Mesembryanthemum’s Comments (group member since Jul 15, 2023)

Mesembryanthemum’s comments from the Export: The Good, The Bad, and The Weird group.

Oh, there's so much I don't know. I don't even know whether I once knew this and had just forgotten. LOL / sigh.

Today, I also know that I can't count. The number of lines that I reported in message 21 is wrong: That entry has 53 lines (not 57).

More importantly, I noticed today that the number of lines for a book entry is different if there are any blank entries, or if there are multiple read dates.

So I've given up the idea of writing a Linux-based parser for this information. It could be done, but it would take more time (for me, at least) than just looking at the shelf on GR. Instead, I'll keep chipping away at adding ASINs (and multiple read dates) to my Private Notes.

Here's a tidbit of new information so those clicking on this thread will at least see something more than my "oops" comment above. This one's for newbies (and non-newbies, like me, who aren't good at using the GR website).

Each shelf has a "Settings" link at the top, next to "Batch edit". You can use it to display the ASINs for the books on your shelf, plus much more. AHA! (What can I say — I'm not good with a complicated UI that has tiny, text-only links.)

I investigated, of course, because I want to automate the process of saving the ASINs for my Kindle books. Alas, I'm not there yet, but this is the first step.

WHAT I DID:

1. Set my shelf display to "table view" and enabled the dreaded "infinite scroll" option.

2. Changed my settings to check every available column, like this:



3. Scrolled down so that all books on the shelf are displayed on this page.

4. Copied the contents of the shelf -- for example, by using my mouse to click-and-drag to select the header row (optional) and all books information -- then pasted it into a text file.

THE RESULTS:

If you copied the heading row, it looks like this (note that ^I signifies a tab character):

cover ^Ititle Up arrow ^Iauthor ^Iisbn ^Iisbn13 ^Iasin ^Inum pages ^Iavg rating ^Inum ratings ^Idate pub ^Idate pub (ed.) ^Irating ^Ishelves ^Ireview ^Inotes ^ I^Icomments ^Ivotes ^Iread count ^Idate started ^Idate read ^Idate added ^I^Iowned ^I^I^Iformat ^I

The header is followed by 57 lines for each book "row". Each item for the book is on its own line, following by a blank line (though it's actually the TAB character, so it's not truly blank).

The title is on the 3rd line of the entry. The ASIN is on the 11th line (it's the third long number in the entry).

Here's an example book entry:

The Palm-Wine Drinkard
	
The Palm-Wine Drinkard
	
Tutuola, Amos
	
0571049966
	
9780571049967
	
0571049966
	
125 pp
	
3.77
	
2,939
	
1952
	
1977
	
1 of 5 stars
2 of 5 stars
3 of 5 stars
[ 4 of 5 stars ]
5 of 5 stars
	
read, я-2020-read
[edit]
	
Like reading a dream. I loved it. [edit]
	
None [edit]
	
0
	
0
	
1
	
Dec 25, 2020 [edit]
	
Dec 25, 2020 [edit]
	
Dec 26, 2020
	
	
Paperback [edit]
	
edit
view »
Remove from my books

Someday, I'll figure out how to extract just the title and ASIN from each entry, so that I have a simple list of the ASINs to add to each review's Private Notes field. But my Linux shell-scripting skills are very rusty, so that will have to wait.

Oops! Yes, of course, you clearly said "Private Notes" above. My tiny brain skipped that detail and focused only on the reviews section. My bad.

Thanks for the character limit for GR reviews. This is also very good to know.

I finally checked my export files. The HTML code is preserved in the export files, with all the < and > and / and . characters. It's probably safest to assume that those "extra" characters will count towards the 250-character limit.

For example, some of my reviews have "fully clickable links" that use this format:

<a href="https : // www . something . com / otherthing / stuff">linktext< /a> 

(without any spaces around the colon and slashes and periods, of course, which are there so you can see the HTML code)

It would save several characters to omit the HTML code and use a shortened version of the link (again, without the spaces):

something . com / otherthing / stuff 

This example would save 26 characters, plus whatever I used for "linktext".

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "The first part is the web app allows anyone to list their books by scanning the bar code.

And if your edition doesn't *have* a bar code?

Yes, this a drawback for the app, but not for the website in general. They appear to totally allow books without ISBNs. Their FAQ says that you can add books "by importing data from another website (GoodReads, LibraryThing, Babelio)..." instead of by scanning a bar code.

This is important to me, because 1/3 of the books I own are pre-ISBN (so also before bar codes). I need to do more research for Inventaire, obviously, but I like their approach at first glance.

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Eventually, I'll just add books straight to my last Export file and use that."

I wish I had a "spreadsheet brain" so that this would work for me. But I need something that lets me click on an author to see all their books, then click on a book to see all the editions of that work, then click on an edition to see when I read it (and whether I own it or just borrowed it), then click on my read date to see all the other books I read that year, then ... well, you get the idea.

