calibre is so powerful that it overwhelms me. any help on guidance on initial set up?

somewhat · 04-21-2020, 12:35 AM

Hello,

I have made several attempts at calibre over the years. It is obviously very robust and designed with power users in mind. I can imagine myself become such a user but can never seem to catch the groove.

The problem is that I get so overwhelmed with the great bounty of plugins and customization. So many neat things to fiddle with.

I find it mentally difficult to keep track of what's installed and what the functions are. The system for organizing the toolbars only really makes sense if you already know how something works. If, when you install a plugin it's not entirely obvious what the workflow will be, it's unclear what to do. (It would be great if plugins would all have a suggested set up to start with.)

There are *ten* different toolbar locations in the preferences pane. The only way I would be able to learn this is by making a bunch of diagrams like in school. There's no easy way to see an overview of the installed plugins to tell what is going on and what needs to be organized.

Anyway I am not here to complain about the software being what it is. I'm sure this flexibility is beneficial once you get used to the systems. I am wondering if there is some 101 help available about getting things set up in a useful way without going overboard with a zillion plugins (my natural inclination). What would be extremely perfect would be if there was a way to download a config file or script or something that would set up a general purpose environment. Assuming that's not available I would also follow instructions manually.

I am having a hard time finding this on my own because all search lead to tutorials and tutorials lead to so many plugins.

If it's relevant, my main needs are

Organize ebook files in such a way that I will find them at a later date (rather than just hoarding them)
Transfer to my old kindle and mobile app
Keep track of reading progress and notes

Thanks for any help. I did try searching but my terms are too vague. All searches lead to more plugins. I have a mild cognitive impairment which interferes in these sorts of tasks.

BetterRed · 04-21-2020, 02:55 AM

Watch the Videos -=> Video Tutorials

Note re Grand Tour video, watch a segment, before advancing to next segment, practice on a test library until you get it right.

Don't install plugins you don't need.

BR

pdurrant · 04-21-2020, 03:07 AM

My advice would be to install just calibre and the DeDRM plugin.

Then import your ebooks, checking that the DRM is getting stripped. Metadata will be read from the books, but might need some adjustments.

That's really all you need to do to start with. Get comfortable with importing books, and sending books to your device, without the use of any extra plugins.

Then once you're comfortable, you might find that you do want to add some extra features through plugins and/or by adding custom columns to your database. But any of that can be done later - it doesn't need to be done when you first start using calibre.

Bookstooge · 04-21-2020, 04:49 AM

As others have noted, just focus on Calibre first. I've been using it since '08 (I think?) and only have about 5 plugins installed. I'm no power user for sure and I know I haven't tapped 1/100th of what I could be doing. But right now, it does everything I want, so I don't go exploring and get overwhelmed

Best of luck!

stumped · 04-21-2020, 06:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by somewhat

If it's relevant, my main needs are

Organize ebook files in such a way that I will find them at a later date (rather than just hoarding them)
Transfer to my old kindle and mobile app
Keep track of reading progress and notes

..

1. is calibre's main purpose - it will do that for do " you of the box"
2. if those books were purchased e.g. from Amaon and thus protected, you will need one plug-in to strip protection in order to read them on other devices. that has to happen at the step where you fetch a copy from the book store and add it to calibre.
3. not easy. notes are typically saved on the reading device, so if you read on Kindle, they are stored on kindle, with no simple way to copy them to calibre. if all you want to know is whether a book is read, or unread, you can add a column for that, but you will have to manually update it

DNSB · 04-21-2020, 11:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stumped

3. not easy. notes are typically saved on the reading device, so if you read on Kindle, they are stored on kindle, with no simple way to copy them to calibre. if all you want to know is whether a book is read, or unread, you can add a column for that, but you will have to manually update it

The Annotations plugin will transfer the notes from myclippings.txt to calibre.

stumped · 04-21-2020, 11:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DNSB

The Annotations plugin will transfer the notes from myclippings.txt to calibre.

