[GUI Plugin] Kindle Collections (old)

[meme]

Originally Posted by CWatkinsNash

It used to sort the dash prefixes first, then regular letters. (So all --tag, then Auth:___, then Series:____) The version I used before this was the first one that required 0.8.2, whichever that was. Am I missing something? I'm pretty sure I'm not doing anything differently.

Do you mean sorting on the Kindle or in the Preview/Create report? The Preview/Create report sort order should match the Kindle in any case.

However:

But the following characters are invisible to the sort order: -?/]#.\'\\*})&:@%;"!,

So you can't use a '-' to control sort order. '_' is a good alternative.

If it looked like it worked before, not sure what to say. The plugin has no real control over how the Kindle sorts, it only allows you to use prefixes to help the sort order and attempts to show you in the Preview report what it will look like. I haven't changed the Sorting code in a long time (and hope not to in the future as it was a real pain to reverse engineer )

[CWatkinsNash]

Originally Posted by meme

Do you mean sorting on the Kindle or in the Preview/Create report? The Preview/Create report sort order should match the Kindle in any case.

However:

But the following characters are invisible to the sort order: -?/]#.\'\\*})&:@%;"!,

So you can't use a '-' to control sort order. '_' is a good alternative.

Both preview & Kindle and, as you stated, they are the same.

Then it's obviously something I did. Hmmm... What about spaces? Would spaces after the prefix make a difference? Oh, wait. I think I used "~" instead of a dash before. Is ~ sortable? If so, that was probably it. (One would think I would remember my prefixes, eh? Apparently not. I think the heat is getting to my brain. Maybe I did use _ before. Ugh.)

See, I was going to use different prefixes but changed my mind, and when I thought I was changing them back, I apparently just changed them, period. I'll fix my sort order this afternoon since I just snagged a bunch of new freebies.

Thank you for your assistance, as always.

[AkumaTakeshi]

Was wondering something, it isn't there a way to organize Collections on Home Screen by their Title instead of Last Opened/Modified? (I did Order by Collections)

It seems to be pretty stupid if were stuck with that, seems to make naming collections a bit useless. For example I can name one Collection as Fantasy but if it keeps jumping around it's a bit annoying.

Well hope this isn't debated over and over again and I didn't see it.

[CWatkinsNash]

Originally Posted by AkumaTakeshi

Was wondering something, it isn't there a way to organize Collections on Home Screen by their Title instead of Last Opened/Modified? (I did Order by Collections)

It seems to be pretty stupid if were stuck with that, seems to make naming collections a bit useless. For example I can name one Collection as Fantasy but if it keeps jumping around it's a bit annoying.

Well hope this isn't debated over and over again and I didn't see it.

The only collections-only option is by last accessed. Setting it to any of the other options shows books + Collections. If you use a sortable collection prefix like "_" that will sort before the book titles, sorting by Title will show all collections by title, then all books by title.

[AkumaTakeshi]

Hum they should correct this then. Like activating choosing between "Files Only", "Files & Collections" or "Collections Only" and then ordered by "Title", "Authors" (I don't fin this one that useful but some might) or "Last Accessed".

As that isn't possible, I guess I have to use some workaround like the one you exemplified.

Thanks for your help anyway, much appreciated

[CWatkinsNash]

Originally Posted by AkumaTakeshi

Hum they should correct this then. Like activating choosing between "Files Only", "Files & Collections" or "Collections Only" and then ordered by "Title", "Authors" (I don't fin this one that useful but some might) or "Last Accessed".

As that isn't possible, I guess I have to use some workaround like the one you exemplified.

Thanks for your help anyway, much appreciated

You're very welcome! Yeah, I think many Kindle owners are hoping that the next Kindle will have better collections implementation. But with over 900 books on my Kindle, I'm just happy to have collections, period. Since I add books to it about once a week, I rerun the collections plugin and that puts it all back in order for me.

[lordvetinari2]

I imported my Kindle Collections from the Kindle to Calibre. Then I had all the books existing both in the Calibre library and in the Kindle correctly assigned to their collections. Then I assigned collections to ebooks in my Calibre library that still had no assigned collections in the Kindle. I tried to export the Calibre collections to the Kindle, and that's when the shit hit the proverbial fan. Every ebook already in a collection in the Kindle but missing from the Calibre library got assigned no collection and ended up in the Home screen.

I want to do something very simple. Right click on an ebook in the Device view in Calibre > Assign to collection > choose from the list of collections available in the Kindle. Is there any way to do this with this plugin or am I thinking the wrong way?

I find this plugin very complete and detailed, but I am starting to believe that it far exceeds my needs.

[meme]

Originally Posted by lordvetinari2

Every ebook already in a collection in the Kindle but missing from the Calibre library got assigned no collection and ended up in the Home screen.

I assume you ran Create and have your Customization set to use a custom column (since you imported from the Kindle in the first place).

The plugin views collections as either Calibre managed or Kindle managed. If the collection is meant to be created using Calibre's columns/values then only Calibre books can be in those collections. If the collection is meant to be Kindle managed then you can put any books on the Kindle into it (manually on the Kindle or via Edit) - but you can't use that collection name in a calibre column/value or the plugin will overwrite it. Best to put the Kindle managed collection names into the Customization field 'Never delete' to avoid accidentally overwriting them.

I want to do something very simple. Right click on an ebook in the Device view in Calibre > Assign to collection > choose from the list of collections available in the Kindle. Is there any way to do this with this plugin or am I thinking the wrong way?

