Who's using calibre to TRACK all the books they're reading - even non-eBooks?

halloleo · 07-12-2021, 08:56 PM

Hi there

I am contemplating moving off BookCrawler and LibraryThing for tracking my reading and to recording all the books I have read in calibre. However a good portion of books I read are physical books, so for them I’d use empty, i.e. metadadata-only entries in calibre.

I know that it is doable. (I've read the thread How could I document my reading history in Calibre.)

My question is: Who's doing this? What's their experience? What are the problems? Anybody moved back to a separate tracking app?

ownedbycats · 07-13-2021, 02:53 PM

Yes. I do it for physical books and also recently started tracking library books (only digital for now; I'm high-risk for COVID so haven't had a chance to borrow any physical books for a year).

I track them with custom 0-byte formats, .paperbook for physical books and .overdrive for books borrowed with Overdrive.

I also use virtual libraries to keep things separated while still cross-searchable.

Custom #lastread date column. I use an Action Chain to automatically populate it and then open the eBook (unless it's not an eBook).

I'm happier keeping my reading history on a local drive than on a third-party cloud service. Partly privacy, partly an internet connection that isn't always reliable, partly I've seen online services vanish off the internet overnight.

halloleo · 07-13-2021, 08:32 PM

Thanks a lot, @ownedbycats.

Aha, so you use empty .paperbook and .overdrive files in the entries of these books. Why not metadata-only entries without any file?

Plus, does the #lastread column track when you finished reading the book (possibly for the first time) or does it track the last time you looked at the book?

ownedbycats · 07-13-2021, 09:46 PM

Mostly to more easily catalog entries where I have both an eBook and paper copy.

#lastread is bound to a custom shortcut, so I can look at a book without triggering it.

07-12-2021, 08:56 PM	#1
halloleo Groupie Posts: 156 Karma: 12649 Join Date: Feb 2020 Device: iPad	Who's using calibre to TRACK all the books they're reading - even non-eBooks? Hi there I am contemplating moving off BookCrawler and LibraryThing for tracking my reading and to recording all the books I have read in calibre. However a good portion of books I read are physical books, so for them I’d use empty, i.e. metadadata-only entries in calibre. I know that it is doable. (I've read the thread How could I document my reading history in Calibre.) My question is: Who's doing this? What's their experience? What are the problems? Anybody moved back to a separate tracking app? Last edited by halloleo; 07-12-2021 at 11:18 PM. Reason: Typos

07-13-2021, 02:53 PM	#2
ownedbycats Custom User Title Posts: 8,633 Karma: 61234567 Join Date: Oct 2018 Location: Canada Device: Kobo Libra H2O, formerly Aura HD	Yes. I do it for physical books and also recently started tracking library books (only digital for now; I'm high-risk for COVID so haven't had a chance to borrow any physical books for a year). I track them with custom 0-byte formats, .paperbook for physical books and .overdrive for books borrowed with Overdrive. I also use virtual libraries to keep things separated while still cross-searchable. Custom #lastread date column. I use an Action Chain to automatically populate it and then open the eBook (unless it's not an eBook). I'm happier keeping my reading history on a local drive than on a third-party cloud service. Partly privacy, partly an internet connection that isn't always reliable, partly I've seen online services vanish off the internet overnight. Last edited by ownedbycats; 07-13-2021 at 02:55 PM.

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07-13-2021, 08:32 PM	#3
halloleo Groupie Posts: 156 Karma: 12649 Join Date: Feb 2020 Device: iPad	Thanks a lot, @ownedbycats. Aha, so you use empty .paperbook and .overdrive files in the entries of these books. Why not metadata-only entries without any file? Plus, does the #lastread column track when you finished reading the book (possibly for the first time) or does it track the last time you looked at the book?

07-13-2021, 09:46 PM	#4
ownedbycats Custom User Title Posts: 8,633 Karma: 61234567 Join Date: Oct 2018 Location: Canada Device: Kobo Libra H2O, formerly Aura HD	Mostly to more easily catalog entries where I have both an eBook and paper copy. #lastread is bound to a custom shortcut, so I can look at a book without triggering it.

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