[GUI Plugin] Kindle Collections (old)

[markdek]

Originally Posted by CWatkinsNash

To get the Amazon books in calibre, hook it up, wait for it to load (when the checkmarks show up next to the books in calibre that are on it), then click the "Device" button in the toolbar to switch to device view. Click on the "in library" column header to sort, then select all the books not in the library (they'll have no checkmark in this view), right-click and select add to library (or similar, you'll see it).

Thanks....once I move the Kindle books over the Calibre........how can I tell them apart from side-loaded books (in Calibre)?

[CWatkinsNash]

Well, what I would do is once they're in, sort by date to get them all to the top, and add a tag (Amazon, for ex). Then you can go into the new calibre feature - column coloring (Preferences>Look & Feel>the last tab is column coloring) and create a rule to color the title of those books a certain color. That way you can see them both on sight and by using the tag browser to filter them.

Edited to add screenshot of rule settings for the above.

[markdek]

Great idea CWatkinsNash.......I'm working on it now.

[CWatkinsNash]

Originally Posted by markdek

Great idea CWatkinsNash.......I'm working on it now.

Awesome! I'll be around so just post if you need anything further or run into something I didn't explain properly. (It happens, believe me.)

[markdek]

OK....CWatkinsNash, I believe I've basically got it up and running. All books (Kindle and sideloaded) are in Calibre; All books are in a "collections" on both Calibre and the Kindle.

I actually added, fixed, removed, and edited the collections manually on both the Kindle and in Calibre first....just to get it right (actually imported most of it from the Kindle, then did some more editing in Calibre).

So right now, I haven't used the plug-in to create the Collections automatically and send it to the Kindle..........I suppose this will be the final test? Thinking of trying it next.

[CWatkinsNash]

Originally Posted by markdek

OK....CWatkinsNash, I believe I've basically got it up and running. All books (Kindle and sideloaded) are in Calibre; All books are in a "collections" on both Calibre and the Kindle.

I actually added, fixed, removed, and edited the collections manually on both the Kindle and in Calibre first....just to get it right (actually imported most of it from the Kindle, then did some more editing in Calibre).

So right now, I haven't used the plug-in to create the Collections automatically and send it to the Kindle..........I suppose this will be the final test? Thinking of trying it next.

If you click on the plugin button and go to the configure option, at the top of the configuration screen there is a link that you can click to preview the collections it will create without actually changing anything. Once it runs a dialog box will tell you it's done, and you can click the button on the right to view the details. That will show you a report of what it will do on the Kindle.

Do that to check everything first.

[markdek]

Well, it looks like this.....but w/ a lot more data following here (I only cut and pasted the top of the file). How do I know that it looks good?


=== Kindle Collections 1.6.3 View Collections Report


Collections sorted by Most Recent (Kindle view "Sort by Collections"):

Kindle Information (9)
Reference (30)
DeliverReads (2)
Sci-Fi (109)
To Read List (25)
Non-Sci-Fi Books (39)
Audio Books (20)
Photos (10)
Maps (19)
Docs (13)
Nasa - Cosmos (12)
To Read Sci-Fi (10)
Spiritual (14)
Read Already (57)
Bookmarks (4)
Apps (8)
Periodicals: Back Issues (33)


Collections and Books sorted by Title (Kindle view "Sort by Title"):

Book with no file - *0a8df52feb122a5813d24071f0bc94c291258c85
Book with no file - *0f50ec6e81f50537074a07d447d07d2f75539d5d
Book with no file - *1205917ce8fddf80aedb8b78131f72e9dafd3db3
Book with no file - *1a0bf90f2a2352f232035f7671419a160bb6c876
Book with no file - *1a9c472a7d5089a9c584f12801fc383b43765ca5
Book with no file - *1ea563b1d3c64cdc8c385ce7081bf67ea6814204
Book with no file - *237fb24a4f8ef56efbdea99fa6749620b70442b3

[markdek]

Actually, previewing from the "customization" yields this. The file above is from the "view report" dropdown list.


calibre, version 0.8.4
Kindle Collections: <P>Preview report generated 16 collections.<P>


=== Kindle Collections 1.6.3 PREVIEW Report

Preview only - no collections have actually been modified on the Kindle.