It's true that Goodreads has by far the most extensive catalog. But, right now, I'd like to do my little bit to help a different platform.

In the meantime, I agree that updating my export file (or files) is the most practical option.

Also, has anyone tried using Inventaire?

https://inventaire.io

I like what I read in their wiki: https://wiki.inventaire.io/wiki/Main_...

I'm gradually realizing that I need to put my books on a different platform. GR's recent "language, search, and sort" issues are accelerating my need to find a better place for me and my books. I just don't know which site to choose.

I'm leaning towards LibraryThing, because the focus on logging a collection -- instead of social fluff -- appeals to me. (OK, so using the word "fluff" is a clue that the social parts of GR aren't important to me, but I know that's not fluff for many people. No offense intended.) Also, LibraryThing seems to have the biggest, most well-linked database, with a good search function that can be organized and filtered. But I am disconcerted about their "anything goes" approach for non-book content. Have people noticed that the non-book items get in the way of finding and logging books?

I took a quick look at The StoryGraph and BookBrainz, but neither seems right for me -- at least, not yet.

I'm not a fan of StoryGraph's looks-over-functionality approach, and their recommendations for mood/pace/plot/etc. aren't my kind of thing. But I do like that their development plans and bug lists are available for everyone to see.

As for BookBrainz, I'm not sure that I understand how to use this site. Listing an author's "relationships" instead of books/works is confusing. And, like The StoryGraph, there's no way to sort or organize or filter the results. But I didn't spend much time here, so maybe I missed the positive things about BookBrainz.

I'd like to learn more before I make my "final" decision. Can anyone tell me more about what they like about the site (or sites) that they've chosen?

Aha -- my latest export just finished. Success for the first time for two days.

Yesterday and today, my attempts to create an export file haven't worked. I get the message "We were unable to export your library. Please try again."

Is it just me and my bad luck? Or have others noticed this problem, too?

I like this "think positive" thread! You're right — the export file has a different view into my book data, and it's easier to see some things in the export file versus using the Goodreads website.

My positives:

It's easy to see the books that I've reviewed — I just sort on the Reviews column. More importantly, I can also see my private notes without clicking multiple times for each book.

I can quickly sort my most-read books using the Read Count column. I reread a lot of books, but it turns out that there are a few that are my top favorites. I admit that I didn't need a spreadsheet to learn this, but it's nice to know that the computer agrees with me. It gives me confirmation for the books that I must always keep.

Like you, when I compare each export file with the previous one, I can see the errors (almost) as soon as they happen. As long as I delete the Average Rating column first (because that value always changes even when nothing else does).

And last but not least, I can see that I have some really bad shelf names. Plus too many shelves. My next project is fixing my shelves so that my export file is easier to use.

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Mes - if your columns are too narrow, you can widen them to see more of the contents. Place your mouse at the top of the column and on the right side of the line separating one column from its neighbor. You'll get a bold double upright and some small arrows. Click, hold down the mouse and drag right until the field is the size you'd like to see.

And pardon me if you already knew this."

Thank you! I am a complete spreadsheet newbie, so I am grateful for any advice. This is very helpful. As is Dobby's tip to double-click on a column to set the width to the column contents. It's much easier to view my spreadsheet now. Thank you both!

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "ISBN: I don't have the quotes. It doesn't seem reasonable that this is a Mac/PC difference, but I know so little about the Mac that I can't make a suggestion."

I think that one of the spreadsheet tools that I use (and I use so many: Mac Numbers, LibreOffice Calc, and Google Sheets) asked if I wanted to convert text to number values. When I did, the quoted equal signs and extra double quotes disappeared.

Perhaps most spreadsheet tools do this conversion automatically. I only noticed them when I viewed the raw .csv file in a text editor. There's probably a technical reason why the double-quotes are there in the raw CSV, but my guess is that they don't really matter, in the larger scheme of things. I shall stop fretting about this one, at least.

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Bookshelves: I *think* the order is in the order in which I added them to the title. I know I don't do it the same way each time"

Aha. I think you're right. Like you (and probably most humans), I don't use the same exact order when selecting multiple shelves for my books. I feel like only a computer (or programmer) would care about this level of consistency.

Somehow, it seems so GR-esque to capture the order-in-which-you-added-it info and not show it on the website, but use it for the export file.

I'm filing this one under "Charming Quirks of the GR Export File." Because it makes me laugh.

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Try filtering by condition. When you click on that it just says "None" but there are arrows. Clicking on the arrows brings up a menu. You can choose which condition you'd like to use."

Aha! Yes, this is great -- and much easier than "Filter by values" for finding all rows that mention a specific shelf name. I can see that it will be useful for other research, as well. Thanks!

Several columns in the export file are giving me a headache.

