[ACGAuthor]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

The one I just posted was a customized plugboard that used a specific custom column to meet an esoteric need. Chances are you don't need exactly the same thing as nynaevelan.

But we can help you figure out what YOU need.

You're awesome, thanks!

Firstly, you are correct. The only way to get the updated metadata onto the Kindle is to update the book file. (Though other readers can be different. I believe the Kobo handles this with a database calibre can directly inform of the changes.)

Okay, I thought maybe there was some way to use the "Match with Library" feature or something to get it to update metadata. But nope, looks like I need to delete the book in question, then re-sideload. Gotcha.

Can you post the exact set of plugboards you are using and an example book title you wish to see?

Okay, this is the plugboard I started with:

General Metadata

Metadata: Put series into the title, using either initials or a shortened form. Strip leading articles from the series name (any) (inspired by Gary_M_Mugford)

Spoiler:

The solution requires creating three composite columns. The first column is used to remove the leading articles. The second is used to compute the 'shorten' form. The third is to compute the 'initials' form. Once you have these columns, the plugboard selects between them. You can hide any or all of the three columns on the library view.

First column:

Name: #stripped_series. Template: {series:re(^(A|The|An)\s+,)||}

Second column (the shortened form):

Name: #shortened. Template: {#stripped_series:shorten(4,-,4)}

Third column (the initials form):

Name: #initials. Template: {#stripped_series:re(([^\s])[^\s]+(\s|$),\1)}

Plugboard expression:

Template:{#stripped_series:lookup(.\s,#initials,.,#shortened,series)}{series_index:0>2s| [|] }{title}
Destination field: title

This set of fields and plugboard produces:
Series: The Lord of the Rings
Series index: 2
Title: The Two Towers
Output: LotR [02] The Two Towers

Series: Dahak
Series index: 1
Title: Mutineers Moon
Output: Dahak [01] Mutineers Moon

Series: Berserkers
Series Index: 4
Title: Berserker Throne
Output: Bers-kers [04] Berserker Throne

Series: Meg Langslow Mysteries
Series Index: 3
Title: Revenge of the Wrought-Iron Flamingos
Output: MLM [03] Revenge of the Wrought-Iron Flamingos

But like I said, I customized the second column part to make the limit of a word that is shortened and hyphenated 12 letters instead of 8, like such:

[CODE]Second column (the shortened form):

Name: #shortened. Template: {#stripped_series:shorten(6,-,6)}

So this is the book title I'd like to see:

[Cadeleonian] Lord of the White Hell, Part One

ETA: Of course, that doesn't address the ampersand issue. For example, right now a book in the series "Cut & Run" shows up as "[C& R] Title" when I would rather have it "[C&R] Title" (or "[C & R] Title" will do, but that defeats the purpose of trying to make things as compact as possible.

Would it also be possible to change the word "and" in a series title to an ampersand when abbreviating? So if the series was actually "Cut and Run" it would be abbreviated "C&R" instead of "CR"?

And I'm afraid there's no getting around the PDOC problem. All ebooks are considered PDOCs unless they have an ASIN (amazon identifier metadata) that matches a book in the Kindle Store. If a book comes from Amazon and has not been converted, it will keep that ASIN. Otherwise, Amazon cannot match it to anything on their servers and will instead give it the PDOC banner.

Okay. I tried to use the QualityControl plugin to add the ASIN as it recommended in another thread, but it didn't seem to work on everything I added. Particularly since some of the books I have aren't available on Amazon, lol. So I guess I will just keep re-converting. Thank you!