Virtual library from selection?

[Geremia]

How do I create a Virtual Library from a selection of books?

Suppose I have marked books and search for "marked:true" and select all those books. I want to a make a Virtual Library for the selected books that persists even if I unmark them; thus, I don't want the Virtual Library to be based on a "marked:true" search but on the IDs of the selected books.

Is there an easy way of doing this besides creating a search that's like "id:234 or id:24 or id:245 …"?

[theducks]

You need to make that group unique.
'Marked' is a temporary status that does not persist between sessions or some other activities.
Here is my ToRead VL template:

not #finished:true and (formats:EPUB or formats:Mobi or formats:AZW3)

But in your case, Reading List Plugin might work
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=134856

[Geremia]

Originally Posted by theducks

You need to make that group unique.

How do I do that?

[Comfy.n]

you may want to try the attached plugin!

- In Calibre, go to Preferences → Plugins → Load Plugin from File
- Select the downloaded zip file
- Restart Calibre

Please add it to the context menu for the books in the library via Prefs > Toolbars & Menus

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Geremia

How do I do that?

Could be as simple as a adding any distinct tag to all ; eg. "foo23"

Then the VL looks for tags:foo23

That is a overly simplistic and a waste of a VL when all you need to click on 'foo23' in the tag browser ,
Going back to my first VL example: I have not finished and it is one of 3 formats (there are other formats in my Library that I do not 'read' on my hand held readers. No format, is a wishlist entry and does not exist)

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by Comfy.n

you may want to try the attached plugin!

- In Calibre, go to Preferences → Plugins → Load Plugin from File
- Select the downloaded zip file
- Restart Calibre

Please add it to the context menu for the books in the library via Prefs > Toolbars & Menus

I like this, I can use it after marking books via the Drop Search Results plugin. ATM I add an item to my #admin_tags column and create a VL based on it.

No icon! Sacre Bleu! The sky will fall in

The install and and usage behaviours don't match the README.md.

• I got the standard "where do you want to put this" dialogue when I installed - ✔✔✔
• The generated VL name was "Selection 2025-12-21 07.02.54" with a Prompt to overtype - ✔✔✔

Either bin the README or make it consistent with what the plugin actually does.

Suggestion: Add provision for a shortcut, that defaults to None.

BR

[Comfy.n]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

I like this, I can use it after marking books via the Drop Search Results plugin. ATM I add an item to my #admin_tags column and create a VL based on it.

No icon! Sacre Bleu! The sky will fall in

The install and and usage behaviours don't match the README.md.

• I got the standard "where do you want to put this" dialogue when I installed - ✔✔✔
• The generated VL name was "Selection 2025-12-21 07.02.54" with a Prompt to overtype - ✔✔✔

Either bin the README or make it consistent with what the plugin actually does.

Suggestion: Add provision for a shortcut, that defaults to None.

BR

Glad you liked it!

I will work more on it tomorrow, This sounded like a plugin I have needed many times, in the past.

[dunhill]

Originally Posted by Comfy.n

you may want to try the attached plugin!

- In Calibre, go to Preferences → Plugins → Load Plugin from File
- Select the downloaded zip file
- Restart Calibre

Please add it to the context menu for the books in the library via Prefs > Toolbars & Menus

It's very practical to have it as a plugin, the way you've described it. Here's the link to translation support if you want to implement it. I loved it! Thank you!

[Wiggo]

Originally Posted by Comfy.n

you may want to try the attached plugin!

- In Calibre, go to Preferences → Plugins → Load Plugin from File
- Select the downloaded zip file
- Restart Calibre

Please add it to the context menu for the books in the library via Prefs > Toolbars & Menus

Are you married?

[Comfy.n]

Originally Posted by Wiggo

Are you married?

[Comfy.n]

Originally Posted by dunhill

It's very practical to have it as a plugin, the way you've described it. Here's the link to translation support if you want to implement it. I loved it! Thank you!

Thanks! I will implement it.