[?] Add downloaded tags not overwrite existing?

[random43743]

Is there a way to append downloaded tags rather than overwrite existing tags?
I sometimes mass import several books and give them my own tags (i.g. language they are written in), so i dont want them overwritten, but i like to have social metadata tags as well.

Did i miss something or would i have to alter sourcecode? As described in this post: How To: Getting summary metadata and images, not tags, author, title

Thx, mike

[itimpi]

I thought that adding tags rather than over-writing was the default behavior? That is what seems to happen for me when I download the social metadata. I have calibre set to automatically put in a TODO tag as soon as I add a book to remind me the entry needs checking, and that tag remains until I manually remove it.

[CWatkinsNash]

Originally Posted by itimpi

I thought that adding tags rather than over-writing was the default behavior? That is what seems to happen for me when I download the social metadata. I have calibre set to automatically put in a TODO tag as soon as I add a book to remind me the entry needs checking, and that tag remains until I manually remove it.

I was about to say ditto, but I just checked and social metadata tags downloaded overwrote the ones I already had on there. I never noticed it before because the first few times I tried the social data feature I got some really weird tags so I haven't used it since.

I can definitely see why this would be a problem. In my case, when I import files they automatically get tagged with "needupdate", and I need that tag to stay there until I'm done working with the file information.

[random43743]

Basically i have the same need as you two above.

On one hand i sometimes autotag on import a certain quality of an ebook like i said the language the book is written in or the country of the authors.

On the other hand i give my own verified tags to my books for example #Crime or #Thriller instead of Crime or Thriller. So i know i have given those myself and the genre i like the book to be in, is as i want it. And yes some of the social metadata tags are extremely weired.

Still i like to get an idea how other people tagged a book, especially when i don't have any insights into the book at all. Most of all i definitely don't want my own tags overwritten. So until now i copy and paste 'em back after download, which is painfully laborious.

So is there someone who knows if there is a tweak? I have looked at the post i mentioned above and i must say i m not a programmer. I do program a function or other in VBA for my spreadsheets, but that s about it. So i am not too happy about altering sourcecode. If there is no alternative maybe someone could give me a little help there? I had a look at metadata_single.py and it is easy to find the lines for the tags, but i am not sure how i must alter those.

At line 775 fetch_metadata starts:

	
    def fetch_metadata(self):

And line 818 gives the code to add the tags (At least that's what i think):

      
                        if book.tags:
                            self.tags.setText(', '.join(book.tags))

I don't think it can be too hard to alter the line so that the tags are added rather than overwritten.

[kovidgoyal]

IIRC, when you download the metadata for a single book, it will overwrite the existing tags, the idea being that you have a chance to review and correct the downloaded tags, but when you do a bulk download it will merge rather than overwrite.

I would suggest you adjust your workflow. Download metadata before doing manual tagging.

[random43743]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

IIRC, ...

IIRC ?

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

I would suggest you adjust your workflow.

Point taken and rightly so!

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

...but when you do a bulk download it will merge rather than overwrite.

Now this is exactly what i needed to know and knowing this i am happy to "adjust my workflow". Thank you very much for your answer, that is helping a lot!

Also i do have to say that calibre is a wonderful useful tool, you have created this program very well. again thank you very much!!!

mike

[Nyssa]

Originally Posted by random43743

IIRC ?

If I Recall Correctly

[kovidgoyal]

You're welcome