Author and author sort fields and importing books

guspasho · 12-16-2012, 03:48 AM

Hi. So for some reason I cannot ever completely wrap my head around the author and author sort fields in Calibre and how to make it so my books appear correctly on my Kindle Touch.

I want the author names to show up in the index naturally, ie "Stephen King", but the authors to be sorted by last name. I can never remember how to do this, and I always have to dig to find it when I have new books to import to my Kindle, and it required doing something nonintuitive like converting my books. So I'm starting my own topic. Can someone please give me a succinct explanation of how to do this? It would also be wonderful if Calibre made it easier to do this. Why isn't it sufficient to simply make sure the author and author sort fields are correct?

Also, and even more annoying, I recently got a new computer (switched from a desktop Windows PC to a Macbook) and imported my library from my Kindle instead of trying to figure out how to import from one computer to the other. Now the author field in all my books has been replaced with the author sort field in Calibre, so now both fields show "King, Stephen". Am I going to have to manually reconvert my whole library again? Thanks and double thanks.

EDIT: Also, after restoring my library from my Kindle, anything added to the Kindle from the previous Calibre library does not show up as "On Device" when the Kindle is plugged in. Only the books bought and downloaded from Amazon or anything imported to the device using the current Calibre installation. So I'd like an efficient way to fix the current Calibre library so the author field is consistently "Stephen King" and not a mix of "Stephen King" and "King, Stephen", and to get Calibre to recognize those books that came from the device as on the device. Thanks!

theducks · 12-16-2012, 11:09 AM

Your Calibre Library has been allowed to accumulate un-managed (not normalized) metadata data (this is because the sources are not consistent)

The Quality check Plugin can help fix many of these so that they are consistent.
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...38&postcount=1

You need to decide which will be your way and set the configurations.

guspasho · 12-28-2012, 12:42 PM

Thanks! The plugin worked perfectly to fix the entries in my library.

I have a new, unrelated problem now. I cleaned up a lot of other metadata and replaced some books with better versions I've since found, and I'd like to sync that with the books on my Kindle, but is it possible to do that without completely overwriting them and making them appear as new again?

guspasho · 03-13-2013, 11:07 PM

Has there been some change made to the way Calibre handles Author and Author Sort for the Kindle Touch? Previously I needed to reconvert all my books so they would appear like "Robert Jordan" instead of "Jordan, Robert", but still sort alphabetically by last name. Now I noticed that many of the books I've had to convert that way are being sorted by first name but the books I upload to my Kindle without any conversion are being sorted correctly, and the authors are being displayed correctly.

Do I need to reconvert and reupload all my books, disabling "Use author sort for author"? And to ask my previous question again, do I have to delete all those books from my Kindle. I'm not sure how I'm going to easily find and replace the ones that need fixed, short of reconverting my entire library, deleting my entire library on my Kindle, and reuploading my entire library (and presumably reindexing everything.) What should I be doing that will be most efficient? Thanks.

12-16-2012, 03:48 AM	#1
guspasho Connoisseur Posts: 50 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2011 Device: Kindle Touch	Author and author sort fields and importing books Hi. So for some reason I cannot ever completely wrap my head around the author and author sort fields in Calibre and how to make it so my books appear correctly on my Kindle Touch. I want the author names to show up in the index naturally, ie "Stephen King", but the authors to be sorted by last name. I can never remember how to do this, and I always have to dig to find it when I have new books to import to my Kindle, and it required doing something nonintuitive like converting my books. So I'm starting my own topic. Can someone please give me a succinct explanation of how to do this? It would also be wonderful if Calibre made it easier to do this. Why isn't it sufficient to simply make sure the author and author sort fields are correct? Also, and even more annoying, I recently got a new computer (switched from a desktop Windows PC to a Macbook) and imported my library from my Kindle instead of trying to figure out how to import from one computer to the other. Now the author field in all my books has been replaced with the author sort field in Calibre, so now both fields show "King, Stephen". Am I going to have to manually reconvert my whole library again? Thanks and double thanks. EDIT: Also, after restoring my library from my Kindle, anything added to the Kindle from the previous Calibre library does not show up as "On Device" when the Kindle is plugged in. Only the books bought and downloaded from Amazon or anything imported to the device using the current Calibre installation. So I'd like an efficient way to fix the current Calibre library so the author field is consistently "Stephen King" and not a mix of "Stephen King" and "King, Stephen", and to get Calibre to recognize those books that came from the device as on the device. Thanks! Last edited by guspasho; 12-16-2012 at 06:23 AM.

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12-16-2012, 11:09 AM	#2
theducks Well trained by Cats Posts: 29,778 Karma: 54830978 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: The Central Coast of California Device: Kobo Libra2,Kobo Aura2v1, K4NT(Fixed: New Bat.), Galaxy Tab A	Your Calibre Library has been allowed to accumulate un-managed (not normalized) metadata data (this is because the sources are not consistent) The Quality check Plugin can help fix many of these so that they are consistent. https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...38&postcount=1 You need to decide which will be your way and set the configurations.

12-28-2012, 12:42 PM	#3
guspasho Connoisseur Posts: 50 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2011 Device: Kindle Touch	Thanks! The plugin worked perfectly to fix the entries in my library. I have a new, unrelated problem now. I cleaned up a lot of other metadata and replaced some books with better versions I've since found, and I'd like to sync that with the books on my Kindle, but is it possible to do that without completely overwriting them and making them appear as new again?

03-13-2013, 11:07 PM	#4
guspasho Connoisseur Posts: 50 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2011 Device: Kindle Touch	Has there been some change made to the way Calibre handles Author and Author Sort for the Kindle Touch? Previously I needed to reconvert all my books so they would appear like "Robert Jordan" instead of "Jordan, Robert", but still sort alphabetically by last name. Now I noticed that many of the books I've had to convert that way are being sorted by first name but the books I upload to my Kindle without any conversion are being sorted correctly, and the authors are being displayed correctly. Do I need to reconvert and reupload all my books, disabling "Use author sort for author"? And to ask my previous question again, do I have to delete all those books from my Kindle. I'm not sure how I'm going to easily find and replace the ones that need fixed, short of reconverting my entire library, deleting my entire library on my Kindle, and reuploading my entire library (and presumably reindexing everything.) What should I be doing that will be most efficient? Thanks.

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