Library Management calibre

[pamEDT]

I'm trying to sort my books in calibre. I've read the "managing subgroups of books, for example "genre" ", but I'm just not getting it.
I'd like to start with Fiction/Nonfiction, sub-divide from there. (similar to Dewey system, not as detailed)
I guess I'm not understanding some basic facts. I see that I use the tags to identify the individual books, and that books can have the same tags, but I don't get how to actually DO it in the tag browser.
When I open it up, there is a 1, and the letters.. I thought the letters would be authors or titles, but in A, I have 3 entries, only 1 A name. (file attached)
I don't know what to do the tag #1- I thought I could attach a name to it, but I haven't figured out how to, if that's the case.


Thank you for all help !

pam

[theducks]

Lets clear up terms first:

Tags are used for SELECTION or FILTERING

eg. Show me books that are (tagged) NotRead and are (tagged) Mysteries

SORTING is the order presented (ABCD...12345...)
Clicking a column header causes that column to be sorted in the direction indicated by the arrowhead (click again to reverse)

Sorting can be biased by previous sorts (IIRC the level count is 5).

Sort by Author, then sort by Title and you will see the list of Titles in Author biased order.
Sort by Title, then by Author and you will see the authors works grouped in title order.

Now to your Image

See the number (##) next to the letters? That is a count of how many the COLLAPSED TAG LETTER LEVEL has. Click the arrowhead on the left to expand (BTW this is pretty much standard PC Interface behavior. Arrowheads = more menu levels)

If you click the Letter, you see ALL those that meed the Letter criteria If you EXPAND, you get finer level choices available.
https://manual.calibre-ebook.com/gui.html#search-sort
If you do the same searches frequently,read up on 'Saved Searches", they are handy

[pamEDT]

O.K. got it so far....
Now- where did the #1 come from (in tags) ?? Under it (when expanded) is a Rupert Brooke book, rated as travel, and noted is only 1 in series. But, couldn't that be true of many books ? (Perhaps there were more planned in a series or something like that). was that from the info in the metadata of the book ?
I tried the various uses of the tags- author column, title, etc- NEAT ! Thanks !

In your reply, you mention-
"Sorting can be biased by previous sorts (IIRC the level count is 5)."
Does the level # refer to ? In some of the tags, there are more than 5 entries, so that's not it...
I didn't add the info in the tags about the books that the tags have gathered, (back to metadata ?). Can I manually add books, authors to the tags..I guess it's really adding tags to the books.. How do I do this ?
Assuming I can do that, then, how do I further expand the organization (going back to managing-hierarchy article). I'm reading the GUI interface page you referred to, and understanding it more with what you've told me- I got lost in the search interface, but got some of it.
Do I start a new library to start the organization I'm looking for ? In the same page, it has the Library (ies) as part of a Catalog, but I don't see Catalog as an option on calibre ?
Thanks so much- so much to learn !!
pam

[theducks]

The Tag name Started with a 1
(eg 87th precinct would be under 8)

Tags can be downloaded, exist inside the books OPF or you can add them in the Metadata editor. Since you did not do the last.... the book came with those. There is no reason you have to USE their tags.

Why would you put a tag for an existing (Calibre) field in tags? (Author, series)
You can use any section (some of these are data from standard fields) of the Tag Browser (the tool) to help construct a search
IMHO many tags are hold overs from paper card catalogs, where you made a CARD for each tag. Calibre can find any tag with a single search. (I hate getting tags 16 variants on 'Science Fiction' for a single title ) so there is no need.
(I also detest having a Science Fiction book ALSO tagged as 'General' or 'Fiction' ) when it has a better tag already

[BetterRed]

@pamEDT - not sure if this has been made clear:

• a Tag is created the first time it is used, i.e. applied to a book
• a Tag is destroyed when it no longer used, i.e. no longer applied to any books

So, a Tag will not exist if it is not applied to any books; hence, you cannot maintain a set of Tags independently of applying/un-applying them to books.

You can bulk un-apply a Tag from all books via:

• the Delete <tagvalue> option in the Tag Browser context menu,
• the Delete Tag button under the Tag Editor's Available Tags list.
• the Recycle button in the Category editor (Tags) dialogue

What some users do is to create empty books as place holders for their predefined set of Tag values. So, a dummy book called !Fiction by author Unknown would have a set of Tags such as Fiction.Fantasy, Fiction.Historical, Fiction.Mystery etc. When tagging a book they select from these predefined values.

BR

[pamEDT]

Thanks,
I 've added 2 new empty books, 1 for Fiction, 1 Nonfiction, and have added several tags to them. I can see if that seems to work, and add more tags as I need. Is that the beginning of the hierarchy, or am I still missing something ?

pam

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by pamEDT

Thanks,
I 've added 2 new empty books, 1 for Fiction, 1 Nonfiction, and have added several tags to them. I can see if that seems to work, and add more tags as I need. Is that the beginning of the hierarchy, or am I still missing something ?

pam

You need to follow the Setup instructions in here ==>> Managing subgroups of books

BTW: there are downloadable versions of the manual, the links are at the bottom of the introductory paragraphs of the online manual. Handy if you want to print bits of it or read on your KF while your using the calibre GUI.

BR