Caliber program in Russian. Caliber: digital library management

Part 1: Managing Your Library, Reading Books, Sharing Your Library

Market e-books meets the needs of a very demanding buyer. What's even better is that these devices are becoming more affordable and technologically advanced. However, along with support for many document formats, there is no functional software for working with e-books. As a result, the user is content with limited tools out of the box.

One of the most pressing issues is creating an electronic library on a computer, followed by synchronization via USB or wireless connection. Equally important is exporting books in a format suitable for reading on a device. The Caliber program will help you cope with such tasks.

Actually, the incompatibility of formats, software and operating systems and provided the impetus for the development of Caliber in 2006. Kovid Goyal, the author of the project, created a converter of books into the LRF format, relevant for Sony Reader. Since then, the program has acquired many functions and runs on Windows, Mac OS and Linux (the review will cover the Windows version). The main features of the program are revealed in the following areas:

• Library management
  The program allows you to store books of various formats, combine them into collections, edit metadata (information about the author, publisher, etc.), search for information on the library, perform operations with files, such as import, export, deletion.
• Reading books
  Caliber can be used to read or preview books in CBZ, CBR, CBC, CHM, DJVU, DOCX, EPUB, FB2, HTML, HTMLZ, LIT, LRF, MOBI, ODT, PDF, PRC, PDB, PML, RB, RTF, SNB format books , TCR, TXT, TXTZ, with convenient navigation and customization of page display.
• Web server
  The Caliber backend is one of the most interesting opportunities, thanks to which users can access the digital library through a browser. The web shell is necessary when working with a number of devices over a wireless connection, as well as for organizing access to the library via local network or via the Internet.
• Collecting and storing news from online sources
  At first glance, this function applies specifically to RSS aggregators. In the case of Caliber, you can create a file from RSS feed news for reading on an electronic device, including on a schedule.
• Synchronizing devices
  Caliber supports all kinds of devices from well-known vendors and allows you to download books different ways: via the Internet, via a local network or directly when connected via a USB cable.
• Converting eBook formats
  The program has a built-in powerful converter that works with popular file formats (see above) and exports to AZW3, EPUB, FB2, OEB, LIT, LRF, MOBI, HTMLZ, PDB, PML, RB, PDF, RTF, SNB, TCR , TXT, TXTZ. Thanks to this, the book is easy to save in in the required format and immediately send it to the device or send it via email.
• Plugin support
  It is important that Caliber supports extensions. Thanks to this, users have the opportunity to improve the functionality of the program by enabling this or that option freelance, through a plugin. If you wish, you can write your own addition, corresponding to the developer’s website.

Documentation is only available on English language, and not all of the key features have been explored in the numerous Caliber reviews. However, it cannot be said that a news aggregator or web server is of less interest than a book converter. Therefore, it makes sense to consider the program’s tools in detail.

First launch of Caliber

At the first stage, the Calibri setup wizard prompts you to select a location for storing books, as well as localization. The list contains Russian, but the translation is poorly done. For this reason, during familiarization with the program, moments of misunderstanding arise. Although, for the most part, the translation is acceptable.

The second stage is choosing a device to synchronize with Calibri. An impressive number of devices from the following manufacturers are supported: Amazon, Android, Apple, Barnes & Noble, SONY (see screenshot). If the device is not listed, you can select a generic profile.

Depending on your selection, you will have access to some options and additional information. For example, in order to synchronize with applications on iOS in the future, you may need to configure the Caliber virtual server (see the corresponding chapter of the review), which will be discussed. In the case of Kindle, if books are sent via the Internet, you can specify the recipient's email.

After closing the dialog, the program starts. A few words need to be said about the interface. The fact is that most user comments relate not to the functional, but specifically to the visual side of the program. The Caliber shell uses a cross-platform library, as a result of which the “non-native” interface is somewhat out of touch with the general Windows style. A more significant drawback is that scrolling lists and opening dialogs is not always smooth, and slow responsiveness in general.

However, these “roughnesses” are fully compensated by the functionality of Caliber and cross-platform in particular: here you can recall the supported devices and OS, between which import, export and synchronization are possible.

The Caliber toolbar has a clear distinction between functions; all actions are grouped and displayed as buttons on the Actions panel at the top of the window. Full-screen mode allows you to see all available commands on the panel, but in a more compact mode, one bar is not enough.

