Mark which books are on which device

[xiaojohn]

I use Calibre with three devices: Kobo Elipsa, Kobo Libra 2 and Boox Lumi, each for a different purpose. I want Calibre to be able to keep track of which books are on which device, even when they are not connected. I currently note this manually in a custom column.

Is there a way for Calibre to do this automatically? That is, when I connect a device, Calibre will show what books are on the device (which it of course does now), and will then retain and update this information in a custom column or in each book's metadata when the device is ejected?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by xiaojohn

I use Calibre with three devices: Kobo Elipsa, Kobo Libra 2 and Boox Lumi, each for a different purpose. I want Calibre to be able to keep track of which books are on which device, even when they are not connected. I currently note this manually in a custom column.

Is there a way for Calibre to do this automatically? That is, when I connect a device, Calibre will show what books are on the device (which it of course does now), and will then retain and update this information in a custom column or in each book's metadata when the device is ejected?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

You can do this using the Reading List plugin.

[xiaojohn]

Thanks. I had the Reading List plug-in but hadn't dug deep enough into it. It does exactly what I wanted.

[davidfor]

As @JSWolf said, you can use the Reading List plugin. You do it with a reading list that gets updated when the device is connected. You can also have it set a value in a column if you want.

But why do you need to do this? You state each device is used for a type of book. Doesn't that mean that you already know what books are on each device? And you can always look at the device.

What I do is the opposite of what you are asking. I have a reading list for each device. When I get a new book, I decide which device it should be on and add it to the list for the device. When the device is connected, the books get sent to the device and the list is cleared. Hence, I know what is on each device, the books that are supposed to be on the device.

I did try what you are asking at one time. But, I ended up with twice as many lists and they seemed redundant. And, updating a value means the modified timestamp for the books are updated when the device is connected and I did not like this.

[xiaojohn]

Originally Posted by davidfor

As @JSWolf said, you can use the Reading List plugin. You do it with a reading list that gets updated when the device is connected. You can also have it set a value in a column if you want.

But why do you need to do this? You state each device is used for a type of book. Doesn't that mean that you already know what books are on each device? And you can always look at the device.

What I do is the opposite of what you are asking. I have a reading list for each device. When I get a new book, I decide which device it should be on and add it to the list for the device. When the device is connected, the books get sent to the device and the list is cleared. Hence, I know what is on each device, the books that are supposed to be on the device.

I did try what you are asking at one time. But, I ended up with twice as many lists and they seemed redundant. And, updating a value means the modified timestamp for the books are updated when the device is connected and I did not like this.

I see what you mean, but I would still like Calibre to show me which books are where. I have adjusted the plug-in as you suggest to now be my main way to send books to my devices, but I have unchecked the 'Clear this list after a sync' box so that I retain a record of the contents of each device.

Thanks for the tip - Calibre, its plug-ins and its generous community of users are truly wonderful things.

[JSWolf]

You could create a Y/N column for every device you want to track what's on it.