2 problems concerning sorting and something else

[Iskariot]

I hope I ask this in the right forum section. I am new at this, so please forgive me if I am mistaken or do not use the right terminology. Also I am not a native english speaker.

I am not quite sure if this is a calibre problem, or a device (Sony PRS-950) software problem, but it is about sorting.

Actually there are two problems:

Problem 1
------------
I want to sort my books on 1.) last name author, plus 2.) on title.
This is not a problem in Calibre.
I just click on the title header first and then on the author header and all my books sort perfectly on screen. But after I upload my books to the ereader device I can not do the same. I can sort on the authors last name and the title separately of course, but my books do not sort correctly on title after I sort on author.

It should look like this:

Card, Orson Scott

Ender 01- Ender's Game
Ender 02- Speaker for the Dead
Ender 03- Xenocide
Ender 04- Children of the Mind
Homecoming 01- xyz
Homecoming 02- xyz

Caroll, Lewis

Wonderland 1- xyz
Wonderland 2- xyz

But in stead it might look like this:

Card, Orson Scott

Ender 07- xyz
Ender 08- xyz
Ender 09- xyz
Homecoming 01- xyz
Homecoming 03- xyz
Homecoming 02- xyz
Ender 01- xyz
Ender 02- xyz

Caroll, Lewis

Wonderland 2- xyz
Wonderland 1- xyz

It even does this when I upload all books at once. The sorting order on author is ok, but the sorting on titles is almost never as it should be. Is the Sony reader unable to do multilevel/nested sorting, or do I do something wrong with calibre. I read somewhere in an old post (2009) that the Sony readers do not do multilevel sorting. Is this (still) true?

As you can see I ad a shortened series name in front of my titles. It would even be better if I could leave that out entirely and have my books sorted on 1. author last name> 2. Series> 3. Title

I hope this is not a stupid question. I really do not know how to do this.
I did look around on the forum before asking this, but ...


Problem 2.
------------
As said I have no trouble sorting on authors last name. But..... that is only true for the Main Memory of my eReader. For some reason, the books, that are stored on a Memory Card in slot A of my reader, keep being sorted on first name instead of last name. So within the collection that is perfectly sorted on the authors last name you suddenly find a bunch of books (all of them stored on the Memory Card) that is sorted on first name.

In Calibre I use exactly the same author sort convention for the books on my Memory Card as I do for the books on my Main Memory. I double checked when I wrote this.


I have a third and last question I would like to ask here.

I would like to be able to click a simple Update/sync button in calibre that would automatically upload all the latest changes in my calibre library (on the pc) to the reader, whether it concerns a changed cover, changed/removed tags, spelling corrections, or newly added books. I could not find such a function. Did I overlook this option? It seems such a mandatory function for a tool like calibre. The only thing I seem to be able to do is manually re-uploading all my changed books to the reader. It is a hassle because I have to specifically remember what I changed, or re-upload everything, all the time.

[jackie_w]

Regarding problem 1, the Sonys don't have a multi-level sort ability but you can work around it using calibre's Preferences - Metadata Plugboard together with settings in Prefs - Plugins - Device Interface - Sony - Customize.

If you have a bit of time to spare you can read about the 'Sony Sort saga' and its workarounds here. It's not a particularly long thread but it may need a bit of concentration.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Iskariot

I would like to be able to click a simple Update/sync button in calibre that would automatically upload all the latest changes in my calibre library (on the pc) to the reader, whether it concerns a changed cover, changed/removed tags, spelling corrections, or newly added books. I could not find such a function. Did I overlook this option? It seems such a mandatory function for a tool like calibre. The only thing I seem to be able to do is manually re-uploading all my changed books to the reader. It is a hassle because I have to specifically remember what I changed, or re-upload everything, all the time.

This one has been made simpler with .8 code (currently enabled by using a tweak) that adds a column 'Modified' (does not show by default, use custom columns to set the tick to show).
Simply sort descending, all the latest Metadata changes are in order at the top for your sending pleasure.


BTW your 'Sort ' problem is probably a 'Title Sort' vs Title mis-match in the DB
You might give the Quality check Plug-in a run (or 4 ) and check and correct sort errors indicated. That may set things to rights

[itimpi]

Originally Posted by Iskariot

I have a third and last question I would like to ask here.

I would like to be able to click a simple Update/sync button in calibre that would automatically upload all the latest changes in my calibre library (on the pc) to the reader, whether it concerns a changed cover, changed/removed tags, spelling corrections, or newly added books. I could not find such a function. Did I overlook this option? It seems such a mandatory function for a tool like calibre. The only thing I seem to be able to do is manually re-uploading all my changed books to the reader. It is a hassle because I have to specifically remember what I changed, or re-upload everything, all the time.

Calibre does not have an automatic sync function of the sort you mention. However there are a few (relatively new) features that might get you a long way towards what you want.

- The Book Sync GUI plugin that allow you to easily queue books for later automated uploading to the reader device when it is next plugged in.

- The introduction of a last Modifed field for books so you can see when you last made a change. Sorting on this field can help identify books that might need resending to the device. To make this visible in the GUI, right-click a column header and then Show Column->>Modified

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by jackie_w

If you have a bit of time to spare you can read about the 'Sony Sort saga' and its workarounds here. It's not a particularly long thread but it may need a bit of concentration.

I want to second the thread mentioned above. I used this thread to setup my library, it works great.

I would also like to point out that if you are manually changing the actual title in your calibre library view that there may be a better way to include series info in your title when sent to your device without actually altering the title in the library view. See this thread, specifically the spoiler under General Metadata. I use the general metadata setup from this thread and it works great.

[Iskariot]

No suggestion concerning my weird author sorting problem on my Memory card?

I ran the quality control plugin. What a great plugin by the way.
There were however no errors that could explain the strange sorting behavior of the books on my Memory card.

It is very mysterious to me. Remember, this problem only exists for any book I upload to the memory card. The same book sorts fine on authors last name if I put it on the main memory. But any book I put on the memory card suddenly only sorts on first name.

How could this be?

The other comments I will look into later.
Thank you all very much for your help.

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by Iskariot

No suggestion concerning my weird author sorting problem on my Memory card?

I ran the quality control plugin. What a great plugin by the way.
There were however no errors that could explain the strange sorting behavior of the books on my Memory card.

It is very mysterious to me. Remember, this problem only exists for any book I upload to the memory card. The same book sorts fine on authors last name if I put it on the main memory. But any book I put on the memory card suddenly only sorts on first name.

How could this be?

The other comments I will look into later.
Thank you all very much for your help.

Do you use different save methods, e.g. 'Save to Disk' for SD card and 'Send to Device' for internal memory? If so, check to see if you have a different 'Save template' for each in Preferences.

You will also get metadata problems if you are using drag-and-drop to put books on your reader, either SD card or int mem.

Edit: Actually, I'm not sure the Sonys care what the files are called so it's probably not the Save Templates. If you get a Metadata Plugboard set up and enable the preference which tells Calibre to manage your metadata automatically, it should sort out all your naming problems the next time you connect the reader.

[Iskariot]

As of yesterday my strange sorting problem concerning Memory Cards suddenly resolved itself. I do not know what happened, but to my surprise I discovered that all books are now sorted on last name as they should be. It happened somewhere after I had uploaded some books to the main memory and my reader had been connected to my PC and calibre for a few hours. I suppose calibre must have corrected the problem. Why it happened after a week I do not know. I did not change any settings in the meantime and had the reader connected many times before this. Could it have something to do with the recent calibre update? Anyhow, I am happy with the result.

I still have to look into problem 1. I am going to do that now.
Thanks so far.