Importing PDFs with metadata

chrisridd · 12-08-2023, 03:50 PM

I am wondering about importing a set of PDF magazine issues into my Calibre library.

If I import tham via "Add Books" I get poor results because currently the only metadata in the PDFs is the magazine name, and I get a bunch of hard to distinguish magazines with identical names. I need the year and issue number to be imported as well, which matches how the magazines are published.

I can script exiftool (not the first tool I'd have thought of) to write metadata into each PDF.

But what does Calibre read from a PDF and put into things like dates and number-in-series?

kovidgoyal · 12-08-2023, 09:44 PM

You dont need to use exiftool, use the ebook-meta tool from calibre that will allow you to set all metadata in PDF including series. And that metadata will be read when adding the pdfs to calibre

Wiggo · 12-09-2023, 02:23 AM

If the file names are meaningful and follow a pattern, Calibre can also read the data using these.

chrisridd · 12-09-2023, 03:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

You dont need to use exiftool, use the ebook-meta tool from calibre that will allow you to set all metadata in PDF including series. And that metadata will be read when adding the pdfs to calibre

Ah, that's a perfect solution! Thank you very much.

chrisridd · 12-09-2023, 03:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wiggo

If the file names are meaningful and follow a pattern, Calibre can also read the data using these.

It didn't work out for me, maybe because I didn't use a pattern that Calibre was expecting.

But the ebook-meta tool is exactly what I needed, especially because I want the metadata to live inside the original file whenever possible.

Wiggo · 12-09-2023, 04:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrisridd

It didn't work out for me, maybe because I didn't use a pattern that Calibre was expecting.

You can define the pattern yourself, but I think the file name is only useful if the name is already reasonably meaningful.

If there are too many changes, the tool makes more sense

Quote:

But the ebook-meta tool is exactly what I needed, especially because I want the metadata to live inside the original file whenever possible.

You can write the metadata to the file anytime via Calibre

12-08-2023, 03:50 PM	#1
chrisridd Guru Posts: 928 Karma: 2146660 Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: London, UK Device: Kobo Aura, Kobo Aura ONE, Marvin 3	Importing PDFs with metadata I am wondering about importing a set of PDF magazine issues into my Calibre library. If I import tham via "Add Books" I get poor results because currently the only metadata in the PDFs is the magazine name, and I get a bunch of hard to distinguish magazines with identical names. I need the year and issue number to be imported as well, which matches how the magazines are published. I can script exiftool (not the first tool I'd have thought of) to write metadata into each PDF. But what does Calibre read from a PDF and put into things like dates and number-in-series?

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12-08-2023, 09:44 PM	#2
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,860 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	You dont need to use exiftool, use the ebook-meta tool from calibre that will allow you to set all metadata in PDF including series. And that metadata will be read when adding the pdfs to calibre

12-09-2023, 02:23 AM	#3
Wiggo Leftutti Posts: 400 Karma: 1121267 Join Date: Feb 2019 Location: Bavaria Device: iPad Pro, Kobo Libra 2	If the file names are meaningful and follow a pattern, Calibre can also read the data using these.