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These are directions for installing Calibre and loading books into the program. This allows you to attach an e-reader (ex: NOOK, Kindle, iPad,…) to your computer and “side-load” the books onto your device.

The website for downloading the free program is: http://calibre-ebook.com/ Or use your search engine to find the website for Calibre—E-book management.

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This is what the home page looks like. Click on the DOWNLOAD CALIBRE button to get started.

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Download the program for your operating system. *(Don’t choose the portable version if possible. It’s a little bit different. These instructions may not be exactly compatible with this version).

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Once you have downloaded the program, close the website, and install Calibre. (Double-click on the name of the program in the Downloads folder.) Click Run when the program opens. The program will take a few moments to calculate the space requirements needed. (*This program and the ebook files take up little space on your computer.)

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It will only take a couple of minutes to load.

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Put a in the box to accept the user agreement. This will allow you to complete the installation. Then click on Install.

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When the installation completes, click Finish. This will open the program. *Be patient. It may take a minute.

Leave this box checked

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This is the screen you will see the first time you open Calibre. After the initial setup, you will go directly to the program.

I recommend leaving this at the default location

Don’t forget to click Next when you are done

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Choose your device from the list. If you do not see your device listed, choose Generic. Even if you do not choose the correct device the pro-gram will still work with it. This step sets the default extension for the e-books. (Most devices use ePub books but some, such as the Kindle, have other formats.)

Next

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Choose your device from the list. If you do not see your device listed, choose Generic. Even if you do not choose the correct device the program will still work with it. This step sets the default extension for the e-books. (Most devices use the ePub format but some, such as the Kindle, have other formats.)

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You have successfully installed the Calibre program. Click finish to move on to the fun stuff!

There is a link to some online demo videos and the online user manual if you are interested.

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This is what the program will look like when you open it. The quick start guide is your first “official” ebook!

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Your first step should be to add your own books to the library. Click on the down arrow next to the button that says “Add books.”

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There are different options for adding your books into Calibre. You can add books from a single directory or from multiple directories. Ebooks are usually saved in folders that corre-spond to the author so there could be more than one book in each directory. Choose the third option that says “Add books from multiple directories, including sub-directories (Multiple books per directory, assumes every ebook file is a different book.) This will ensure that all of the books are included in your library.”

*If you are only adding one book, you can choose the first option.

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This window will open so you can tell the pro-gram where your books are. If you are adding your books from your device, you will choose the device name under computer. If you are adding books from your computer or a flash drive, choose the appropriate file (ex: USB Disk, C:/Documents/Ebooks, etc…) In my example, I am adding books from a flash drive.

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Your books are now being added to your library. How long this takes depends on the number of books being added. It takes it a minute to read the information before it actually starts adding the books. However, it is usually pretty quick.

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When Calibre is done adding books to your library, it will look something like this.

Some of the information could be missing, such as the book cover picture, tags, or even the author. Don’t worry, Calibre has an easy way to fix that.

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This step is optional. It is possible to “clean up” the information related to each ebook. There are 2 ways to access this feature. You can either click on the big blue button in the toolbar or you can right click on an individual title and choose “Edit metadata.”.

Click Right Click

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It is easier to edit the metadata (information about the books) individually. There is an option to edit the data in bulk but there are less options to control with this choice.

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An informational window will open when you choose to edit the metadata. All of the fields are customizable so it is possible to type in the title, author, tags, summary, etc… However, there is an even easier option by just clicking on the “Download Metadata” button.

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An informational window will open when you choose to edit the metadata. All of the fields are customizable so it is possible to type in the title, author, tags, summary, etc… However, there is an even easier option by just clicking on the “Download Metadata” button.

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Calibre searches the internet for information on books that are close matches. You can then choose which record you would like to associate with your ebook. Remember it doesn’t have to be a perfect match because you can change any of the information manually. It will also NOT change anything within the ebook itself. This is just for organizational purposes.

Click Next

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The next option allows you to choose a cover pic-ture for your ebook. If no options are displayed, or if you prefer to use your own picture, just choose the “current cover” picture. Again, this can be overridden manually. Click OK.

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Now you are back to the information window but the different fields have been filled in. Now is when you can edit any of the information, includ-ing the cover picture, manually by clicking on the field.

Click OK to go back to the library. Click Next to go to the next book.

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Your library now contains your ebooks. You can sort the records by title, author, publisher, etc… by clicking on the column title.

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When your e-reader is plugged into your computer, the column “On device” is displayed to the left of the title column. (When your device is unplugged, this column is absent.) This is a great tool for saving all of your ebooks without having to have them loaded onto your device. You can choose which books you would like to “send” to your e-reader. Do this by highlighting the titles and choosing “Send to device.” (If you have a micro SD card installed on your device, you can choose to have your ebooks sent there.)

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You have now successfully learned the basics of Calibre. There are many more useful features that you can explore on your own. The creator, Kovid Goyal, releases updates (sometimes 3 or 4 a week) to continue to improve the program. It is not necessary to update the program for it to be useful. However, all of the updates so far have proven useful and beneficial.