Multiple Row Select in Library on Touch Screen?

[Nukjoc]

Hi everyone! Does anyone know how to select multiple rows in the library on a touch screen Windows 10 tablet PC (Nuvision 8") without using a keyboard?

The only way I've found to select multiple rows in the library is to use the tablet's on- screen keyboard that has SHIFT key lock. Unfortunately, that on-screen keyboard does not minimize, only permits multiple row selection in landscape mode, and unlocks SHIFT if I scroll the library, limiting row selection to about 5 rows. I tried using the Tablet Pro app, but if there's a way to select multiple rows with that, I haven't figured it out.

Suggestions would be much appreciated, thanks!

[kovidgoyal]

as far as I know, there is no way to do that with only touch. basically there would need to be a dedicated "multi-select mode" where you get checkboxes next to each item and you multi-select by tapping them.

It might work at least a little by dragging, but probably not.

[Nukjoc]

Thanks, Kovid - your reply started me wondering if maybe a different virtual input device would help, and I found a partial solution using the Tablet Pro app's Artist Pad add-on ($19.95 USD in the Microsoft Store). I can now select multiple consecutive rows on a single library screen. I haven't found a way to get Artist Pad to autoscroll the library while selecting, or a way to select multiple non-consecutive rows. But I now have Calibre functional, though with limited library row selection, on an 8" Windows 10 touch screen tablet PC for a total cost of $115 USD, with 128 GB of library storage on an SD card that I already had.

Not bad, but if anyone can find a cheaper or free touch screen Windows 10 solution that includes autoscroll and non-consecutive row selection, I'd sure like to know about it. Maybe there's a virtual keyboard or pad that can do that out there somewhere...or potential for a Calibre plugin?...meanwhile, Artist Pad helps.

Here's what I did to select multiple consecutive library rows using Artist Pad with Calibre:

1. Open Artist Pad, side-docked.
2. Scroll Calibre library so the first row I want to select is at the top of the visible rows.
3. Tap to select that first row.
4. Tap the Artist Pad CTRL and SHIFT keys to turn them on.
5. Double-tap the selected library row, then tap it/hold it/drag down to the row where you want selection to end, and then tap that ending row.
6. Wait a second while the selected rows highlight.
7. Tap the Artist Pad CTRL and SHIFT keys to turn them off.
8. Perform desired Calibre operations on the selected rows.

[Sirtel]

I use the following method on my Surface Pro tablet when I want to select non-consecutive rows. First, I mark all the rows I want to select with Mark Books, then choose "show marked books". Now only the marked rows are visible. Then I open the virtual keyboard, tap Ctrl, tap Select all. All the rows I wanted to select are now highlighted.

When I want to select consecutive rows, I often use a search term. For example, format:mobi, or cover:false, or date:>2018-12-5, etc. etc. So again, only those rows I want to select will be visible.

[gbm]

https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Win...eBook_friendly

Use TouchMousePointer.

bernie

Originally Posted by Nukjoc

Hi everyone! Does anyone know how to select multiple rows in the library on a touch screen Windows 10 tablet PC (Nuvision 8") without using a keyboard?

The only way I've found to select multiple rows in the library is to use the tablet's on- screen keyboard that has SHIFT key lock. Unfortunately, that on-screen keyboard does not minimize, only permits multiple row selection in landscape mode, and unlocks SHIFT if I scroll the library, limiting row selection to about 5 rows. I tried using the Tablet Pro app, but if there's a way to select multiple rows with that, I haven't figured it out.

Suggestions would be much appreciated, thanks!

[kovidgoyal]

well one way around it is to use mark books as sirtel points out.

Select the book by tapping on it, tap on the mark books button, the book will now be marked. Repeat for all needed books, then tap the arrow next to the mark books button or long tap it and tap show marked books.

This will restrict your book list to only the marked books, then simply use the virtual keyboard to type in ctrl+A to select all shown books.

[BetterRed]

No matter how hard they try they still can't best Sholes' and Engelbart's inventions

[Nukjoc]

Hi everyone, thanks for the tips! Much appreciated, I'm kind of new at this. Marking the books works great! I'll post if I find a way around the scrolling issue.

[Nukjoc]

Hi everyone,

I found a way to select multiple rows in the Calibre library on my Windows 10 touchscreen tablet PC! Even works across multiple scrolled screens!

The problem is with the Microsoft Windows 10 onscreen keyboard. It doesn't do a very good job of mimicing a physical keyboard. I solved the problem by installing an alternate Windows 10-compatible keyboard on which the SHIFT and CTRL keys lock like a real physical keyboard. Selecting a row by ROW NUMBER, locking SHIFT, scrolling down, and tapping the desired ending row number is working fine for me to select consecutive rows. CTRL works for non-consecutive rows.

Just make sure you select by row number or you may unintentionally edit your ebook data.

I am not in any way affiliated with any onscreen keyboard software products and hope it's ok to post a link to the one I'm currently using. There are a bunch out there. The first one I tried, Free Virtual Keyboard, works great and is small enough to keep out of the way as I work on my library.

I'm using an Acer Switch V 10 tablet PC and have not tested on anything else, but I hope this approach may be useful to others who are struggling with Windows 10 touch screens.

[begem0t]

I encourage you to try the default win10 touch keyboard, but switch the layout to Full mode. There you get a full-blown and cool-looking keyboard that behaves like a physical one - you can hold Shift while clicking the arrow keys to select multiple objects, you can press RightAlt+Ctrl to get AltGr letters... I think it's cool.

[DaltonST]

My ereader has been an 8" Win10 tablet w/Calibre 64 for ~2 years. 8" is tiny, leaving no room for any onscreen keyboard. For that reason, I wrote CalibreSpy which is read-only to eliminate accidental metadata changes and many other reasons. I use the tablet's Calibre auto-add function to add books that I FTPd to my NAS from my desktop using a Job Spy tool, and do all else on CalibreSpy. Freda+ is my app that CalibreSpy launches on my tablet.Show Tooltip

[lumpynose]

Does Win10 tablet do like gmail does on an Android tablet? With that you tap and hold the row, and it selects the message rather than opening it so it's sort of like holding down the ctrl key when selecting multiple items in the Windows Explorer.