Average Rating: This value can change -- and often does, for popular books. When I compare my export files, it looks like my data has changed, but it hasn't. (I'm embarrassed about how long it took me to notice this.) I've learned to delete this column before I compare my CSV files, but it makes me cranky.

ISBN and ISBN 13: Why do these fields have so many double quote characters? It starts with a quoted equal sign, then quotes around the ISBN number, followed by another pair of double quotes. (Like this: "=""1770460829"""). But WHY?

Bookshelves and Bookshelves with positions: The shelf order seems to be random. The GR website displays them in a consistent order: Exclusive shelves first (in alphabetical order), then non-exclusive shelves (also in alphabetical order). But NOT the export file. I can't see any logic to the order of the shelf names in this column. So it's useless to try to sort these columns; instead, I have to use fancy spreadsheet filter functions to find the shelves I want to examine.

Is it just me? Or are there things in the export file that you don't like? Do you have any tips or work-arounds for these or other annoyances?

Oh, yeah -- they say that a picture is worth a thousand words. Here's the Filter by Value dialog for the "Bookshelves" column, after I've entered "2023" in the search box, then clicked Select all.



And here's the dialog for the "Date Read" column, after I've cleared all selections, then selected (Blanks).

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "I opened a CSV file in Google Drive. I was able to use filters. I was able to get the same results as I do in Excel.
...
See the right portion of the ribbon, and click on the little thing that looks like a funnel.
...
Then all of the column headers have a little indication of a drop down menu - which is exactly what they are"

Elizabeth, thank you, thank you, thank you for the tips and extremely helpful pictures. You gave me the courage I needed to try again with Google Drive / Google Sheets, and I am happy to report that wow wow wow — it works!!! I'm doing a happy dance now.

I was so encouraged that I tried using "Filter by values". IT'S GREAT! It lets me select exactly the values that I want, or do not want, for each column that I'm interested in. This is perfect for searching for specific names, or parts of names, in my bookshelf list.

For example:

1. First, I selected the entire spreadsheet and clicked Data > Create a filter. (I learned that I couldn't define filters for multiple columns unless I did this first.)


2. Next, to show only the books on the "read" shelf: I created a filter for the "Exclusive Shelf" column by clicking on that funny triangle in that column. Next, I cleared all selections under Filter by values. Finally, I selected read and clicked Done.


3. Then, to show the books in a particular shelf, I created a filter for the "Bookshelves" column. Under Filter by values, I cleared all selections, then selected only those rows that contains the name I was interested in. The Search field is VERY helpful for finding all rows that contain multiple shelves. In my case, I entered "2023" to see all rows that include my "2023-read" shelf. Once I could see the values I wanted, I clicked Select all.

4. Finally, to show the books for that shelf with blank read dates, I created a filter for the "Date Read" column. Under Filter by values, I selected Clear, then checked the value (Blanks), then Done.

VOILA! Or VIOLA, depending on your preference. Anyway, it seemed like magic to me.

Now I can start trying to figure out if there's a pattern to the missing read dates in my export file. Or, at least, identify the exact items that I need to fill in by hand.

P.S. Thank you again! I really appreciate your help as I learn to use spreadsheets.

I love the idea of saving each bookshelf to a separate tab/sheet. I started this with my Read shelf, but should extend it to the others (someday).

Alas, I don't have Excel (I'm on a Mac), so I'm switching between Mac Numbers, LibreOffice Calc, and Google Sheets. The search functions in these tools leave a lot to be desired. They mostly fail to find text (shelf names) in the Bookshelves column -- or maybe it's me, because I'm pitiful with spreadsheets.

So I usually end up working in the plain text file. I'm an old-school vim user, so I actually prefer the old-fashioned, text-only view - lol. The search function is great, but viewing a raw CSV file is less than ideal.

So then I go back to my spreadsheet tool(s), and hide all the columns I don't want to see for the moment. Then I export a copy and go back to my text editor. And so on.

I'm still hunting for the best solution.

Good question. I'm interested to know how people use their export files.

Me, I've just started to think of my export file as a source of knowledge. For example, when I was researching the true extent of my missing read dates, I sorted the export file by the "Exclusive Shelf" column, then copied all the rows for the "read" shelf into another spreadsheet. After doing that, it was easier to sort and search for missing read dates. A bit. (I am not good with spreadsheets, alas.) But then I thought, "I should save this information because it's much easier to work with than the multiple GR pages I would have to view."

I also like that the export file contains some information that is "hidden" in the My Books view, like the text of my reviews. If I wanted to find all the reviews where I said, "I HATED THIS", it would be much easier to do in the export file than in Goodreads. (Yes, I can see all my reviews from the link on my profile, but the text I want would have to be in the beginning of the review, because GR chops the info after a few dozen characters.)

Anyway, I'm just beginning to think about using export files as the source of information. Perhaps I'll think of some more examples ...