Register Guidelines E-Books Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read

Go Back   MobileRead Forums > E-Book Software > Calibre

Notices

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old 08-07-2010, 12:07 PM   #1
LightHouse Lady
Enthusiast
LightHouse Lady began at the beginning.
 
Posts: 30
Karma: 10
Join Date: Aug 2010
Device: ipod touch
Sort authors by last name

Hi,
I did a search but couldn't find what I was looking for. Please tell me how to enter metadata to make the authors sort by last name, first name. It is sorting by first name even though it sometimes shows the last name first.

I don't mean to be confusing, but I know it is something simple that I am not doing right.

Thanks,
LL
LightHouse Lady is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-07-2010, 12:23 PM   #2
theducks
Well trained by Cats
theducks ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.theducks ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.theducks ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.theducks ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.theducks ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.theducks ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.theducks ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.theducks ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.theducks ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.theducks ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.theducks ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
theducks's Avatar
 
Posts: 29,689
Karma: 54369090
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: The Central Coast of California
Device: Kobo Libra2,Kobo Aura2v1, K4NT(Fixed: New Bat.), Galaxy Tab A
Quote:
Originally Posted by LightHouse Lady View Post
Hi,
I did a search but couldn't find what I was looking for. Please tell me how to enter metadata to make the authors sort by last name, first name. It is sorting by first name even though it sometimes shows the last name first.

I don't mean to be confusing, but I know it is something simple that I am not doing right.

Thanks,
LL
Welcome.


Default Calibre (no tweaks):
If what you see in the main browser, shows John Smith and you set the Author sort automatically (use the button in the Meta-data editor. Tick the Auto-set box in the bulk edit)
John Smith will sort in the ess's properly . The display is always by Author Name, the sorts will be by "author sort" (click the header to get the sort arrow to show the direction you want).
If there is something out of order, there is:
1) a Author sort that is stale.
2: A variant in the author name (includes spaces, punctuation)
Tip:
Use the Luggage tag (Tag Browser) : Author section.
You can click each name and see what titles are affected. You can even rename (fix) oddities via the tag browser (they will merge int any existing). I believe the "Author sort field is the only one you can't fix from the tag browser, BUT since you can click the tag, you can now highlight all (ctrl-a) the titles shown and Bulk edit the tick box to fix.
theducks is offline   Reply With Quote
Advert
Old 08-07-2010, 01:50 PM   #3
chaley
Grand Sorcerer
chaley ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.chaley ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.chaley ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.chaley ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.chaley ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.chaley ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.chaley ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.chaley ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.chaley ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.chaley ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.chaley ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
Posts: 11,703
Karma: 6658935
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Notts, England
Device: Kobo Libra 2
Quote:
Originally Posted by theducks View Post
I believe the "Author sort field is the only one you can't fix from the tag browser, BUT since you can click the tag, you can now highlight all (ctrl-a) the titles shown and Bulk edit the tick box to fix.
You can correct/change both the author and the author sort fields using the manage authors dialog, available by right-clicking on an author in the tag browser.

The auto-resorting of the columns isn't optimal. I am still trying to figure out what to do about it. Best would be to sort only when the heading is clicked, but I haven't figured out how to do that. I am considering adding a button/check box to turn sorting on and off. Another option would be to have a column that contains nothing, so that sorting on that column would leave the other columns as they are, even if they are changed.
chaley is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-07-2010, 04:31 PM   #4
Gary Young
Member
Gary Young does all things with Zen-like beautyGary Young does all things with Zen-like beautyGary Young does all things with Zen-like beautyGary Young does all things with Zen-like beautyGary Young does all things with Zen-like beautyGary Young does all things with Zen-like beautyGary Young does all things with Zen-like beautyGary Young does all things with Zen-like beautyGary Young does all things with Zen-like beautyGary Young does all things with Zen-like beautyGary Young does all things with Zen-like beauty
 
Posts: 12
Karma: 32324
Join Date: Jul 2010
Device: Sony PRS-T1
If you are only doing a few books, you can do this in the "Edit Metadata" function.

Add the book to calibre, select it, and click on "edit metadata"

You can now change both the "author" field and the "author sort" field to read "Smith, John instead of John Smith. Then click OK

Note that this will not change the metadata that is actually stored in the ebook, just the metadata in calibre's database. To change the data in the book, itself, click on "convert." Sometimes I convert a book from epub to epub just to 'burn' the revised title, author, and cover image to the ebook itself.

Gary
Gary Young is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-07-2010, 06:09 PM   #5
LightHouse Lady
Enthusiast
LightHouse Lady began at the beginning.
 
Posts: 30
Karma: 10
Join Date: Aug 2010
Device: ipod touch
Thanks so much. I will try a couple of these.

It does say Smith, John but it is alphabetized by John. Drives me crazy in itunes as well. I want it in the "s"s and it should read Smith, John.

If I understand this, I can change this in metadata to read Smith, John for both. Sigh, this will take a while with 400 books but I should have done it in the first place.