from post #1: I have a mild cognitive impairment which interferes in these sorts of tasks.

so he may appreciate a detailed step by step walkthrough of that. it's not a plug in that I use, myself

DNSB · 04-21-2020, 11:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stumped

from post #1: I have a mild cognitive impairment which interferes in these sorts of tasks.

so he may appreciate a detailed step by step walkthrough of that. it's not a plug in that I use, myself

My feeling is that for now, he should follow pdurrant's advice and move on to adding plugins once he is comfortable using calibre and has had a chance to find out what add-ons he needs.

somewhat · 04-22-2020, 05:26 AM

Hi everyone thank you for your replies. Maybe I misstated the stage of learning I am at. I am able to open calibre, import books, get them to the device. If I had a small collection of items this would probably be good enough.

However I have 100gb of files at the moment and that's not counting an old hard drive that has my previous library on it which I'll be adding back. Plus I've been learning how to use wget

So it's only gonna get worse. I do plan to push this to do what I want if I can. I am just having a hard time with getting a grasp of it to get going because it's so hard to see what is going on.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BetterRed

Watch the Videos -=> Video Tutorials

Thank you those are handy. I didn't know about the ability to change the lefthand column via "user categories" and now I also see I can remove the sections I don't need. This is better so I can actually use the epic tag system I am creating.

Quote:

Originally Posted by pdurrant

My advice would be to install just calibre and the DeDRM plugin.

I tried installing this the other day but got confused in the various documentations. Today with no changes everything seems to be working. hm

Quote:

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Then import your ebooks, checking that the DRM is getting stripped. Metadata will be read from the books, but might need some adjustments.

How?

Quote:

Originally Posted by stumped

1. is calibre's main purpose - it will do that for do " you of the box"

I think this might be the most difficult thing to achieve.. I have zillions of files on many subjects. Many don't have complete/any/correct meta data so it needs to be added. It's a reason why I'm interested in getting things set up properly from the beginning—I don't want to spend ages going through manually updating meta data only to learn that there was a better way to do it, or start using some plugin that adds another field or something and I have to go and re-do everything. (To whatever extent that's possible.)

Quote:

Originally Posted by DNSB

The Annotations plugin will transfer the notes from myclippings.txt to calibre.

OK thank you. I can see that I have installed this tho I haven't looked too closely at it, I will do.

Quote:

Originally Posted by stumped

so he may appreciate a detailed step by step walkthrough of that. it's not a plug in that I use, myself

Thank you for your thoughts. I will try following the existing documentation tho before asking for more help. No need to reinvent the wheel.

Bookstooge · 04-23-2020, 05:42 AM

Ummm, you are going to have to probably do a lot of manual editing to get your metadata correct.

I'd create a "work in progress" library, add everything to it and then as you correct books, move them to a another "finished" library. There is no magic bullet...

BetterRed · 04-23-2020, 05:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bookstooge

Ummm, you are going to have to probably do a lot of manual editing to get your metadata correct.

I'd create a "work in progress" library, add everything to it and then as you correct books, move them to a another "finished" library. There is no magic bullet...

↑ ↑ ↑ ✔

When I did my initial load I added books to the 'work-in-progress' library in 'batches', where a batch was about how many books I think I could bash into shape in day or two. It took about 3 months.

Use the Copy to Library tool to move them to the 'finished' library. It is in the default book list context menu, you can add it to a toolbar if that suits you better.

BR

theducks · 04-23-2020, 11:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BetterRed

↑ ↑ ↑ ✔

When I did my initial load I added books to the 'work-in-progress' library in 'batches', where a batch was about how many books I think I could bash into shape in day or two. It took about 3 months.

Use the Copy to Library tool to move them to the 'finished' library. It is in the default book list context menu, you can add it to a toolbar if that suits you better.

BR

ONLY 3 Mos?

I added my paper Library as Empty (980) books. I think it took me over 2 years to clean the Metadata and get the correct (as printed) covers.

