how to export metadata and rename files?

argonaut · 10-07-2009, 07:36 PM

hello,

i'm a new user of calibre. i've collected a lot of ebooks in the last year but they're not well organized, so i'm hoping that calibre can help.

i very much like calibre's capacity to extract basic metadata from an ebook. i haven't found another program yet which does this so well WITHOUT querying the internet. (suggestions?)

with the bare bones metadata from calibre, i can then decide which books i want to have queried for tags, etc. this seems important since there are daily limits to the number of requests (how many for amazon?) and i have thousands of books / articles to organize at this point.... the task could take weeks otherwise.

maybe it is a good idea for calibre to query five or so databases, which can be selected or deselected, so that the possible daily limit through calibre is larger.

but i've got two main problems:

#1 i want to export that metadata to other applications such as zotero and endnote. endnote is especially important. but i can't find a way to do this through the opf file. is there another way to export the metadata to endnote?

#2 when i save to disk, i can save the renamed file with last name author, first name author, title, publisher, pubdate, isbn; in other words, in the same basic format as a bibliography. this is important in case i'm looking for an author using other means, i.e. windows search, locate32, google desktop, etc., and i want to sort the results. can i rename the file in this manner before "save to disk"?

i don't use a reader, just my laptop, so these are my main concerns. i've searched the help and forum but i didn't see answers to these specific questions.

comments / help appreciated!

argonaut

argonaut · 10-10-2009, 03:14 AM

I'm hoping for a response to this question about citation managers in particular!!!:

"i want to export that metadata to other applications such as zotero and endnote. endnote is especially important. but i can't find a way to do this through the opf file. is there another way to export the metadata to endnote?"

itimpi · 10-10-2009, 03:42 AM

1) As far as I know the only way to export metadata is via the OPF file. Why is this not OK for you?

2) At the moment you can specify the mask for the name to be generated using Save To Disk. However I do not think it allows for all the fields you mentioned. If you raised a ticket as an enhancement request for any that are missing that you want to use I am sure it would shortly appear in a future calibre release.

argonaut · 10-10-2009, 01:54 PM

Thanks for the reply itimpi.

I cannot import the OPF into Endnote or Zotero. In effect, I don't see how Calibre integrates with citation managers.

I like the metadata extractor, the tags especially, but I can't effectively export them or the citation for manipulation in Endnote. That's the problem.

itimpi · 10-10-2009, 05:42 PM

Sounds like this is a problem with the citation managers then. They should be able to import an .opf file as it is a standard format.

The alternative would be to write a tool of your own that can extract the data from the .opf file and put it into a format that the tools you want to use expect.

You can always raise a ticket covering a Calibre enhancement request for a new option to export metadata in some other formats. I am not sure that integration to citation managers was ever a high priority requirement for Calibre but that does not stop you raising it as something you would like to see.

Note that if you use the command line tools the calibre-db command already allows data to be exported in csv format.

argonaut · 10-11-2009, 01:56 PM

Calibre will always have limited use for academics without an easy and accurate way to export its metadata into the most common citation managers of Endnote and Zotero. It makes sense for Calibre to have this integration to involve this large international community of "professional" readers ... Calibre has better metadata extraction than either one of those two programs.

Both of them take BibTeX, RIS, plain text, I believe, and a few others. I'll look into the command line tools and let you know the results.

Landrovan · 10-11-2009, 02:02 PM

Look in this thread:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=57944

argonaut · 10-11-2009, 10:55 PM

Thanks for the responses.

I couldn't get the metadata file to appear in the proper format.

More fundamentally, Calibre seems to only produce a single (opf) for each record. So there is no way to move a batch of citations to Endnote.

This shouldn't be difficult to implement. All Calibre needs is an option to save a single text list of the books in the following tagged format (easier than xml and opf, i'd imagine):

EX:

%0 Book
%A Roger King
%T Governing Universities Globally: Organizations, Regulation and Rankings
%D 2009
%I Edward Elgar Publishing
%P 235
%@ 1847207391

Calibre's Tags can be put in Keywords and Summaries can be put in Notes.

(This link leads to a doc outlining some of this tagged format):

www.le.ac.uk/li/downloads/endnotetaggedfile.doc

or

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sourc...JGFmoPt8IHR4hw

I've placed a ticket for this enhancement and I hope that it's implemented. I firmly believe that this would greatly increase the number of Calibre users.

kokoshmusun · 06-23-2010, 04:02 PM

I just switched to Calibre for managing all my ebooks and I'm wondering if there has been any developments in exporting from calibre into a format I can use for citation, such as bibtex. I'm new to Calibre and didn't see any such option. Anybody know?

kovidgoyal · 06-23-2010, 04:45 PM

metadata can be exported to XML, CSV, epub and mobi

kokoshmusun · 06-24-2010, 04:09 AM

Cool, I just found that option and can export to .csv now. Are there any tips for how to go from there if I want to turn this into .bib? Basically, I'm trying to figure out if there's an easy way I can use Calibre to facilitate citing my books in APA format. And if not, it makes less sense to load them all onto calibre.

kovidgoyal · 06-24-2010, 08:30 AM

I'm sure there must be some tools that read csv and export to bibtex, nut I don't know of them personally.

10-10-2009, 05:42 PM	#5
itimpi Wizard Posts: 4,552 Karma: 950151 Join Date: Nov 2008 Device: Sony PRS-950, iphone/ipad (Marvin/iBooks/QuickReader)	Sounds like this is a problem with the citation managers then. They should be able to import an .opf file as it is a standard format. The alternative would be to write a tool of your own that can extract the data from the .opf file and put it into a format that the tools you want to use expect. You can always raise a ticket covering a Calibre enhancement request for a new option to export metadata in some other formats. I am not sure that integration to citation managers was ever a high priority requirement for Calibre but that does not stop you raising it as something you would like to see. Note that if you use the command line tools the calibre-db command already allows data to be exported in csv format. Last edited by itimpi; 10-10-2009 at 05:44 PM.

