Feature request: "Save to disk / without meta-info"

[PenguinCEO]

故事主要描述當伐木

[BetterRed]

Uncheck Preferences->Save to Disk->Update metadata in saved copies

The Modify ePub plugin can remove non-Dublin Core metadata from the library copy ==>> Index of plugins

BR

[PenguinCEO]

故事主要描述當伐木

[BetterRed]

Here's how to request an Enhancement (New Feature) ==>> Bugs

Or, write your own plugin, perhaps by hacking Modfy ePub.

Or edit the saved epub. Sigil's metadata edit tool is simple to use, especially to delete metadata elements.

Or, there's Ben Chens Metadata Edit Tool, there's a thread for it somewhere on MR.

BR

[BetterRed]

I saved this book from my Test Library, with Save to Disk setting as previously suggested



It's attached, but here's a preview of the embedded metadata



BR

[PenguinCEO]

故事主要描述當伐木

[kovidgoyal]

I dont see the point. Why would you want custom columns not present in your ebook but non-custom columns present? Either you sanitize the metadata in your book for sale fully or not. Why would removing some arbitrary fraction of the metadata matter?

[PenguinCEO]

故事主要描述當伐木

[BetterRed]

So, uncheck Save to disk->Update metadata in saved copies option - you only need do this once.

Then, 'clean' the library ePub with Modify ePub by checking the Remove non dc: metadata elements

Now do a save.

If you want to do it in a single click, hack the Modify plugin to do the save after stripping the non-dc metadata - or write an OS level automation script.

FYI: In IDPF speak a 'non-dc (Dublin Core) element' is a 'custom column' in calibre speak.

[kovidgoyal]

No such thing. For instance, tags and series and ratings are non-custom metadata, doesn't mean they are always suitable for publication.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

No such thing. For instance, tags and series and ratings are non-custom metadata, doesn't mean they are always suitable for publication.

FWIW If I didn't want one or more of those, I would strip the elements I didn't want from the saved EPUB via the Sigil metadata edit tool - select an item, press Ctrl+Del, repeat, repeat, exit metadata edit tool, save, exit Sigil.

BR

[kovidgoyal]

I can certainly see a usecase for a metadata sanitizer tool that strips out metadata except for a configurable set of fields. But given that this is so easy to do manually, and not something that needs to be done in bulk, I am not particularly motivated to implement it.

[PenguinCEO]

故事主要描述當伐木

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

I can certainly see a usecase for a metadata sanitizer tool that strips out metadata except for a configurable set of fields. But given that this is so easy to do manually, and not something that needs to be done in bulk, I am not particularly motivated to implement it.

Don't do it on my behalf

I do a couple of other tidy ups while I'm in Sigil - renaming the body files, epubcheck, moving the jacket page to the back… and deleting any metadata elements I don't want.

BR

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by PenguinCEO

Everything is easy:

• Save to disk
• rename the epub file to ".zip"
• open the zip file
• look inside the zip file for the file "content.opf"
• open "content.opf" in a text editor
• delete from "content.opf" all lines containing the string "calibre: user_metadata:" (maybe with a regex)
• take a look to see if there is anything else to take away
• save the opf file
• close the .zip file
• rename the zip file to .epub

Simple but cumbersome and exposed to errors. A program like calibre should serve precisely to avoid and automate these procedures

Obviously your opinion on this topic is conclusive, but I would like to know the opinion on this enhancement of someone who works in a publishing house.

Why do you have library management metadata in the EPUB, it didn't get there unless you put it there wittingly - perhaps with the Polish Tool, or you didn't prevent the editor putting it there. But the tool to remove it is the Modify ePub plugin - I have used it to remove non Dublin Core metadata elements on hundreds of thousands of ePubs.

Why are you so fixated on doing it within calibre, or by unpacking ePub and using a primitive editor and then repacking the ePub. Use the Sigil metadata edit tool, you can see it in the second screen shot in post #5. Select an element, press Ctrl+Del or click the Remove button, Save the ePub

If you want opinion on this issue from people who make ebooks for a living the best place to ask at MR is in the ePub or Workshop forum. Refer them to this thread.

BR