Guide to Collections Management with calibre (Touch / Glo / Mini /Aura)

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by spacepope

Hate to be the idiot here, but I followed the Wiki instructions and basically Calibre ate my collections since series information is stored in my "series" column. I should have seen this coming, but it's whatever.


Should I create a custom column to house my Collections info? Also, can I populate that column with collections info from Kobo first... and then start editing it?

Thanks!

You don't need series based collections. You also don't need a custom column for collections. I use the Tags column for collections. When I add eBooks to Calibre and they have rubbish in the OPF that causes the Tags column to be populated, I just delete the rubbish and put in what I want if I want.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

You don't need series based collections. You also don't need a custom column for collections. I use the Tags column for collections. When I add eBooks to Calibre and they have rubbish in the OPF that causes the Tags column to be populated, I just delete the rubbish and put in what I want if I want.

Depends. I often use temporary tags for fixing something, and I don't want to have those in collections. So I use a custom column with only genre tags.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

You don't need series based collections. You also don't need a custom column for collections. I use the Tags column for collections. When I add eBooks to Calibre and they have rubbish in the OPF that causes the Tags column to be populated, I just delete the rubbish and put in what I want if I want.

Do you realise how absurd that statement is? People need whatever is they need to achieve the result they want. If that is a custom column, then that is the way to go. I think you are saying you use tags, but, from my experience, they are almost the worst column to make collections from. The worst is the title, the next would probably be the date and modified timestamp columns. (Using them as the basis for a collections, such as the year added, or "Recently modified", might be useful, but, that would require a custom column.) Then tags come pretty much after that.

As with just about everything you post, you might not think using a custom column is useful. But, based on the questions that have been asked over the years, you are definitely in the minority.

[Ron100]

Folks I've treated myself to a Libra 2 which I plan on setting up this weekend.

Spent this week sorting my calibre library and getting the metadata right, however think I'm getting it wrong by setting up for section one in the wiki.

I've been following the Wiki but from what I can gather Kobo firmware now sorts Collections, so what process should I be following for calibre/kobo collection management?

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Ron100

Folks I've treated myself to a Libra 2 which I plan on setting up this weekend.

Spent this week sorting my calibre library and getting the metadata right, however think I'm getting it wrong by setting up for section one in the wiki.

I've been following the Wiki but from what I can gather Kobo firmware now sorts Collections, so what process should I be following for calibre/kobo collection management?

I don't understand what you means by "now sorts Collections". Nothing has changed in that matter for a very long time. The Collections list has always had options to sort by name, number of books and the date the collection was created. Within a collection, it has the same options for sorting the list of books as elsewhere.

In essence, the only changes on the devices for collections (beside some bug and performance fixes) are when they added the Authors tab and later the Series tab. And they just removed the need to create collections for these two metadata items.


The Wiki page is right for how to do this. The question for you is what do you want to create collections for. And then what metadata in calibre do you use for this. It might be existing columns or custom columns. Once you know, you can configure the driver configuration with these collections and then connect the device.

And you don't have to get it right the straight off. You can try something and if it doesn't work, change the configuration and connect. The driver will update the collections to the new configuration.

[Ron100]

Sorry I haven't been clear enough, I've got to this stage -

Setting up calibre
Open calibre.
IMPORTANT: Eject the Kobo from the computer. This is necessary because the required configuration option in the next step is disabled while the Kobo is connected.
Go to Preferences in the toolbar, locate the Import/export section, then click Sending books to devices.
For Metadata Management, choose Automatic management.
Click Apply.
Remain in Preferences, locate the Advanced section, then click Plugins.
Expand Device Interface.
Scroll down and select either Kobo Touch Extended, or if that's not present, KoboTouch.
Click Customize plugin.
Switch to the Collections, covers & uploads tab.
Checkmark Collections.
For Collections columns, enter series (all lowercase).
Checkmark both Create collections and Delete empty bookshelves.
Click OK.
Close Preferences.
Exit and restart calibre.
[edit]Defining Collections
Click Edit metadata in the toolbar (or right-click the first book in calibre, and choose Edit Metadata > Edit metadata individually).
Decide whether the book should be part of a Collection on the Kobo:
If the book should be in a Kobo Collection, then decide on a name for the collection (as it will appear on the Kobo) and enter that in the Series field. For subsequent entries in the same collection (series), select the series from the list. The series name can also be entered manually, but it is important that the name be EXACTLY the same for each volume, so selecting from the list is recommended for volume 2 onward.
If the book should NOT be in a Kobo Collection, then click the recycling icon to the right of Series to clear it.
Click 1.00 to the right of the Number field. For the first entry in the Series it will start at 1.00, but clicking it for subsequent books with the same Series name will increment it automatically (so the second Series entry will be 2.00). Note: If the volumes are edited out of order, calibre will put in the wrong Number and it will need to be corrected manually, which is a hassle. To prevent this, use the Previous and Next buttons to edit the volumes in the correct order.
Click Next to edit the next book. Note: It might not be a bad idea to click OK periodically as books are being edited, to save changes (just in case), then return to Edit metadata again.
Once all books have been edited, click OK.

