In this guide we will go through how to set up the Count pages plugin for Calibre. We will be setting it up to refer to the the Goodreads database since in my experience the estimation function is often quite off, where as the Goodreads function is pretty accurate. This requires a few extra steps, but should provide a better experience.
Downloading the plugin
Go to "preferences", then go to "Advanced" and click "Plugins". Click "Get new plugins" and download "Count Pages" by Grant Drake.
Setting up the layout
Click "preferences", click "add your own columns" and click the "+" button. In the "Edit custom column" fill out the following:
Lookup name: page
Column heading: Pages
Column type: Integers
This should provide a column named pages referring to the page count
Configuring Count pages
Click the "Count pages" dropdown menu and select "customize plugin". In the "statistics" tab, make sure to select the page column you just made. Head over to the "other" tab and make sure the Goodreads source is ticked for "Identifier" and "On Menu". Click "OK"
Getting the correct metadata
Click the "Preferences" button. Go to the "Sharing tab" and click "Metadata Download." In the "Metadata fields to download" to the righthand side make sure only "tags" is selected. Then click apply.
Select your desired books. Go to the "Edit Metadata" dropdown button in the toolbar and click "Download Metadata and Covers." Select "Download Only Metadata." That should download a Goodreads ID for your selected books which the plugin can refer to.
With the same books selected click the "Count pages" dropdown button and click "Download page/wordcounts - Goodreads." After processing, a pop up box will refer to the job being done. Click "yes" to update the page column.
Common errors
If you're getting errors there's a chance that the books' metadata is not set up correctly. To control this, click "Edit Metadata" with a selected book and make sure the "Title" and "Author" field is correct. Then select "Download metadata" below.
If you're still not receiving a Goodreads ID or in some cases, it'll just provide you with a Goodreads ID that's just plain wrong, there are ways you can manually fix this. If you locate your book on Goodreads you'll find a set of numbers in the url you can fetch. In the example of Atomic Habits by James Clear, the url number would be "40121378."
If there's no Goodreads ID in the metadata enter "goodreads:" followed by the string of numbers (example: goodreads:40121378) into the Ids field. Should the existing Goodreads id be off just replace it.
Feel free to let me know if there are any problems with this guide and I'll happily try to find another solution.