It's difficult for me but I'm finally beginning to get it

[OldLincoln]

I love this application even if it is built by wizards. I have my books just fine and all is well and I'm happy. I decided to try and hide my old classics (about 120) which I will read someday, and when I'm looking for the next books to send to my reader, the read books get in the way, so I spent a whole day figuring it out. First couple of hours was crazy as all the help and threads said just open the tag browser - but I couldn't find it! So I tried building tag searches which I could find books if the tag was there but couldn't find book where I hadn't used the tag.

Finally I added a column titled Hide (Y/N) and checked the classics. Then I could search on that which was good. So I found I could use my "Read" and "Hide" columns which worked but was awkward. Next I looked at the Virtual Library. I messed with it a long time ago and thought it was dumb but know realize it was me who was dumb.

So I now have tabs across the top showing /All Books / Unread & UnHidden / Read Books / UnRead Books / Hidden Books / UnHidden Books. It's downright magic I say!! I've wanted this for a long time but was determined to do it on my own. You all have been willing to help but it's like tugging on Einstein's lab coat and asking where's the bathroom. Not your attitude but mine not wanting to bother you with simple stuff.

Thanks to all you Wizards!!

[eschwartz]

Happy to hear you got it working!

(We are more than happy to provide any help we can, anyway. Even if it is easy stuff, you can always ask. The people who hang out here and offer help to newbies can be very patient, anyone else doesn't have to read the thread if they don't want to.)

[OldLincoln]

Thanks, eschwartz, I'll keep that in mind.

OL

[cvlowe]

I'm new to the program as well, kinda reading these forums to pick up a few tips here and there and working on figuring out the software in the meantime. My main problem is I have over 800 books and 98% of them imported with the metadata screwed up (not Calibres fault) so I've been slowly hammering away at fixing that. I've found using separate libraries for different items is a good way to separate out my collections which turned Calibre into far more than "just" an e-book organization tool. I have Gaming books in one library, User manuals for various devices/appliances in another, Personal info (taxes, contracts, etc) in another. Probably not what was intended, and again, it takes a while to tag/sort everything but it will be worthwhile in the future when I need a particular file and can find it easier.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by cvlowe

I'm new to the program as well, kinda reading these forums to pick up a few tips here and there and working on figuring out the software in the meantime. My main problem is I have over 800 books and 98% of them imported with the metadata screwed up (not Calibres fault) so I've been slowly hammering away at fixing that. I've found using separate libraries for different items is a good way to separate out my collections which turned Calibre into far more than "just" an e-book organization tool. I have Gaming books in one library, User manuals for various devices/appliances in another, Personal info (taxes, contracts, etc) in another. Probably not what was intended, and again, it takes a while to tag/sort everything but it will be worthwhile in the future when I need a particular file and can find it easier.

Welcome
I am a firm believer in making pounding metadata into the shape you want. That does take time like anything else that is hand crafted .
My manuals are tagged: Reference.User Guides ( I use hierarchical tags)

[cybmole]

Originally Posted by theducks

Welcome
I am a firm believer in making pounding metadata into the shape you want. That does take time like anything else that is hand crafted .
My manuals are tagged: Reference.User Guides ( I use hierarchical tags)

I've asked many embarrassingly dumb questions since joining here.

heres another one:
-> ducks how do you and others do that strikethrough text thing wheen there's not such option in the message formatting icons ?. o you actually type in strike and /strike inside of square brackets every time ?

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by cybmole

-> ducks how do you and others do that strikethrough text thing wheen there's not such option in the message formatting icons ?. o you actually type in strike and /strike inside of square brackets every time ?

Actually, yes -- until I discovered a plugin to do it for me. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/fir...on/bbcodextra/

Now I can right-click to add all kinds of formatting tags at will.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by cybmole

I've asked many embarrassingly dumb questions since joining here.

heres another one:
-> ducks how do you and others do that strikethrough text thing wheen there's not such option in the message formatting icons ?. o you actually type in strike and /strike inside of square brackets every time ?

Yes, same with a few others. There is a long list of those and others for this BB, it is just hard to find in the help
(why is it that modern software makes it so hard to find out how to fully use it? My TAB and Android phone just assume we know all the magic gestures. I use a very common one, when I can't get what I want done )

Remember when MSDOS came with a 3/4" book. Paradox DOS had 5 volumes. Wordstar, a thick book (and you still needed a thicker one to really exploit the power of the tool)

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by theducks

Yes, same with a few others. There is a long list of those and others for this BB, it is just hard to find in the help
(why is it that modern software makes it so hard to find out how to fully use it? My TAB and Android phone just assume we know all the magic gestures. I use a very common one, when I can't get what I want done )

Remember when MSDOS came with a 3/4" book. Paradox DOS had 5 volumes. Wordstar, a thick book (and you still needed a thicker one to really exploit the power of the tool)

OTOH

K&R - The C Programming Language = 274 pages & 1.5cm thick
Lutz - Programming Python = 1643 pages & 7.6cm thick

BR

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by theducks

Remember when MSDOS came with a 3/4" book. Paradox DOS had 5 volumes. Wordstar, a thick book (and you still needed a thicker one to really exploit the power of the tool)

I do miss the time where you got a huge book with any software (even games) you bought. I find it strange that we are expected to "just know" somehow how to use software we buy.

[richieadler]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

I do miss the time where you got a huge book with any software (even games) you bought. I find it strange that we are expected to "just know" somehow how to use software we buy.

There is that "little" thing (that can actually be a humongous file) called "the help file", which one should peruse like a book, starting with the index, when using a completely new program for the first time.

Also, many manuals now come in PDF format in the installation disks, to avoid the costs of printing but without loss of quality nor format. This is actually better, I think; as the old hacker adage goes, you cannot grep dead trees.