Multiple Calibre Files?

[superanima]

Originally Posted by polly

I have a separate library for my Star Trek collection, because I don't want it cluttering up my main library and because it's tidier to have them all grouped together out of my way.

That's exactly my point. I would love to have separate libraries available at the top of the program's windows, in the place where appears the device when is connected to the computer.
I wonder why this is not implemented.

Take a software like Aperture or lightroom, you have an extensive use of tags, but you also have a folder view.

I don't care on "real" separate libraries, I just want the look like. I mean, you could do that with tags.

Originally Posted by polly

Make a folder for the new library and write down its full directory tree. Then create a shortcut that points to Calibre. Right click on this shortcut and click on Properties. In the target field, add the following at the end of the text that's already there.

do you know if I could make this work also in OSX?

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by superanima

[quoting Star Trek post] I would love to have separate libraries available at the top of the program's windows, in the place where appears the device when is connected to the computer.
I wonder why this is not implemented.

Take a software like Aperture or lightroom, you have an extensive use of tags, but you also have a folder view.

I don't care on "real" separate libraries, I just want the look like. I mean, you could do that with tags.

What are you asking for? You just tag the books "Star Trek" and make a search and save it. Then select the search, and see your books. Most likely, you don't even have to make the tags, since all the Star Trek books will have that in their name, so you can just create a search for "Star Trek" and save it. This will work just like a library for Star Trek books. Doesn't that do what you want?

[superanima]

Originally Posted by Starson17

What are you asking for? You just tag the books "Star Trek" and make a search and save it. Then select the search, and see your books. Most likely, you don't even have to make the tags, since all the Star Trek books will have that in their name, so you can just create a search for "Star Trek" and save it. This will work just like a library for Star Trek books. Doesn't that do what you want?

The saved search is a great improvement, but the purpose here is to have "star trek" separated from the other stuff, but more important to have the other stuff separated from "star trek".
Ok I can also save a search that exclude "star trek", but separate libraries will work much better.

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by superanima

but separate libraries will work much better.

Why? I see no advantage at all and lots of disadvantages.

[chaley]

A new feature will show up soon, along with user-defined columns, that may help here.

A user will be able to 'restrict' the books viewed in the library display to those that match some arbitrary saved search. The restriction does not appear in the search bar, but is instead combined with other searches as needed. When a restriction is first applied, the search box remains empty, the library shows only books that match, and the tags browser reconfigures to show only authors/tags/etc that appear in the selected books. While a restriction is in effect, the 'count' area next to the search bar turns yellow, and the count indicates the number of books matching the restriction. Searches from the search bar, including saved searches, will find only books that match both the search and the restriction.

One can use this feature to get a form of multiple libraries. For example, the OP could create a saved search that uses a set of tag and user-defined column values to match 'Debra's mysteries' and nothing else. To make it more interesting, we could also have saved searches that match 'Charles' science fiction' and 'Books Charles hasn't read'. If I set the restriction to 'Debra's mysteries', then I will see only those books. I can sort, search, edit, copy to device, and otherwise use the library as I want, all the while seeing only books that match the restriction.

I could then change the restriction to 'Books Charles hasn't read', and operate on that collection. Should I want, I could remove the restriction and see the entire library. If for some reason I want to restrict my view to books Charles hasn't read yet that aren't Debra's mysteries, I can define a new search for books that match one but not the other, such as 'search:"Books Charles hasn't read yet" and not search:"Debra's mysteries"'.

A book can be matched by more than one restriction, which is a great advantage over real folder hierarchies while providing equivalent organizational capability. For example, I might create a column called 'Folder'. For each book of interest, I put into this column the path to a 'folder' that I want to believe the book is in. For example, I could put 'Charles' books/SF' on some books, 'Debra's books/Mystery' on others, and so on. I could then define saved searches that match these folders, or even prefixes of the folders. This technique gives me a virtual folder hierarchy that is changeable at will. If I use a tags-like user-defined column (multi-valued), I can even put a book into multiple virtual folders.

To forestall a question: no, the restrictions do not appear on the library bar. Kovid has reserved that space for other things. The restriction is set using a box found below the tag browser.

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by chaley

A new feature will show up soon, along with user-defined columns, that may help here.

A user will be able to 'restrict' the books viewed in the library display to those that match some arbitrary saved search. The restriction does not appear in the search bar

Would it be accurate to characterize this as doing the same thing as always keeping the restricting search in the search bar? IOW, if I have a search for books "not read" and a "Star Trek" saved search and I want to find Star Trek books not read, now I can put this in the searach bar:
search:"Star Trek" search:"not read"
assuming I always precede a search by search:"Star Trek" is that the same as restricting by that saved search or is there some other effect?

[chaley]

Originally Posted by Starson17

Would it be accurate to characterize this as doing the same thing as always keeping the restricting search in the search bar?

Three differences:

1) Setting a restriction changes what items appear in the tag browser to those that would match at least one book in the restricted list. For example, if 'David Weber' is an author of some book in the library but is not the author of a book in the restricted list, then he will not be listed in the Author category. The same is true for the other categories, including user-defined columns and user-defined categories (another new feature).

2) The count information is changed to N of M, where N is the number of books matching the combination of the restriction and the current search, and M is the number of books matching the restriction, ignoring any current search.

3) Clearing the search box does not clear the restriction, even temporarily.