Is there an 'Assign to collection' menu option in the Devices view? Hmm, just checked in mine and its not there (well, it could have been, there are a lot of functions in calibre ). The plugin doesn't work this way. Its more 'stand-alone'.

To do something similar (pick a book on the Kindle and put it into a collection on the Kindle) use the Edit Kindle Collections menu item.

But if you use Edit, then either make sure you only edit Kindle managed collections (ones you aren't generating using Create from Calibre), set Customization to skip the Kindle managed collections, or don't use Create.

I find this plugin very complete and detailed, but I am starting to believe that it far exceeds my needs.

Its funny because I started out to keep it very simple, but with every request just kept adding more I've tried to keep the main activities separate, but the plugin still can't do some things.

Its an interesting idea to have a menu item to 'Add this book' or 'Remove this book' to the device right click menu. You can of course have the Kindle Collections menu attached to the right click menu for the device view now, but it doesn't do anything different than the icon menus. Add/Remove could just be part of the general plugin menu but be set to only work on selected books. Right now, the collection list in Device view isn't complete so we need to get that working first. Of course, each add/remove would mean reading/writing to the Kindle which may or may not be too slow. Well, something to think about but it would be some time before I can look at it. Right now, I think Edit will probably do what you want to do.

[CRussel]

Its an interesting idea to have a menu item to 'Add this book' or 'Remove this book' to the device right click menu. You can of course have the Kindle Collections menu attached to the right click menu for the device view now, but it doesn't do anything different than the icon menus. Add/Remove could just be part of the general plugin menu but be set to only work on selected books. Right now, the collection list in Device view isn't complete so we need to get that working first. Of course, each add/remove would mean reading/writing to the Kindle which may or may not be too slow. Well, something to think about but it would be some time before I can look at it. Right now, I think Edit will probably do what you want to do.

I, for one, would like this option. Since I rarely add more than a book or two at a time to the Kindle (and almost always add books directly from Calibre, rather than over WhisperNet), this would definitely simplify the process. Right now I need to Send the book to the Kindle, then edit the Collections setting, and Create onto the Kindle.

[meme]

I was thinking about the send to device issue. I might not be able to modify send to device to send and then update collections, but it might be possible to have the plugin run send to device itself and then update the collections. The issue might be in deciding to send and then run Create, or with add/remove to send and then just add to a specific collection (which might be erased the next time Create runs). Lots of ideas...

But I'm not sure why you have to edit the Collections setting? You should just be able to send the book to the device, and then click on Create - it will automatically add the book to the collection if it matches the customization choices (for calibre managed collections).

[tlrowley]

Since we're asking - I would love to have the option for "create collections" to run automatically when the sync plugin is run. I'd attach my Kindle, all my new books would automagically get copied over, the collections would be updated, I'd unplug and it would reboot automatically and I'd be set. Gosh, I'm lazy - can it read the books for me too?

Fabulous work. I've been reading using the iBooks app, but I couldn't take the lack of organizational tools any longer and came back to my Kindle and all the wonderful plugins.

[CWatkinsNash]

Originally Posted by tlrowley

Since we're asking - I would love to have the option for "create collections" to run automatically when the sync plugin is run. I'd attach my Kindle, all my new books would automagically get copied over, the collections would be updated, I'd unplug and it would reboot automatically and I'd be set. Gosh, I'm lazy - can it read the books for me too?

The auto reboot after unplugging is already possible with the right hack, but as I'm on my first cup of coffee I lack the ability to hunt that down for you.

As for your other desires, my first thought was, "Yes, you're lazy". Just kidding! Actually, my first thought was to wonder whether it was possible to script the actions, kind of like a macro, but because the plugins operate in conjunction with but separate from calibre, I don't know if it's practical.

Maybe we need a "KiwiMeme SuperSync'n'Go Plugin" that would integrate the basic functions of both plugins - a single sync list and a scaled-down collections function.

(now she ducks and runs)

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by meme

I was thinking about the send to device issue. I might not be able to modify send to device to send and then update collections, but it might be possible to have the plugin run send to device itself and then update the collections. The issue might be in deciding to send and then run Create, or with add/remove to send and then just add to a specific collection (which might be erased the next time Create runs). Lots of ideas...

But I'm not sure why you have to edit the Collections setting? You should just be able to send the book to the device, and then click on Create - it will automatically add the book to the collection if it matches the customization choices (for calibre managed collections).

I have to edit the collections settings separately because it doesn't seem to work correctly if the book isn't already ON the Kindle when I do the book metadata. So it's an extra step. (This may be legacy, and no longer an issue, but by now it's just "how I do it". )

[meme]

When you say edit the collection settings - do you mean the menu option Edit Kindle Collections or Customize? I think if the book isn't already on the Kindle and you send it, then there might be a gap. I'll put this on the list to test. Its a similar issue with the collections listed in the Device tab - once data is written out, its not read back into the cache in the same way as a new connect.


@CWatkinsNash - now you've gone and given both Kiwidude and me something more to look at Well, without interesting suggestions there's no fun

[markdek]

Honestly, I've been following this thread/plug-in, and I'd live to use it, but there seems to be too many people that have messed up their library, either on the Kindle, or their pc, to make me shy away......Am I too paranoid? Is it ok to wait till the bugs are worked out? I don't have a major sense of urgency concerning collections management, but I anticipate this need sooner or later.