Calibre 0.7.22 saves files differently

[pennylane]

Just updated to 0.7.22 from 0.7.19

When I saved files to disk, the previous version saved e-book titles in epub like in this example #1:

A Darkness More Than Night
City of Bones
The Black Echo
The Last Coyote

The updated version now saves files to disk as this example #2:

Black Echo, The
City of Bones
Darkness More Than Night, A
Last Coyote, The

All my current library is saved to disk as in example #1

Does anyone know how to change a preference setting in the updated version so that I can save file names to disk as before?? I've tried everything with no luck

thanks

[chaley]

Originally Posted by pennylane

Does anyone know how to change a preference setting in the updated version so that I can save file names to disk as before?? I've tried everything with no luck

This change has been around for several releases. My guess is that this is the first time you sent books where you noticed it.

You should look at the tweaks (preferences -> advanced -> tweaks), and in particular the tweaks

# Control title and series sorting in the library view.
# If set to 'library_order', Leading articles such as The and A will be ignored.
# If set to 'strictly_alphabetic', the titles will be sorted without processing
# For example, with library_order, The Client will sort under 'C'. With
# strictly_alphabetic, the book will sort under 'T'.
# This flag affects Calibre's library display. It has no effect on devices. In
# addition, titles for books added before changing the flag will retain their
# order until the title is edited. Double-clicking on a title and hitting return
# without changing anything is sufficient to change the sort.
title_series_sorting = 'library_order'

# Control how title and series names are formatted when saving to disk/sending
# to device. If set to library_order, leading articles such as The and A will
# be put at the end
# If set to 'strictly_alphabetic', the titles will be sorted without processing
# For example, with library_order, "The Client" will become "Client, The". With
# strictly_alphabetic, it would remain "The Client".
save_template_title_series_sorting = 'library_order'

My guess is that you want 'strictly_alphabetic' for both.

[pennylane]

Thanks - so now I know that it can be changed to the format that I've been using

Now, I just need to figure out how to make the changes that you suggest.

I appreciate your response

[pghaworth]

Originally Posted by chaley

This change has been around for several releases. My guess is that this is the first time you sent books where you noticed it.

You should look at the tweaks (preferences -> advanced -> tweaks), and in particular the tweaks

# Control title and series sorting in the library view.
# If set to 'library_order', Leading articles such as The and A will be ignored.
# If set to 'strictly_alphabetic', the titles will be sorted without processing
# For example, with library_order, The Client will sort under 'C'. With
# strictly_alphabetic, the book will sort under 'T'.
# This flag affects Calibre's library display. It has no effect on devices. In
# addition, titles for books added before changing the flag will retain their
# order until the title is edited. Double-clicking on a title and hitting return
# without changing anything is sufficient to change the sort.
title_series_sorting = 'library_order'

# Control how title and series names are formatted when saving to disk/sending
# to device. If set to library_order, leading articles such as The and A will
# be put at the end
# If set to 'strictly_alphabetic', the titles will be sorted without processing
# For example, with library_order, "The Client" will become "Client, The". With
# strictly_alphabetic, it would remain "The Client".
save_template_title_series_sorting = 'library_order'

My guess is that you want 'strictly_alphabetic' for both.

This was great info. Thanks. It still doesn't sort titles right for me but I have the author names coming in right now. I was a bit intimidated by the tweaks section until I read your post.

[kacir]

Originally Posted by pghaworth

Thanks. It still doesn't sort titles right for me but I have the author names coming in right now. I was a bit intimidated by the tweaks section until I read your post.

Use a custom column, built from other columns.
Call it mytitle, select "column built from other columns" and give it template {title}.
Now sort the books according to this column.
The titles are sorted strictly alphabetically.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by kacir

Use a custom column, built from other columns.
Call it mytitle, select "column built from other columns" and give it template {title}.
Now sort the books according to this column.
The titles are sorted strictly alphabetically.

Uhhhh... Why do that? Why not set the tweak and let calibre do it? That way, the title_sort value has what you want in it. I suppose that if you have a lot of books and don't want to do the 'forced update' bit described below, then this approach works.

@pghaworth: changing the tweak doesn't change the values in the database. You need to force calibre to do an update to the metadata of every book. There are three general ways to do that.

1) Select all the books, then right-click and select 'Edit metadata individually'. As each box opens, hit return without changing anything. The title sort value will be updated. If you have a lot of books, you will get tired of hitting return.

2) Double-click in a title and hit return. Updates the title to what it was before, but applying the tweak. Again, if you have a lot of books, this method will be annoying.

3) If your author_sort values are all computed from the author values, then you can force the recomputation in one step by selecting all your books, hitting 'E' to get to bulk metadata edit, checking the 'Automatically set author sort' box, and pressing OK. Calibre will change the author sort to what it already is, recomputing the title sort in the process. This is what I would do.

[kacir]

Originally Posted by chaley

Uhhhh... Why do that?

- Because this way he can have the best of both worlds, switching at will between two different sort systems. Sometimes I like the default Calibre behavior, other times I am looking for something and I want to have things sorted strictly alphabetically.

- Because this way he has freedom to choose between at least two working solutions (yours and mine)

- Because the new and improved custom columns are great feature and I want to make people aware of the great things that can be done using them.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by kacir

- Because the new and improved custom columns are great feature and I want to make people aware of the great things that can be done using them.

A great feature? An awesome feature! And I agree with this point, the best way to get people's attention to it is by showing it doesn't need to be a daunting as some people can make it appear to be (as you can do awesome things with templates now )

[chaley]

Originally Posted by kacir

- Because ...

- Because ...

- Because ...

Thanks.

[pghaworth]

Originally Posted by chaley

Uhhhh... Why do that?

