Need help setting up a saved search

[ficbot]

Hi Kovid

I watched your excellent video on the website and think that saved searches might be the way for me to organize my library more easily. I am having trouble setting up a complex search. I have many books I have read which I want to browse to maybe re-read. But if I finish a book and do not plan to re-read it, I use a tag 'archive.' So what I want is to browse finished books which do not have this tag. But I am not sure if Calibre allows NOT searches and if so how to set it up.

Right now, I am marking read books using the star rating (i.e. they have one star) but perhaps I need a custom yes/no field as you demonstrated in the video. However, I tried that and could not get that field to show up in the tag browser so I could browse only books marked yes or only books marked no. Can you advise me on the simplest way to set up easy browsing or read and unread books, and to omit the books tagged 'archive' from my list of read books?

[theducks]

Originally Posted by ficbot

Hi Kovid

I watched your excellent video on the website and think that saved searches might be the way for me to organize my library more easily. I am having trouble setting up a complex search. I have many books I have read which I want to browse to maybe re-read. But if I finish a book and do not plan to re-read it, I use a tag 'archive.' So what I want is to browse finished books which do not have this tag. But I am not sure if Calibre allows NOT searches and if so how to set it up.

Right now, I am marking read books using the star rating (i.e. they have one star) but perhaps I need a custom yes/no field as you demonstrated in the video. However, I tried that and could not get that field to show up in the tag browser so I could browse only books marked yes or only books marked no. Can you advise me on the simplest way to set up easy browsing or read and unread books, and to omit the books tagged 'archive' from my list of read books?

Do it the simple way
Use the luggage tag

in the luggage tag browser there is a User Tag section.
click your tag once (red +) to in include, click again (Green -) to exclude (Not)
Hold the Control key and build additional parts as desired (remember to set the search type at the bottom of the list)
Once you have your search tuned in, use the normal "Save search" at the upper right.