Aura 'Sort by author' working different than expected

Indy_Mouse_9 · 03-05-2014, 08:56 AM

Hello everyone,

I've purchased a Kobo Aura last weekend, after being a (mostly) happy owner of a Touch for a year and a half.

Obviously I wanted to populate my library as optimally as possible and I'm one of those people who want their library sorted like author -> series -> series index.
Previously, I used the calibre metadata plugboard to add the series & series index to the books' title (using the "{series:| - | }{series_index:0>2s}{title}" -> title template), but browsing these forums I found this post where people mention they appended the series information to the author field.
I tried this, using "{authors}{series:| - | }{series_index:0>2s}" -> author as a template. I like the look I get, but I noticed something very weird, which has led to my posting here...

The authors as displayed in the library look like this:
Douglas Adams - HHGTTG 01
Jean M. Auel - EC 01

which looks ok. I expected them to be sorted like this, when I sort by author:

Douglas Adams - HHGTTG 01
Douglas Adams - HHGTTG 02
Douglas Adams - HHGTTG 03
Douglas Adams - HHGTTG 04
Jean M. Auel - EC 01
Jean M. Auel - EC 02
Jean M. Auel - EC 03
Jean M. Auel - EC 04
etc.

However, they come out sorted like this:
Douglas Adams - HHGTTG 01
Jean M. Auel - EC 01
Douglas Adams - HHGTTG 02
Jean M. Auel - EC 02
Douglas Adams - HHGTTG 03
Jean M. Auel - EC 03
Douglas Adams - HHGTTG 04
Jean M. Auel - EC 04

Obviously this is just two series, when I load more series all #01's get sorted on top, then #02's and so on.
When testing the template calibre sorts the field as I expected, so somehow this seems to be a Kobo (Aura) thing.

Does anyone have an idea how the author field ends up sorted like this, and/or can suggest something to make the field sort as I expected?

GeoffR · 03-05-2014, 09:14 AM

Authors are sorted by lastname first. E.g. "Douglas Adams" is sorted as "Adams, Douglas". So "Douglas Adams - HHGTTG 01" is sorted as "01, Douglas Adams - HHGTTG".

One thing you could do is change the name so that the last name is first. "Adams, Douglas - HHGTTG 01" will be sorted under Adams as you would expect.

You could also try puting the series in parentheses. I haven't tried it myself, but I know that adding (Editor) at the end of the name is ignored for sorting purposes.

Indy_Mouse_9 · 03-07-2014, 09:21 AM

Thanks for helping think GeoffR

You were quite right that the things in parentheses are ignored (in this case the series), and for a moment I was really happy... Then I realised that I acctually wanted to include the series in the sorting.

In the end I went wild with custom columns in calibre, and I now created a 'sortingcode' consisting of the authors initials, series initials and series index, which I only append to the author field when the books are acctually in a series.

This seems to work, so yay

can finally push all my books to the Aura!

03-05-2014, 08:56 AM	#1
Indy_Mouse_9 Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2014 Device: Kobo Aura	'Sort by author' working different than expected Hello everyone, I've purchased a Kobo Aura last weekend, after being a (mostly) happy owner of a Touch for a year and a half. Obviously I wanted to populate my library as optimally as possible and I'm one of those people who want their library sorted like author -> series -> series index. Previously, I used the calibre metadata plugboard to add the series & series index to the books' title (using the "{series:\| - \| }{series_index:0>2s}{title}" -> title template), but browsing these forums I found this post where people mention they appended the series information to the author field. I tried this, using "{authors}{series:\| - \| }{series_index:0>2s}" -> author as a template. I like the look I get, but I noticed something very weird, which has led to my posting here... The authors as displayed in the library look like this: Douglas Adams - HHGTTG 01 Jean M. Auel - EC 01 which looks ok. I expected them to be sorted like this, when I sort by author: Douglas Adams - HHGTTG 01 Douglas Adams - HHGTTG 02 Douglas Adams - HHGTTG 03 Douglas Adams - HHGTTG 04 Jean M. Auel - EC 01 Jean M. Auel - EC 02 Jean M. Auel - EC 03 Jean M. Auel - EC 04 etc. However, they come out sorted like this: Douglas Adams - HHGTTG 01 Jean M. Auel - EC 01 Douglas Adams - HHGTTG 02 Jean M. Auel - EC 02 Douglas Adams - HHGTTG 03 Jean M. Auel - EC 03 Douglas Adams - HHGTTG 04 Jean M. Auel - EC 04 Obviously this is just two series, when I load more series all #01's get sorted on top, then #02's and so on. When testing the template calibre sorts the field as I expected, so somehow this seems to be a Kobo (Aura) thing. Does anyone have an idea how the author field ends up sorted like this, and/or can suggest something to make the field sort as I expected? Attached Thumbnails

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03-05-2014, 09:14 AM	#2
GeoffR Wizard Posts: 3,821 Karma: 19162882 Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: Te Riu-a-Māui Device: Kobo Glo	Authors are sorted by lastname first. E.g. "Douglas Adams" is sorted as "Adams, Douglas". So "Douglas Adams - HHGTTG 01" is sorted as "01, Douglas Adams - HHGTTG". One thing you could do is change the name so that the last name is first. "Adams, Douglas - HHGTTG 01" will be sorted under Adams as you would expect. You could also try puting the series in parentheses. I haven't tried it myself, but I know that adding (Editor) at the end of the name is ignored for sorting purposes.

03-07-2014, 09:21 AM	#3
Indy_Mouse_9 Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2014 Device: Kobo Aura	Thanks for helping think GeoffR You were quite right that the things in parentheses are ignored (in this case the series), and for a moment I was really happy... Then I realised that I acctually wanted to include the series in the sorting. In the end I went wild with custom columns in calibre, and I now created a 'sortingcode' consisting of the authors initials, series initials and series index, which I only append to the author field when the books are acctually in a series. This seems to work, so yay can finally push all my books to the Aura!

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