Maybe I'm confusing myself but I don't need to do this anymore? Thought I read here that the latest Kobo updates will do it for me when importing?

[PunkyKoopa]

Hi,

I usually have like 5 or 6 tags added to my books, like ‘Fiction’, ‘Historical’, ‘Classic’, ‘Science fiction’ and things like that.

Do you think that it’s a reasonable idea to use those tags to create collections automatically in Kobo? I will have like 50 collections or so…I fear that it could be to much for the device to handle.

[Ripplinger]

Older firmware didn't sort by Series as it does in the newer firmwares. And because Collections is what fills in my lower right square on the home page, I still keep using Collections based on the Series.

I currently have close to 300 Collections on my Glo HD, and have zero problems because of it.

[PunkyKoopa]

My idea was to use genres to create collections and I enter all the metadata manually so it really fit my needs to use tags for that purpose.

I think you are saying you use tags, but, from my experience, they are almost the worst column to make collections from

Why do you think this? Will be any difference if I create a custom tag column and use it instead?

[Ripplinger]

Originally Posted by PunkyKoopa

Why do you think this? Will be any difference if I create a custom tag column and use it instead?

I use both Tags and Series to sort into Collections on my reader. It probably depends on how many tags you use.

For instance, I just use "Mystery" as a tag that truly covers all mystery for me. Whereas I've seen Mystery broken down into probably 50 categories, such as Cozy Mystery, Crime Mystery, Detective Mystery, Female Detective Mystery, etc. You get the idea.

I have only 43 total categories so it works out fine for me. I can imagine if someone broke those down as I mentioned some do, it could equate to 1000 tags, and my guess would be that's too cumbersome to wade through and why some avoid using tags. Whenever I add a book into Calibre, I make sure to prune out the dozen various tags that are automatically added and enter just my 1 tag, or sometimes 2 at most.

[PunkyKoopa]

Right, my case is quite similar to yours. I have more or less 50 tags so it's ok then.

Thank you!

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by PunkyKoopa

Why do you think this? Will be any difference if I create a custom tag column and use it instead?

I 100% disagree. I use the tags column and it works perfectly without the need to add another column. I can create collections from the tags column no problem. The one thing I do is delete any rubbish put in the tags column by the rubbish in the OPF of the eBook.

So go ahead and use the tags column.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I 100% disagree. I use the tags column and it works perfectly without the need to add another column. I can create collections from the tags column no problem. The one thing I do is delete any rubbish put in the tags column by the rubbish in the OPF of the eBook.

So go ahead and use the tags column.

As has been explained to you many times, it isn't suitable for a lot of people. I think I'd end up with over 1000 collections and that is to many.

@PunkyKoopa: This is definitely one of those things that works differently for different people. Someone here only has one collection. I have collections based on status ("To Read", "Reading" and "Finished" - while those duplicate the filters, they are useful) and the source. The latter is basically where I got the book. For that one, I frequently use the "Kobo" collection because I can apply the reading status filters. From the main list, I can choose "Purchased" to show all the books from Kobo, but, I can't only show unread purchased books. With the collection, I can.

As to tags, I've never found the tags or genre works for me. I rarely choose a book based on these. I'm more likely to exclude a genre. For example, if I have just finished an Space Opera, then I would probably be looking for any genre other than Space Opera. And the collections don't work well to do that.

And the other thing to remember, if you don't like it, change it. This isn't something that you have to stick with. You can try the collections or genre or something else. If they don't work for you, change it. Don't be afraid to experiment. We won't judge. Though we might giggle a little if tell us you have 10000 collections and still can't find anything Or, in this case, start reading the thread and wonder how long before @JSWolf chimes in with "No one should use anything except tags".

[PunkyKoopa]

Yeah, that's a great thing about Calibre and all the plugins. The possibilities are endless.

I will try for now with tags, but having all the metadata in Calibre, change the way the books are show on the device is just two clicks, so as you said, I will change it if I don't like.

Thank you. Really. You have helped me a lot.

[JSWolf]

Thing is, when I was using a Sony Reader, the Tags and Series columns were it. There was no choice to use a custom column. So by the time I got my Kobo Aura H2O, my library was set using Tags and series and I see no problem using them. The only thing I have to do sometimes is to delete anything put in either/both columns when the eBook(s) is/are imported into Calibre.

But if you decide to just let those columns get populated by the eBooks and use different columns, that will work too.