How to mark books that I've already done "Download Metadata" on?

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by droopy

What's "int"?

Integer (numbers) I think.

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by droopy

Ooh, interesting idea. I'm guessing there's a way to have the @cleanup tag automatically applied to all incoming books, yes?

Yup, it's in Preferences > Adding books > Adding actions. I also use column icons to show the little broom (polish) icon next to the title.

Before using download metadata, I always run the Check ISBN plugin on books first. I get more accurate results that way.

[droopy]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Yup, it's in Preferences > Adding books > Adding actions. I also use column icons to show the little broom (polish) icon next to the title.

Thanks. Is your broom icon automatically added? Coz it seems like a pain if you had to manually copy-paste an icon each time.

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Before using download metadata, I always run the Check ISBN plugin on books first. I get more accurate results that way.

Ah, now that you mention ISBN, I recall once adding an empty (no file attached) book by ISBN. When it asked me if I wanted to download metadata, it seemed faster.

Is downloading metadata faster if there's an ISBN attached to a book, as opposed to a book without ISBN but has author name and title?

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by droopy

Thanks. Is your broom icon automatically added? Coz it seems like a pain if you had to manually copy-paste an icon each time.

I just had to add the icon once and then add the rule:

Originally Posted by droopy

Ah, now that you mention ISBN, I recall once adding an empty (no file attached) book by ISBN. When it asked me if I wanted to download metadata, it seemed faster.

Is downloading metadata faster if there's an ISBN attached to a book, as opposed to a book without ISBN but has author name and title?

I've not tested this myself. Though it'd make some sense. On Goodreads, if you put an ISBN into their search box it'll take you directly to the right book instead of a search page.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by droopy

What's "int"?

sorry, int is short for the data type integer.

In this context it is just a placeholder column on which to hang the composed icon rules, it's value is irrelevant as its never set or displayed. Its lookup name is #icons1 and its Header is I1.

Is anyone else wondering whether a Python integer is a long or short ?

BR

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

sorry, int is short for the data type integer.

In this context it is just a placeholder column on which to hang the composed icon rules, it's value is irrelevant as its never set or displayed. Its lookup name is #icons1 and its Header is I1.

Is anyone else wondering whether a Python integer is a long or short ?

BR

AFAIR, an int is a short and automagically promoted to a long when necessary.

[Penny_Dreadful]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I've had issues with some other librarians not putting in the proper fix that I've reported. Mind if I PM you to do the fixes as needed?

If you post it in the Librarians Group, then PM me a link, I'll try and sort it out

Originally Posted by droopy

I'm confused though; you mentioned "column", but then it's a hidden column. If it's hidden, how will you know which books need "download metadata" done on them?

I've attached a screenshot of my calibre window, across the top you can see the visible columns "Series" "Title" "Author" "Tags" etc. but I also have other columns that you can see in the Tag Browser on the left, "Quality Check" is the one closest to what you want, it's a column of type "Comma separated text, like Tags, Shown in Tag Browser." The "Clean" tag is the one I use to mean that I have done all my fixes to that book. "New" are the books that need to be moved to my Kindle the next time I connect it.

Even though these columns aren't visible across the top you can still search against them 'not #qcheck:"=Clean"' will get all the books that need metadata downloaded for them. Or because it's listed in the tag browser you can just click "Clean" tag twice and it'll do that search for you.

You can also see how I use colour to show different things in the list, grey is read, black unread, magenta books need to be converted to a Kindle format.

Originally Posted by droopy

Is Goodreads better than amazon? What makes it better than the other options?

I find the data coming from GoodReads is cleaner than coming straight from Amazon. I have to do less organising after downloading metadata from GR, the best bit for me is that the GR source plug-in can be edited so the tags it grabs match your preferences.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

sorry, int is short for the data type integer.

In this context it is just a placeholder column on which to hang the composed icon rules, it's value is irrelevant as its never set or displayed. Its lookup name is #icons1 and its Header is I1.

That feels like a waste of a column. I put my icons over a "percent read" column. If it is 100%, it shows a tick to indicate read but doesn't show the number. Less than 100 it show an open book plus the number. Other icons are displayed in the same column based on other columns,.

[ownedbycats]

I just use a y/n column for the read-status and a last read date column. If the last read column is set but #read is no, it displays a bookmark icon next to the title. (Though I do have to set the read-status back to 'no' when I'm re-reading it.)

[compurandom]

Originally Posted by droopy

Hello,
What do you fellow Calibre users do to know/remember/note which of your titles already have the "Download metadata" done on,

There's an option to tag imported books with a tag. So books I haven't cleaned have that tag. A lot of imported books have a wrong title or no authors or incorrect publication date, etc.

I have a small number of tags I add to books when I've verified certain metadata fields or verified all the fields I care about. So if there's no genere or not enough category tags, etc.

I have a number of saved searches to search for books that are missing certain types of metadata or appear to have invalid metadata or are missing the tag indicating the metadata is verified.

I also have a tag I put on books when I'm tired of finding them in the new books but don't feel like finishing the metadata.... and will get to them later.

I also have a custom column that I update with cover quality flags, so I have a couple of custom searches to look for books with no covers or flagged as having a poor cover or having a high quality original cover. Sometimes I search for better covers, sometimes when there's no obvious good artwork for a document, I'll just generate a boring text cover and flag that. When I'm bored, I'll first generate covers for books with no cover or covers that don't include the book title. Then I'll browse the books with poor covers and maybe improve some fo them.

Edit: I forgot about the column icons. I use that too, but with this discussion reminding me, I've added a few more. Great ideas here!

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by davidfor

That feels like a waste of a column. I put my icons over a "percent read" column. If it is 100%, it shows a tick to indicate read but doesn't show the number. Less than 100 it show an open book plus the number. Other icons are displayed in the same column based on other columns,.

I didn't know columns were rationed

If I hang the icons on a 'real' column I am forced to include that column into any view where I only want show the icons; and vice versa, I would not be able show the 'real' column in a view without the icons.

BR

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Penny_Dreadful

If you post it in the Librarians Group, then PM me a link, I'll try and sort it out

Thank you! Sounds good to me.

[dunhill]

To know if my books have all the data, I use a custom column as a reference to the decimal valuation. If this is not complete a red shield appears with an exclamation mark, if the comment is missing I get a book page. By means of rules. And use to download the Goodreads metadata.
Where I have synchronized my Goodreads account with Calibre

[droopy]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

But why do you have to download metadata or all our eBooks? Isn't the metadata good to go for most of them from what's inside the OPF file?

Hi JS Wolf,

With some books (perhaps it's based on who the publisher is), there is some book description that shows up in the Comments field, but unfortunately they are truncated, as indicated by an ellipsis.

Some books don't have anything in the tags field. And I sometimes like to stumble onto books in my library by looking through one book's tags and finding other books that share a tag.

[droopy]

Originally Posted by DNSB

I use the two libraries model. The Intake library is where I add books. After the metadata is updated, covers massaged, error checking done, etc., the books get moved to my main library.

Is your Intake library a virtual library?