I so agree...

Originally Posted by chaley

@pghaworth: changing the tweak doesn't change the values in the database. You need to force calibre to do an update to the metadata of every book. There are three general ways to do that.

1) Select all the books, then right-click and select 'Edit metadata individually'. As each box opens, hit return without changing anything. The title sort value will be updated. If you have a lot of books, you will get tired of hitting return.

2) Double-click in a title and hit return. Updates the title to what it was before, but applying the tweak. Again, if you have a lot of books, this method will be annoying.

3) If your author_sort values are all computed from the author values, then you can force the recomputation in one step by selecting all your books, hitting 'E' to get to bulk metadata edit, checking the 'Automatically set author sort' box, and pressing OK. Calibre will change the author sort to what it already is, recomputing the title sort in the process. This is what I would do.

1. & 2. Thank you. First made an ID10T error, fixed it, and then realized that I needed to fix the affected titles after I posted and have since fixed the titles.

3. Took me a bit to analyze what I needed to put in the tweak box to make it come out right but finally figured it out and author sort is now working properly in all instances. THIS ROCKS!

Having all my titles sorting properly, and all my authors formatted the way I like them, is so satisfying.

Yes, I do have a tiny, tiny, minuscule really, life... ...and Calibre rocks my world.

Thanks for all the help.

[pennylane]

Originally Posted by pghaworth

I so agree...



1. & 2. Thank you. First made an ID10T error, fixed it, and then realized that I needed to fix the affected titles after I posted and have since fixed the titles.

3. Took me a bit to analyze what I needed to put in the tweak box to make it come out right but finally figured it out and author sort is now working properly in all instances. THIS ROCKS!

Having all my titles sorting properly, and all my authors formatted the way I like them, is so satisfying.

Yes, I do have a tiny, tiny, minuscule really, life... ...and Calibre rocks my world.

Thanks for all the help.

@pghaworth

could you give me an example of how you changed the tweak file (the steps you took and what you changed) - I'm lost here

[pghaworth]

Originally Posted by pennylane

@pghaworth

could you give me an example of how you changed the tweak file (the steps you took and what you changed) - I'm lost here

I'm pretty much lost too, but take the instructions that were posted and use the indication as a clue as to tell Calibre what to do.

Look at this and then experiment with the settings shown. The lower box is where you put your tweaks, and the last line of the tweak is where you put the option you want, i.e. library sort vs. alphabetical sort.

Originally Posted by chaley

You should look at the tweaks (preferences -> advanced -> tweaks), and in particular the tweaks

# Control title and series sorting in the library view.
# If set to 'library_order', Leading articles such as The and A will be ignored.
# If set to 'strictly_alphabetic', the titles will be sorted without processing
# For example, with library_order, The Client will sort under 'C'. With
# strictly_alphabetic, the book will sort under 'T'.
# This flag affects Calibre's library display. It has no effect on devices. In
# addition, titles for books added before changing the flag will retain their
# order until the title is edited. Double-clicking on a title and hitting return
# without changing anything is sufficient to change the sort.
title_series_sorting = 'library_order'

# Control how title and series names are formatted when saving to disk/sending
# to device. If set to library_order, leading articles such as The and A will
# be put at the end
# If set to 'strictly_alphabetic', the titles will be sorted without processing
# For example, with library_order, "The Client" will become "Client, The". With
# strictly_alphabetic, it would remain "The Client".
save_template_title_series_sorting = 'library_order'

My guess is that you want 'strictly_alphabetic' for both.

For the author sort I copied it from the top tweak box into the lower tweak box and changed the option to make it do the sort based on how the title comes in.

The way I have set it in my example below, if the author comes in FN LN it inverts it to LN, FN, and if the author comes in LN, FN then it simply copies it verbatim to the author sort. Works great.

# The algorithm used to copy author to author_sort
# Possible values are:
#  invert: use "fn ln" -> "ln, fn" (the original algorithm)
#  copy  : copy author to author_sort without modification
#  comma : use 'copy' if there is a ',' in the name, otherwise use 'invert'
author_sort_copy_method = 'comma'

You can copy/paste all the code into the lower tweak box [or just the ones you want], set your preferences, and then test it. It took me a couple of tries to get it right but only because of a lack of understanding and a simple copy error.

Hope this sheds more light than darkness and confusion.

[speakingtohe]

I went through this a few days ago when trying plugboards. Tweak works fine.
I can understand having your books sorted in library order for some devices perhaps.

What I found disconcerting was the ,The or ,A tacked on at the end.

"The Burning Girl" for example is ok as "Burning Girl", but "Burning Girl,The" just looks wrong to me.

Still many must prefer it this way.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by speakingtohe

What I found disconcerting was the ,The or ,A tacked on at the end.

"The Burning Girl" for example is ok as "Burning Girl", but "Burning Girl,The" just looks wrong to me.

Still many must prefer it this way.

If you set up a composite column that displays title_sort with the trailing article cut off, then you can use that column in the save path and in plugboards to get rid of the trailing ', The'!

Assuming that you haven't change the title_sort article tweak, the column template would be:

{title_sort:re((?i)\, (a|an|the)$,)||}

The 're' part looks for a comma, then any of the words 'a', 'an', or 'the' in either upper or lower case, then the end of the value. If it finds one of these, it replaces it with nothing.

[speakingtohe]

@chaley
I do have sort of an understanding of the re expression although I was totally in ignorance before plugboards.

I am beginning to suspect a massive conspiracy to teach us all python and cut down on the number of dumb questions we ask

Thanks though for the info but I am old and stubborn enough to want my book titles to appear the way I entered them. Still that could change so probably good to have the option.

Helen