diff --git a/src/calibre/gui2/metadata/basic_widgets.py b/src/calibre/gui2/metadata/basic_widgets.py
index 5d37e854da..96ea785ff2 100644
--- a/src/calibre/gui2/metadata/basic_widgets.py
+++ b/src/calibre/gui2/metadata/basic_widgets.py
@@ -15,9 +15,10 @@ from PyQt4.Qt import Qt, QDateEdit, QDate, \
 from calibre.gui2.widgets import EnLineEdit, CompleteComboBox, \
         EnComboBox, FormatList, ImageView, CompleteLineEdit
 from calibre.utils.icu import sort_key
-from calibre.utils.config import tweaks
+from calibre.utils.config import tweaks, prefs
 from calibre.ebooks.metadata import title_sort, authors_to_string, \
         string_to_authors, check_isbn
+from calibre.ebooks.metadata.meta import get_metadata
 from calibre.gui2 import file_icon_provider, UNDEFINED_QDATE, UNDEFINED_DATE, \
         choose_files, error_dialog, choose_images, question_dialog
 from calibre.utils.date import local_tz, qt_to_dt
@@ -440,7 +441,6 @@ class FormatsManager(QWidget): # {{{
         self.metadata_from_format_button = QToolButton(self)
         self.metadata_from_format_button.setIcon(QIcon(I('edit_input.png')))
         self.metadata_from_format_button.setIconSize(QSize(32, 32))
-        # TODO: Implement the *_from_format buttons
 
         self.add_format_button = QToolButton(self)
         self.add_format_button.setIcon(QIcon(I('add_book.png')))
@@ -565,6 +565,36 @@ class FormatsManager(QWidget): # {{{
         fmt = item.ext
         self.dialog.view_format.emit(fmt)
 
+    def get_selected_format_metadata(self, db, id_):
+        old = prefs['read_file_metadata']
+        if not old:
+            prefs['read_file_metadata'] = True
+        try:
+            row = self.formats.currentRow()
+            fmt = self.formats.item(row)
+            if fmt is None:
+                if self.formats.count() == 1:
+                    fmt = self.formats.item(0)
+                if fmt is None:
+                    error_dialog(self, _('No format selected'),
+                        _('No format selected')).exec_()
+                    return None, None
+            ext = fmt.ext.lower()
+            if fmt.path is None:
+                stream = db.format(id_, ext, as_file=True, index_is_id=True)
+            else:
+                stream = open(fmt.path, 'r+b')
+            try:
+                mi = get_metadata(stream, ext)
+                return mi, ext
+            except:
+                error_dialog(self, _('Could not read metadata'),
+                            _('Could not read metadata from %s format')%ext).exec_()
+            return None, None
+        finally:
+            if old != prefs['read_file_metadata']:
+                prefs['read_file_metadata'] = old
+
 # }}}
 
 class Cover(ImageView): # {{{
diff --git a/src/calibre/gui2/metadata/single.py b/src/calibre/gui2/metadata/single.py
index b53637d66a..c7b5e7f99b 100644
--- a/src/calibre/gui2/metadata/single.py
+++ b/src/calibre/gui2/metadata/single.py
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ __license__   = 'GPL v3'
 __copyright__ = '2011, Kovid Goyal <kovid@kovidgoyal.net>'
 __docformat__ = 'restructuredtext en'
 
+import os
 
 from PyQt4.Qt import Qt, QVBoxLayout, QHBoxLayout, QWidget, QPushButton, \
         QGridLayout, pyqtSignal, QDialogButtonBox, QScrollArea, QFont, \
@@ -101,7 +102,10 @@ class MetadataSingleDialog(ResizableDialog):
 
         self.formats_manager = FormatsManager(self)
         self.basic_metadata_widgets.append(self.formats_manager)
-
+        self.formats_manager.metadata_from_format_button.clicked.connect(
+                self.metadata_from_format)
+        self.formats_manager.cover_from_format_button.clicked.connect(
+                self.cover_from_format)
         self.cover = Cover(self)
         self.basic_metadata_widgets.append(self.cover)
 
@@ -263,6 +267,64 @@ class MetadataSingleDialog(ResizableDialog):
     def tags_editor(self, *args):
         self.tags.edit(self.db, self.book_id)
 
+    def metadata_from_format(self, *args):
+        mi, ext = self.formats_manager.get_selected_format_metadata(self.db,
+                self.book_id)
+        if mi is not None:
+            self.update_from_mi(mi)
+
+    def cover_from_format(self, *args):
+        mi, ext = self.formats_manager.get_selected_format_metadata(self.db,
+                self.book_id)
+        if mi is None:
+            return
+        cdata = None
+        if mi.cover and os.access(mi.cover, os.R_OK):
+            cdata = open(mi.cover).read()
+        elif mi.cover_data[1] is not None:
+            cdata = mi.cover_data[1]
+        if cdata is None:
+            error_dialog(self, _('Could not read cover'),
+                         _('Could not read cover from %s format')%ext).exec_()
+            return
+        orig = self.cover.current_val
+        self.cover.current_val = cdata
+        if self.cover.current_val is None:
+            self.cover.current_val = orig
+            return error_dialog(self, _('Could not read cover'),
+                         _('The cover in the %s format is invalid')%ext,
+                         show=True)
+            return
+
+    def update_from_mi(self, mi):
+        if not mi.is_null('title'):
+            self.title.current_val = mi.title
+        if not mi.is_null('authors'):
+            self.authors.current_val = mi.authors
+        if not mi.is_null('author_sort'):
+            self.author_sort.current_val = mi.author_sort
+        if not mi.is_null('rating'):
+            try:
+                self.rating.current_val = mi.rating
+            except:
+                pass
+        if not mi.is_null('publisher'):
+            self.publisher.current_val = mi.publisher
+        if not mi.is_null('tags'):
+            self.tags.current_val = mi.tags
+        if not mi.is_null('isbn'):
+            self.isbn.current_val = mi.isbn
+        if not mi.is_null('pubdate'):
+            self.pubdate.current_val = mi.pubdate
+        if not mi.is_null('series') and mi.series.strip():
+            self.series.current_val = mi.series
+            if mi.series_index is not None:
+                self.series_index.current_val = float(mi.series_index)
+        if mi.comments and mi.comments.strip():
+            self.comments.current_val = mi.comments
+
+
+
     def fetch_metadata(self, *args):
         pass # TODO: fetch metadata