Eliminating Unused (Deceptive) Metadata Fields

Jaws · 06-28-2014, 05:51 PM

... in particular, the "ratings", "tags", and "date" fields.

I would like to force Calibre to ignore, or at minimum zero-out, each of these fields when I'm adding a book. The "ratings" field is particularly annoying, as it is at best useless and usually inaccurate and misleading, regardless of the source of the book. The "tages" are positively useless, especially for books imported from the Big Brazilian River; most of the time, they're actively deceptive. And I simply do not care about the date that I finally get around to adding a book to my library, particularly since so many of them are "classics" and/or foreign editions and/or noncommercial.

It's only a minor annoyance -- I can, after all, manually do so for each book imported -- but it seems to me that there should be an option or setup parameter to reject or zero-out specific metadata fields. If so, I haven't found documentation for it.

Less data is better than bad data.

Anyone? Bueller?

Jaws · 06-28-2014, 06:14 PM

And a clarification based on another (two-year-old) thread:

I do not want to just "not display" these fields. I do not want them in the files produced. That is, if I take that file to another computer/reader, I want these fields either deleted from the epub/mobi/whatevertheyweresavedandexportedas or set to a value of {null}. Simply telling Calibre "don't show this 'column' " is not what I'm asking for.

theducks · 06-28-2014, 06:35 PM

Clear the Tags within Calibre (using tag editor/Manage Tags)

Use the least invasive tool from the list (Format dependent)

Polish (EPUB or AZW3)
Modify EPUB
hand edit usinf format specific tools (difficult for some formats, but always tedious)
Convert (to same format)

BetterRed · 06-28-2014, 07:48 PM

@Jaws - if you empty the Ratings, Tags and Date columns in your books with Metadata Edit (in bulk or individually) then when you Send to Device or Save to Disk they wont be there. If you want to update the format files in the library folders you could use the just added Embed Metadata feature.

If you set up Add Books settings to Mark newly added books, its simple enough to select Marked Books and do a Bulk metadata edit to clear the pesky columns.

If you don't want custom columns embedded in your books AND they are EPUBs, then you can use the Modify plugin to remove all non Dublin Core metadata items.

BR

06-28-2014, 05:51 PM	#1
Jaws JCL Punch-Card Collector Posts: 75 Karma: 34468 Join Date: Jun 2014 Location: Antarctica Device: Aggressively Device Independent	Eliminating Unused (Deceptive) Metadata Fields ... in particular, the "ratings", "tags", and "date" fields. I would like to force Calibre to ignore, or at minimum zero-out, each of these fields when I'm adding a book. The "ratings" field is particularly annoying, as it is at best useless and usually inaccurate and misleading, regardless of the source of the book. The "tages" are positively useless, especially for books imported from the Big Brazilian River; most of the time, they're actively deceptive. And I simply do not care about the date that I finally get around to adding a book to my library, particularly since so many of them are "classics" and/or foreign editions and/or noncommercial. It's only a minor annoyance -- I can, after all, manually do so for each book imported -- but it seems to me that there should be an option or setup parameter to reject or zero-out specific metadata fields. If so, I haven't found documentation for it. Less data is better than bad data. Anyone? Bueller?

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06-28-2014, 06:14 PM	#2
Jaws JCL Punch-Card Collector Posts: 75 Karma: 34468 Join Date: Jun 2014 Location: Antarctica Device: Aggressively Device Independent	And a clarification based on another (two-year-old) thread: I do not want to just "not display" these fields. I do not want them in the files produced. That is, if I take that file to another computer/reader, I want these fields either deleted from the epub/mobi/whatevertheyweresavedandexportedas or set to a value of {null}. Simply telling Calibre "don't show this 'column' " is not what I'm asking for.

06-28-2014, 06:35 PM	#3
theducks Well trained by Cats Posts: 31,047 Karma: 60358908 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: The Central Coast of California Device: Kobo Libra2,Kobo Aura2v1, K4NT(Fixed: New Bat.), Galaxy Tab A	Clear the Tags within Calibre (using tag editor/Manage Tags) Use the least invasive tool from the list (Format dependent) Polish (EPUB or AZW3) Modify EPUB hand edit usinf format specific tools (difficult for some formats, but always tedious) Convert (to same format)

06-28-2014, 07:48 PM	#4
BetterRed null operator (he/him) Posts: 21,721 Karma: 29711016 Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Sydney Australia Device: none	@Jaws - if you empty the Ratings, Tags and Date columns in your books with Metadata Edit (in bulk or individually) then when you Send to Device or Save to Disk they wont be there. If you want to update the format files in the library folders you could use the just added Embed Metadata feature. If you set up Add Books settings to Mark newly added books, its simple enough to select Marked Books and do a Bulk metadata edit to clear the pesky columns. If you don't want custom columns embedded in your books AND they are EPUBs, then you can use the Modify plugin to remove all non Dublin Core metadata items. BR

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