Categorize by type, then print a list?

[mjshuster]

I’ve never tried to do anything other than use Calibre as a repository for my e-books.

Yesterday a friend asked for a list of my fantasy novels. How can I add or use an existing field for Category? I’d like to categorize my e-books by “type”, that is, (F)iction, (B)iography, (FA)ntasy, etc. Is there a coloured tag that I can use? Or can I add a field to the file structure?

Then I’d like to print off a list of my “Fantasy” e-books to give, or email, to my friend.

Over 20 years ago, I was a programmer. But I was a business programmer so I wrote programs in COBOL or in an SQL query language. I didn’t do any object oriented programming.

[BetterRed]

What you want is hierarchical tags, see Managing subgroups of books

Then you can search by subgroup (genre) and create a catalogue to send to your friend

BR

[theducks]

Create a CSV Catalog (use you fav spreadsheet for printing)
Catalog respects the current view
So search tags:fantasy (verify results meet your needs)
Right click the convert Icon: Catalog: Select CSV: Use the options tab to select fields to include.
Run:save to a target folder: Open CSV with spreadsheet

[sjfan]

Originally Posted by mjshuster

I’ve never tried to do anything other than use Calibre as a repository for my e-books.

Yesterday a friend asked for a list of my fantasy novels. How can I add or use an existing field for Category? I’d like to categorize my e-books by “type”, that is, (F)iction, (B)iography, (FA)ntasy, etc. Is there a coloured tag that I can use? Or can I add a field to the file structure?

Then I’d like to print off a list of my “Fantasy” e-books to give, or email, to my friend.

Over 20 years ago, I was a programmer. But I was a business programmer so I wrote programs in COBOL or in an SQL query language. I didn’t do any object oriented programming.

Calibre has tags built in (comma-separated). So as you add books, you just make sure you tag things appropriately. If you've already added things, a search by author and bulk edit can be handy for authors who write mainly in one genre. For instance you can search for “Agatha Christie”, select all, bulk edit tags to “Fiction, Mystery”, and then go hand edit only those books that don't fit the category.

Than you can search for “tag:Fantasy” or whatever. theducks explained how to generate a CSV catalog from this if you want.

If you want tags to show in the main view, right-click on one of the existing columns and choose “Show column -> Tags”. See the attached image for an example.

[mjshuster]

To the 3 people who responded to this question. These suggestions worked like a charm.

I am also curious as to what Calibre’s underlying file structure is. Is it a flat file or is there a relational database in there?

[theducks]

Originally Posted by mjshuster

To the 3 people who responded to this question. These suggestions worked like a charm.

I am also curious as to what Calibre’s underlying file structure is. Is it a flat file or is there a relational database in there?

HUGE RDB

SQLITE spy (just don't tamper )

[retiredbiker]

Originally Posted by theducks

HUGE RDB

As theducks said...So don't even think of mucking about with the file structure of the library with your file manager!

[theducks]

Originally Posted by retiredbiker

As theducks said...So don't even think of mucking about with the file structure of the library with your file manager!

I was talking about the structure of metadata.db. But your point also stands.