Two Feature Requests

GuruKast · 02-22-2026, 04:24 PM

Loving Calibre, between this and Kodi, my organisational urges get soothed so much, but I would love to see some additional UI/ visual options and choices.

Firstly, Emblem Overlays. Someone brought it up 10+ years ago, but in light of the new bookshelf view, which has emblem overlays, can we have the option to put the emblems on the book cover itself in the Cover Grid Layout? I would love to be able to keep my book covers closer together for that visual appeal, especially since I started using large covers. Would enable some great fancy and clever large emblem effects.

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Secondly, and I have no idea if this is possible, to force "line breaks" in the Cover Grid layout when you sort by Author/ Series. Ideally, you would be able to set a rule/ expression, but just like an Author and/or Series checkbox "Trigger" would be fantastic

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So in the attached image, you almost get a sense of what I mean. Cradle Series ends, and Marlon James/ Dark Star Trilogy starts on a "new line" Having only two books in that means it should "break" and start Terry Prachet / Discworld Below it.
Bonus
Can we get a cover mode for bookshelf view sometime in the future?

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JSWolf · 02-22-2026, 05:46 PM

Actually, I rather like your new bookshelf view better then what we have now.

Dal Bhat · 02-22-2026, 06:51 PM

It's grid view on a shelf.

kovidgoyal · 02-22-2026, 08:27 PM

Drawing emblems on the cover is possible, though IMO it looks bad, the emblems tend to get lost depending on the cover background.

Line breaks are not possible without basically rewriting the grid to use custom rendering. It currently uses a QListView from Qt which doesnt have this ability. One could do the rewrite (the bookshelf view for example is a custom view) but that is a lot of work for a very minor gain.

As for shelves in cover grid or alternately full covers with spacing in bookshelf view not worth it for me.

GuruKast · 02-23-2026, 12:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

Drawing emblems on the cover is possible, though IMO it looks bad, the emblems tend to get lost depending on the cover background.

Just means the onus is on us to have emblems designed to mitigate that - kind of how the "new" and "sample" overlays are on that shelf grid view image above. Could even make them look like stickers lol. Would love the option.

Quote:

Line breaks are not possible without basically rewriting the grid to use custom rendering. It currently uses a QListView from Qt which doesnt have this ability. One could do the rewrite (the bookshelf view for example is a custom view) but that is a lot of work for a very minor gain.

That's fair.

Quote:

As for shelves in cover grid or alternately full covers with spacing in bookshelf view not worth it for me.

Understood.

kovidgoyal · 02-23-2026, 01:35 AM

https://github.com/kovidgoyal/calibr...09705a50f6237a

02-22-2026, 04:24 PM	#1
GuruKast Junior Member Posts: 5 Karma: 39902 Join Date: Feb 2026 Device: none	Two Feature Requests Loving Calibre, between this and Kodi, my organisational urges get soothed so much, but I would love to see some additional UI/ visual options and choices. Firstly, Emblem Overlays. Someone brought it up 10+ years ago, but in light of the new bookshelf view, which has emblem overlays, can we have the option to put the emblems on the book cover itself in the Cover Grid Layout? I would love to be able to keep my book covers closer together for that visual appeal, especially since I started using large covers. Would enable some great fancy and clever large emblem effects. Secondly, and I have no idea if this is possible, to force "line breaks" in the Cover Grid layout when you sort by Author/ Series. Ideally, you would be able to set a rule/ expression, but just like an Author and/or Series checkbox "Trigger" would be fantastic So in the attached image, you almost get a sense of what I mean. Cradle Series ends, and Marlon James/ Dark Star Trilogy starts on a "new line" Having only two books in that means it should "break" and start Terry Prachet / Discworld Below it. Bonus Can we get a cover mode for bookshelf view sometime in the future?

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02-22-2026, 05:46 PM	#2
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 82,203 Karma: 150871427 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	Actually, I rather like your new bookshelf view better then what we have now.

02-22-2026, 06:51 PM	#3
Dal Bhat Connoisseur Posts: 73 Karma: 10 Join Date: Apr 2024 Device: Kindle 11th Gen	It's grid view on a shelf.

02-22-2026, 08:27 PM	#4
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 46,039 Karma: 29579868 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	Drawing emblems on the cover is possible, though IMO it looks bad, the emblems tend to get lost depending on the cover background. Line breaks are not possible without basically rewriting the grid to use custom rendering. It currently uses a QListView from Qt which doesnt have this ability. One could do the rewrite (the bookshelf view for example is a custom view) but that is a lot of work for a very minor gain. As for shelves in cover grid or alternately full covers with spacing in bookshelf view not worth it for me.

02-23-2026, 01:35 AM	#6
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 46,039 Karma: 29579868 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	https://github.com/kovidgoyal/calibr...09705a50f6237a

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