diff --git a/manual/gui.rst b/manual/gui.rst index e7d8a4f616..1bcf53747c 100755 --- a/manual/gui.rst +++ b/manual/gui.rst @@ -426,6 +426,8 @@ Identifiers (e.g., isbn, doi, lccn etc) also use an extended syntax. First, note :guilabel:`Advanced Search Dialog` +.. _saved_searches: + Saving searches ----------------- @@ -435,6 +437,15 @@ Now you can access your saved search in the Tag Browser under "Searches". A sing .. _config_filename_metadata: +Virtual Libraries +------------------- + +A :guilabel:`Virtual Library` is a way to pretend that your |app| library has +only a few books instead of its full collection. This is an excellent way to +partition your large collection of books into smaller, manageable chunks. To +learn how to create and use virtual libraries, see the tutorial: +:ref:`virtual_libraries`. + Guessing metadata from file names ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In the :guilabel:`Add/Save` section of the configuration dialog, you can specify a regular expression that |app| will use to try and guess metadata from the names of ebook files diff --git a/manual/tutorials.rst b/manual/tutorials.rst index ed4287abe8..8668d3b594 100755 --- a/manual/tutorials.rst +++ b/manual/tutorials.rst @@ -20,4 +20,5 @@ Here you will find tutorials to get you started using |app|'s more advanced feat creating_plugins typesetting_math catalogs + virtual_libraries diff --git a/manual/virtual_libraries.rst b/manual/virtual_libraries.rst new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..66448ac680 --- /dev/null +++ b/manual/virtual_libraries.rst @@ -0,0 +1,88 @@ + +.. include:: global.rst + +.. _virtual_libraries: + + +Virtual Libraries +============================ + +In |app|, a virtual library is a way to tell |app| to open only a subset of a +normal library. For example, if you want to only work with books by a certain +author, or books having only a certain tag. Using virtual libraries is the +preferred way of partitioning your large book collection into smaller sub +collections. It is superior to splitting up your library into multiple smaller +libraries as, when you want to search through your entire collection, you can +simply go back to the full library. There is no way to search through multiple +separate libraries simultaneously in |app|. + +A virtual library is different to a simple search. A search will only restrict +the list of books shown in the book list. A virtual library does that an in +addition, it also restricts the entries shown in the :guilabel:`Tag Browser` to +the left. The Tag Browser will only show tags, authors, series, publishers, etc. +that come from the books in the virtual library. A virtual library thus behaves +as though the actual library contains only the restricted set of books. + +Creating Virtual Libraries +---------------------------- + +.. |vlb| image:: images/virtual_library_button.png + :class: float-left-img + +|vlb| To use a virtual library click the :guilabel:`Virtual Library` button located +to the left of the search bar and select the :guilabel:`Create Virtual Library` +option. As a first example, let's create a virtual library that shows us only +the books by a particular author. Click the :guilabel:`Authors` link as shown +in the image below and choose the author you want to use and click OK. + +.. image:: images/vl_by_author.png + :align: center + +The Create Virtual Library dialog has been filled in for you. Click OK and you +will see that a new Virtual Library has been created, and automatically +switched to, that displays only the books by the selected author. As far as +|app| is concerned, it is as if your library contains only the books by the +selected author. + +You can switch back to the full library at any time by once again clicking the +:guilabel:`Virtual Library` and selecting the entry named :guilabel:``. + +Virtual Libraries are based on *searches*. You can use any search as the basis +of a virtual library. The virtual library will contain only the books matched +by that search. First, type in the search you want to use in the search bar, +when you are happy with the returned results, click the Virtual Library button, +choose Create Library and enter a name for the new virtual library. The virtual +library will then be created based on the search you just typed in. Searches +are very powerful, for examples of the kinds of things you can do with them, +see :ref:`search_interface`. + +Working with Virtual Libraries +------------------------------------- + +You can edit a previously created virtual library or remove it, by clicking the +:guilabel:`Virtual Library` and choosing the appropriate action. + +You can tell |app| that you always want to apply a particular virtual library +when the current library is opened, by going to +:guilabel:`Preferences->Behavior`. + +If you use the |app| Content Server, you can have it share a virtual library +instead of the full library by going to :guilabel:`Preferences->Sharing over the net`. + +You can quickly use the current search as a temporary virtual library by +clicking the :guilabel:`Virtual Library` button and choosing the +:guilabel:`*current search` entry. + +Using additional restrictions +------------------------------- + +You can further restrict the books shown in a Virtual Library by using +:guilabel:`Additional restrictions`. An additional restriction is saved search +you previously created that can be applied to the current Virtual Library to +further restrict the books shown in a virtual library. For example, say you +have a Virtual Library for books tagged as :guilabel:`Historical Fiction` and a +saved search that shows you unread books, you can click the :guilabel:`Virtual +Library` button and choose the :guilabel:`Additional restriction` option to +show only unread Historical Fiction books. To learn about saved searches, see +:ref:`saved_searches`. +