ISBN Column

[TWHanson1]

I attempted to edit ISBN of one of my books. After I closed the editor, all of my books displayed efault" in the ISBN column. Any idea what I messed up and if I can restore my ISBM data from Metadata?

[HarryT]

Without some clue as to what tool you’re attempting to use, nobody can assist you .

[TWHanson1]

(1) From my Calibre main library (on my PC), I right-clicked the column header, "ISBN".
(2) I selected, "Add your own columns" from the drop-down menu.
(3) I selected, row 9 (in my case), "ISBN".
(4)I clicked on the "Edit settings of a user-defined column" icon at the far-right, which brought up the "Edit custom column" window.
(5) I modified the field, "Lookup name".
(6) I clicked "OK'
(7) I clicked "Apply"
(8) I restarted Calibre (per instruction).
I returned to my Calibre library and found all the fields in my ISBN column displayed, "Default".

[HarryT]

Moved to the Calibre forum.

[theducks]

ISBN is a custom column as you mention. Changing the lookup name (#aname) should not affect the contents by itself. OTOH if you created this from other column with a formula, the OLD lookup name might be part of the formula.
OTOH if you changed anything else other than names (I did not think it allowed that)

ISBN is just one of the possible values in {identifiers} (a 2 part value field. Identifier_type:value. this field accept multiple, all different, types)

[DaltonST]

There is only basic functionality in standard Calibre to easily deal with identifiers. See the attached image, which shows several tools to remedy that situation.


https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...18&postcount=1



DaltonST

[BetterRed]

I have an ISBN column defined thus:

{identifiers:select(isbn)}

BR

[TWHanson1]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

I have an ISBN column defined thus:

Attachment 171644

{identifiers:select(isbn)}

BR

I tried defining ISBN as, {identifiers:select(isbn)} and I get an error telling me that only lowercase characters, numerals and underscores are allowed. I also tried identifiers:select(isbn). Same error.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by TWHanson1

I tried defining ISBN as, {identifiers:select(isbn)} and I get an error telling me that only lowercase characters, numerals and underscores are allowed. I also tried identifiers:select(isbn). Same error.

What operating system do you use?

What version of calibre do you have?

When do you get this error?

If it's when you're defining the column, all you need do is click the blue ISBN at top of the dialogue box and click OK.

If it's when you enter an ISBN in the Ids: box the Metadata Edit dialogue then you must enter isbn: followed by a valid International Standard Book Number - e.g. isbn:9780691156842

Please capture the error - if is a calibre error it will have a "Copy to clipboard" button, use that and paste the message here, otherwise take a screen shot of the error popup and post it here (use the paper clip icon in the top toolbar).

BR