ok, about the series being displayed in the title, i have lost the real reason of why it is not displayed in the title. so it can successfully download the metadata. i have spent so many hours doing it one by one copying and pasting that i missed that the series info is displayed in the series field. i literally spent all of yesterday inputing hundreds of books, using the regex you guys gave me i was able to input a few hundred already today with minimal effort and no copy and pasting. i am leaving the titles without the series info in them and my life has become so much easier. i am just going to make a new column as you suggested.
i am so happy right now, and everything is sailing smoothly.
there is just one thing i have noticed but really i don't care because it is a kind of small issue:
when i input a book that has a series name but no series number the series name appears in the {Title} field, for example:
Foster, Alan Dean - Aliens Vs Predator - War
turns into:
Aliens Vs Predator - War {Title} Foster, Alan Dean {Author(s)}
there are very few books with a series name without a number so i am not the least bit worried about this.
you guys absolutely rock! thanks for the help!
i am going to donate a dollar to calibre on each of your names
p.s.s i must add that alan foster is not actually the author of the book war that i used as an example.