[Old Thread] Comments section *formatting*

[mezme]

This is going to sound quirky... but...

A previous update a zillion updates ago... the comments section switched to a HTML based text... which is great 80% of the time!

The problem that I run into is that the other 20% is problematic when you are drag 'n' dropping or copy/pasting text from the internet to calibre for a book description. The text usually keeps the formatting (weird fonts, white text color, etc).

That being said... there IS a nifty little remove formatting button that you can click as you add comments but when you are say adding 50 books at a time... this can be a bit of a hassle.

How much trouble would it be to add a "remove formatting from comments" button to the edit metadata option? OR add a tweak that would allow you to disable formatting and make the comments section a plain text field vs HTML?

I wasn't sure if it's something that would be horrendously hard or just not worth the time... Figured asking here would give me an idea if it would be a waste of David's time putting a request in.

[ldolse]

Go into preferences -> Plugins, and change the Amazon metadata plugin to use plain text. Some of the other plugins may have a plain text option as well.

I thought there was a more global option somewhere, but I couldn't find it.

[texasnightowl]

While I hate to bring threads back from the dead, the situation the OP describes (having to manually cut and paste into the comments field) is what I am dealing with tonight. I have checked the box for "convert all downloaded comments to plain text" but the issue is I am not downloading them, I am copying them. ie. select and Ctrl+C from the web page and ctrl+v into the Comments area and I end up with weird formatting that I don't want. So far, the only option I see is to use the remove formatting button which as the OP noted is a bit of a pain to have to do for every book. Is there still no global option for setting the comments area to be plain text?

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by texasnightowl

but the issue is I am not downloading them, I am copying them. ie. select and Ctrl+C from the web page and ctrl+v into the Comments area and I end up with weird formatting that I don't want.

If you don't want the weird formatting don't copy the weird formatting. The weird formatting is there because you did a ctrl-c which copies all formatting. I have an extension for Firefox that lets me choose Copy as Plain Text and none of the formatting is copied.

Also if you are manually copying things pressing ctrl-a to select all and clicking on the remove formatting icon isn't that much more of a burden.

[texasnightowl]

Thanks for mentioning the extension. I have found a similar extension for Chrome that I will try.

Originally Posted by dwanthny

Also if you are manually copying things pressing ctrl-a to select all and clicking on the remove formatting icon isn't that much more of a burden.

I find it a burden when I didn't have to do it before.

Now, is it a *lot* of books I have to do this for? No. But there are times/books that the metadata downloads don't work or don't find the book summary for some reason. And in past, I didn't have to futz with formatting in the comments.

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by texasnightowl

Thanks for mentioning the extension. I have found a similar extension for Chrome that I will try.

I have been using some form of a Copy as Plain Text extension for many years for use with other applications. So when I needed it for calibre it was already installed.

Good Luck.