Question about displaying the authors

[encapuchado]

Hi there,

My question is if I can select that authors are always shown in the order "last name", "first name" (with a comma included).

I have some books in epub, some in Spanish, others in English. Since I want that authors are displayed in "last name", "first name" order, I edited the files using Sigil and edited the Author tag to "last name", "first name". Then I imported the books into Calibre but, for some strange reason, some books are shown in "last name", "first name" order and some are in "first name" "last name" order (no comma here).

So, my question is why? I even renamed some books as "title - lastname_ firstname.epub" with no avail. What I'm doing wrong?

Of course, if the answer is RTFM just point me in the right direction

[theducks]

Originally Posted by encapuchado

Hi there,

My question is if I can select that authors are always shown in the order "last name", "first name" (with a comma included).

I have some books in epub, some in Spanish, others in English. Since I want that authors are displayed in "last name", "first name" order, I edited the files using Sigil and edited the Author tag to "last name", "first name". Then I imported the books into Calibre but, for some strange reason, some books are shown in "last name", "first name" order and some are in "first name" "last name" order (no comma here).

So, my question is why? I even renamed some books as "title - lastname_ firstname.epub" with no avail. What I'm doing wrong?

Of course, if the answer is RTFM just point me in the right direction

Preferences
Adding books
swap Author (on the right)

[encapuchado]

Originally Posted by theducks

Preferences
Adding books
swap Author (on the right)

Thanks. Calibre is still working, but I hope that solves the problem.

This problem arises a second question: where does Calibre takes the fields values from? As I said in the first post. I edited the "Author" field in each epub file to "LN, FN" using Sigil. However, Calibre have two fields, one called "Author(s)", the other called "Author sort". For the books displayed as I want, the two fields have the same value ("LN, FN"). But for the rest, "Author(s)" field is "FN LN", while "Author sort" is "LN, FN". Why is this?

[theducks]

Originally Posted by encapuchado

Thanks. Calibre is still working, but I hope that solves the problem.

This problem arises a second question: where does Calibre takes the fields values from? As I said in the first post. I edited the "Author" field in each epub file to "LN, FN" using Sigil. However, Calibre have two fields, one called "Author(s)", the other called "Author sort". For the books displayed as I want, the two fields have the same value ("LN, FN"). But for the rest, "Author(s)" field is "FN LN", while "Author sort" is "LN, FN". Why is this?

depends on the add books settings
you can use the filename (as set by the template) or read the metadata

Set the Author Sort tweak to "copy"
If you went to a Old time Card Catalog
the Author card was: Weber, David

Calibre sorts that way (Tweak set to invert) but shows David Weber sorted into the W's
George Washington would properly sort BEFORE Weber

[itimpi]

Originally Posted by encapuchado

This problem arises a second question: where does Calibre takes the fields values from? As I said in the first post. I edited the "Author" field in each epub file to "LN, FN" using Sigil. However, Calibre have two fields, one called "Author(s)", the other called "Author sort". For the books displayed as I want, the two fields have the same value ("LN, FN"). But for the rest, "Author(s)" field is "FN LN", while "Author sort" is "LN, FN". Why is this?

The key point to realize is that the 'authors' field is the value that is displayed in the Calibre GUI for the author, while the 'author_sort' field controls how it is sorted if you click on the authors column header.

The 'tweak' mentioned controls the logic to be applied for a new author when generating the author_sort field from the value supplied as 'authors'. The default rule assumes FN LN in author and LN, FN in author_sort which matches my (and many others) personal preferences. However other logic options are available for those who want different relationships between the contents of these two fields. One of the options allows for them being the same, while another apples logic dependant on whether the authors field contains a comma.

Another point is that you can always find an author entry in the tag browser and from there directly edit both these fields. This allows you to se them to value combinations that are unique for this particular author. Doing it this way is more efficient than doing it at an individual book level as a change made there shows up on every book referencing that author. If you want special treatment of the author fields on one particular book then you can change it for just that book instead.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by itimpi

Another point is that you can always find an author entry in the tag browser and from there directly edit both these fields.

