file in the editor I see a whole bunch of HTML gobbledygook. Understand that I'm not an HTML programmer-I know just enough to get into trouble when trying to edit it. I did find the series meta name but the content was what I entered, not the embedded metadata I saw when viewing the book. OTOH when I went back to the reader to double-check I found that the embedded metadata had changed so apparently opening the content.opf file in the editor overwrites the embedded metadata with what I've entered. This isn't totally satisfactory as I'd prefer to edit it rather than overwrite it but it'll do. At least I can now replace it. Thanks.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by calvin-c

If I'm understanding you correctly Calibre will sometimes overwrite the embedded metadata with what I've entered. That makes sense but it doesn't solve the problem of the several thousand books I've already converted-and it leaves my original question unanswered.

Calibre will update the epub embedded metadata thus:

• in the copy Sent to a device - the in-library copy is not changed;
• in the copy Copied to a disk - the in-library copy is not changed;
• in the in-library copy when a new epub format file is created by Conversion
• in the in-library copy when the Embed metadata or Polish Books tool is applied to the book.

Simplest way to update all your in-library epubs with current metadata is:

• search for epubs formats:"=EPUB",
• select all books (Ctrl+a),
• invoke the Embed metadata tool, you may need to add it to a toolbar, or give it a kb shortcut,
• select EPUB as the format to be updated
• click OK

If you want the in-library epub's embedded metadata to always be current you'll need to incorporate Embed metadata (or Polish Books) into your workflow, or do a periodic search for books that have been modified and have an epub format file e.g. last_modified:=thismonth and formats:"=EPUB", and apply the Embed metadata (or Polish Books) tool to those books.

BR

[calvin-c]

Thank you. I figured that somebody would know how Calibre handled metadata.