Collections saved to the Kindle:

Collection Managed By Books Change
---------- ---------- ----- ------
Apps Kindle 8 None (preserve Kindle-only is True)
Audio Books Kindle 20 None (preserve Kindle-only is True)
Bookmarks Calibre 3 Replaced (from column "Kindle Collections")
DeliverReads Kindle 2 None (preserve Kindle-only is True)
Docs Calibre 11 Replaced (from column "Kindle Collections")
Kindle Information Calibre 8 Replaced (from column "Kindle Collections")
Maps Calibre 17 Replaced (from column "Kindle Collections")
Nasa - Cosmos Calibre 12 Replaced (from column "Kindle Collections")
Non-Sci-Fi Books Calibre 37 Replaced (from column "Kindle Collections")
Photos Kindle 10 None (preserve Kindle-only is True)
Read Already Calibre 57 Replaced (from column "Kindle Collections")
Reference Calibre 25 Replaced (from column "Kindle Collections")
Sci-Fi Calibre 106 Replaced (from column "Kindle Collections")
Spiritual Calibre 13 Replaced (from column "Kindle Collections")
To Read List Calibre 25 Replaced (from column "Kindle Collections")
To Read Sci-Fi Calibre 10 Replaced (from column "Kindle Collections")

No collections selected to delete from the Kindle.



=== Settings:

Kindle Collections
Action: Create
Prefix: ""
Suffix: ""
Minimum: ""
Ignore: ""
Include: ""
Rename from: ""
Rename to: ""
Split on: ""

Never delete/modify these Kindle collections:
Action when toolbar icon is clicked: Show menu (default)
Preserve existing Kindle-only collections: True
Ignore prefix/suffix when comparing Calibre names: True
Ignore case when pattern matching: True
Reset collection times: True
Calibre Personal doc tag: ""
Kindle collections file: M:\system\collections.json
Plugin customization file: C:\Users\Harris\AppData\Roaming\calibre\plugins\Ki ndle Collections.json
System Encoding: mbcs

Run View Report to see collection and book details.

[CWatkinsNash]

The first one threw me off - I honestly forgot about that other report option. But yes, the second one was the one we wanted.

That looks like what you're aiming for - it added the collections from calibre and left the Kindle-only collections alone. Now all you have to do is see if there's anything you want to tweak or whatever, but if those collections listed are the ones you want, go ahead and run "Create Collections..." from the button menu.

When you run it, it creates a backup of your collections file, so we can put it back if you don't like it.

[markdek]

Thanks for your help CWatkinsNash...I ran it.......now doing cleanup on a couple books that were not right....thxs.

[CWatkinsNash]

Originally Posted by markdek

Thanks for your help CWatkinsNash...I ran it.......now doing cleanup on a couple books that were not right....thxs.

You're welcome!

[Lavender Lib]

Hi!

I am having issues where a book will be in a collection, and on the main page as well. I have made sure that I have it sorting by collections. This morning, I deleted everything from the Kindle (deleted everything from E://Kindle/Documents, and from Device Library on Calibre. Then I reloaded all the books onto Kindle. Still had duplicate copies.

I just downloaded this app, imported all my collections. I've spend the last 2-3 hours making sure all books were in a collection...and only 1 collection! Originally, I just had a "to be read" collection, but when it got too large, I broke it into TBR-Mystery, TBR-Romance, etc. I changed all the books in the "to be read" to the proper "TBR" collection. When I was finished, I disconnected, and restarted the Kindle (Home, menu, settings, menu, restart). They are still on the main page, AND the To Be Read still has books in it!

What am I doing wrong? Do I need to delete everything from the Kindle again, and reload with the categories again? Do I need to somehow delete the categories from the Kindle, and THEN reload everything?

O.k. - I deleted all the books, and downloaded to the Kindle....again. It still didn't work - I still have 8-10 pages of books not in categories. Arrrrrgggghhhh!

[markdek]

Did you follow the instructions on Page 1, point by point.....there is definitely a learning curve here. You have to send/create the new Collections file to the Kindle, then eject it, then reboot it, and then the new collections will be reflected in the browser screen in Calibre, and on your Kindle.

[CWatkinsNash]

Also, make sure your Kindle Home screen is sorting by Collections - this will show only collections and any books not assigned to collections. All other options show both all books and collections in one big list.

[jiulexiong]

What a great plugin! Thank you so much! It really helps a lot a lot a lot!!!