LL
LightHouse Lady is offline   Reply With Quote
Advert
Old 08-07-2010, 06:20 PM   #6
chaley
Grand Sorcerer
chaley ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.chaley ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.chaley ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.chaley ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.chaley ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.chaley ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.chaley ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.chaley ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.chaley ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.chaley ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.chaley ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
Posts: 11,703
Karma: 6658935
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Notts, England
Device: Kobo Libra 2
Quote:
Originally Posted by LightHouse Lady View Post
Thanks so much. I will try a couple of these.

It does say Smith, John but it is alphabetized by John. Drives me crazy in itunes as well. I want it in the "s"s and it should read Smith, John.
My guess is that you have set the author to Smith, John, but have not told calibre that the author is LN,FN. Result: author_sort would become "John, Smith,".

If you enter authors as LN,FN (I do this), you should set the 'tweak' in calibre that tells calibre not the change the order of the names. See this post for some discussion about how to make the change, as well as the effects.
chaley is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-07-2010, 06:32 PM   #7
LightHouse Lady
Enthusiast
LightHouse Lady began at the beginning.
 
Posts: 30
Karma: 10
Join Date: Aug 2010
Device: ipod touch
Let me try that.

Last edited by LightHouse Lady; 08-07-2010 at 06:35 PM.
LightHouse Lady is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-08-2010, 12:27 AM   #8
LightHouse Lady
Enthusiast
LightHouse Lady began at the beginning.
 
Posts: 30
Karma: 10
Join Date: Aug 2010
Device: ipod touch
Putting the LN, FN in both author slots worked. Thanks. It does seem odd that you cannot just put the author's name as FN, LN and then the sort as LN, FN.

It's not so bad doing it one by one since I did not load the metadata so I can do it at the same time. That does change the author's name to FN, LN so I have to change it each time.

I really thank you for your help.

LL
LightHouse Lady is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-08-2010, 01:22 AM   #9
DoctorOhh
US Navy, Retired
DoctorOhh ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.DoctorOhh ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.DoctorOhh ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.DoctorOhh ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.DoctorOhh ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.DoctorOhh ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.DoctorOhh ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.DoctorOhh ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.DoctorOhh ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.DoctorOhh ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.DoctorOhh ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
DoctorOhh's Avatar
 
Posts: 9,864
Karma: 13806776
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: North Carolina
Device: Icarus Illumina XL HD, Nexus 7
Quote:
Originally Posted by LightHouse Lady View Post
It does seem odd that you cannot just put the author's name as FN, LN and then the sort as LN, FN.
The above is calibre's default way of dealing with authors. I enter FN LN in the author field and calibre puts LN, FN in the author sort field. When I sort on the author column it sorts by last name, even though it displays FN LN.

Quote:
Originally Posted by LightHouse Lady View Post
That does change the author's name to FN, LN so I have to change it each time.
You didn't pay attention to Chaley's post about the tweak, did you? If you apply the tweak calibre will either copy directly what is entered in the the author field or copy directly if there is a comma in the author field and reverse entries if there is no comma in the author field. The tweak and I'm sure the thread Chaley linked to explains these options.

Bottom line is you're making it harder then it is by not paying attention to answers you've already received.
DoctorOhh is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-08-2010, 10:42 AM   #10
Gary Young
Member
Gary Young does all things with Zen-like beautyGary Young does all things with Zen-like beautyGary Young does all things with Zen-like beautyGary Young does all things with Zen-like beautyGary Young does all things with Zen-like beautyGary Young does all things with Zen-like beautyGary Young does all things with Zen-like beautyGary Young does all things with Zen-like beautyGary Young does all things with Zen-like beautyGary Young does all things with Zen-like beautyGary Young does all things with Zen-like beauty
 
Posts: 12
Karma: 32324
Join Date: Jul 2010
Device: Sony PRS-T1
Quote:
Originally Posted by LightHouse Lady View Post
It's not so bad doing it one by one since I did not load the metadata so I can do it at the same time. That does change the author's name to FN, LN so I have to change it each time.
If you still choose to do this manualy, using the edit metadata function, you can change all of the books by the same author at once.

Instead of selecting just one book on the main screen, select all of the books by an author. Then click on edit metadata. Now enter the author name and author sort you want, and click OK.

This will change the data for all of the selected books.

You will still have to work on each book separately to change titles, add cover images, etc.

Gary
Gary Young is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-09-2010, 03:00 AM   #11
kgn
Groupie
kgn has learned how to buy an e-book online
 
Posts: 171
Karma: 94
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Brisbane, Australia
Device: Pocketbook 302
Quote:
Originally Posted by dwanthny View Post
The above is calibre's default way of dealing with authors. I enter FN LN in the author field and calibre puts LN, FN in the author sort field. When I sort on the author column it sorts by last name, even though it displays FN LN.
Yes, this makes it pretty hard for me. My brain sorts from left to right, so I am completely confused when I see 'Alistair McLean' in amongst all the 'm's. In fact, depending on the authors around the M's, it could be a list of anything. So I treat the Author column in the grid as a list of random names. I simply cannot use it.

