Content How to organise your library? I use Calibre because Kindle's collections are useless - Page 4

harriska2 · 05-16-2019, 01:04 PM

Calibre for sure. Kovid and his gang have created the best piece of software I own.

Kamikuza · 10-10-2019, 10:39 AM

This seems like a good place...

Is it possible to have Kindle assign books to collections automatically?

I've one series of 4 books that have the metadata titles of "Blah blah trilogy Book X: Something".

I was thinking about setting up collections as I have a lot of long series and a lot of singles, and scrolling through looking for what I feel like reading is time consuming...so I started fiddling.

And discovered that although I've never fiddled with Collections before, those 4 side-loaded books were already in their own Collection, including Cloud collection.

I've never done anything to them except change the metadata title (Sigil > KP 2.943) so they sort in order, as they were all published about the same year(s)...

???

crossi · 10-19-2019, 09:32 PM

I only have a kindle keyboard. On the newer kindles when you sort by author does it act like sorting by collections where on the home screen only the collection titles show up and you have to select a collection name to see the titles in it, or do they still when sorting by author still list ALL the titles on the home page? I've got about a thousand books in my kindle and when sorting by collections its a manageable 11 pages. By author it's over 100 pages often in the wrong order because Amazon uses the first name instead of the last sometimes. I had to create collections for each author to compress things (I read a lot of series).

Timboli · 10-23-2019, 05:47 PM

To my mind at least, the whole idea of Collections is to allow faster easier browsing. To get to where you want without having to wade through heaps.

You can only achieve so much, with one level of Collections. So what we should really have, is a second level ... or if you like - Sub Collections.

For instance, you could have a main Collection called Fantasy, and sub collections within that based on the name of an author, where you have more than one book by an author. Individual books can remain in the root of the main Collection, or be put in a sub collection called Others etc.

Another alternative, would be to have an author as a main Collection, and sub collections within that based on series name.

Having that second level of Collections, makes things far more flexible, and reduces what you need to wade through, significantly more.

I've gotten to the point now, where I don't download many of my purchases to my devices, because it just means too much to wade through, certainly in some categories. It would be far easier, if I could split things up within a Category (Collection), with Author name being an obvious way to do so.

I truly hate things being all mixed up and all over the place. Things need to be organized.

And when I am deciding on a book to read, I often overlook what is not on a device, because it is just far more simple to do so. So the current state of affairs isn't doing many of the authors I have, any favors .... certainly as far as reading them, liking them and then buying more by them.

JaneD · 10-27-2019, 11:07 PM

I only have a bare-bones collection system on my kindle paperwhite. Completed, Non-Fiction, Work, and an author or two. The rest (unread) live in a jumble on the main page underneath the collections. It's not the most organized system, but it (just barely) does the job. I do wish the kindle had an organization system that could sync with calibre, where everything's exactly the way I like it, though.

applesauce · 02-26-2020, 05:10 AM

I load every book on Calibre, I edit the metadata so all books conform to how I wish:
Series Name - Series number - book title
I then load to my Kindle Oasis (was Voyage until last week)
I then add all books to collections, my collections are the author's name.
I use list view/collection, it keeps everything clean and neat.
I have vision issues so this way it makes seeing the next book in the series far easier.

applesauce

Freedomland · 03-04-2020, 12:48 AM

I've been using Cloud Collections for a few year.. I have a few collections.. 202. Mine are either by Author, or Series.
BUT as of the last few weeks.. Collections made on the Amazon Managen Page no longer go to your Kindle! I have a PW 7th Gen..and I can't see a colelction I made last week Even when I set it to ALL. I've contacted Kindle Support about this. Hopefully they will resolve this soon

93terp · 03-04-2020, 08:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by applesauce

I load every book on Calibre, I edit the metadata so all books conform to how I wish:
Series Name - Series number - book title
I then load to my Kindle Oasis (was Voyage until last week)
I then add all books to collections, my collections are the author's name.
I use list view/collection, it keeps everything clean and neat.
I have vision issues so this way it makes seeing the next book in the series far easier.

applesauce

I use virtually the same process, with the exception of what my collections are based on. I use Genres to keep the list short.

