AppleScript for setting Tags in calibre library

paul55391 · 06-13-2014, 08:11 PM

I have a rather large calibre library but the Tags are not very good. I've been manually going through the books to clean up the Tags. For each book I have been clearing the Tag field and then going out to Amazon and similar sites to get clean Tags and Descriptions. The work is tedious and repetitive and I'd like to automate the process using AppleScript. Is this possible?

eschwartz · 06-13-2014, 08:19 PM

You can use the command-line tools: http://manual.calibre-ebook.com/cli/cli-index.html

calibredb -- communicate with the database, includes the set_metadata command to feed in a metadata.opf

fetch-ebook-metadata -- download metadata from sources, with a switch to output in OPF format.

Or you could use Bulk Metadata Edit, by selecting multiple books and editing all of them at once.

paul55391 · 06-15-2014, 10:48 AM

Thanks, your reply got me on the right track. I first cleared all the existing Tags using the button at "Edit metadata >> Edit metadata in bulk". Then, after selecting just Comments and Tags in the "Downloaded metadata fields" pane at "Edit metadata >> Download metadata and covers >> Configure download", I selected "Download only metadata" to obtain the desired Tags and Comments.

06-13-2014, 08:11 PM	#1
paul55391 Enthusiast Posts: 43 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2013 Device: iPad	AppleScript for setting Tags in calibre library I have a rather large calibre library but the Tags are not very good. I've been manually going through the books to clean up the Tags. For each book I have been clearing the Tag field and then going out to Amazon and similar sites to get clean Tags and Descriptions. The work is tedious and repetitive and I'd like to automate the process using AppleScript. Is this possible?

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06-13-2014, 08:19 PM	#2
eschwartz Ex-Helpdesk Junkie Posts: 19,422 Karma: 85397180 Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: The Beaten Path, USA, Roundworld, This Side of Infinity Device: Kindle Touch fw5.3.7 (Wifi only)	You can use the command-line tools: http://manual.calibre-ebook.com/cli/cli-index.html calibredb -- communicate with the database, includes the set_metadata command to feed in a metadata.opf fetch-ebook-metadata -- download metadata from sources, with a switch to output in OPF format. Or you could use Bulk Metadata Edit, by selecting multiple books and editing all of them at once.

06-15-2014, 10:48 AM	#3
paul55391 Enthusiast Posts: 43 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2013 Device: iPad	Thanks, your reply got me on the right track. I first cleared all the existing Tags using the button at "Edit metadata >> Edit metadata in bulk". Then, after selecting just Comments and Tags in the "Downloaded metadata fields" pane at "Edit metadata >> Download metadata and covers >> Configure download", I selected "Download only metadata" to obtain the desired Tags and Comments.