Smart shelves and saved searches
For readersUpdated 1 min read
A smart shelf fills itself from a rule you choose (unread by authors you follow, hidden gems, open early copies in your genres, series you have not finished, short reads, coming soon), with a length, a lowest rating and an order; a saved search is a Books filter you named. Five shelves and ten saved searches per reader.
The short answer
Smart shelves
A smart shelf is a rule over the catalog and your library rather than a list you maintain. It stays current as your library and the catalog change.
- Open Library › Smart shelves and start a new one.
- What should it collect? Pick a rule: Unread by authors I follow, Hidden gems, Open early copies in my genres, Series I haven't finished, Short reads (books under a length you choose) or Coming soon in my genres (not out yet, soonest first).
- Give it a name, a length limit and a lowest rating if you want them, and an order.
- Save. The shelf appears in your Library beside the five fixed ones.
Nothing matches yet means no book in the catalog fits the rule right now; that changes on its own as you follow authors, finish series, or as books are published. A shelf can be paused: it keeps its rule and its place, and starts again whenever you want it back. Every reader account may keep five smart shelves.
Saved searches
A saved search is a Books filter you named (Save this search on a filtered Books or Discover page). The Mood and Pace filters are not kept in a saved search. It appears on Discover as one of your modes, so a search you run every week is one tap away; rename it or remove it from the same bar. Up to ten per reader.
Readers only
Smart shelves and saved searches are reader capabilities and are part of every reader account; an author account's Library has the five shelves.
Where this lives
Related
- Shelves and progress: Your Library has five shelves (Want to Read, Reading, Completed, Did Not Finish, From authors); a book lives on one at a time, and a copy an author handed you keeps its mark wherever you move it. Books you are reading carry a progress percentage; reaching 100 % or tapping Finished moves them to Completed and offers a review.
- Finding books: Search from the header, browse Books and Authors with filters, let Discover recommend, reach the wider catalog for books not published here, or import a Goodreads or StoryGraph export.
- Following, and what you are told: Follow authors (their pen name), readers and series; their news reaches your feed and the bell, grouped and switchable per author. Notifications live under the bell, everything can be marked read at once, and e-mail is a digest, never one message per event.
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