TheSmitty · 03-05-2020, 09:43 AM

I have many collections on my Kindle. Any given books will belong to at least two of them. For instance, Isaac Asimov book called Foundations Edge would belong to collections called: Science Fiction, Foundation Series and Asimov (not all authors get their own). I also have a catch all called 'All Books' that all of them belong in as I used it for tracking moving all my books from one Kindle to another. Not the best thing in the world but it helps me.

Freedomland · 03-06-2020, 01:04 PM

but instead of using making the collections physically ON the Kindle PW.. I've been able to make them and organize them on the Manage Your Digital Content page on the amazon website. and up until a few weeks ago.. it worked perfectly. It seems Amazon was automatically sending the collections that you made on the website to your kindle...BUT got feedback that people didn't like it... so they changed it!!! Now their so-called Kindle Cloud Collections... basically doesn't work! I really find that a royal pain in the butt. I've been working with some higher ups at Kindle tech support to try and resolve this. My suggestions?? Basically put a "DELIVER" box on the collection page like they have on the Docs or Books

hleo12 · 03-27-2020, 03:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Freedomland

but instead of using making the collections physically ON the Kindle PW.. I've been able to make them and organize them on the Manage Your Digital Content page on the amazon website. and up until a few weeks ago.. it worked perfectly. It seems Amazon was automatically sending the collections that you made on the website to your kindle...BUT got feedback that people didn't like it... so they changed it!!! Now their so-called Kindle Cloud Collections... basically doesn't work! I really find that a royal pain in the butt. I've been working with some higher ups at Kindle tech support to try and resolve this. My suggestions?? Basically put a "DELIVER" box on the collection page like they have on the Docs or Books

So this is what's happening? I wonder if Kindle 4 NT was ever part of the collections sync. I only ever played with mine start of this month.

It does seem the collections are still being synced to the Kindle App tho, so I don't know why they would stop that for just the Kindles.

Freedomland · 04-03-2020, 04:29 PM

It seems Amazon DID make a change. I've had steady contact with a tech there who has been helping. Usual km y I send my Calibre books to my PW3 via the Kindle's email. Now..if I want to make a new collection...I have to create it ON THE PW3..then hit the sync. After a few minutes..the collection appears on Manage My Digital Content lage om Amazin..and there I can add docs or books to the collection. Hit sync. And they move into the collection on ny PW3. It still sucks..but this the current workaround. Oh well. Oh, and if you use a phone....use the browser and ask for the Desktop Site. The Amazon app does NOT SEE COLLECTIONS ON THE MANAGE DIGITAL CONTENT page. Really bad, eh??

Freedomland · 12-29-2021, 11:08 AM

and a new update to Cloud collections on Amazon's website. They changed the web pages so now making the collections and adding books to it is actually MORE TEDIOUS than it is while using the actual Kindle. I just got the PW5 (11th gen 2021) and now when on the Manage Your Digital content page, it's a friggin pain!
the old way, if you were on Books or Docs, you would tag 1 or more to put into a Collection, and a box would open, and you could, A: search for your collection by typing the name, or B: make a new one right then and there.
NOW, a box opens up.. and it shows 3 collections at a time with a check box. Not in alphabetical order, but in usage. and if you are like me..usually 2 or 3 at a time. and if you are like me with 250+ collections.. that's a pain in the butt. No searching by name.. nada! and if you have to make a new one.. you have to leave the book or Doc tab, go to Collections, make a new collection, and then start all over. and it does not show up! The new Manage page actually makes doing it ON THE KINDLE preferable to doing it on the website!!! Can we get a large group complaining to Amazon to put it back!! I've made multiple complaints to them on it.

Protoplast26 · 12-30-2021, 04:41 PM

For me, the easiest way to organize is by the first letter of the sort title, meaning one folder each letter from A to Z.

But the way I organize my kindle is by grouping similar collection types with numbers at the beginning

Example:

Reading Lists
Series
Genre
Authors

dura · 01-02-2022, 05:21 PM

What I have tried on my PW2021 is something simple, like the poster above suggests; simply make collections in Calibre where each book goes into a collection that is the first letter of the authors last name. The idea is that bij browsing collections you get 4 or 5 screens, from A to Z. That way it would be very easy to brows through the authors. Sadly I haven’t succeeded yet, using the Calibre plugin Kindle Collections.

Edit; I was informed in another topic That that plug-in only works on jailbreaked Kindles, and my firmware version is too new for that.
I wish I could at least get the thing to sort books on authors last name....