Bookstooge · 04-23-2020, 04:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by theducks

ONLY 3 Mos?

I added my paper Library as Empty (980) books. I think it took me over 2 years to clean the Metadata and get the correct (as printed) covers.

I added all my reviews from 2000-2016 and even with the import plugin, and a lot of the data already being there, it took me a solid year, and that was less than 3K entries

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04-21-2020, 12:35 AM	#1
somewhat Junior Member Posts: 4 Karma: 10 Join Date: Apr 2020 Device: none	calibre is so powerful that it overwhelms me. any help on guidance on initial set up? Hello, I have made several attempts at calibre over the years. It is obviously very robust and designed with power users in mind. I can imagine myself become such a user but can never seem to catch the groove. The problem is that I get so overwhelmed with the great bounty of plugins and customization. So many neat things to fiddle with. I find it mentally difficult to keep track of what's installed and what the functions are. The system for organizing the toolbars only really makes sense if you already know how something works. If, when you install a plugin it's not entirely obvious what the workflow will be, it's unclear what to do. (It would be great if plugins would all have a suggested set up to start with.) There are ten different toolbar locations in the preferences pane. The only way I would be able to learn this is by making a bunch of diagrams like in school. There's no easy way to see an overview of the installed plugins to tell what is going on and what needs to be organized. Anyway I am not here to complain about the software being what it is. I'm sure this flexibility is beneficial once you get used to the systems. I am wondering if there is some 101 help available about getting things set up in a useful way without going overboard with a zillion plugins (my natural inclination). What would be extremely perfect would be if there was a way to download a config file or script or something that would set up a general purpose environment. Assuming that's not available I would also follow instructions manually. I am having a hard time finding this on my own because all search lead to tutorials and tutorials lead to so many plugins. If it's relevant, my main needs are Organize ebook files in such a way that I will find them at a later date (rather than just hoarding them) Transfer to my old kindle and mobile app Keep track of reading progress and notes Thanks for any help. I did try searching but my terms are too vague. All searches lead to more plugins. I have a mild cognitive impairment which interferes in these sorts of tasks.

04-21-2020, 02:55 AM	#2
BetterRed null operator (he/him) Posts: 21,730 Karma: 29711016 Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Sydney Australia Device: none	Watch the Videos -=> Video Tutorials Note re Grand Tour video, watch a segment, before advancing to next segment, practice on a test library until you get it right. Don't install plugins you don't need. BR

04-21-2020, 03:07 AM	#3
pdurrant The Grand Mouse 高貴的老鼠 Posts: 73,948 Karma: 315160596 Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Norfolk, England Device: Kindle Oasis	My advice would be to install just calibre and the DeDRM plugin. Then import your ebooks, checking that the DRM is getting stripped. Metadata will be read from the books, but might need some adjustments. That's really all you need to do to start with. Get comfortable with importing books, and sending books to your device, without the use of any extra plugins. Then once you're comfortable, you might find that you do want to add some extra features through plugins and/or by adding custom columns to your database. But any of that can be done later - it doesn't need to be done when you first start using calibre.

04-21-2020, 04:49 AM	#4
Bookstooge Member Retired Posts: 805 Karma: 2091358 Join Date: May 2019 Device: Kindle Oasis 1st Gen, PB Era	As others have noted, just focus on Calibre first. I've been using it since '08 (I think?) and only have about 5 plugins installed. I'm no power user for sure and I know I haven't tapped 1/100th of what I could be doing. But right now, it does everything I want, so I don't go exploring and get overwhelmed Best of luck!

04-23-2020, 05:42 AM	#10
Bookstooge Member Retired Posts: 805 Karma: 2091358 Join Date: May 2019 Device: Kindle Oasis 1st Gen, PB Era	Ummm, you are going to have to probably do a lot of manual editing to get your metadata correct. I'd create a "work in progress" library, add everything to it and then as you correct books, move them to a another "finished" library. There is no magic bullet...