When to polish books?

[Ma'am-I-Am]

I'm using Calibre as a library management tool only. So I add books, convert to AZW3, then download and edit the metadata. At some time in the future I will send the book to my Kindle Paperwhite when I want to read it. I'm going to stop Saving to Disk because I want to keep the raw files where and as they are and only use Calibre to Send to Device.

Given the above, when would I need to polish the books?

What changes to Preferences would warrant polishing books? I'm still learning to use the Import/Export templates and plugboards.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Ma'am-I-Am

I'm using Calibre as a library management tool only. So I add books, convert to AZW3, then download and edit the metadata. At some time in the future I will send the book to my Kindle Paperwhite when I want to read it. I'm going to stop Saving to Disk because I want to keep the raw files where and as they are and only use Calibre to Send to Device.

Given the above, when would I need to polish the books?

What changes to Preferences would warrant polishing books? I'm still learning to use the Import/Export templates and plugboards.

Look at Polishes options.
Do you desire any of those?

Do you wish to embed new metadata into the Library copy (Send to device will update the export)?

[Ma'am-I-Am]

The only things I chose to toggle were "Update Metadata" and "Update Cover".

I'm not sure I understand what you mean by "do you wish to embed new metadata into the Library copy". I thought that was a given if you use "Edit metadata/download metadata and covers", then review, make your changes and save. It seems to work for me that way. If I'm not correct, please explain because the metadata is important to me.

I also assumed that Send to Device would send whatever metadata is in the library for that book, i.e. what I see when I choose Edit Metadata Individually.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by Ma'am-I-Am

The only things I chose to toggle were "Update Metadata" and "Update Cover".

I'm not sure I understand what you mean by "do you wish to embed new metadata into the Library copy". I thought that was a given if you use "Edit metadata/download metadata and covers", then review, make your changes and save. It seems to work for me that way. If I'm not correct, please explain because the metadata is important to me.

I also assumed that Send to Device would send whatever metadata is in the library for that book, i.e. what I see when I choose Edit Metadata Individually.

@Ma'am-I-Am - When you change the metadata, the only thing that is updated is the database (metadata.db in the library folder) and the metadata backup file (metadata.opf in the book folder).

When you do a Send to Device, then the copy that's sent will have the current metadata embedded in it according to the setting you have in if the Preference->Send to Device->Metadata management.

The Polish Book tool will, amongst other things, embed the current metadata in the EPUB and/or AZW file stored in the library.

The Modify PI will do the same, amongst even more 'other' things, but it only works on EPUB files.

The recently added Embed Metadata only embeds the metadata, but it will do so on most formats - EPUB, AZW, PDF, MOBI etc - but I don't think it does TXT and other 'primitive' formats.

BR

[eschwartz]

Updating metadata and covers via Polish book will only mimic -- for the library copy -- what send-to-device/save-to-disk does on the exported copy.

The exception is if a book has broken metadata and does not specify a cover. Polish book will create a new cover if necessary, but send-to-device/save-to-disk only updates a pre-existing cover. This is a one-time fix!

Ordinarily, the only reason to update the metadata on the in-library copy, is if you will be using calibre2opds or Dropbox (or both) to download books to your device.

[jecilop]

As someone who uses this a lot in "fixing" and updating my books, I use Polish features a lot.

I suggest checking off 3 options:
1) update cover if you download something different from what's in the book
2) Update the metadata in the book (this makes it match whatever you see in Calibre management such as Edit metadata including comments
3) Update metadata book jack - allows you to see the relevant info as a page that shows after the cover.

There are other options that are obvious when running Polish, but these are what I use most often after "cleaning up" my library - it's large!

A Comment on using Save to Disk also:
I was not happy with Calibre at first because it didn't let me manage files as I was used to based on the filename. However, I learned how to make it work for me when needed.
Save to Disk doesn't change the "raw" files in the Calibre library. It just allows you to save a copy of the book file with everything in it in any folder you would like and in any file name configuration you would like.
After learning how to utilize Calibre best and still be able to use my favorite reader app on Android devices, I wanted to be able to see a file and know info no matter what. It made it easier to find it easily.

• I run Save to Disk on a "handful" of book I want to read.
• This saves them for me in this format: Author-Series-Series#-Title (wordcount).epub
• I save them to a special folder that I cloud sync automatically to my tablet and phone.
• My reader of choice (Moonreader+ Pro). It automatically imports these files from this folder. This also syncs across mobile devices so I can read a book at the same stopping point on any mobile like would happen with Kindle. It also syncs any bookmarks and such I might add. Because of the cloud sync, I never lose this.
• When I finish the book, I can delete it in any location (whether from any mobile or the Save to Disk location folder), and it disappears everywhere. NO FUSS.

I've found this a REALLY easy way to "grab a handful of books to take and keep with me".
It's FAST and SIMPLE.
Also, if I want to share a book with a family member, I can just give them a copy of what I saved to the disk. It has all relevant info because of the naming scheme I chose and carries all metadata that I customized.