Extract ISBN
This plugin can be used to try to find the ISBN for a book using the text within a book format. It is intended as an alternative to various script based solutions to this problem posted in this thread.
- Scans all formats for the selected book(s) in preferred input format order until an ISBN-13 or ISBN-10 is found
- Runs as a background job in Calibre, prompting you to update when the scanning is completed.
- Scans only the book content, excluding HTML tag markup.
- For PDF formats, scans only the first 10 pages, then if ISBN not found, the last 5 pages in reverse order.
- For other formats, scans files at the front, then a number of end files in reverse order before the remainder of the book.
- Restricts valid ISBN-13s to those that start with 977, 978 or 979. You can add additional prefixes in the configuration if required.
- Optionally perform a search when completed showing you only the books updated (default is off). Some users may use this to then perform a metadata download.
Access the configuration dialog via:
- Preferences -> Plugins -> User interface action -> Extract ISBN -> Customize plugin
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| When scan completes |
Do not change my search - Default behavior of keeping calibre view unchanged. Show the books that have new or updated ISBNs - Apply a search to show books this plugin changed. |
| Selected books before background job | Running as a background job keeps your UI more responsive. By default if one book is selected, plugin runs immediately. More than one book selected queues up as a calibre job instead. |
| Batch size running as background job | When running in background, how many books to put in each job batch. |
| Display failure dialog | If ISBN is identical or not found, a dialog informs you of that result. Uncheck this option to have any such failures happen silently. |
| Prompt to apply ISBN changes | A prompt will appear before making changes to your library. Uncheck this option to have all changes made silently. There is a small risk of data loss if you make other changes to that book at the exact same time. |
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