Which first: Organize or Load?

hrynkiw · 03-21-2011, 07:08 PM

Oh Experience Calibre Users, I need advice.

I currently have about 50 or 60 books in my Calibre library, and they represent a fairly good cross-section of my e-library in terms of authors, tags and genres.

But I have several hundred additional books waiting in the wings to be added to Calibre. (Okay, more than 500 -- I've been collecting them for a while.)

Should I organize the existing books first (e.g. download/tidy metadata, determine tags, etc) and then slowly and carefully add the remaining books, editing and organizing as I go?

OR

Should I add *all* the books in one fell swoop and then proceed with the organization?

Part of me says "if you load them all at once, you can use the bulk editing tools to fix them all at once". But another part of me is worried that I'll become overwhelmed by the number of entries and I'll end up... well, walking away from the whole task.

What would you do?

(I've been using Calibre for about a year now, but in reading these fora over the past few days, I've discovered that I've hardly scratched the surface as far as using Calibre to its full potential. Any tips you can offer for efficient library organization/management would be welcome.)

Nyssa · 03-21-2011, 07:16 PM

It really depends on how much time & patience you have, as well as, how detailed and particular you are as far as organization. My immediate reaction, however, is to advise you to take it slow - sections at a time, where you choose to work with specific authors, genres or numbers (as in the first 25 to 50 books).

It would also help for you decided, before hand, what all you want to do with the books, and whether or not there are any Plugins you may want to use to help you meet your goals.

Here is an Introduction to plugins , should you decided to go that route.

Most importantly, take your time, and have fun.

jackie_w · 03-21-2011, 07:21 PM

Only a personal opinion, but you may gain valuable Calibre experience and learn a lot by fully "tidying up" those 50-60 books. You'll know what to avoid when you do the rest.

I have to admit, though, that I rarely do "bulk anything" in calibre (control freak, maybe). I like to know exactly where I'm up to. I'd certainly never bulk download metadata like tags - too much potential for a lot of junk data.

For what it's worth, when I did my initial imports I processed an author at a time. It allowed me to keep the author's FantasticFiction single webpage open so I could see all the series info and easily access each synopsis.

Following on from what Nyssa said. If you haven't already done so install the 'Search the Internet' plugin. It will save you a lot of effort Googling.

hrynkiw · 03-21-2011, 07:29 PM

Thanks Nyssa.

And omg, look at the list of available plugins! I see at least three already that I'd like to try out.

hrynkiw · 03-21-2011, 07:32 PM

Ah. Good points both, jackie_w.

I admit that one of the fields I end up editing the most is tags. I don't know who adds/creates them, but I find many of them to be entirely out to lunch. On the other hand, I've discovered and adopted some that I wouldn't have thought of myself.

Nyssa · 03-21-2011, 07:37 PM

You're welcome!

I'm using quite a few of them, myself. This one is new, but I would highly recommend adding the Plugin Updater! It will allow you to keep track of which plugins you are using, tell you when they are updated, and keep a list of those not added in case you want to use them in the future. It came in handy two days after I installed it.

Edit:

Quote:

Originally Posted by hrynkiw

Ah. Good points both, jackie_w.

I admit that one of the fields I end up editing the most is tags. I don't know who adds/creates them, but I find many of them to be entirely out to lunch. On the other hand, I've discovered and adopted some that I wouldn't have thought of myself.

I just started a whole thread on this topic. I went on a meta data spree this weekend. I still can't get over the tag "Balloon ascensions"

chilady1 · 03-21-2011, 08:05 PM

This is a great question - kinda on par with which came first, the chicken or the egg.

Here's my opinion:

I would load first and organize second. The main reason is because with all the wonderful plug-ins that have been created, it really makes organizing the books once loaded, so much easier.

I have been using Calibre for about a year and half and seen the unbelievable development of this program for a while and can tell you I wish that half of what you can do with Calibre today had been there when I started out.

Plus, there are a ton of very nice people here to help you along the way. I probably would not have been able to figure out much of this stuff had it not been for some very patient people. Either way you can't go wrong. Good Luck!

kiwidude · 03-21-2011, 09:48 PM

My first Calibre library I dumped many thousands of books into it, with a very complicated workflow to handle duplicates, cleaning up author/title names etc. Along the way I changed my mind multiple times about how I wanted stuff tagged, how I named authors and series, how I recorded books read etc. It was very time consuming and Calibre performance degrades with massive libraries (much less now than it used to though!). I ended up with a huge library of books but I had no idea which were actually "readable" to a standard I would find acceptable for sending to my Kindle. I tried cleaning up the library over time and marking books with tags when done but it was too depressing for me as I never felt like I was catching up and the "good stuff" was lost amongst the mess.

The OCD in me just could not cope with having an inconsistent library or the ever increasing duplicate problem as you add more books. So I started again with a fresh library and use the "Copy to library (Delete after copy)" menu option or add from my file storage to migrate stuff author by author. I then grab the best covers & metadata I can find, create empty books for stuff on my wishlist to complete the series for that author, convert if not already to the best quality EPUB and edit in Sigil to get to my picky standard, delete all other formats and then convert to MOBI, so I have versions for my Kindle and any future device (from EPUB). Only then do I grab another set of books to add...