Icons can be made smaller, and the button layout can be customized through the “Toolbar” section. Context menus, columns and other interface elements can also be modified.

Library management

The main window of the program is represented by the library, which is the core of the program and its main tool. In the left panel, a filter by attributes and search (tag browser) are available. The central column is reserved for a list of books. On the right is information on the selected list item, taken from the book's metadata. Switching modes are available at the bottom of the window, where you can additionally hide one of the side panels or switch the display mode of books - in the form of covers or a grid. Thanks to this, the panels are flexibly customizable, making viewing books informative and convenient.

Initially, most columns in Caliber are enabled: author, date, size, rating, etc. In order to change established order, you need to use the context menu by clicking on any list header, or drag the column header to the desired location. Using the template language, you can create columns with your own data, including metadata (the “Add custom column” option).

There are several ways to add books. The most obvious is the Add Books button on the toolbar. The available drop-down list options include adding a book from one directory (option 1), adding taking into account subdirectories (option 2) or several (option 3) books per directory. You can also create an empty record or add a book by number.

It has been noticed that to add a small number of books, it is enough to drag the books into the window, but adding folders and catalogs is only possible through the interface. Although you need to be careful, since as a result of indiscriminate import you will have to clean the list of unnecessary elements. It also makes sense to define a file ignore list in the “Adding Books” menu, “Automatic Adding” tab.

The second way to replenish your library is to search for and purchase books on public and commercial sources (“Download books” action). Caliber only provides a shell for searching by title, author, and keywords. Other functions (purchase, download) are available through the browser after going to the site. The list of stores is customizable; by excluding unnecessary elements, you can optimize the search.

There are clearly not enough Russian-language resources, with the exception of those placed at the end of the list. The available search in Russian does not cover the widest area: in fact, this is information from.

When you add a book, the files are automatically saved on your computer in subfolders organized by the “Author” and “Title” attributes. There is no point in adding files to the Caliber directory yourself: they will be deleted.

Metadata is stored in a separate metadata.db file for each book, which is also convenient for moving the database, creating a backup copy, or, say, synchronizing with Dropbox or similar services. However, from Google Drive, at the time of writing, the . It's easy to import or export libraries to another computer - just move the folder with books and specify it in the step-by-step setup wizard.

Thanks to virtual libraries, books can be organized into collections. The interface supports tabs (“Virtual library - Show virtual libraries as tabs”), which makes managing a large library even more convenient. As a result, the necessary books will always be at hand and searching will not be so in demand.

By the way, searching through several virtual libraries is not supported; it is carried out only through a common database. Otherwise, this feature is integrated throughout Caliber. A quick search is available above the central column; it acts as a filter. Another way to view is Quickview mode: by highlighting a value in a column and pressing Q, a list is available by selected criterion: for example, by author, publisher, genre.

Advanced search (button to the left) allows you to search by content as well as fields. You can use logical operators, regular expressions, and tags in the input line. Requests can be saved for later use (use the field in the upper right corner for this).

Metadata editor

Experience with Caliber suggests that search is particularly effective when using metadata. The more information about a file, the greater the chance of quickly finding it using the Tag Explorer.

In the editing dialog, fields such as title, author, series, tags, text/HTML comment and others are available. If you have a book's ISBN number, the easiest way to get the necessary information is from the Internet, using data from the services isbndb.com, Amazon, Google Books. In the settings, sources are pre-selected and fields for importing information are marked; the downloaded metadata can be checked against previous information.

In general, there are several things that are handy when working with metadata. First, books can be edited in order by selecting them in the list and clicking the edit button. When importing data from the Internet, just select the files, select the “Download metadata and covers” command - all files will be processed in order. The second point is that even in manual mode, many fields do not have to be filled out from scratch; it is enough to use drop-down lists in the fields. And thirdly, the editor supports search and replace, as well as regular expressions.

Reading books in Caliber

The Caliber viewer is available in a separate window by clicking the “View” button on the action bar. The file to read can be selected both in the library window and directly through the application menu.

At the top there is a navigation area, from where you can move to a position in the text or by following the index. There is a text search. You can navigate between chapters through the “Contents” slide-out panel; the corresponding button is located to the left of the viewing area. It is possible to create bookmarks in a document. The help mode allows you to hover the cursor over the text to find out the coordinates of a particular section of the paragraph in the form of a number, which is subsequently entered into the navigation field using the pointer.

