Need tips for managing tags

[petzi]

@BetterRed

What operating system are you using? I use Windows, other OS keyboard behaviour may be different.

Yes, this may be the reason. I use OSX and the F2 shortcut does not work for me. I checked all plugins.

To edit fields is sometimes a little cumbersome on OSX. The first click is selecting the book, the second one to start editing. But once your were in editing editing mode you must not click on the book again, it immediately opens the field you clicked one. You must hit "Enter" and Esc to get in the normal selecting mode again. I wonder if I am missing something here. I would appreciate a dedicated shortcut for editing mode but could not find one.

I create an empty book (Ctrtl+Shift+E) with Author Iron Gloves. All my Virtual libraries have (authors:"=Iron Gloves") or at the start of their search expression. Its main purpose is to retain the VL even though it might otherwise be empty. I also load it with all the Tag values so that the drop down list always has all values - although shift/F2 (a fairly recent enhancement) obviates the need for that.

I played around a bit with your idea. As I do not have much experiences with VLs, I did not understand immediately why you mentioned VLs. But then I became aware that the tag browser displays only the tags occurrences for those book listed under a certain VL. And looking around for a drop down list I noticed the first time that there is a menu displaying all tags you can choose from, independently from the VL and those shown in the tag browser. It is little embarrassing that I didn't know that before

The only disadvantages with this drop down menu is, that after selecting one tag you have to open the menu again and to select the next one etc. Is there a way I have missed to display in the book list the little window ("Tag Editor"), where you can add tags transferring them from the left to the right side and removing them the other way round?

@theducks, @DaltonST
Through this thread I learned that a tag-strategy depends (a) from the amount of books (as DaltonST mentioned this) and (b) from the goal of your organising endeavour as other explained. Therefore some of the more sophisticated tricks are for me not suitable at the moment. On the other hand I understand the reasoning of theducks concerning the redundancy of tags like Fiction and NonFiction but I need an distinction between my "official" books, those I need for my work and I am going to publish via Calibre2Opds and my leisure book, I read "privately".

@To all of you for sharing your experiences!

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by petzi

@BetterRed

I use OSX and the F2 shortcut does not work for me. I checked all plugins.

To edit fields is sometimes a little cumbersome on OSX. The first click is selecting the book, the second one to start editing. But once your were in editing editing mode you must not click on the book again, it immediately opens the field you clicked one. You must hit "Enter" and Esc to get in the normal selecting mode again. I wonder if I am missing something here. I would appreciate a dedicated shortcut for editing mode but could not find one.



I played around a bit with your idea. As I do not have much experiences with VLs, I did not understand immediately why you mentioned VLs. But then I became aware that the tag browser displays only the tags occurrences for those book listed under a certain VL. And looking around for a drop down list I noticed the first time that there is a menu displaying all tags you can choose from, independently from the VL and those shown in the tag browser. It is little embarrassing that I didn't know that before

The only disadvantages with this drop down menu is, that after selecting one tag you have to open the menu again and to select the next one etc. Is there a way I have missed to display in the book list the little window ("Tag Editor"), where you can add tags transferring them from the left to the right side and removing them the other way round?

@petzi - I must admit I'm somewhat surprised that F2 doesn't work on OSX.

See if this tweak helps - as you can see I have it set to 'do_nothing', that effectively disables the use of the mouse in the book list for anything other than selection - which suits me fine.



If you can get F2, then I'm sure you'll have Shift/F2 via which you can get the Tag Editor, viz



Once you get into edit mode in the book list, you should be able to tab/backtab to move to the next/previous cell, and stay in edit mode. What you say about selecting multiple items from the drop down list being awkward, is in part why chaley made the Tag Editor available via Shift/F2 in the book list.

No need to apologise for not knowing everything about calibre. We all regularly stumble on features we never knew existed, or rediscover features we've forgotten - even Kovid sometimes forgets a little nugget he himself wrote

BR

[Joanna]

Originally Posted by petzi

On the other hand I understand the reasoning of theducks concerning the redundancy of tags like Fiction and NonFiction but I need an distinction between my "official" books, those I need for my work and I am going to publish via Calibre2Opds and my leisure book, I read "privately".

I can share my approach to that. I have a separate custom column, where I put one of the following: fiction, nonfiction, reference, press, audiobooks and language learning. In some cases, I have more than one category chosen here, if appropriate.