At least this way I am as confident as I can be that a book I put on my device or share with friends/family it is ready to be read and enjoyed. But each to their own

Perkin · 03-22-2011, 07:30 AM

I'd firstly go through the original files, trying to make sure they use a consistant naming convention, which will help in the importing.
(You can then adjust the 'adding books' regex in preferences and 'use filename for metadata')

series series# - title - author
Or
author - series series# - title

Then when importing (in batches), they'll be fairly organised, you can then use the plugins to get the other metadata and tags etc - upgrade covers.

Starson17 · 03-22-2011, 09:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kiwidude

My first Calibre library I dumped many thousands of books into it

My belief is that unless you go through a process like this, of dumping lots of books in and trying to fix them up, you'll never learn how to use Calibre effectively to "fix" book records and you'll never know exactly how you want them organized.

misling · 03-22-2011, 04:04 PM

I sort of did both. First I imported everything I had into a Calibre library named Not Started.
Then I created a second library called Work Space, and used the 'move to library' function to put in books that I wanted to work on right now. Usually they are batches of one author or one series or whatever.
Then I fixed stuff up in Work Space. As I fixed it up, I moved it to another library called Completed.
So the Completed library is always nice and clean.

and the work space is the stuff I'm in the middle of, and the Not Started is one big mess.

hrynkiw · 03-22-2011, 08:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kiwidude

I then (...) create empty books for stuff on my wishlist to complete the series for that author

Could you tell me more about using empty books please?

I saw mention of this in.. I think the Manage Series plugin. When viewing the series in Calibre, how do I tell if the book I'm looking at is a real book or an empty one? What happens to the empty book when I actually load the real book (does it become a duplicate)? Is the empty book downloaded to my reader?

hrynkiw · 03-22-2011, 08:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by misling

First I imported everything I had into a Calibre library named Not Started.
Then I created a second library called Work Space, (...) another library called Completed.

I can have multiple libraries? And easily move books between the libraries? AND presumably sync my reader with only one? Ohhh, I like that.

Thank you, misling.

hrynkiw · 03-22-2011, 08:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Perkin

(...) (You can then adjust the 'adding books' regex in preferences and 'use filename for metadata') (...)

Ah! I can use RegEx for importing books to maintain series information? Oh, this just gets better and better. I'm so glad I joined this site and found this forum.

Thank-you. May each of you find your favourite book in your favourite e-format -- as a freebie.

theducks · 03-22-2011, 08:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hrynkiw

Could you tell me more about using empty books please?

I saw mention of this in.. I think the Manage Series plugin. When viewing the series in Calibre, how do I tell if the book I'm looking at is a real book or an empty one? What happens to the empty book when I actually load the real book (does it become a duplicate)? Is the empty book downloaded to my reader?

Empty books are Metadata only. There are NO formats attached (yet

), therfore it is impossible to send a non-existent FORMAT to your reader..
While 'auto-merge' may work. I prefer to open the Meta-data editor and ADD/Drop the format in the exact place it belongs.

To see 'empty books':
Type into the search bar: formats:false

03-21-2011, 07:08 PM	#1
hrynkiw Connoisseur Posts: 74 Karma: 154 Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Greater Vancouver, Canada Device: Kindle Paperwhite 10, iPhone, iPad	Which first: Organize or Load? Oh Experience Calibre Users, I need advice. I currently have about 50 or 60 books in my Calibre library, and they represent a fairly good cross-section of my e-library in terms of authors, tags and genres. But I have several hundred additional books waiting in the wings to be added to Calibre. (Okay, more than 500 -- I've been collecting them for a while.) Should I organize the existing books first (e.g. download/tidy metadata, determine tags, etc) and then slowly and carefully add the remaining books, editing and organizing as I go? OR Should I add all the books in one fell swoop and then proceed with the organization? Part of me says "if you load them all at once, you can use the bulk editing tools to fix them all at once". But another part of me is worried that I'll become overwhelmed by the number of entries and I'll end up... well, walking away from the whole task. What would you do? (I've been using Calibre for about a year now, but in reading these fora over the past few days, I've discovered that I've hardly scratched the surface as far as using Calibre to its full potential. Any tips you can offer for efficient library organization/management would be welcome.)

03-21-2011, 07:21 PM	#3
jackie_w Grand Sorcerer Posts: 6,247 Karma: 16539642 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: UK Device: ClaraHD, Forma, Libra2, Clara2E, LibraCol, PBTouchHD3	Only a personal opinion, but you may gain valuable Calibre experience and learn a lot by fully "tidying up" those 50-60 books. You'll know what to avoid when you do the rest. I have to admit, though, that I rarely do "bulk anything" in calibre (control freak, maybe). I like to know exactly where I'm up to. I'd certainly never bulk download metadata like tags - too much potential for a lot of junk data. For what it's worth, when I did my initial imports I processed an author at a time. It allowed me to keep the author's FantasticFiction single webpage open so I could see all the series info and easily access each synopsis. Following on from what Nyssa said. If you haven't already done so install the 'Search the Internet' plugin. It will save you a lot of effort Googling. Last edited by jackie_w; 03-21-2011 at 07:26 PM.

