Book Details Pane Only Shows Cover (metadata selected & exists)

[Nukjoc]

Hello, I'm running Windows 11, 64 bit, and was using Calibre 6.16 when I realized that my book details pane was only showing book covers. I checked Preferences > Look & feel > Book Details and verified that I had metadata selected to display - formats, series, tags, data from custom columns, etc. Next I selected several different books in my library, and opened Edit Metadata to verify that appropriate metadata existed to display. The metadata showed in Edit Metadata, but not in the book details pane.

If I select a book in the library and double-tap the book cover shown in the book details pane, the book details window opens and shows all of the metadata it should be showing, per items selected in the book details window Configure dialog. But the book details pane still only shows the book cover - no scroll bar, and the only things I've been able to change via the Preferences > Look & feel > Book Details dialog are toggling book cover display and book cover size display on/off. Checking and unchecking metadata to display has no effect. I've never seen this happen before, and haven't been able to find anything about it in the forum.

I have rebooted, cold booted, changed selected metadata in Preferences > Look & feel > Book Details, set Preferences > Look & feel > Book Details back to the default settings, switched the main interface view from wide to narrow (and back), resized the book details pane, checked a bunch of new and old books in my library, and updated to Calibre 6.21. Nothing has helped. I'm not sure exactly when this problem started, other than sometime in the past week, as I'd mostly been working in the Edit Metadata view, but I've tried everything I can think of short of a clean reinstallation of Calibre. Are there other things I should look at, or is it time for a clean install?

Advice much appreciated, thanks!

[Comfy.n]

Originally Posted by Nukjoc

Hello, I'm running Windows 11, 64 bit, and was using Calibre 6.16 when I realized that my book details pane was only showing book covers. I checked Preferences > Look & feel > Book Details and verified that I had metadata selected to display - formats, series, tags, data from custom columns, etc. Next I selected several different books in my library, and opened Edit Metadata to verify that appropriate metadata existed to display. The metadata showed in Edit Metadata, but not in the book details pane.

If I select a book in the library and double-tap the book cover shown in the book details pane, the book details window opens and shows all of the metadata it should be showing, per items selected in the book details window Configure dialog. But the book details pane still only shows the book cover - no scroll bar, and the only things I've been able to change via the Preferences > Look & feel > Book Details dialog are toggling book cover display and book cover size display on/off. Checking and unchecking metadata to display has no effect. I've never seen this happen before, and haven't been able to find anything about it in the forum.

I have rebooted, cold booted, changed selected metadata in Preferences > Look & feel > Book Details, set Preferences > Look & feel > Book Details back to the default settings, switched the main interface view from wide to narrow (and back), resized the book details pane, checked a bunch of new and old books in my library, and updated to Calibre 6.21. Nothing has helped. I'm not sure exactly when this problem started, other than sometime in the past week, as I'd mostly been working in the Edit Metadata view, but I've tried everything I can think of short of a clean reinstallation of Calibre. Are there other things I should look at, or is it time for a clean install?

Advice much appreciated, thanks!

That's really odd, did you try resetting/re-applying the text styling, in Preferences > Look & feel > Book Details?

Here's the default as of 6.21 version:

PHP Code:

body, td {
    background-color: transparent;
}

body.horizontal table td.title { white-space: nowrap }

a {
    text-decoration: none;
}

.comments {
    margin-top: 0;
    padding-top: 0;
    text-indent: 0
}

.comments-heading {
    font-size: larger;
    font-weight: bold
}

table.fields {
    margin-bottom: 0;
    padding-bottom: 0;
}

table.fields td {
    vertical-align: top
}

table.fields td.title {
    font-weight: bold
}

.series_name {
    font-style: italic
}

/*
The HTML that this stylesheet applies to looks like this:

<table class="fields">
    <tr id="formats" class="datatype_text"><td class="title">Formats:</td><td><a href="format:572:EPUB">EPUB</a>, <a href="format:572:LIT">LIT</a></td></tr>
    <tr id="series" class="datatype_series"><td class="title">Series:</td><td>Book II of <a href="..."><span class="series_name">The Sea Beggars</span></a></td></tr>
    <tr id="tags" class="datatype_text"><td class="title">Tags:</td><td><a href="...">Fantasy</a>, <a href="...">Fiction</a></td></tr>
    <tr id="path" class="datatype_text"><td class="title">Path:</td><td><a href="path:572" title="/home/kovid/test library/Paul Kearney/This Forsaken Earth (572)">Click to open</a></td></tr>
</table>

<div id="comments" class="comments"><h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3><p>At the start of Kearney's rousing sequel to <em>The Mark of Ran</em> (2005), Rol Cortishane, the youthful captain of the privateer <em>Revenant</em>, captures a slaver and frees its chained slaves. Back in the harbor of Ganesh Ka in the land of Umer, Rol encounters an untrustworthy acquaintance he hasn't seen in years, Canker, a former king of thieves, who urges Rol to join in the fight to save Rowen, a darkly beautiful queen, whose throne is at risk in mountainous Bionar. That Rowen is Rol's half-sister for whom he has lusted in the past doesn't make Rol's decision to help an easy one. If as in <em>The Mark of Ran</em> the action is more lively at sea than on land, Kearney's solid storytelling and nautical detail worthy of C.S. Forester or Patrick O'Brian will keep readers turning the pages. <em>(Dec.)</em> <br />Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. </p><h3>From</h3><p>The sequel to <em>The Mark of Ran</em> (2005) finds heroic young Rol Cortishane grown to be a much-feared sea captain. Deciding to ignore his mysterious past, he spends his energy on ship and crew. He is still an outlaw, however, and the only port he can call home is Ganesh Ka, the endangered city of exiles. When word comes from Rowan, his half-sister, asking him to fight on her behalf, he must weigh the safety of Ganesh Ka against Rowan's treachery in the past. Finally persuaded to aid Rowan, he learns more of betrayal and his heritage in the ensuing battles than he had wanted to know. Kearney's characters are much better developed here than they were in <em>The Mark of Ran</em>, and since the book tells a single story, the plot is tighter. Moreover, because almost all the action transpires in the here and now, the sequel can be read without reference to the predecessor. Since it ends hanging on a particularly bloody cliff, expect to see more of Kearney's excellent maritime fantasy. <em>Frieda Murray</em><br /><em>Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved</em></p>
</div>

<h3 class="comments-heading">Custom comments column heading</h3>
<div id="_customcolname" class="comments">...</div>
*/ 


[Nukjoc]

Thanks Comfy.n, I did not try anything with the text styling.

Sorry, but is "resetting" removing the current PHP code in Preferences > Look & feel > Book details > Text styling and replacing it with the code you provided?
And then I click the Apply button? I did all that, then closed Calibre and rebooted. But it didn't help.

[Comfy.n]

Originally Posted by Nukjoc

Thanks Comfy.n, I did not try anything with the text styling.

Sorry, but is "resetting" removing the current PHP code in Preferences > Look & feel > Book details > Text styling and replacing it with the code you provided?
And then I click the Apply button? I did all that, then closed Calibre and rebooted. But it didn't help.

yes, that was the idea

[Nukjoc]

Thank you Comfy.n.

I'll wait a bit, finish what I was working on, and if no one has any other ideas, I'll do a clean install and see what happens.

[chaley]

Random idea: is the slider between the book cover and the book details pulled all the way to the right/bottom? If so you will see a centered cover and nothing else.

[Comfy.n]

Originally Posted by chaley

Random idea: is the slider between the book cover and the book details pulled all the way to the right/bottom? If so you will see a centered cover and nothing else.

I think you nailed it

[Nukjoc]

Thanks so much Chaley, that was it!

LOL - I use touch screen and have a light filter on my computer due to vision issues and had never realized there was a bottom slider in the book details. In its upper position it's so close to the bottom of the book cover that there wasn't enough contrast to see it. I have similar problems with scroll bars. I keep hoping someday they'll be configurable for color...sigh.