This way I can easily split books into main subsets. I also have virtual libraries based on that column. (By the way, try the option "Show virtual libraries tab" if you haven't used it yet. It took me quite some time to find this feature, and it wasn't until I found it that I fell in love with virtual libraries and gave up on maintaining separate libraries for different types of content).

An additional perk: 'fiction', 'nonfiction' etc. don't clutter up my list of tags in the book details.

[petzi]

See if this tweak helps - as you can see I have it set to 'do_nothing', that effectively disables the use of the mouse in the book list for anything other than selection - which suits me fine.

This was *very* helpful: I used doubleclick_on_library_view = 'edit_cell' and could finally get the behaviour I am used on OSX: double-click for editing the cells.

Your picture about the tag editor is exactly was I mentioned as a wish in my previous post!! But no - F2 or Shift F2 does not work for me. I asked chaley via PM.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by petzi

Your picture about the tag editor is exactly was I mentioned as a wish in my previous post!! But no - F2 or Shift F2 does not work for me. I asked chaley via PM.

Sorry, but I know nothing of macs and TBH don't care much. Googling for "mac edit cell" returns various possibilities such as ctrl-u and option-return. I have no idea if any of them work.

[petzi]

@Joanna

Thanks! Indeed, to set up different custom columns for different types of tags which are not describing the content of the book is a very good idea! Until now I mixed everything up in the one standard tags column.

Yes, I know the option "Show virtual libraries tab" but I was until now very cautious to use virtual libraries (VLs). I used to manage several libraries as I got the feeling I have to separate different types of books (e.g. for work, leisure, subscriptions for magazines etc). But this is very cumbersome: especially if I have to set up new columns, new views (via View Manager) etc. So I will try to merge libraries bit by bit and trust an appropriate setup with VLs and see how it goes and how I feel.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by petzi

@Joanna


Yes, I know the option "Show virtual libraries tab" but I was until now very cautious to use virtual libraries (VLs). I used to manage several libraries as I got the feeling I have to separate different types of books (e.g. for work, leisure, subscriptions for magazines etc). But this is very cumbersome: especially if I have to set up new columns, new views (via View Manager) etc. So I will try to merge libraries bit by bit and trust an appropriate setup with VLs and see how it goes and how I feel.

The only VL caution I recommend is when you are working from the Tag Browser (and there are subtle hints then). The Tag Browser action acknowledge the VL restriction, so renames, deletes only affect the view unless you use that previous mentioned alternate

[Joanna]

Thanks! Indeed, to set up different custom columns for different types of tags which are not describing the content of the book is a very good idea! Until now I mixed everything up in the one standard tags column.

I would recommend using three tag columns: one for describing the content, one to do the most basic splitting of the collection (like fiction vs. nonfiction), and one for 'others' (in my case, that's what the built-in 'Tags' column is used for, with tags such as: paper - for books that I also have in a paper version, audio - for books that are accompanied by audio, film - for books that are based on a movie or were a basis for a movie (if relevant), fragment - if the e-book is just a sample/excerpt, short - for short stories, dictionary, plus the "TOP" tag with subcategories for books that were on a specific bestseller list, one a prize etc.). And I add new tags for books needed for specific projects (like writing a thesis, an article etc. - some people prefer to use Reading Lists for that).

I also had a number of physical libraries for different types of content (one for leisure, with epubs and mobis mostly, one 'reference' library for books, mostly pdfs, that are not intended to be read from cover to cover, and needed mostly for my work and research), press for magazines etc. The biggest drawback of this setup was that I wasn't able to see the content of all the libraries at once, with Calibre being able to open only one library at the same time. Switching back and forth was just not practical.

The decision to merge all of them into one library turned out to the best one ever. I wasn't sure whether this would work out for me and made copies of all the libraries so that I could go back if I didn't like it after all . The copies are still there (not up-to-date anymore), and I never went back .

I chose the library that was my best maintained one, and used the 'copy to library function' to copy books from the other libraries. In some cases, I had conflicting uses of the same columns (e.g. in one library 'rating' was used only for books I've read, in another one: to assess how useful a given reference book may be for me). I solved it before copying books by creating a new column and moving there all the data from #rating.