You can maximize the window to full size or switch to full screen mode. Pages are turned using keys or buttons on the panel. It is possible to switch to multi-threaded mode (without pagination), but for some reason you cannot switch to two-page display. There are also no other options that are quite obvious to the viewer: adjustment to the width or size of the window. Among other “little things” that are familiar from their presence in e-books: there is no option to switch to “night” reading mode, you cannot leave notes in the book.

On the other hand, this Caliber app offers many visual options: choosing a font typeface, adjusting the placement of text on the page, colors, background, and swiping behavior. Page display is also controlled using easy-to-understand CSS syntax, and you can add a style sheet in the Custom Style Sheet tab. On the Mobileread thematic forum there are ready-to-use examples that will be useful to all those who are not familiar with CSS syntax.

Perhaps the most strong point viewer - it supports many formats. However, reading PDF files is problematic due to long opening times, slow content scrolling, and incorrect display.

DJVU format files do not open even if there is a corresponding plugin in Caliber, although they are perfectly recognized in .

Thus, in order to step to a qualitatively new level, this application lacks several standard options and conflict-free recognition of at least the DJVU and PDF formats.

Library sharing

Sharing access may be needed if the book needs to be transferred to another device (Kindle, Android, iOS) over a local network, via wireless connection or via the Internet. In the case of iOS, the server is needed to read books for applications such as Stanza or Marvin.

The server doesn't actually require preset. As a last resort, you should check your firewall or antivirus settings to see if the port used by Caliber is blocked. The network access configuration is located in the settings section of the same name. Here you can set the username and password for connection. When organizing access to the library via the Internet, you need to configure port forwarding on the router.

To start the server, use the command “Connect/Share - Start content server”. As a result, the server content is available at http://:8080/.

Each book has a permanent address and description based on metadata. The user can navigate through the content: through virtual libraries, tags, publishers and other attributes, and track new items. Search is supported - in earlier versions there were problems with Russian-language names, but now there are none. There are various display modes, including for mobile devices.

As you can see, the web server is quite simple, you can use it for personal purposes or share books with friends. A “full-fledged” version of the server lacks, at a minimum, access rights and advanced security settings. But this is clearly not a priority function of the program.

Another networking feature of Caliber is sending e-books by email. A mailing list is used for this. When sending, books can be converted into one or more specified formats, specified through a separator.

For Android devices, there is an application that can be used to create a wireless connection between Caliber and your phone.

Download Caliber for free using a direct link from the official website in Russian for any Windows XP, 7, 8, 10. The Caliber program will help you read e-books.

A special free manager for e-books, which provide very wide opportunities for organizing your own library. Calibri also offers to convert types of e-books to others, so using the Caliber utility, you can convert files such as RTF, ODT, PRF, HTML and other formats used in devices for reading books.

With Caliber, reading books is no problem, even editing them and customizing covers. It is possible to import files between each other, between connected devices, and at the same time perform a range of other, no less convenient and interesting operations. The utility supports all known and popular formats for reading e-books, knows how to work with each search for them, supports additional text readers, including Amazon Kindle and standard utilities on the Android platform.

Caliber benefits:
- Supports a wide range of formats, including FB2, TXT, HTML, CBR, CBZ, EPub, IMP, LIT, MOBI, ODT, OPF, PDF, TPZ, SNB, RTF and others;
- Viewing e-books directly from archives in 7z formats;
- E-book viewer application as a built-in application for reading books directly in the Calibri utility;
- Correct display of the database with book titles, authors, release date, cover and publishers;
- Possibility of setting tags and ratings of works;
- The program’s capabilities can be expanded using special plugins for Caliber;
- High-quality communication with the internet for more information. This is done using an ISBN;
- Ability to connect to an online library created by the user.

You can download Caliber in Russian from the link above. The program has a really interesting and convenient set of functions that will greatly help readers in their reading business.

The name of the program: Caliber
Program version: 3.47.0
Interface language: Multilingual
Treatment: not required

System requirements:

• Windows Vista, 7, 8 and 10 (32-64bit)

Description:
Caliber is a simple and convenient library management program and universal e-book converter with big amount opportunities.

The program will help you organize your library of books without much difficulty.

It also includes:
utility for converting one format to another, news integrator, program for synchronizing data with electronic device for reading and a good viewer.

