Swapping author name surname in calibre library folder

[Rosy]

Hi! I am new here so hello to everyone.

I am just starting to use Calibre though I already have added quite a lot of books and I have updated to the latest version (2.36.0 )

I would like to change the way Calibre names author folder files in The Calibre library so that they are Surname, given names.

Can you tell me as simply as possible, step by step, how to go about it?

Thank you

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by Rosy

Hi! I am new here so hello to everyone.

I am just starting to use Calibre though I already have added quite a lot of books and I have updated to the latest version (2.36.0 )

I would like to change the way Calibre names author folder files in The Calibre library so that they are Surname, given names.

Can you tell me as simply as possible, step by step, how to go about it?

Thank you

@Rosy - Welcome to Mobileread

The author and folder names in a calibre library cannot be changed - period.

See ==>> Want to change the folder structure of the Calibre library?

Read the detailed description - it's a little more nuanced than the introductory paragraphs.

There is no need to access the folders in a library via a file manager, imagine it to be a 'black box' with arbitrary folder and file names. Don't rename any folders or files - just change the Author Title names in the calibre GUI. Don't add or delete any folders or files other than via the calibre GUI.

Another way of looking at it is - you and your file manager should treat a calibre library folder as Strictly Read Only.

Once you 'let go' of the idea that you must control the folder and file names - you'll wonder why you ever bothered worrying about it. Don't worry, its took most of us a while to stop worrying about the bomb folder names

BR

[Rosy]

Hi BetterRed. Thanks for answering

The reason I asked:

I want to save a copy of the Calibre Library in BOX and I wanted to have the folders ordered by author's surname first

I am a librarian and, you know...we have the bad habit of ordering catalogues that way.

Have you got any suggestions?

I can't do it manually every time and they won't match with my PC's!

[chaley]

@Rosy: if you change how authors are displayed in calibre to LN, FN then the folders will also change to that order.

The Quality Check plugin can do the change for you. However, it does it by guessing what is a last name and can easily get it wrong.

You can do the job manually with total control using the Manage Authors dialog (right-click on Authors in the tag browser, choose Manage Authors). What I would do is use the Manage Authors "Copy author sort to author" button to change all the authors, then go down the list fixing any that it got wrong.

Once you make this change you will likely need to fix any new author you add to your library.

[Rosy]

@ chaley

Originally Posted by chaley

@Rosy: if you change how authors are displayed in calibre to LN, FN then the folders will also change to that order.


Once you make this change you will likely need to fix any new author you add to your library.

Do I understand correctly you added the last sentence as advice against doing the change?



P.S. Where should I post a question about an author with two surnames problem? Agnello Hornby are surnames and Simonetta is the given name.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by Rosy

@ chaley
Do I understand correctly you added the last sentence as advice against doing the change?

No. I meant that changing existing authors does nothing for new authors. They will arrive as they do, in my experience usually FN LN, and you will need to fix them.

FWIW 1: I converted to LN, FN years ago. My aging brain cannot deal with looking somewhere in the middle of text to know the current sort value.

FWIW 2: if you want to enter some Asian names "correctly" as LN FN (no comma) then you will want to change the "tweak" that tells calibre how to compute author sort values. Preferences / Tweaks / Author sort name algorithm (ID: author_sort_copy_method) to be

author_sort_copy_method = 'copy'

instead of the default

author_sort_copy_method = 'comma'

Otherwise because there is no comma in the name calibre assumes it is FN LN and will invert the order of the names when generating the default sort value.

FWIW 3: Regarding

P.S. Where should I post a question about an author with two surnames problem? Agnello Hornby are surnames and Simonetta is the given name.

name order has been a controversial topic for years. If you want some example threads, search in the forum for "asian names" (without the quotes). As you will see in those threads, how one handles compound names can get very complicated and personal. The de/van/von/de la/della etc names are particularly challenging because the person with the name might have decided what his/her last name really is. In the end you should enter the name in the way that makes sense to you, such as "Agnello Hornby, Simonetta".

[theducks]

[QUOTE=Rosy;3160307
P.S. Where should I post a question about an author with two surnames problem? Agnello Hornby are surnames and Simonetta is the given name.[/QUOTE]

Here

Some things you just need to do by hand,
which is why Metadata Editor has 2 boxes
One for regular, and the other for sort

Do review the options in Preferences: Tweaks (they mostly affect the Automatic stuff )

Right click on the Authors name in the Tag Browser: Manage Authors (this is where you force a master sort: All future adds of this author will use this)
I will also suggest the quality check pi.
The Fix section for fast automated flipping and format
Various Checks to FIND things that NEED to be hammered into a cleaner order (it only finds, you get to FIX )

[BetterRed]

@Rosy - hope you don't mind me slightly changing the following quote to reflect my understanding of your original question.

Originally Posted by Rosy

I would like to change the way Calibre names author folder[s] files in The Calibre library so that they are Surname, given names.

@chaley, @theducks - I'm confused, assuming I read Rosy's question correctly, then which Tweaks, Manage Authors features, or Plugins mentioned will alter the way that Author Folders are named - in the file system.