Plus, it was in that moment that I added a new tag-like column, indicating the library where the book used to be, so that I could split the library back into sublibraries if I decided to do so. I also checked reading lists, to avoid all potential conflicts, and icon/emblem/column coloring rules. I hadn't used views back then heavily in any but one library, but this would be one more thing to check and make uniform.

If I want to have a look at one library only, I just click on the virtual library tab, and here it is . If for some reason I wanted to go back to having content in separate libraries, I could easily split it by creating new libraries with the same structure and sending the books there.

The only drawback I can think of is that this one 'total' library approach also means the library is pretty big and may not fit on every hard drive or thumb drive (especially as I have audiobooks there, too, which increase the total size of library significantly).

Other than that, I don't really see a reason to maintain multiple physical libraries (if you're the only Calibre user using them).

(Sorry for sounding like a zealous convert, trying to preach about the only right way to do things It's just that this change, done after a couple of years using Calibre, has enhanced my Calibre experience a lot ).

[BetterRed]

@petzi - As previously mentioned I use similar 'tagging' strategies to those used by Joanna. However, my experience with amalgamating physical libraries is the converse of Joanna's - it drove me nuts That's not to say a single library approach wont work for you.

I had three physical 'permanent' libraries - _Main, _Media and _Journals, each of which had:

• 3 common custom columns, and up to 11 library specific custom columns,
• 4 - 8 virtual libraries (17 in all) with little commonality in their search expressions,
• 3 - 5 views (13 in all) with no commonality in column selection, left2right column order, and column sort sequence.

When I amalgamated them I found it necessary to:

• introduce 3 additional VLs 'All Main', 'All Media' and 'All Journals',
• partition the Virtual Library and View names with prefixes - '[B]' for _Main, '[M]' for _Media and '[J]' for _Journals

I persevered with a single amalgamated library for about a month, but I found it too cumbersome. So I went back to the same three physical libraries. If I could have had three Super Libraries containing the requisite Virtual Libraries and View Sets it might have worked out

Another factor is that I have a some 'subsidiary' libraries (_Intake, _Test and _Workshop), which I would never combine with one another, or with the 'permanent' libraries. And I tend to spend more time in them (using the Library Manager), than I do in the 'permanent' libraries.

• Note 1: I run a server task against each 'permanent' library that I access via three pinned tabs in a dedicated browser. This provides 'read only' access to libraries other than the one I have open in the Library Manager.
  
• Note 2: I don't use calibre's search facilities a lot, other than via things like Similar Books. However, I make frequent use of external search tools (such as X1 and Windows Search - they're similar to Spotlight) and the Drop Search Results (DSR) PI to create Reading Lists, add 'short term project' tags etc.
  
  I prefer this approach because I can widen the search to include multiple calibre libraries, email, blog and commentary posts etc etc.
  
  At one time I shoehorned search result lists into calibre using the Import List PI, but then DaltonST created the DSR PI, which by comparison is a walk in the park.
  
  I'm not sure if DSR works on OSX.

BR

[Joanna]

Like always, it all depends on our needs and habits .

In my case, the merge was less challenging than in yours, and it made much more sense. I haven't really used virtual libraries before the merge (of course, I did experiment with them, but nothing would really stick) and even now I have a total of 8 views . The biggest problem was probably the number of custom columns (almost 30 in total, and half of them in one library only) but using a tweak, I've managed to order them in a convenient way in the Edit Metadata dialog. Plus, now with Job Spy I can switch between 'views' in the Edit Metadata dialog, if I have some more editing work.

@BetterRed, what are the specific roles of your 'subsidiary' libraries? (I can guess but I'm not quite sure about the differences between them.) And what do you have in your Media library?

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by Joanna

Like always, it all depends on our needs and habits .

Absolutely - unlike a chainsaw, calibre can be used to fell a tree, or make a fretwork screen

Originally Posted by Joanna

In my case, the merge was less challenging than in yours, and it made much more sense. I haven't really used virtual libraries before the merge (of course, I did experiment with them, but nothing would really stick) and even now I have a total of 8 views . The biggest problem was probably the number of custom columns (almost 30 in total, and half of them in one library only) but using a tweak, I've managed to order them in a convenient way in the Edit Metadata dialog. Plus, now with Job Spy I can switch between 'views' in the Edit Metadata dialog, if I have some more editing work.

