Refreshing book list for virtual library?

pwinn · 09-11-2017, 12:05 PM

There doesn't seem to be a way to refresh the book list for a virtual library without editing two or more items. Or maybe I'm just not seeing it.

I first ran into this problem with a virtual library called "This Week," but for simplification I created a virtual library called "Today." The search expression is: "date:>1daysago"

Since I haven't added any books today, I expect that virtual library to be empty. Instead it contains the books I added last week. On that day last week, the book list was correct. On Wednesday it contained the two books I'd added that day. But every day since then, it's been wrong. Even adding another book today just gives me three books.

If I highlight more than one book and hit 'E' to edit meta information, there's a 'Refresh book list after edit' checkbox. So I have to then edit something completely inconsequential, like setting 'Date' to whatever the date already is. That's the only way I've found to make the virtual library accurately update and show the books that meet the condition.

I've searched for any answers on this, and the last comment I found was from two years ago, in which Mr. Goyal said, "The library view never needs to be refreshed unless you perform operations outside of calibre. If you have some situation where that is not true, I'd like to hear about it."

Here you go: the advancement of time is apparently an operation outside of Calibre and requires my virtual library view to be refreshed.

P.S. I should note that I leave calibre running full-time around the clock, so I can download books to my iPad when I'm not home.

chaley · 09-11-2017, 12:35 PM

The book list doesn't ever refresh spontaneously, which would be required to notice that time had passed. Something must happen to make calibre redisplay the list. That "something" doesn't need to be a change/edit. In your case, I am sure that any of the following would cause the list to refresh. This list is certainly not exhaustive.

Search for something. Perhaps something like "title:true" that will find all the books in the virtual library.
Change to a different (or no) virtual library then change back.
Look at the device view then come back to the library view.
Edit metadata (multiple) and press OK without making any changes.
Change to the cover grid then back to the book list

ekbell · 09-11-2017, 10:20 PM

If you have two or more virtual libraries open using tabs then just clicking to another tab and back again will refresh the book list.

pwinn · 09-18-2017, 10:33 PM

What you're saying makes perfect sense, and when I first saw your posts, they even seemed to work. But it wasn't clear to me why, as I was *sure* I'd tried all those things before. So there was a missing piece to the puzzle.

Today I switched to Calibre for the first time in almost a week. I say "switched to" because it has been open and running all this time. My "Today" tab (date:>1daysago) still shows the books I added on Sep 12. The 'Date' column shows '12 Sep 2017' although today is the 18th. I switch to other virtual library tabs and back, and nothing changes. In fact, my 'Last 7 Days' tab (date:>7daysago) includes books from the 6th, 7th, 10th, and 12th of September. So ekbell's suggestion and chaley's second suggestion doesn't work in this case.

Searching for title:true just shows me the same books.

Edit data (multiple) and then hitting OK without changing anything did work, though. So that saved me a bit of effort, I guess.

09-11-2017, 12:05 PM	#1
pwinn Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2017 Device: Kindle Paperwhite	Refreshing book list for virtual library? There doesn't seem to be a way to refresh the book list for a virtual library without editing two or more items. Or maybe I'm just not seeing it. I first ran into this problem with a virtual library called "This Week," but for simplification I created a virtual library called "Today." The search expression is: "date:>1daysago" Since I haven't added any books today, I expect that virtual library to be empty. Instead it contains the books I added last week. On that day last week, the book list was correct. On Wednesday it contained the two books I'd added that day. But every day since then, it's been wrong. Even adding another book today just gives me three books. If I highlight more than one book and hit 'E' to edit meta information, there's a 'Refresh book list after edit' checkbox. So I have to then edit something completely inconsequential, like setting 'Date' to whatever the date already is. That's the only way I've found to make the virtual library accurately update and show the books that meet the condition. I've searched for any answers on this, and the last comment I found was from two years ago, in which Mr. Goyal said, "The library view never needs to be refreshed unless you perform operations outside of calibre. If you have some situation where that is not true, I'd like to hear about it." Here you go: the advancement of time is apparently an operation outside of Calibre and requires my virtual library view to be refreshed. P.S. I should note that I leave calibre running full-time around the clock, so I can download books to my iPad when I'm not home.

09-11-2017, 12:35 PM	#2
chaley Grand Sorcerer Posts: 12,440 Karma: 8012886 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Notts, England Device: Kobo Libra 2	The book list doesn't ever refresh spontaneously, which would be required to notice that time had passed. Something must happen to make calibre redisplay the list. That "something" doesn't need to be a change/edit. In your case, I am sure that any of the following would cause the list to refresh. This list is certainly not exhaustive. Search for something. Perhaps something like "title:true" that will find all the books in the virtual library. Change to a different (or no) virtual library then change back. Look at the device view then come back to the library view. Edit metadata (multiple) and press OK without making any changes. Change to the cover grid then back to the book list

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09-11-2017, 10:20 PM	#3
ekbell Guru Posts: 627 Karma: 12345678 Join Date: Jan 2015 Location: Canada Device: none	If you have two or more virtual libraries open using tabs then just clicking to another tab and back again will refresh the book list.

09-18-2017, 10:33 PM	#4
pwinn Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2017 Device: Kindle Paperwhite	What you're saying makes perfect sense, and when I first saw your posts, they even seemed to work. But it wasn't clear to me why, as I was sure I'd tried all those things before. So there was a missing piece to the puzzle. Today I switched to Calibre for the first time in almost a week. I say "switched to" because it has been open and running all this time. My "Today" tab (date:>1daysago) still shows the books I added on Sep 12. The 'Date' column shows '12 Sep 2017' although today is the 18th. I switch to other virtual library tabs and back, and nothing changes. In fact, my 'Last 7 Days' tab (date:>7daysago) includes books from the 6th, 7th, 10th, and 12th of September. So ekbell's suggestion and chaley's second suggestion doesn't work in this case. Searching for title:true just shows me the same books. Edit data (multiple) and then hitting OK without changing anything did work, though. So that saved me a bit of effort, I guess.

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