It is a must-have for fans of reading books on portable mobile devices.

• Library management
  Caliber provides the ability to manage your book collection. The concept of the program is that many identical books in different formats are presented as one book in the library.
  You can sort and search books by metadata such as: title, author, publication date, date added, size, book series, rating, etc. There is also support for tags and comments and reviews.
  You can easily find the book you need using a simple search or use the advanced search.
  The program organizes the books you add into a clear hierarchical folder structure on your hard drive.
  Plus caliber can search online book metadata and covers by title/author or ISBN. The metadata search system is defined by plugins and can be easily extended independently.
• Book converter
  Caliber supports converting many formats.
  Input Formats: CBZ, CBR, CBC, EPUB, FB2, HTML, LIT, LRF, MOBI, ODT, PDF, PRC**, PDB, PML, RB, RTF, TCR, TXT
  Output Formats: EPUB, FB2, OEB, LIT, LRF, MOBI, PDB, PML, RB, PDF, TCR, TXT
  Converting has many options, such as changing the font size, creating a book structure and footnotes, etc.
• Synchronization with readers
  Caliber uses a modular reader driver system that allows you to add new devices. The program supports many devices. When synchronizing, Caliber itself selects the most suitable format or, if the required one is not available, converts it to the required one. It also adds all the necessary metadata and information about book series to the reader.
• Downloading news and converting it into a book
  Caliber already contains 3 hundred news sources. And after reading the manual, it will not be difficult for you to add new sources
• Built-in book reader
  Caliber contains built-in readers for all supported book formats.
• Web content server
  Caliber contains a built-in web server for remote library management. She can also download and send books to you by email.

Caliber is one of the most convenient e-book managers, which will be useful both for those who prefer to read from a laptop or desktop PC screen, and for those who use portable devices for reading. For almost all popular “readers” the application contains the necessary drivers, and connecting the device is carried out using a convenient wizard. In addition to specialized electronic “readers” like Pocketbook or Kindle Fire, the program also allows you to organize an electronic library of smartphones and tablets based on the iOS and Android operating systems, and in general supports almost all devices that allow you to read books, one way or another.

In addition to making it easy to manage downloaded books and transfer them between devices, Caliber also includes a built-in “viewer,” design tools, and the ability to edit metadata. The program could not do without a conversion function. This can be done manually or you can instruct Caliber to automatically convert books to a supported format when transferred to another device. The list of formats supported by the application includes both the common EPUB and TXT and little-known ones like LRF and MOBI. In general, finding a book in a format that Caliber could not “swallow” is almost impossible.

And to top off all the above-described functions, it is worth adding that the program can search online libraries and is completely free.

The Caliber program is designed to work with e-books. Using the Caliber program you can convert electronic documents from one format to another, create a library and store books in it, search, view electronic documents, copy electronic books to mobile devices.

The free Caliber e-book management program supports Windows, Mac OS X and Linux operating systems. The developer of Caliber is Kovid Goyal.

You can download the Caliber program from the official website of the program. The program works in Russian.

download Caliber

Installing the program on your computer will not cause you any difficulties. When installing the program, you must select a location to place your e-book library.

The disk that will be selected for the library must have sufficient free space. A big library with e-books it can take up quite a lot of disk space. This must be taken into account when choosing a location for your library.

After installing the program on your computer, you should proceed to settings and use of the Caliber program.

How to use Caliber

After launching the Caliber program, the Caliber window opens. At the top of the program window there is a menu with buttons for controlling the program.

Working with the Caliber program begins with the “Add Books” button. You should add books to the program to create an electronic library and start using the program.

Below the menu bar there is a “Search” field for quick search books in the library. After entering the name of the work, you will need to click on the “Start!” button, or in other words, press the “Enter” button on the keyboard. Next to the search field there is a button to reset the quick search.

Electronic books can be added to the library one by one by selecting individual electronic books in the Explorer window that opens.

If you click on the arrow next to the “Add books” button, you can select the desired option for adding books to the library from the context menu.

The Caliber program can be configured to automatically add e-books to the created library.

The main mode of adding books to the library is the group addition of books from selected directories. The program will copy books and the selected e-books will be added to the library.

Books added to the library will be displayed in the form of a list. For each book added to the library, you can view its data - “Title”, “Author(s)”, “Date” of addition to the library, “Size (MB)”, “Rating”, “Tags”, “Series”.