The Manage Authors dialog box (available through the "Manage" dropdown box under the tag browser or by right-clicking on an author in the tag browser) can help with fixing many authors at one go. Once you get the tweak set up the way you want, use this dialog to fix the author/author sort values that aren't right.

If you haven't seen it, the How does calibre manage author names and sorting entry in calibre's FAQ might be of interest.

[encapuchado]

Thanks for the answers and thanks for the link provided by chaley.

I still have some problems with the author field, so I did this little experiment.

1. Deleted all books.
2. In menu "Preferences->Tweak->Author sort name algorithm" I put author_sort_copy_method = 'copy'
3. In menu "Preferences->Adding books" I check option "Read metadata from file contents rather than filename". The other two options are unchecked.
4. Close and open Calibre.
5. Add books just from one author, Isaac Asimov. As I said before, I edited all books with Sigil so the author field reads "Asimov, Isaac".
6. Now the Calibre browser shows some books as written by "Asimov, Isaac" and others by "Isaac Asimov". The author menu on the left shows there are two authors. Even in the Calibre library directory (I use Windows 7) there are two directories.
7. Then, I notice that all books listed as "Asimov, Isaac" have the label "language" set to English, while in the others the label is set to Spanish. Take in account that all these books are in Spanish.
8. Using Sigil, I changed the language label to Spanish.
9. Delete all books and add them again.
10. Now the Calibre browser shows all books as written by "Isaac Asimov", there is only one author, and one directory in the Calibre library. Even the "author sort" field is set to "Isaac Asimov".

Does this make sense? Not for me

What I'm doing wrong? I only want to see the books as written by "Asimov, Isaac" with "author sort" field set to "Asimov, Isaac" too.

*** Edit ***

I know I can edit authors by hand, but I don't want to. There are many books and authors and I already spend all the weekend editing the books and changing the "author" label to "last name, first name".

I did this because, as some may know, Spanish names are complex. Some people have last names with many words like "Calderon de la Barca". Some other people use two last names like "Arturo Perez Reverte" and the sort should be on the paternal last name (Perez in the example).

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by encapuchado

Does this make sense? Not for me
3. In menu "Preferences->Adding books" I check option "Read metadata from file contents rather than filename". The other two options are unchecked.

You have less control over the metadata this way than you do if you use filename metadata and regex. You say that you have set internal metadata correctly, but my personal experience is that this is more subject to error.

5. Add books just from one author, Isaac Asimov.

Make sure you do not have any .opf files in the same directory. They can have incorrect metadata that overrides the metadata in the file.

[encapuchado]

I don't have any opf files in the same directory. Just the epub files.

The strange thing is that if language is set to Spanish then Calibre reverse the "last name, first name" fields orders and omits the comma. Another option is that maybe Sigil is doing a lousy job editing the fields. Is there any way to check the fields in the epub without using Calibre or Sigil?

I will give a shot with the regular expressions thing. But first I need to read the manual

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by encapuchado

I will give a shot with the regular expressions thing. But first I need to read the manual

Look at Preferences -> Import/Export -> Adding Books and try your filenames in the test area. It will tell you exactly what author/title you will get for each file.

[Uluhara]

Hi encapuchado,

I, too, work with "Lastname, Firstname" to sort my authors, and I, too, start with Sigil ... so here is what I do ...

1. Open your epub in Sigil. Open the "content.opf" on the left side. Nearly at the top of the file you should find the following line:

<dc:creator opf:file-as="Name, Name" opf:role="aut">Name Name</dc:creator>

Change this to

   <dc:creator opf:file-as="Lastname, Firstname" opf:role="aut">Lastname, Firstname</dc:creator>

You have to do this as the last step before saving, because there is something inside Sigil at work that will change those around on some logic I do not understand whenever you change anything in Sigil that gets written into the content.opf file ....

This step forces my PRS-650 to show the author as "Lastname, Firstname" on my device (as I want it to do) - and Calibre imports them that way if I import my books (with "read metadata from files")

2. Before importing the books into calibre, open calibre, and in preferences set the author sort to

author_sort_copy_method = 'copy'

3. Make a new library, and import your books - now you should see "Lastname, Firstname" everywhere