Library Management: various questions not worth their own thread - Page 15

DNSB · 07-07-2025, 08:06 PM

Personally, I would suggest using both plugins. Use Quality Check to locate books with multiple jackets, select those books, use Modify ePub to remove the jackets from those with multiple jackets and then run a second pass with Modify ePub to add/replace metadata jacket.

jonnyl · 07-11-2025, 11:23 AM

Is it possible to bulk set the metadata from the e-book files, but only for certain fields (e.g., only author and title)?

theducks · 07-11-2025, 11:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jonnyl

Is it possible to bulk set the metadata from the e-book files, but only for certain fields (e.g., only author and title)?

No!
Calibre reads the Books metadata, then puts it in the places it belongs.
(Calibre will also include, Calibre (tagged) metadata if found in the book '
Most common: Series and series_index

jonnyl · 07-11-2025, 01:10 PM

Thanks. I suppose there's also not a way to only fill in empty fields, to avoid it overwriting fields that already contain data? Otherwise it will often overwrite good existing metadata with bad data from the book file.

ownedbycats · 07-11-2025, 01:35 PM

Maybe ask if it can be done with Action Chains plugin.

saxondawg · 07-11-2025, 02:41 PM

Thanks so much for the suggestions on summary metadata. VERY helpful.

theducks · 07-11-2025, 04:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jonnyl

Thanks. I suppose there's also not a way to only fill in empty fields, to avoid it overwriting fields that already contain data? Otherwise it will often overwrite good existing metadata with bad data from the book file.

I'm confused a bit. You said FROM BOOKS. Which is different from Get Metadata.
The latter can be configured to cherry pick (or ignore) by site (a configure the selected source). In my case, I globally ignore Rating. Tags only from certain sites.
Unfortunately, Calibre has no such filter at any level: Add or read from books (used mostly by folk that use Filename as the metadata source )

jonnyl · 07-11-2025, 06:40 PM

Yes, I meant metadata from the book files. It is called 'Set metadata (except cover) from the e-book files' (I didn't say "get"). Unfortunately it's not really suitable for bulk processing if you already have some good data entered that may be overwritten, or don't want all the garbage tags and reviews etc... (Single books can just be exited out and the changes dismissed.)

I will look into the external sources, thanks.

BetterRed · 07-11-2025, 07:34 PM

FWIW - maybe you can make use of the Copy & Paste metadata actions.

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There's a Tweak to define which columns get Copied, you can Paste what you just copied to multiple books.

I find it very useful when I add 'books' to my Periodicals and Media libraries, not so much my Books library.

BR

07-07-2025, 08:06 PM	#211
DNSB Bibliophagist Posts: 46,190 Karma: 168983734 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Vancouver Device: Kobo Sage, Libra Colour, Lenovo M8 FHD, Paperwhite 4, Tolino epos	Personally, I would suggest using both plugins. Use Quality Check to locate books with multiple jackets, select those books, use Modify ePub to remove the jackets from those with multiple jackets and then run a second pass with Modify ePub to add/replace metadata jacket. Attached Thumbnails

07-11-2025, 07:34 PM	#219
BetterRed null operator (he/him) Posts: 21,724 Karma: 29711016 Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Sydney Australia Device: none	FWIW - maybe you can make use of the Copy & Paste metadata actions. There's a Tweak to define which columns get Copied, you can Paste what you just copied to multiple books. I find it very useful when I add 'books' to my Periodicals and Media libraries, not so much my Books library. BR

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07-11-2025, 11:23 AM	#212
jonnyl Zealot Posts: 135 Karma: 33084 Join Date: Jan 2021 Device: Likebook Mars	Is it possible to bulk set the metadata from the e-book files, but only for certain fields (e.g., only author and title)?

07-11-2025, 01:10 PM	#214
jonnyl Zealot Posts: 135 Karma: 33084 Join Date: Jan 2021 Device: Likebook Mars	Thanks. I suppose there's also not a way to only fill in empty fields, to avoid it overwriting fields that already contain data? Otherwise it will often overwrite good existing metadata with bad data from the book file.

07-11-2025, 01:35 PM	#215
ownedbycats Custom User Title Posts: 10,973 Karma: 75337983 Join Date: Oct 2018 Location: Canada Device: Kobo Libra H2O, formerly Aura HD	Maybe ask if it can be done with Action Chains plugin.

07-11-2025, 02:41 PM	#216
saxondawg Connoisseur Posts: 67 Karma: 50952 Join Date: Mar 2010 Device: kindle paperwhite	Thanks so much for the suggestions on summary metadata. VERY helpful.

07-11-2025, 06:40 PM	#218
jonnyl Zealot Posts: 135 Karma: 33084 Join Date: Jan 2021 Device: Likebook Mars	Yes, I meant metadata from the book files. It is called 'Set metadata (except cover) from the e-book files' (I didn't say "get"). Unfortunately it's not really suitable for bulk processing if you already have some good data entered that may be overwritten, or don't want all the garbage tags and reviews etc... (Single books can just be exited out and the changes dismissed.) I will look into the external sources, thanks.