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03-21-2011, 07:16 PM	#2
Nyssa Series Addict Posts: 6,180 Karma: 167189477 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Florida, USA Device: Kindle Paperwhite (2nd Gen)	It really depends on how much time & patience you have, as well as, how detailed and particular you are as far as organization. My immediate reaction, however, is to advise you to take it slow - sections at a time, where you choose to work with specific authors, genres or numbers (as in the first 25 to 50 books). It would also help for you decided, before hand, what all you want to do with the books, and whether or not there are any Plugins you may want to use to help you meet your goals. Here is an Introduction to plugins , should you decided to go that route. Most importantly, take your time, and have fun.

03-21-2011, 07:29 PM	#4
hrynkiw Connoisseur Posts: 74 Karma: 154 Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Greater Vancouver, Canada Device: Kindle Paperwhite 10, iPhone, iPad	Thanks Nyssa. And omg, look at the list of available plugins! I see at least three already that I'd like to try out.

03-21-2011, 07:32 PM	#5
hrynkiw Connoisseur Posts: 74 Karma: 154 Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Greater Vancouver, Canada Device: Kindle Paperwhite 10, iPhone, iPad	Ah. Good points both, jackie_w. I admit that one of the fields I end up editing the most is tags. I don't know who adds/creates them, but I find many of them to be entirely out to lunch. On the other hand, I've discovered and adopted some that I wouldn't have thought of myself.

03-21-2011, 08:05 PM	#7
chilady1 I devour books! Posts: 789 Karma: 1285226 Join Date: Mar 2009 Device: iPad Air, Kindle 3/Kobo Aura HD, iPhone 6	This is a great question - kinda on par with which came first, the chicken or the egg. Here's my opinion: I would load first and organize second. The main reason is because with all the wonderful plug-ins that have been created, it really makes organizing the books once loaded, so much easier. I have been using Calibre for about a year and half and seen the unbelievable development of this program for a while and can tell you I wish that half of what you can do with Calibre today had been there when I started out. Plus, there are a ton of very nice people here to help you along the way. I probably would not have been able to figure out much of this stuff had it not been for some very patient people. Either way you can't go wrong. Good Luck!

03-21-2011, 09:48 PM	#8
kiwidude Calibre Plugins Developer Posts: 4,720 Karma: 2197770 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Australia Device: Kindle Oasis	My first Calibre library I dumped many thousands of books into it, with a very complicated workflow to handle duplicates, cleaning up author/title names etc. Along the way I changed my mind multiple times about how I wanted stuff tagged, how I named authors and series, how I recorded books read etc. It was very time consuming and Calibre performance degrades with massive libraries (much less now than it used to though!). I ended up with a huge library of books but I had no idea which were actually "readable" to a standard I would find acceptable for sending to my Kindle. I tried cleaning up the library over time and marking books with tags when done but it was too depressing for me as I never felt like I was catching up and the "good stuff" was lost amongst the mess. The OCD in me just could not cope with having an inconsistent library or the ever increasing duplicate problem as you add more books. So I started again with a fresh library and use the "Copy to library (Delete after copy)" menu option or add from my file storage to migrate stuff author by author. I then grab the best covers & metadata I can find, create empty books for stuff on my wishlist to complete the series for that author, convert if not already to the best quality EPUB and edit in Sigil to get to my picky standard, delete all other formats and then convert to MOBI, so I have versions for my Kindle and any future device (from EPUB). Only then do I grab another set of books to add... At least this way I am as confident as I can be that a book I put on my device or share with friends/family it is ready to be read and enjoyed. But each to their own

03-22-2011, 07:30 AM	#9
Perkin Guru Posts: 657 Karma: 64171 Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Kent, England, Sol 3, ZZ9 plural Z Alpha Device: Sony PRS-300, Kobo Aura HD, iPad (Marvin)	I'd firstly go through the original files, trying to make sure they use a consistant naming convention, which will help in the importing. (You can then adjust the 'adding books' regex in preferences and 'use filename for metadata') series series# - title - author Or author - series series# - title Then when importing (in batches), they'll be fairly organised, you can then use the plugins to get the other metadata and tags etc - upgrade covers.

03-22-2011, 04:04 PM	#11
misling Zealot Posts: 106 Karma: 510000 Join Date: Nov 2010 Device: Kindle	I sort of did both. First I imported everything I had into a Calibre library named Not Started. Then I created a second library called Work Space, and used the 'move to library' function to put in books that I wanted to work on right now. Usually they are batches of one author or one series or whatever. Then I fixed stuff up in Work Space. As I fixed it up, I moved it to another library called Completed. So the Completed library is always nice and clean. and the work space is the stuff I'm in the middle of, and the Not Started is one big mess.

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