12-30-2021, 04:41 PM	#59
Protoplast26 Member Posts: 14 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jul 2021 Device: Kindle 10th gen and Kobo Aura H2O	For me, the easiest way to organize is by the first letter of the sort title, meaning one folder each letter from A to Z. But the way I organize my kindle is by grouping similar collection types with numbers at the beginning Example: Reading Lists Series Genre Authors

01-02-2022, 05:21 PM	#60
dura Groupie Posts: 174 Karma: 1062434 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Netherlands Device: Kobo H2O (2th edition), Kindle PW11	What I have tried on my PW2021 is something simple, like the poster above suggests; simply make collections in Calibre where each book goes into a collection that is the first letter of the authors last name. The idea is that bij browsing collections you get 4 or 5 screens, from A to Z. That way it would be very easy to brows through the authors. Sadly I haven’t succeeded yet, using the Calibre plugin Kindle Collections. Edit; I was informed in another topic That that plug-in only works on jailbreaked Kindles, and my firmware version is too new for that. I wish I could at least get the thing to sort books on authors last name.... Last edited by dura; 01-04-2022 at 06:42 AM.

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05-16-2019, 01:04 PM	#46
harriska2 Addict Posts: 272 Karma: 8000000 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Corvallis, OR Device: Kindle PW2, iPad Pro	Calibre for sure. Kovid and his gang have created the best piece of software I own.

10-10-2019, 10:39 AM	#47
Kamikuza Connoisseur Posts: 62 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2011 Location: Japan Device: Kindle3	This seems like a good place... Is it possible to have Kindle assign books to collections automatically? I've one series of 4 books that have the metadata titles of "Blah blah trilogy Book X: Something". I was thinking about setting up collections as I have a lot of long series and a lot of singles, and scrolling through looking for what I feel like reading is time consuming...so I started fiddling. And discovered that although I've never fiddled with Collections before, those 4 side-loaded books were already in their own Collection, including Cloud collection. I've never done anything to them except change the metadata title (Sigil > KP 2.943) so they sort in order, as they were all published about the same year(s)... ???

10-19-2019, 09:32 PM	#48
crossi Guru Posts: 997 Karma: 12000001 Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Seattle Wahington U.S. Device: kindle	I only have a kindle keyboard. On the newer kindles when you sort by author does it act like sorting by collections where on the home screen only the collection titles show up and you have to select a collection name to see the titles in it, or do they still when sorting by author still list ALL the titles on the home page? I've got about a thousand books in my kindle and when sorting by collections its a manageable 11 pages. By author it's over 100 pages often in the wrong order because Amazon uses the first name instead of the last sometimes. I had to create collections for each author to compress things (I read a lot of series).

10-23-2019, 05:47 PM	#49
Timboli Sharpest Tool On Shelf Posts: 661 Karma: 2587836 Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Downunda Device: Kindles, Kobo & Samsung Tablet	To my mind at least, the whole idea of Collections is to allow faster easier browsing. To get to where you want without having to wade through heaps. You can only achieve so much, with one level of Collections. So what we should really have, is a second level ... or if you like - Sub Collections. For instance, you could have a main Collection called Fantasy, and sub collections within that based on the name of an author, where you have more than one book by an author. Individual books can remain in the root of the main Collection, or be put in a sub collection called Others etc. Another alternative, would be to have an author as a main Collection, and sub collections within that based on series name. Having that second level of Collections, makes things far more flexible, and reduces what you need to wade through, significantly more. I've gotten to the point now, where I don't download many of my purchases to my devices, because it just means too much to wade through, certainly in some categories. It would be far easier, if I could split things up within a Category (Collection), with Author name being an obvious way to do so. I truly hate things being all mixed up and all over the place. Things need to be organized. And when I am deciding on a book to read, I often overlook what is not on a device, because it is just far more simple to do so. So the current state of affairs isn't doing many of the authors I have, any favors .... certainly as far as reading them, liking them and then buying more by them.

10-27-2019, 11:07 PM	#50
JaneD Addict Posts: 324 Karma: 1057749 Join Date: May 2010 Location: LA, CA Device: Kindle Paperwhite 2013	I only have a bare-bones collection system on my kindle paperwhite. Completed, Non-Fiction, Work, and an author or two. The rest (unread) live in a jumble on the main page underneath the collections. It's not the most organized system, but it (just barely) does the job. I do wish the kindle had an organization system that could sync with calibre, where everything's exactly the way I like it, though.