It would be nice if there was a column in the grid that showed Author Sort. At least that way it would mean something. This would also be good as Author Sort is what the program uses to export files to devices, Save to disk, etc. At the moment, it is hard to know that the Author Sort is what you expect it to be.

I am happy with how Calibre organises itself using LN, FN and all that - it is just the it does not show you that in the grid.
kgn is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-09-2010, 03:17 AM   #12
DoctorOhh
US Navy, Retired
DoctorOhh ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.DoctorOhh ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.DoctorOhh ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.DoctorOhh ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.DoctorOhh ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.DoctorOhh ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.DoctorOhh ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.DoctorOhh ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.DoctorOhh ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.DoctorOhh ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.DoctorOhh ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
DoctorOhh's Avatar
 
Posts: 9,864
Karma: 13806776
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: North Carolina
Device: Icarus Illumina XL HD, Nexus 7
Quote:
Originally Posted by kgn View Post
Yes, this makes it pretty hard for me.
Personally I'm happy with the default, but you are definitely not alone. Many folks implement the tweak (in the configuration tweak.py file) and enter the Author as Last name, First name and the tweak copies that directly to the author sort field.
DoctorOhh is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-09-2010, 03:18 AM   #13
chaley
Grand Sorcerer
chaley ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.chaley ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.chaley ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.chaley ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.chaley ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.chaley ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.chaley ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.chaley ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.chaley ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.chaley ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.chaley ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
Posts: 11,703
Karma: 6658935
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Notts, England
Device: Kobo Libra 2
Quote:
Originally Posted by kgn View Post
Yes, this makes it pretty hard for me. My brain sorts from left to right, so I am completely confused when I see 'Alistair McLean' in amongst all the 'm's. In fact, depending on the authors around the M's, it could be a list of anything. So I treat the Author column in the grid as a list of random names. I simply cannot use it.
If you set the tweak mentioned in an earlier post to 'copy', then author_sort will equal author. 'Alistair McLean' will sort under A, not M. Author and author_sort could be used interchangeably.

Alternatively, you could also enter authors in 'LN, FN'. This, plus setting the tweak to 'copy', would sort and show authors by last name. 'McLean, Alistair' would sort under the M.
Quote:
It would be nice if there was a column in the grid that showed Author Sort. At least that way it would mean something. This would also be good as Author Sort is what the program uses to export files to devices, Save to disk, etc. At the moment, it is hard to know that the Author Sort is what you expect it to be.
Right-clicking on an author in the tags browser then selecting 'manage authors' will open a dialog that shows you both the author and author_sort values for each author. You can use this dialog to correct mistakes due to calibre's guessing how to convert 'FN LN' to 'LN, FN'
chaley is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-09-2010, 03:22 AM   #14
DoctorOhh
US Navy, Retired
DoctorOhh ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.DoctorOhh ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.DoctorOhh ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.DoctorOhh ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.DoctorOhh ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.DoctorOhh ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.DoctorOhh ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.DoctorOhh ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.DoctorOhh ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.DoctorOhh ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.DoctorOhh ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
DoctorOhh's Avatar
 
Posts: 9,864
Karma: 13806776
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: North Carolina
Device: Icarus Illumina XL HD, Nexus 7
Quote:
Originally Posted by chaley View Post
Right-clicking on an author in the tags browser then selecting 'manage authors' will open a dialog that shows you both the author and author_sort values for each author. You can use this dialog to correct mistakes due to calibre's guessing how to convert 'FN LN' to 'LN, FN'
Good to know.
DoctorOhh is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-09-2010, 07:58 AM   #15
jackie_w
Grand Sorcerer
jackie_w ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.jackie_w ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.jackie_w ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.jackie_w ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.jackie_w ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.jackie_w ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.jackie_w ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.jackie_w ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.jackie_w ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.jackie_w ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.jackie_w ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
Posts: 6,171
Karma: 16228536
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: UK
Device: Kobo: KA1, ClaraHD, Forma, Libra2, Clara2E. PocketBook: TouchHD3
Does anyone know why the author_sort field is not included in the list available to be displayed in the Calibre library view?
jackie_w is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
BookSorter v4.0 sort ebooks by folders/Authors/genre etc Dopedangel Reading and Management 5 06-25-2017 07:40 PM
PRS-505 Getting Authors to sort by last name using Calibre's metadata plugboard. ligelowbee Sony Reader 5 10-14-2010 12:06 PM
Short Fiction Authors, Various: Stories by Foreign Authors: Polish, Greek, Belgian. v1, 20 Feb 2008 nrapallo IMP Books (offline) 0 02-22-2008 12:45 AM
Short Fiction Authors, Various: Stories by Foreign Authors: Polish, Greek, Belgian. v1, 20 Feb 2008 Madam Broshkina Kindle Books (offline) 0 02-20-2008 08:41 PM
Short Fiction Authors, Various: Stories by Foreign Authors: Polish, Greek, Belgian. v1, 20 Feb 2008 Madam Broshkina BBeB/LRF Books (offline) 0 02-20-2008 08:40 PM


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 12:46 AM.


MobileRead.com is a privately owned, operated and funded community.