Shelves vs Collections

[pypeke]

I just ordered a Kobo, but do not have it yet so I cannot experiment with it. All I used in the past was Nooks and a Fire tablet.

I loved my Nook 1st Edition with its "shelves". For example I had "Sci Fi" (just okay Sci Fi books that I would not read again), "Sci Fi Favorites" (books I would read again), and "Sci Fi Fav Series" (books in a series that I would read again).

I think my "Shelves" is now called "Collections".

Am I right? Or is Collections something else?


Can I create these shelves to permanently keep these favorite books on my Kobo? I have a few shelves with author names, but most of the time I would not use the author as a shelf name. Genre would be a better fit than an author's name for me.

Dystopian, Paranormal, Historical Romance, Contemporary Romance, Psychological Thriller, etc. Plus "Series, Favorite, and Favorite Series" of each genre.

If not reading the books a second time, I can keep them on Calibre now that I will be using it.

Thanks.

[Liesse]

My advice would be to wait and see. I don't use collections any more as the display options in my Kobo mean I don't need them. The Kobo is much better about giving sort options than my old kindle was. It has options to display my books by author sort or series sort or date added, which works for my needs. If you want collections you can have them: I used to set mine up with genres in Calibre. There will be info on how to do it in this forum.

Sent from my SM-S921B using Tapatalk

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by pypeke

I just ordered a Kobo, but do not have it yet so I cannot experiment with it. All I used in the past was Nooks and a Fire tablet.

I loved my Nook 1st Edition with its "shelves". For example I had "Sci Fi" (just okay Sci Fi books that I would not read again), "Sci Fi Favorites" (books I would read again), and "Sci Fi Fav Series" (books in a series that I would read again).

I think my "Shelves" is now called "Collections" (Kobo Utilities still uses 'shelves' in a few of its menu options).

Am I right? Or is Collections something else?

Yes, essentially. In fact, the Kobo collections used to be called 'shelves.'



If you use Calibre, the KoboTouch or KoboTouchExtended driver can be used to set a custom column to auto-populate the collections on the device.

There's no need for series collecitons though - as seen in the screenshot, it's all accessible in its own section.

[bluepeter]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

There's no need for series collecitons though - as seen in the screenshot, it's all accessible in its own section.

Yes, though it doesn't always work directly - especially if, like me, you've bought some books in a series from one source and others from another. However, this can also be controlled with Calibre, using the Kobo Touch or Kobo Touch Extended driver.

[JSWolf]

The correct name is collections.

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by bluepeter

Yes, though it doesn't always work directly - especially if, like me, you've bought some books in a series from one source and others from another. However, this can also be controlled with Calibre, using the Kobo Touch or Kobo Touch Extended driver.

Charles Haley semi-recently added an option in the KoboTouch(Extended) driver to force the series ID. This'll merge them together.

fwiw, there were a few leftover references in the KoboTouch driver to bookshelves. I made a pull request to change these https://github.com/kovidgoyal/calibre/pull/2525

[John F]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The correct name is collections.

And directories are folders.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by John F

And directories are folders.

Never. Directories are always going to be directories.

Folders are in your email program for moving messages from your inbox.

[issybird]

Drop it now, please.

[bluepeter]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Charles Haley semi-recently added an option in the KoboTouch(Extended) driver to force the series ID. This'll merge them together.

Yes. That and the "Set series information" option were what I was talking about.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by pypeke

I think my "Shelves" is now called "Collections".

Am I right? Or is Collections something else?

Yes, Shelves on a Nook is Collections on a Kobo. Same/same.

I have a few shelves with author names, but most of the time I would not use the author as a shelf name. Genre would be a better fit than an author's name for me.

The Kobo will automatically group the authors for you in the authors view. It will also group series for you in the series view.

[ratinox]

Originally Posted by pypeke

I loved my Nook 1st Edition with its "shelves". For example I had "Sci Fi" (just okay Sci Fi books that I would not read again), "Sci Fi Favorites" (books I would read again), and "Sci Fi Fav Series" (books in a series that I would read again).

I think my "Shelves" is now called "Collections".

Am I right? Or is Collections something else?

Functionally very similar with a twist: Collections are not containers. They are tags on books, and a book can have many such tags. Which means that you could have a book "in" your Sci Fi collection, your Sci Fi Faves collection, and your Sci Fi Fav Series collection simultaneously.

The flip side of this design is that because collections are not containers they cannot be nested. You cannot put a collection inside another collection. It took me a while to get over this because it's not how I'm accustomed to organizing my media.

[pypeke]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Yes, essentially. In fact, the Kobo collections used to be called 'shelves.'

Attachment 212057

If you use Calibre, the KoboTouch or KoboTouchExtended driver can be used to set a custom column to auto-populate the collections on the device.

There's no need for series collecitons though - as seen in the screenshot, it's all accessible in its own section.

Thanks. That will work for me.

[pypeke]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Yes, essentially. In fact, the Kobo collections used to be called 'shelves.'

Attachment 212057

If you use Calibre, the KoboTouch or KoboTouchExtended driver can be used to set a custom column to auto-populate the collections on the device.

There's no need for series collecitons though - as seen in the screenshot, it's all accessible in its own section.

Originally Posted by bluepeter

Yes, though it doesn't always work directly - especially if, like me, you've bought some books in a series from one source and others from another. However, this can also be controlled with Calibre, using the Kobo Touch or Kobo Touch Extended driver.

Yes, I bought books from many sources. I created a column on Calibre that lists the sources.

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Charles Haley semi-recently added an option in the KoboTouch(Extended) driver to force the series ID. This'll merge them together.

What does force the series ID mean? I assume the books in a series were not staying together? I have a few series that have different authors, so sorting by authors would not give me all books in a series. The extended driver might help.


fwiw, there were a few leftover references in the KoboTouch driver to bookshelves. I made a pull request to change these https://github.com/kovidgoyal/calibre/pull/2525

Originally Posted by bluepeter

Yes. That and the "Set series information" option were what I was talking about.

Thank you. Once I get the Kobo and start playing with it, I hope I can figure it out.

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Yes, Shelves on a Nook is Collections on a Kobo. Same/same.



The Kobo will automatically group the authors for you in the authors view. It will also group series for you in the series view.

But if a series has multiple authors?

Originally Posted by ratinox

Functionally very similar with a twist: Collections are not containers. They are tags on books, and a book can have many such tags. Which means that you could have a book "in" your Sci Fi collection, your Sci Fi Faves collection, and your Sci Fi Fav Series collection simultaneously.

The flip side of this design is that because collections are not containers they cannot be nested. You cannot put a collection inside another collection. It took me a while to get over this because it's not how I'm accustomed to organizing my media.

It will probably take me longer. I have a recipe app that does that so I may have the same recipe listed six times.

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by pypeke

What does force the series ID mean? I assume the books in a series were not staying together? I have a few series that have different authors, so sorting by authors would not give me all books in a series. The extended driver might help.

Yes - If you loaded some series books from the store, but sideloaded others, it would appear as two entries on the Series tab.

This can also happen even if you don't sideload, depending on publisher - in fact, my initial experiments with SeriesID was because I had nearly a dozen "Star Trek: The Original Series" entries on account of of Pocket Books splitting them up.

Originally Posted by pypeke

But if a series has multiple authors.

Multiple authors will appear on the series tab entry.