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10-07-2009, 07:36 PM	#1
argonaut Junior Member Posts: 5 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2009 Device: none	how to export metadata and rename files? hello, i'm a new user of calibre. i've collected a lot of ebooks in the last year but they're not well organized, so i'm hoping that calibre can help. i very much like calibre's capacity to extract basic metadata from an ebook. i haven't found another program yet which does this so well WITHOUT querying the internet. (suggestions?) with the bare bones metadata from calibre, i can then decide which books i want to have queried for tags, etc. this seems important since there are daily limits to the number of requests (how many for amazon?) and i have thousands of books / articles to organize at this point.... the task could take weeks otherwise. maybe it is a good idea for calibre to query five or so databases, which can be selected or deselected, so that the possible daily limit through calibre is larger. but i've got two main problems: #1 i want to export that metadata to other applications such as zotero and endnote. endnote is especially important. but i can't find a way to do this through the opf file. is there another way to export the metadata to endnote? #2 when i save to disk, i can save the renamed file with last name author, first name author, title, publisher, pubdate, isbn; in other words, in the same basic format as a bibliography. this is important in case i'm looking for an author using other means, i.e. windows search, locate32, google desktop, etc., and i want to sort the results. can i rename the file in this manner before "save to disk"? i don't use a reader, just my laptop, so these are my main concerns. i've searched the help and forum but i didn't see answers to these specific questions. comments / help appreciated! argonaut

10-10-2009, 03:14 AM	#2
argonaut Junior Member Posts: 5 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2009 Device: none	I'm hoping for a response to this question about citation managers in particular!!!: "i want to export that metadata to other applications such as zotero and endnote. endnote is especially important. but i can't find a way to do this through the opf file. is there another way to export the metadata to endnote?"

10-10-2009, 03:42 AM	#3
itimpi Wizard Posts: 4,552 Karma: 950151 Join Date: Nov 2008 Device: Sony PRS-950, iphone/ipad (Marvin/iBooks/QuickReader)	1) As far as I know the only way to export metadata is via the OPF file. Why is this not OK for you? 2) At the moment you can specify the mask for the name to be generated using Save To Disk. However I do not think it allows for all the fields you mentioned. If you raised a ticket as an enhancement request for any that are missing that you want to use I am sure it would shortly appear in a future calibre release.

10-10-2009, 01:54 PM	#4
argonaut Junior Member Posts: 5 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2009 Device: none	Thanks for the reply itimpi. I cannot import the OPF into Endnote or Zotero. In effect, I don't see how Calibre integrates with citation managers. I like the metadata extractor, the tags especially, but I can't effectively export them or the citation for manipulation in Endnote. That's the problem.

10-11-2009, 01:56 PM	#6
argonaut Junior Member Posts: 5 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2009 Device: none	Calibre will always have limited use for academics without an easy and accurate way to export its metadata into the most common citation managers of Endnote and Zotero. It makes sense for Calibre to have this integration to involve this large international community of "professional" readers ... Calibre has better metadata extraction than either one of those two programs. Both of them take BibTeX, RIS, plain text, I believe, and a few others. I'll look into the command line tools and let you know the results.

10-11-2009, 02:02 PM	#7
Landrovan Enthusiast Posts: 42 Karma: 14 Join Date: Jul 2009 Device: dr800sg	Look in this thread: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=57944

10-11-2009, 10:55 PM	#8
argonaut Junior Member Posts: 5 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2009 Device: none	Thanks for the responses. I couldn't get the metadata file to appear in the proper format. More fundamentally, Calibre seems to only produce a single (opf) for each record. So there is no way to move a batch of citations to Endnote. This shouldn't be difficult to implement. All Calibre needs is an option to save a single text list of the books in the following tagged format (easier than xml and opf, i'd imagine): EX: %0 Book %A Roger King %T Governing Universities Globally: Organizations, Regulation and Rankings %D 2009 %I Edward Elgar Publishing %P 235 %@ 1847207391 Calibre's Tags can be put in Keywords and Summaries can be put in Notes. (This link leads to a doc outlining some of this tagged format): www.le.ac.uk/li/downloads/endnotetaggedfile.doc or http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sourc...JGFmoPt8IHR4hw I've placed a ticket for this enhancement and I hope that it's implemented. I firmly believe that this would greatly increase the number of Calibre users.

06-23-2010, 04:02 PM	#9
kokoshmusun Member Posts: 13 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2010 Device: Sony PRS-600	I just switched to Calibre for managing all my ebooks and I'm wondering if there has been any developments in exporting from calibre into a format I can use for citation, such as bibtex. I'm new to Calibre and didn't see any such option. Anybody know?

06-23-2010, 04:45 PM	#10
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,826 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	metadata can be exported to XML, CSV, epub and mobi

06-24-2010, 04:09 AM	#11
kokoshmusun Member Posts: 13 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2010 Device: Sony PRS-600	Cool, I just found that option and can export to .csv now. Are there any tips for how to go from there if I want to turn this into .bib? Basically, I'm trying to figure out if there's an easy way I can use Calibre to facilitate citing my books in APA format. And if not, it makes less sense to load them all onto calibre.

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06-24-2010, 08:30 AM	#12
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,826 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	I'm sure there must be some tools that read csv and export to bibtex, nut I don't know of them personally.