[D..]

Thanks so much for trying to help me. Firstly not sure what you mean about different templates. I use only azw3 files [converted via Calibre] and with all of them I enter the metadata with series and change authors to the same as author sort. If I download the metadata fromAmazon it also changes the author to surname, christian name as I do. How can I use different templates with different destinations? As far as I am aware I enter one temple for azw files as a plug in for the Kindle.
I tried your suggestion regarding naming and amended the author metadata back to christian name first then surname - after transfer they appeared on the Kindle with no series details whatsover neither name or no & there was no difference between author_sort or author on the plug in template when I tried both variations.
The problem for me is that I had the format just as I wanted previous to the computer crash & reinstall, but since then have had no luck. To me it seems the normal format would be author then -series, no then - title when listing books, using the surname so that they are listed in alphabetical order on the Kindle. I can then work thru a series by an author even tho other books are in the Kindle with their own series. I was hoping some "fairy godperson" with a Kindle knew the plug in, but it life is paying me back for having my back-up fail!!