Author: Last Name First Woes

[Stewart Grove]

Hi i'm hoping someone can show me the error of my ways. I've read numerous posts on this and tried a few things but i cannot add books to my library and have Calibre automatically set the author to last name first.

What i am doing is dragging a MOBI file from an Explorer window in to the Calibre window. Calibre tells me its adding the book and the book then appears in my library.

I check the author field in the meta data and its first name then last name. The author sort field is exactly how i want it (last name, first name) so i have been manually copying from one field to the other but thought there has to be a way of getting the software to do this automatically. A quick search around and i find lots of info but nothing has worked yet.

I have tried going to Preferences -> Advanced -> Tweaks -> Author Sort Name Algorithm and author_sort_copy_method = 'invert' and trying the comma and copy settings but nothing alters the author field when i drop a book in to Calibre from an Explorer window.

So what am i doing wrong?

Sorry my first post here is a problem

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Stewart Grove

Hi i'm hoping someone can show me the error of my ways. I've read numerous posts on this and tried a few things but i cannot add books to my library and have Calibre automatically set the author to last name first.

What i am doing is dragging a MOBI file from an Explorer window in to the Calibre window. Calibre tells me its adding the book and the book then appears in my library.

I check the author field in the meta data and its first name then last name. The author sort field is exactly how i want it (last name, first name) so i have been manually copying from one field to the other but thought there has to be a way of getting the software to do this automatically. A quick search around and i find lots of info but nothing has worked yet.

I have tried going to Preferences -> Advanced -> Tweaks -> Author Sort Name Algorithm and author_sort_copy_method = 'invert' and trying the comma and copy settings but nothing alters the author field when i drop a book in to Calibre from an Explorer window.

So what am i doing wrong?

Sorry my first post here is a problem

the tweak only affects NEW books being added, not existing books.


You could try using the Manage Authors... button at the bottom of the Tag Browser
Manage Authors: use the Recalculate button
Warning: Will overwrite ALL custom Author sort values

[Stewart Grove]

Thanks for replying.

My query is on new books. When i drop a new book into calibre it is always setting the author to first name first and i would like to change it so that it sets it to last name first

[hbtaylor]

I solved the problem by ignoring it. When I bring in books I always download metadata, and have it download authors. It gets them right that way.

That may not be what you want, but that's what I do to deal with it.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Stewart Grove

Thanks for replying.

My query is on new books. When i drop a new book into calibre it is always setting the author to first name first and i would like to change it so that it sets it to last name first

The settings only control how the Author Sort is set FROM the author data.
GIGO
If the Metadata is supplied wrong ...

[Stewart Grove]

Ahhh i see... That makes sense now. Thanks for your help.

Its not really a problem. I may be a bit sad but i'm taking pleasure populating the database and making sure everything is present and correct

[frostschutz]

I don't understand the problem. All my books have author "First Last" but author sort "Last, First" and that's how it's supposed to be. Is it not? I mean isn't that why there are two author fields in the first place, one that shows the author the regular way (the way it would be printed on a book and the way its used for generating covers and the like), and one that determines sorting?

[theducks]

Originally Posted by frostschutz

I don't understand the problem. All my books have author "First Last" but author sort "Last, First" and that's how it's supposed to be. Is it not? I mean isn't that why there are two author fields in the first place, one that shows the author the regular way (the way it would be printed on a book and the way its used for generating covers and the like), and one that determines sorting?

Some people want it otherwise

Tom Jones sorts Jones, Tom but appears as: Tom Jones in the middle of a J (Authors) list with the correct placement for Jones.
Different strokes
The problem is the Metadata sources are not consistently one way

It is fairly easy to MANUALLY fix.
Open the Tag Browser, Select the Author. Right click.
You can fix The Author name (as seen) for ALL entries, in a single fix.
You can also fix the Author Sort for that name.

Fix, being Your Way

This will not prevent New books coming in wrong, but if you fix those names to EXACTLY the same, they will merge the authors together.

[CWatkinsNash]

Originally Posted by frostschutz

I don't understand the problem. All my books have author "First Last" but author sort "Last, First" and that's how it's supposed to be. Is it not? I mean isn't that why there are two author fields in the first place, one that shows the author the regular way (the way it would be printed on a book and the way its used for generating covers and the like), and one that determines sorting?

Originally Posted by theducks

Some people want it otherwise

Not only that, but some ereader devices require it otherwise. If the author field is FN LN, Kindle will display it backwards on the reader. Instead, it expects LN, FN which the Kindle software then parses to display FN LN on the reader display and then sorts by last name.

Some other devices merely display whatever's there, so the user can put it as he/she wishes to see it on the device.