[mmmmmmmm]

Thank you for responding so fast! and for the helpful pointers!!
i'm sorry i wasnt able do respond fast too, but i really do apreciate it!

i'll put my Personal.ini here (thanks for showing me how to do that, its really cool!):

Spoiler:

## This is an example of what your personal configuration might look
## like.  Uncomment options by removing the '#' in front of them.

[defaults]
## [defaults] section applies to all formats and sites but may be
## overridden at several levels.  See
## https://github.com/JimmXinu/FanFicFare/wiki/INI-File for more
## details.
extra_valid_entries:fandoms



## Some sites also require the user to confirm they are adult for
## adult content.  Uncomment by removing '#' in front of is_adult.
is_adult:true

## Don't like the numbers at the start of chapter titles on some
## sites?  You can use strip_chapter_numbers to strip them off.  Just
## want to make them all look the same?  Strip them off, then add them
## back on with add_chapter_numbers.  Don't like the way it strips
## numbers or adds them back?  See chapter_title_strip_pattern and
## chapter_title_add_pattern in defaults.ini.
strip_chapter_numbers:true
add_chapter_numbers:true


[epub]
## Include images from img tags in the body and summary of stories.
## Images will be converted to jpg for size if possible.  Images work
## in epub format only.  To get mobi or other format with images,
## download as epub and use Calibre to convert.
## true by default, uncomment and set false to not include images.
include_images:true

## If set false, the summary will have all html stripped for safety.
## Both this and include_images must be true to get images in the
## summary.
## true by default, uncomment and set false to not keep summary html.
#keep_summary_html:true

## If set true, and there isn't a specific cover image, the first
## image found in the story will be made the cover image.  If
## keep_summary_html is true, images in the summary will be before any
## in chapters.
## true by default, uncomment and set false to turn off
make_firstimage_cover:false 


## Most common, I expect will be using this to save username/passwords
## for different sites.  Here are a few examples.  See defaults.ini
## for the full list.


[archiveofourown.org]
username:XXXXXXXX
password:XXXXXXXX
is_adult:true


## This section will override anything in the system defaults or other
## sections here.
[overrides]
## default varies by site.  Set true here to force all sites to
## collect series.
collect_series: true

extra_valid_entries:fandoms, freeformtags, freefromtags,  ao3categories, comments, chapterslashtotal, chapterstotal, kudos,  hits, bookmarks, collections, byline, bookmarked, bookmarktags,  bookmarksummary, bookmarkprivate, bookmarkrec, restricted, series00,  series01, series02, series03, series04, series05, series06, series07,  series08, series09, series00Url, series01Url, series02Url, series03Url,   series04Url, series05Url, series06Url, series07Url, series08Url, series90Url,  series00HTML, series01HTML, series02HTML, series03HTML, series04HTML,  series05HTML, series06HTML, series07HTML, series08HTML, series09HTML 
fandoms_label:fandoms 
freeformtags_label:Freeform Tags 
freefromtags_label:Freeform Tags 
ao3categories_label:AO3 Categories 
comments_label:Comments 
chapterslashtotal_label:Chapters/Total Chapters 
chapterstotal_label:Total Chapters 
## kudos_label:Kudos 
## hits_label:Hits 
## collections_label:Collections 
## Count of bookmarks on story by all users bookmarks_label:Bookmarks 
## Tags & Summary from *your* bookmark on the story.  Only collected 
## if always_login:true bookmarked_label:I Bookmarked Story bookmarktags_label:My Bookmark Tags 
## bookmarksummary_label:My Bookmark Summary 
## bookmarkprivate_label:My Bookmark Private 
## bookmarkrec_label:My Bookmark Rec 
## restricted_label:Restricted to Registered Users 
series00HTML_label:Series 
series01HTML_label:Additional Series 
series02HTML_label:Additional Series 
series03HTML_label:Additional Series 
series04HTML_label:Additional Series 
series05HTML_label:Additional Series 
series06HTML_label:Additional Series 
series07HTML_label:Additional Series 
series08HTML_label:Additional Series 
series09HTML_label:Additional Series  
make_linkhtml_entries:series00,series01,series02,series03,series04,series05,series06,series07,series08,series09  
titlepage_entries: seriesHTML,category,genre,language,characters,ships,status,datePublished,dateUpdated,dateCreated,rating,warnings,numChapters,numWords,site,description extra_titlepage_entries: fandoms,freeformtags,ao3categories,comments,chapterslashtotal,chapterstotal,kudos,hits,bookmarks,bookmarked,bookmarktags,bookmarksummary,series01HTML,series02HTML,series03HTML,series04HTML,series05HTML,series06HTML,series07HTML,series08HTML,series09HTML,byline  



custom_columns_settings: 
 fandoms:=>#fandom,a

should i just change everything back to the default and go from there?
----
you mentioned FFF usually calls AO3's Free Form Tags and Categories in genre and Fandoms in category. does that mean i should change the names of my columns?
----
i dont know how to use include_subject_tags but i will check the wiki.
----

You might want to use the GUI Custom columns settings to put Category into your custom column instead of the AO3 specific fandoms. It's up to you.

i dont understand what you mean by this? should i re name my fandom column to 'category'?
-----

AO3 really does not make it easy to wrangle its metadata. The site lets authors put whatever they want into most any field they want, without regard to correct placement, consistency, or even accurate spelling.

i can see how that makes things more complicated!

-------
here is a story ive tried downloading:
https://archiveofourown.org/works/24280306

problems:
- nothing shows up in my fandoms colomn.
- all the tags from all the categories are showing up in my tags column
- nothing shows up in content rating (mature, teen and up, etc. )
- the relationships column sort of works. 'characterA/characterB' tags show up fine, but 'characterA & characterB' tag doesnt really work? like it shows up, but as separate tags? like 'characterA' & 'characterB', so i cant filter by those tags. is there a way to fix that?
- nothing shows up in my category column (M/M, F/F, etc.) but you mentioned FFF calls them genre? should i rename the coulumn? im happy to do that, if it will help


Thank you for your time and effort!