02-26-2020, 05:10 AM	#51
applesauce Addict Posts: 387 Karma: 3553492 Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Perth Western Australia Device: kindle oasis	I load every book on Calibre, I edit the metadata so all books conform to how I wish: Series Name - Series number - book title I then load to my Kindle Oasis (was Voyage until last week) I then add all books to collections, my collections are the author's name. I use list view/collection, it keeps everything clean and neat. I have vision issues so this way it makes seeing the next book in the series far easier. applesauce

03-04-2020, 12:48 AM	#52
Freedomland Enthusiast Posts: 36 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2016 Device: Kindle Paperwhite 11th Gen 2021	I've been using Cloud Collections for a few year.. I have a few collections.. 202. Mine are either by Author, or Series. BUT as of the last few weeks.. Collections made on the Amazon Managen Page no longer go to your Kindle! I have a PW 7th Gen..and I can't see a colelction I made last week Even when I set it to ALL. I've contacted Kindle Support about this. Hopefully they will resolve this soon

03-05-2020, 09:43 AM	#54
TheSmitty Addict Posts: 318 Karma: 1181422 Join Date: Dec 2017 Location: DFW, TX area Device: Kindle Colorsoft, Libra Colour, Voyage, iPad Pro 11, iPad Mini 7	I have many collections on my Kindle. Any given books will belong to at least two of them. For instance, Isaac Asimov book called Foundations Edge would belong to collections called: Science Fiction, Foundation Series and Asimov (not all authors get their own). I also have a catch all called 'All Books' that all of them belong in as I used it for tracking moving all my books from one Kindle to another. Not the best thing in the world but it helps me.

03-06-2020, 01:04 PM	#55
Freedomland Enthusiast Posts: 36 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2016 Device: Kindle Paperwhite 11th Gen 2021	but instead of using making the collections physically ON the Kindle PW.. I've been able to make them and organize them on the Manage Your Digital Content page on the amazon website. and up until a few weeks ago.. it worked perfectly. It seems Amazon was automatically sending the collections that you made on the website to your kindle...BUT got feedback that people didn't like it... so they changed it!!! Now their so-called Kindle Cloud Collections... basically doesn't work! I really find that a royal pain in the butt. I've been working with some higher ups at Kindle tech support to try and resolve this. My suggestions?? Basically put a "DELIVER" box on the collection page like they have on the Docs or Books

04-03-2020, 04:29 PM	#57
Freedomland Enthusiast Posts: 36 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2016 Device: Kindle Paperwhite 11th Gen 2021	It seems Amazon DID make a change. I've had steady contact with a tech there who has been helping. Usual km y I send my Calibre books to my PW3 via the Kindle's email. Now..if I want to make a new collection...I have to create it ON THE PW3..then hit the sync. After a few minutes..the collection appears on Manage My Digital Content lage om Amazin..and there I can add docs or books to the collection. Hit sync. And they move into the collection on ny PW3. It still sucks..but this the current workaround. Oh well. Oh, and if you use a phone....use the browser and ask for the Desktop Site. The Amazon app does NOT SEE COLLECTIONS ON THE MANAGE DIGITAL CONTENT page. Really bad, eh??

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12-29-2021, 11:08 AM	#58
Freedomland Enthusiast Posts: 36 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2016 Device: Kindle Paperwhite 11th Gen 2021	and a new update to Cloud collections on Amazon's website. They changed the web pages so now making the collections and adding books to it is actually MORE TEDIOUS than it is while using the actual Kindle. I just got the PW5 (11th gen 2021) and now when on the Manage Your Digital content page, it's a friggin pain! the old way, if you were on Books or Docs, you would tag 1 or more to put into a Collection, and a box would open, and you could, A: search for your collection by typing the name, or B: make a new one right then and there. NOW, a box opens up.. and it shows 3 collections at a time with a check box. Not in alphabetical order, but in usage. and if you are like me..usually 2 or 3 at a time. and if you are like me with 250+ collections.. that's a pain in the butt. No searching by name.. nada! and if you have to make a new one.. you have to leave the book or Doc tab, go to Collections, make a new collection, and then start all over. and it does not show up! The new Manage page actually makes doing it ON THE KINDLE preferable to doing it on the website!!! Can we get a large group complaining to Amazon to put it back!! I've made multiple complaints to them on it.