How to make Calibre *stop* sorting?

[Ma'am-I-Am]

I switched to a new PC and reinstalled Calibre. When I add new books, I like to keep them sorted by the date added (DD MMM YYYY) - no visible timestamp. I used the Tweak (I think) to sort by only the visible date.

But now, if I make a bulk change (such as adding the series into the series column), Calibre automatically sorts by date, then by author. It also does it if I sort by the author column (say, to look up other books I might have missed for the series), then re-sort by date.

I want it to STOP that. I guess another way to look at it is I want it to sort by date added then record number.

I created a view, but it doesn't make any difference. It worked just fine on my old PC.

Any help?

[BetterRed]

Are you saying newly added book(s) do not t appear at top of list when you add them?

I have Tweak:sort_dates_using_visible_fields = True. Irrespective of how the list was last sorted by View Manager, when I add a book (or books) it always appears at the top of the book list. However, I never sort by Date (added).

How do you add books? I add them via Windows Send To, but I don't think it matters how, drag drop into book list, one of Add-Books options, or via the calibre command line (which is what Windows Send to is).

BR

[Ma'am-I-Am]

New books appear at the top. I have the same tweak you do. I only add books from within Calibre, i.e. drag-and-drop or the Add Books dropdown for compressed files.

What it's doing is sorting by date *and* by whatever other column I happened to last click. So if I clicked the Format column, then Date, it'll re-sort by date then format. If I clicked Size then Date, it'll re-sort by date then size.

I just want it to sort by date and only by date.

[theducks]

Restart Calibre and you get 'natural order' (the date added in this case) ascending (latest at bottom)

There is a sort tweak, but it affects ALL sorts.

ID: maximum_resort_levels

Set the maximum number of sort 'levels' that calibre will use to resort the library after certain operations such as searches or device insertion. Each sort level adds a performance penalty. If the database is large (thousands of books) the penalty might be noticeable. If you are not concerned about multi- level sorts, and if you are seeing a slowdown, reduce the value of this tweak.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by Ma'am-I-Am

New books appear at the top. I have the same tweak you do. I only add books from within Calibre, i.e. drag-and-drop or the Add Books dropdown for compressed files.

What it's doing is sorting by date *and* by whatever other column I happened to last click. So if I clicked the Format column, then Date, it'll re-sort by date then format. If I clicked Size then Date, it'll re-sort by date then size.

I just want it to sort by date and only by date.

I suggest you set up a View Manager view that just sorts on Date.



FWIW - I access VM from the book list context menu,



In the View Manager plugin thread, JimmXinu and I had a long exchange about Date column sorting a couple of years ago, I can't recall the details but it starts about here ==>> https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...&postcount=238

Note I am using version 1.3.2 of the VM plugin, it's the only PI I haven't updated, in part because of the problem with unwanted Date sorting.

I sometimes click a header inadvertently which initiates an unwanted sort. What I'd like is a toggle or tweak to disable/enable column header click sorting entirely, and simplified VM functionality in the calibre core - no saved search, Virtual library switching etc.

BR

[Ma'am-I-Am]

Sorry, Ducky (I've been dying to say that!). Restarting it leaves it in the same order it was when I left it. I have Automatically Apply View turned off, too. I'll give the max re-sort levels a try.

I take it no one else is having this problem, so I can't report it as a bug.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by Ma'am-I-Am

Sorry, Ducky (I've been dying to say that!). Restarting it leaves it in the same order it was when I left it. I have Automatically Apply View turned off, too. I'll give the max re-sort levels a try.

I take it no one else is having this problem, so I can't report it as a bug.

What are the sort specifications in the VM View where you have 'Automatically Apply View' turned off ?

BR

[Ma'am-I-Am]

@BetterRed - Sorry, I should have said: I've already played with the VM and have not found a solution at this point. I'll keep working on it.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Ma'am-I-Am

Sorry, Ducky (I've been dying to say that!). Restarting it leaves it in the same order it was when I left it. I have Automatically Apply View turned off, too. I'll give the max re-sort levels a try.

I take it no one else is having this problem, so I can't report it as a bug.

You're not the first

If restarting does not put Calibre back into ID order, you have a rogue plugin forcing a sort.. I just verified that the books at the bottom are in {id} (the order of adding) order

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by Ma'am-I-Am

@BetterRed - Sorry, I should have said: I've already played with the VM and have not found a solution at this point. I'll keep working on it.

I thought I gave you the solution, set up a VM View to sort on Date

FYI you can assign keyboard shortcuts to VM Views in Preferences->Shortcuts

My experience is that mixing VM sorting and header click sorting is best avoided - especially if it involves the Date column.

BR

[Ma'am-I-Am]

I may have fixed it (yeah, we'll see). I reset the tweak to sort by visible date to False. Created a fresh View and made sure only the Date was ticked. Set Automatically Apply View to the new View.

I tested by adding 4 books by the same author, did a bulk edit. Items are still at the top where I want them and the rest of the books added today are not sorted by author.

So it seems that tweak about visible dates was the key? If it screws up again, I'll be back.