Kobo/Koreader - best way to organise 1000s of books

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by II2II

Create columns for genre and subgenre in Calibre.

You will find a place to configure the path to save files to under Calibre's device configuration, use something like "Books/{#genre}/{#subgenre}".

At least that's how I would do it. Apparently there is a better (albeit more complex) way to configure it which is documented here: https://manual.calibre-ebook.com/sub_groups.html

Either way, once you transfer your books to your device they will be stored in a nice directory hierarchy that is easy to access via KOReader.

Please remember that under calibre, you are limited in the path length you can use. Which would cause your suggested system to break horribly with a book such as one of my XYL's favourites:

Frog Challenge Anthology [02] - 1001 Dark Nights Short Story Anthology 2020 - Fiona Archer & Louisa Bacio & Laura M. Baird & Kait Ballenger & Asa Maria Bradley & Eden Bradley & Boone Brux & C. G. Burnette & Cara Carnes & Caraway Carter & Sierra Cartwright & S. A. Clayton & Katana Collins & Janie Crouch & Patricia D. Eddy & Zoey Ellis & Zoe Hill & Sara L. Hudson & Tracey Jerald & A. D. Justice & Terri E. Laine & Michelle Mars & Gina L. Maxwell & Kayt Miller & Dani René & Gen Ryan & Blue Saffire & Ella Sheridan & Mayra Statham & Delancey Stewart & Jen Talty & Mary Ting & Reina Torres & Magan Vernon & Jennifer Woodhull & Khloe Wren

The filename that I send to her Libra 2 would be:
Elib/Archer, Fiona/1001 Dark Nights Short Story Anthology 2020 - Fiona Archer

I do truncate the author sort used for the first subdirectory under Elib and the author name appended to the title to the first author name which is trivial to do under calibre. I never need to look at the filename since the series information and all the authors are stored in the device database so I can search on any of series, author, title, subtitle.

Please let me know how you would configure a directory structure to allow locating that book by any author, the title or the series in a minimal number of taps/keystrokes.

[tayseidel]

Originally Posted by Quoth

You don't need KOReader on a Sage. It's only advantage is CSS over-rides. The Sage My Books section is superior. They are working on a meta-data based library interface of KOReader.

I prefer to fix ebooks in Calibre and use the native interface. I do have KOReader on an Android eink and did have it on the Elipsa (for PDFs, but now Sage/Elipsa crop PDFs per book).

I only use Folder management on PC and Android outside of Calibre for subject related structure that's a mix of PDF., Djvu, png, jpg, tiff. It's crazy for ebooks. A Library interface like Kobo's My Books that utilises real title, author, collection, series and unread/reading/finished and can sort by date added too is hugely superior.
The default "file manager" interface of KOReader is a 1970s thing for documents with no sensible metadata.

I use Koreader because the reader itself is superior to the stock reader. I like the options, the most important being the clock in the header. I read late at night, and that clock is useful.


With the stock reader, I had to tap the middle to see the time.

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by queenofthenorth

I recently switched from Kindle to Kobo (sage) because of the easier book management systems. I have 2,000+ books and am aiming to have them organised by genre for ease of navigation. I've been organising them into genres and sub-genres in Calibre (genre. subgenre), but the original firmware only supports one folder, so I'd initially used the tags. I just installed Koreader and prefer the folder management - is there any way to create sub-collections/ folders? The default seems to be by author. If this is doable - any way a book can sit in two folders?

If none of this is possible, how do you manage your collections?

Any help is much appreciated!

As a Sage owner who uses KOReader for 98% of my reading my first piece of advice is - ignore the arrant nonsense about it only having one advantage over the stock reader. Utter balderdash.

That said, I'd echo the advice to make good use of the calibre metadata search function. It's how I search my Sage library and if you assign your genres and subgenres as tags, they will all be searchable. As will series and author, in addition to titles of course. By assigning multiple tags to a book, it will show up in each of those result sets, which may be close to what you were after.

You can assign a shortcut to access the metadata search or perhaps even easier, a gesture. I use gestures A LOT, they are one of the many customisation features of KOReader that I find make it infinitely preferable to the stock reader

[pazos]

I do use KOReader almost exclusively on all my devices

Never had any issue with the metadata search. I have a few gestures to jump to series/tags and other that pops up the main search interface. For a few hundreds or thousands of books it should be pretty snappy (ie: search in less than 0.1s)

Anyhow, the search part of the calibre plugin in KO is undocumented, so if somebody of the current users would want to make it easier for other interested parties feel free to fill the void in https://github.com/koreader/koreader...etadata-search. Much appreciated

[elstoc]

I use KOReader and Calibre and browse my books in the imported directory structure. I have a column in my Calibre database where I store the target path and then a slightly hacky "save template" to ensure that the files are stored in that structure on my device.

