estimate length of book ?

[cybmole]

i wonder is there any way in calibre - or even in sigil- to get an estimate of the length of an epub format book. I know that once I actually transfer a file to my sony e-reader I will see the number of "pages" but sometimes I would like a rough idea beforehand

is there anyway to do that ? i.e. build a custom column for "length"

[Ripplinger]

There's a plugin called "Count Pages" you might try. While the page count isn't always accurate, it will give you a good idea of the length, and I believe the word count usually is pretty close. It will add custom columns for page and word counts, or one or the other.

[cybmole]

that sounds ideal, thanks - i have found the plug-in and am following instructions - will be back if I get stuck

I assume that when it find epub+ original epub formats it works only on the former - that is what I want it to do

[Ripplinger]

Correct, it will show only one count, for the epub. If you have a an epub and mobi copy of the book, it also will show only one count, and I believe it uses the epub for the count in that instance.

[cybmole]

thanks - I have the count pages job running - it will take a while as I have about 1500 books - it has not updated the pages column t all yet but maybe it does that at end of job - 33% done so far.

next time I add a book - will it auto update or will I need to run the job again ?

[Ripplinger]

It will add all the pages after the job runs. You'll have to run the it whenever you add books. I usually add like 15-30 books at a time, once I have metadata cleaned up and how I want it, then I run count pages as the final step.

[cybmole]

it worked - excellent - thanks

but you can't run in incrementally - to process only the newly added books? I have to go thru the whole 45+ minutes if a add a book ?

[theducks]

Count pages runs on the selected books.

select 3 books... 3 books get counted.

Count pages is part (near the end) of my work flow:
add book
Get-fix metadata and select cover (I prefer Fantastic Fictions size range 316x500 as a good balance between detail and file size). Record source, original format type.

convert (if needed) or run Modify EPUB to insert cover, metadata,remove Word cruft.
Count Pages
send to device (ADE)

... sometime Later
Fine tune with Sigil
Add/update Edit date and Flightcrew status to metadata
run Count Pages if edits performed changes that might effect the computed size (like: deKruft, remove excessive use of id="123.." )

[mbovenka]

Originally Posted by cybmole

it worked - excellent - thanks

but you can't run in incrementally - to process only the newly added books? I have to go thru the whole 45+ minutes if a add a book ?

Sure you can. Just select the books you want to run it on in some way. I tend to use 'date:today' to filter out the books I just added, select them and run the plugin.

Or use '<filter name of your custom column>:false; that directly filters all books that don't have a page count.

[Ripplinger]

You don't have to recount them all when you add new books. Just click on the column for either the page or word counts so that the empty columns will sort at the top, you know those are your newest books added. Just highlight those without numbers in the count columns (click the topmost one without a number in the column, hold down your shift key and click the bottommost title without a number in the column to select them all quickly), click the icon to Count Pages from your top menu bar (if you didn't go into options to set it there, you might want to do that). Then it will only count your newest additions and it won't take long at all to complete.

[cybmole]

count pages results are significantly higher/different than Sony PRS+ results, is that because different algorithms are being used ?

for books currently on my e-reader I see
calibre pages vs sony pages
383 vs 486
951 vs 1310
299 vs 383
288 vs 307
347 vs 544
392 vs 525

so in one case only results are close, in most cases there's 20+% difference

[theducks]

Originally Posted by cybmole

count pages results are significantly higher/different than Sony PRS+ results, is that because different algorithms are being used ?

for books currently on my e-reader I see
calibre pages vs sony pages
383 vs 486
951 vs 1310
299 vs 383
288 vs 307
347 vs 544
392 vs 525

so in one case only results are close, in most cases there's 20+% difference

Which Algorithm did you use (you did configure the PI?) ?

[cybmole]

Originally Posted by theducks

Which Algorithm did you use (you did configure the PI?) ?

i am using a Sony PRS 650 with current PRS+ firmware.
I think the PRS+ is doing the page counts, which are displayed after the book has been opened for the first time. - I don't recall whether default Sony firmware did it originally. I have not tweaked the PRS+ page count routine at all; there are no configurable user options for page count mechanics, just display options. I have it set to show page x of y. I guess their algorithm will be documented somewhere but I don't have a link to hand.

for the calibre plug in - just looked for the plug in thread elsewhere in this forum & followed the instructions therein -did I miss some important step ?

UPDATE - YEP - I see that the PI defaults to a Kindle algorithm - have changed it to ADE & am re-running

UPDATE 2 all good now - thanks

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Ripplinger

There's a plugin called "Count Pages" you might try. While the page count isn't always accurate, it will give you a good idea of the length, and I believe the word count usually is pretty close. It will add custom columns for page and word counts, or one or the other.

Page count is very accurate if you use the ADE method. It then matches what ADE shows as the total number of pages. You can also count the number of words as well.