Can you spell out the answer in detail, preferably with screen shots - especially the one of your file manager showing "Austen, Jane", "Bronte, Emily", "Dickens, Charles", and "Hardy, James" folders in a calibre library.

I've been telling people for years it cannot be done.

BR

[chaley]

@BR: no special tweaks/anything are necessary. Calibre uses the author string, whatever it is and how it is, as the folder name. If your authors are "LN, FN" then the folder names will be "LN, FN". If the authors are "FN LN" then the folders will be named that way. If they are mixed then the folder names will be mixed.

The following is a small snapshot of the author level of my library.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by chaley

@BR: no special tweaks/anything are necessary. Calibre uses the author string, whatever it is and how it is, as the folder name. If your authors are "LN, FN" then the folder names will be "LN, FN". If the authors are "FN LN" then the folders will be named that way. If they are mixed then the folder names will be mixed.

The following is a small snapshot of the author level of my library.

@chaley - Must a down under thing, the book aficionados at my local bricks and mortar libraries (and their acolytes) wanted to keep there cake and eat it too - FN, LN in the book list, LN, FN in category tree and folders. Two others wanted the same, and they are both former editors at well know UK publishers. The main factor seems to be that non aficionados (and non Latin language persons) access the libraries.

I eventually convince them that the folder names are irrelevant as they won't be using them. And they wont be exactly as entered anyway, for Latin alphabet languages they'll be Ascii-ized, and for non Latin alphabet languages they'll be mangle-ized

A big factor in the district where I live is lots of non European migrants, kids run the computers in English, parents read in their non-Latin languages.

BR

[chaley]

@BR: Like you (I think) I don't care how the files are stored in the file system. I never look at the folder tree. On the other hand, one of my first calibre contributions back in 2010 was the author sort tweak. Seeing names as FN LN drove me batty.

There's nowt so queer as folk. To each their own.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by chaley

@BR: Like you (I think) I don't care how the files are stored in the file system. I never look at the folder tree. On the other hand, one of my first calibre contributions back in 2010 was the author sort tweak. Seeing names as FN LN drove me batty.

There's nowt so queer as folk. To each their own.

Like you, I look but don't much care. Only when there is problems, do I really need to look hard
I even use Calibre to launch the look: I just tap the 'O'

As time goes by, the many (exotic) reasons for direct folder access are disappearing.
We now have:
Unpack (formerly Tweak Book)
Editor
Open With
(a flock of) Cover tools

[Rosy]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

@Rosy - hope you don't mind me slightly changing the following quote to reflect my understanding of your original question.



@chaley, @theducks - I'm confused, assuming I read Rosy's question correctly, then which Tweaks, Manage Authors features, or Plugins mentioned will alter the way that Author Folders are named - in the file system.

Can you spell out the answer in detail, preferably with screen shots - especially the one of your file manager showing "Austen, Jane", "Bronte, Emily", "Dickens, Charles", and "Hardy, James" folders in a calibre library.

I've been telling people for years it cannot be done.

BR

@ BetterRead your correction is right I did not notice I left "file" in It was meant to read

"I would like to change the way Calibre names author folders files in The Calibre library so that they are Surname, given names."

P.S. hey Better Read just realized you are writing form NSW. I lived in Sydney as a teenager.

[Rosy]

Originally Posted by chaley

@BR: no special tweaks/anything are necessary. Calibre uses the author string, whatever it is and how it is, as the folder name. If your authors are "LN, FN" then the folder names will be "LN, FN". If the authors are "FN LN" then the folders will be named that way. If they are mixed then the folder names will be mixed.

@ Chaley

File usually arrive to me with FN - LN
Are you saying that before addind them to Calibre I should invert name surname of each and every original file ?



@BetterRead @theducks
QUOTE=theducks;3160881]Like you, I look but don't much care. Only when there is problems, do I really need to look hard
I even use Calibre to launch the look: I just tap the 'O'
As time goes by, the many (exotic) reasons for direct folder access are disappearing.
[/QUOTE]

I agree with you, I do not need to look at the Calibre Library on my PC because I can learn to use all that Calibre can do,

but

seeing I wanted to export the Calibre library to BOX I would have liked it to be in the LN, FN catalogue order 'cause in Box it is better that way for me.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by Rosy

@ Chaley

File usually arrive to me with FN - LN
Are you saying that before addind them to Calibre I should invert name surname of each and every original file ?

TBH I don't understand your comment. What I said was that *after* adding a book to calibre you must check and possibly fix the metadata such as author(s), in addition to all the other metadata. This shouldn't be surprising, given that author names are often spelled incorrectly, are sometimes in the wrong order ("real" author after "marketing" author), are sometimes missing, and (yes) sometimes FN LN instead of LN, FN. My experience has been that I cannot trust any metadata that comes with a book/publication. All the metadata must be verified and possibly corrected

As for exporting: what I said is that if your authors are LN, FN then the folders in your library will be LN, FN. BetterRed mentioned some of the problems with my assertion. However, if you want to *export* the library in some other structure then you can do that with calibre's save-to-disk function, but that isn't what I have been talking about.