I pretty much had my three libraries with saved searches (predecessor of VLs) and View Manager layouts in place when VL's were implemented. I converted the saved searches to VL's (can't recall what, if anything, I actually had to do) within the libraries and a bit later I tried the amalgamation.

I do all my metadata editing in the Book List, where I have direct control over which columns I can see, and their left2right order. Being mouse averse I find form filling of sparse data in dialogue boxes a PITA.

Originally Posted by Joanna

@BetterRed, what are the specific roles of your 'subsidiary' libraries? (I can guess but I'm not quite sure about the differences between them.) And what do you have in your Media library?

Your guesses are probably correct

_Intake is the library into which I Add new Books, I get the basic metadata right (Author, Title, Publisher, Status, Last Action Date, and ISBN/ISSN if appropriate), check using Find Library Duplicates and if okay I move books to the relevant permanent library.

_Test is where I test/check things, such as, new features, getting screen shots to post here. My libraries and processes are pretty stable now so I don't do much in the way of trying different ideas. If someone asks me to look at something that would significantly disturb my configuration data, or if they send me a database then I will install a portable version.

_Workshop is where I put format files that need days or weeks of work - could be translation, transcription, content editing - slicing/splicing/stitching etc. Some things have been there for a long time.

My _Media library contains news & current affairs clippings, talking head videos and radio interviews with transcripts, image sets, cartoons, and the like - mainly national politics.

BR

[petzi]

Originally Posted by chaley

Googling for "mac edit cell" returns various possibilities such as ctrl-u and option-return. I have no idea if any of them work.

shift-return works!

I tried your suggestion and noticed that option-return is for field (cell) editing. I added shift and the window for the tag editor came up. [fanfanre sounds]. Later I noticed that I don't have to enter the field and that just a simple shift-return is enough!

[BetterRed]

I was about to suggest that something could be put into the manual about OSX equivalents for F2. Fortunately I saved myself from looking like a complete nincompoop by looking in User Manual: Keyboard Shortcuts first :



BR

[petzi]

@Joanna:

I wasn't sure whether this would work out for me and made copies of all the libraries so that I could go back if I didn't like it after all.

Exactly this happened yesterday to me. I made a copy – just in case.

And yes, I also had to do some cleaning with custom columns. But in my case this was not so difficult as I am still at the beginning with my libraries. My setup is still in its infancy, very different to the requirements of experienced users like you and BetterRed. And I am still experimenting, I don't have yet a stable setting, I need a view here, a new custom column there. At the moment I am more (re)organising the database than to use/apply it.

******* Controlled Vocabulary for Tag Generation ********

By trying out and looking around I came across old threads with similar name and content at the end of the page or this thread here. Several years ago people were discussing how to manage metadata in a way that there is a controlled vocabulary. In this post DoctorOhh is referring to some other posts with file attachments. These files were compiled from the goodreads genres and can be used as a reference point for content tags. DoctorOhh explains how to use them and he attached his own goordreads.json file with 250 goodreads genres mapped to calibre tags. He also links to other people who follow this idea. One page by dedTV is especially interesting, as it contains textfiles of almost all goodreads genres in hierarchical (nested) order and as standalone tags.

The only problem is: How to corporate this huge list (888 entries) into the goodreads metadata source plugin? I constructed from the nested list with a small python program two goodreads.json files: One with hierarchical tags (e.g. mapping goodreads genre "Academic > Campus" with calibre tag "Academic.Campus") and one without hierarchy (e.g. mapping "Academic > Campus" into "Campus".) Two pictures display the difference.

I have these two files attached here. They can be used as a start for an adapted controlled vocabulary for tags, e.g. deleting those part that are of no interest. Again: here is DoctorOhh's explanation how to use it.

[petzi]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

I was about to suggest that something could be put into the manual about OSX equivalents for F2. Fortunately I saved myself from looking like a complete nincompoop by looking in User Manual: Keyboard Shortcuts first

Oh no!!! RTFM (F stand for "fine").

Actually I read and even printed out the page with the shortcuts. But after a long time editing the cells with just a mouse click (in standard mode, without the tweak you suggested) made the other possibility (with return) obsolete. But even so: RTFM-ARI (and remember it).