My paths are generally Fiction/Non-Fiction followed by one or two sub-directories (author or genre/sub-genre) - I try not to go too much deeper as there is still only a limited path length.

[baursak]

I have heard that assigning (and reassigning) custom tags to books (in case of stock Nickel UI + Calibre cooperation) is possible one way only: from Calibre to Kobo.
- I.e. one cannot succeed in reassigning custom tags on Kobo having in mind that the next sync will mirror edited custom tags in Calibre accordingly.
- Is this true?

[DNSB]

Not sure what you mean by "custom tags" and how you are trying to assign them on a Kobo ereader? Do you mean collections (aka shelves)? If so, you can use the Kobo Utilities Get Shelves From Device to read the collections on the Kobo into a custom column in calibre. Just remember that that data is read from the Kobo database so anything done in KOReader is a non-starter since that data is not stored in the Kobo database.

[baursak]

Originally Posted by DNSB

...you can use the Kobo Utilities Get Shelves From Device to read the collections on the Kobo into a custom column in calibre...

That seems to be what I want.

. Just remember that that data is read from the Kobo database so anything done in KOReader is a non-starter since that data is not stored in the Kobo database.

I didn't understand. - I create a Collection on Kobo. - Calibre with a plugin reads appropriate data (possibly sinchronizes). - What else should I care about? - What kind of pitfall?

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by baursak

I didn't understand. - I create a Collection on Kobo. - Calibre with a plugin reads appropriate data (possibly sinchronizes). - What else should I care about? - What kind of pitfall?

That any reading you do with KOReader will not be reflected in the data in the Kobo database? That books sent to your Kobo using KOReader's USB interface will not be imported by Nickel? Kobo Utilities gets it's information from the Kobo database. There is a KOReader sync plugin that will read some information from KOReader and I did play with trying to use the same column such as percent read for both.

Basically you are running two different systems on your Kobo and they do not talk to each other.

[baursak]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Basically you are running two different systems on your Kobo and they do not talk to each other.

I am now back on 'stock Nickel UI + Calibre' combination.
- Up to now making reboot using NickelMenu before connecting my Sage seems to work properly.
- Thank to this post
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...97&postcount=4
- KOReader interface seem clumsy to me after all.
- How can I setup Kobo Utilities Get Shelves From Device?
- So that changes in Collections done in Kobo stock UI were reflected in Calibre?

[DNSB]

Install the KoboUtilities, create a column to stored the collections read from your Kobo, connect your Kobo and run Get Shelves From Device from the Kobo Utilities menu. I recommend a separate column from the ones you are using to create collections from calibre's tags/genres/whatever. That way you can look at them and decide which ones you want to use.

At one time I had close to 60 collections based on various criteria plus ones based on series but ended up removing most of them as improvements in Kobo's firmware made them unneeded. The only one that currently survives is the #finished column.

[baursak]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Install the KoboUtilities

1. Done already

create a column to stored the collections read from your Kobo

2. Will you please share screenshot for this column?

I recommend a separate column from the ones you are using to create collections from calibre's tags/genres/whatever.

3. Will you please share screenshot for this column? - Originally from Calibre?

[baursak]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Install the KoboUtilities ... and run Get Shelves From Device from the Kobo Utilities menu.

Thank you.

This item in KoboUtilities plugin menu (in Calibre) suddenly appeared as if nothing had happened (for a week it was not visible). - Created a custom column by itself. - And started to work. - Like a charm. - 100% reliable - Like Swiss Watches.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by baursak

This item in KoboUtilities plugin menu (in Calibre) suddenly appeared as if nothing had happened (for a week it was not visible). - Created a custom column by itself. - And started to work. - Like a charm. - 100% reliable - Like Swiss Watches.

There are quite a few option in the KoboUtilities menu that are only visible if a Kobo ereader is connected and others that are greyed out when a Kobo ereader is not connected.

[JSWolf]

Since this thread is dealing with KOReader, it belongs in the KOReader forum.