Is there a quick way to delete duplicate reviews?
Talk Welcome to LibraryThing!
Join LibraryThing to post.
1Caroline77
As title says.
I've searched this group for a thread on this but didn't find anything. Sorry if this is a repeat. After a long overdue second import from Goodreads a few weeks ago, I noticed my library has lots of duplicates of both reviews and of simple title entries (books I didn't review). A search for the duplicate books in my list pulls up the two books but not their reviews, so I don't know which review I'm choosing to keep. (Not all the reviews are the same, hence the need to check first.)
Three questions:
1) Is there an option to show my reviews in my actual book list?
2) Does LT have a "combine duplicates" tool, or do duplicates need to be deleted one by one? I'd like to use the tool to delete duplicate entries I didn't review.
3) If there's no option to see a review in my book list, how can I read the finished review? If it's a new review, obviously it's at the top of the reviews section, but if I posted it a few years ago, how can I find it easily on the book page in its final, posted form? (I know the homepage toolbar offers a dedicated "Reviews" section--it's where I noticed I even have duplicate reviews in the first place--but I don't see a search box to find a specific review there.)
I've searched this group for a thread on this but didn't find anything. Sorry if this is a repeat. After a long overdue second import from Goodreads a few weeks ago, I noticed my library has lots of duplicates of both reviews and of simple title entries (books I didn't review). A search for the duplicate books in my list pulls up the two books but not their reviews, so I don't know which review I'm choosing to keep. (Not all the reviews are the same, hence the need to check first.)
Three questions:
1) Is there an option to show my reviews in my actual book list?
2) Does LT have a "combine duplicates" tool, or do duplicates need to be deleted one by one? I'd like to use the tool to delete duplicate entries I didn't review.
3) If there's no option to see a review in my book list, how can I read the finished review? If it's a new review, obviously it's at the top of the reviews section, but if I posted it a few years ago, how can I find it easily on the book page in its final, posted form? (I know the homepage toolbar offers a dedicated "Reviews" section--it's where I noticed I even have duplicate reviews in the first place--but I don't see a search box to find a specific review there.)
2AnnieMod
>1 Caroline77:
1) Yes - look at the top of the catalog where it says style and press on the letters next to it. See if one of them (A,B, C, D, E) works better for you - we have the 5 default ones but you can change any of them by going to Settings: https://www.librarything.com/settings/display and editing one or more of the styles.
2) Nope. A book is a book and cannot be merged into another. You can delete more than one book at the same time via Power Edit (top of the catalog, the lightning icon) but they must be selected first. When I need to do something like that I usually go through the catalog and add a special tag ("todelete") to all the books I want to delete and then use PowerEdit to delete them together.
3) There is a way to put it on the catalog (See 1) but also if you go to your own book in the work level, you will see a line in the book record box at the top that says "Review Reviewed, 467 words (edit)" (the number of words will be different - this is just an example). Clicking on edit opens the editor so you can edit/read it if you want.
1) Yes - look at the top of the catalog where it says style and press on the letters next to it. See if one of them (A,B, C, D, E) works better for you - we have the 5 default ones but you can change any of them by going to Settings: https://www.librarything.com/settings/display and editing one or more of the styles.
2) Nope. A book is a book and cannot be merged into another. You can delete more than one book at the same time via Power Edit (top of the catalog, the lightning icon) but they must be selected first. When I need to do something like that I usually go through the catalog and add a special tag ("todelete") to all the books I want to delete and then use PowerEdit to delete them together.
3) There is a way to put it on the catalog (See 1) but also if you go to your own book in the work level, you will see a line in the book record box at the top that says "Review Reviewed, 467 words (edit)" (the number of words will be different - this is just an example). Clicking on edit opens the editor so you can edit/read it if you want.
3norabelle414
>1 Caroline77: You can change your catalog view to show your reviews. Just click on the settings button at the top of the catalog and drag "reviews" from the list of fields into one of the 5 view options.
You can't delete books automatically, but you can use power edit (the lightning bolt at the top of the catalog) to select several books you want to delete and delete them in a batch.
You can't delete books automatically, but you can use power edit (the lightning bolt at the top of the catalog) to select several books you want to delete and delete them in a batch.
4Caroline77
>2 AnnieMod:
Thank you. That's helpful.
It looks like style C is the best option for this. The "todelete" tag is a great idea. I'll do that. For question 3, I was hoping there'd be a way to see the review in its published form, without the html and such, on the actual book page without having to wade through pages of reviews trying to find that one I posted in, say, 2015.
Thanks again for the help!
Thank you. That's helpful.
It looks like style C is the best option for this. The "todelete" tag is a great idea. I'll do that. For question 3, I was hoping there'd be a way to see the review in its published form, without the html and such, on the actual book page without having to wade through pages of reviews trying to find that one I posted in, say, 2015.
Thanks again for the help!
6MarthaJeanne
You can always see your review at the top of the reviews on the review page. You would have to do this for each copy seperately.
You canalso order your reviews by title, which would bring the two reviews toether.
You canalso order your reviews by title, which would bring the two reviews toether.
7Caroline77
>6 MarthaJeanne: Thank you!
I've used sort-by-title, but unless I'm misunderstanding something, that lists them in alphabetical order with no way to jump to a letter. I needed to find a review of a book starting with "L." It took endless scrolling. :(
I've used sort-by-title, but unless I'm misunderstanding something, that lists them in alphabetical order with no way to jump to a letter. I needed to find a review of a book starting with "L." It took endless scrolling. :(
8jjwilson61
If you know the name of the book or even a word in the title you can search your library for it. Not the site search, the catalog search
9Caroline77
>8 jjwilson61: Yup! Thanks.
10LibraryCin
>6 MarthaJeanne: You can always see your review at the top of the reviews on the review page.
Wow, guess I should have asked this years ago! Learn something new...
Wow, guess I should have asked this years ago! Learn something new...
11Caroline77
>10 LibraryCin: You're understanding something I'm not. Can you explain how you can pull a specific review to the top? I see all my reviews but no way to search within this personal Reviews section or a way to jump to a specific letter.
12AnnieMod
>11 Caroline77: The review page of the work/book, not in the reviews section in the profile -- your review is there in the book section at the top. Thus the note in >6 MarthaJeanne: that you will need to do that for each book individually.
For example (for one of the books you have a review in): https://www.librarything.com/work/12466/reviews
For example (for one of the books you have a review in): https://www.librarything.com/work/12466/reviews
13LibraryCin
>11 Caroline77: Hopefully >12 AnnieMod: explained it so you can find it?
14Caroline77
>12 AnnieMod: Oh, I see. Thanks. It's in the "Reviews" link on the left-hand side under the book cover. I was hoping to easily see it exactly as it appears to everyone in the Member Reviews section (i.e., not in "edit mode"), but it looks like that's not an option without scrolling to find it on the page wherever it is.
15norabelle414
>14 Caroline77: To find it a little faster on the work page you can click "show all" and then search the page (ctrl+F if you're on a Windows computer) for your own username.
You can also go the other direction: go to the page that shows all of your reviews ( https://www.librarything.com/reviews/Caroline77 ), click "show all" at the top, and search the page for the book title.
You can also go the other direction: go to the page that shows all of your reviews ( https://www.librarything.com/reviews/Caroline77 ), click "show all" at the top, and search the page for the book title.