E-books added to the library are copied from their original location.

After launching the program, you will see that one book has already been added to the library - instructions for using the Caliber program in English.

After I added the e-book to the library, it appeared in the list of library books. The right side field displays information about the added e-book. This displays the cover image (if there is such an image), the book format, series, tags, the location of the book in the library, and its short description(if such a description already exists).

The next button, “Edit Metadata,” allows you to organize your use of the library using tags. E-books are assigned certain tags, for example, by genre, for more convenient use of the library.

You can independently add tags to books that do not have them, or edit tags already assigned to books.

To edit the metadata of a book, you need to right-click on the book and select the desired action option in the context menu - “Edit metadata” => “Edit metadata individually.”

After this, the “Edit Metadata” window will open to edit the metadata of the selected e-book. In this window, you can change the metadata of the e-book, add new tags, delete existing ones, add your description to the book, or leave your comment.

Using the "Previous" and "Next" buttons at the bottom of the window, you can move between books that have been added to the library. After changing the metadata, you need to click on the “OK” button.

When you right-click on a book, a context menu opens. Using the context menu, you can perform certain actions with a book, for example, remove a book from the library.

In Caliber, you can view books that have been added to your library. To do this, click on the “View” button. After this a window will open E-book programs Viewer, which is installed along with the Caliber program.

"E-Book Viewer" allows you to view or read books from your library. On the vertical right panel there are buttons for controlling the “E-Book Viewer”, with which you can control this process.

The viewer does not open books in all formats that Caliber supports. Formats not supported by the viewer can be opened using programs installed in your operating system, to view files of a specific format.

Caliber Converter

In the Caliber program, it is possible to convert e-books into various formats for further viewing on book reading devices.

Caliber supports the following input formats for conversion:

• CBZ, CBR, CBC, CHM, EPUB, FB2, HTML, PDB, PDF, PML, PRC, LIT, LRF, MOBI, ODT, RB, RTF, TCR, TXT.

Output formats in which files are saved after conversion:

• EPUB, FB2, OEB, PDB, PDF, PML, LIT, LRF, MOBI, RB, RTF, TCR, TXT.

To convert an e-book, if it is not in the library, in the main window of the Caliber program, you need to click on the “Add books” button. Then you should select the book or books that will need to be converted to another format.

In this example, the book “Vasco da Gama” from the “Life of Remarkable People” series will be converted. Next, you need to click on the “Convert books” button.

In the “Convert” window, you must select the “Output Format”, in this example - the “EPUB” format. In this window you can make your own additional settings, in particular, if necessary, change the book's metadata. Then click on the “OK” button.

After this, the process of converting the book to another format begins. You can see this process running in the background in the lower right corner of the Caliber program.

The electronic book “Vasco da Gama”, in “FB2” format, has been converted to “EPUB” format. You can open a book in the eBook Viewer if you click on the EPUB link under Formats.

"E-book viewer" opened converted to new format e-book.

To view a book if the book has been converted to different formats, the Caliber program will display information as about one book. To view the book in the desired format, you will need to select the required format.

The Caliber program supports converting PDF and DjVu formats, but converting files in these formats most likely will not work. Only very small files can be successfully converted.

Other settings in Caliber

Using the Caliber program, you can buy and download e-books using the web server built into the program.

To do this, click on the “Download books” button. In the “Download books” window that opens, you will need to enter some information about the required book: title, author or keywords, and then click on the “Search” button.

After this, a search will be carried out by stores from the list in the left column of the program window. Based on the search results, you should select the book you want and click on it. Next, you will be redirected to the store’s website to purchase the selected book.

The Caliber program allows you to download news feeds. To do this, click on the “Collect news” button. The “Scheduled news download” window opens, in which you need to select news sources in Russian.

Once you've selected your news source, you'll need to set up a schedule for downloading information using Caliber. The information will be downloaded and saved in the program in the form of an e-book.

After connecting an external device to your computer, two new buttons will appear in the Caliber program: “Send to Device” and “Device”. Using these buttons, e-books are transferred to book reading devices or other mobile devices.

Conclusions of the article

The Caliber program allows you to create a library for storing e-books, convert books to other formats, and also transfer e-books from the library to mobile devices designed for reading e-books.