set calibre so at start books sorted

[pinky62]

Hi I want that at startup my books be sorted automatically first by author than by title. I achieve this by clicking title and then author manually. how can I achieve this automatically at start up. TIA

[HarryT]

"Preferences", "Tweaks", "Specify columns by which to sort the booklist on startup".

I have mine set to:

sort_columns_at_startup = [('authors', 0), ('series', 0)]

[BetterRed]

@pinky62 - alternatively you could use the View Manager plugin - which does what the tweak does and a lot more.

BR

[HarryT]

I'm always happy to help people, but sometimes - just occasionally - it would be nice if the original poster were to come back and say either "thank you, that solved my problem", or "unfortunately that didn't work, can you suggest anything else that might help?".

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I'm always happy to help people, but sometimes - just occasionally - it would be nice if the original poster were to come back and say either "thank you, that solved my problem", or "unfortunately that didn't work, can you suggest anything else that might help?".

Very often they do.

If not, we can assume it worked for them, because they didn't ask another question... obviously, a thank you is still appreciated.

[MartyTX]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I'm always happy to help people, but sometimes - just occasionally - it would be nice if the original poster were to come back and say either "thank you, that solved my problem", or "unfortunately that didn't work, can you suggest anything else that might help?".

Hello Harry,

I'm not the OP, so consider this a "drive by" thank you!

Have been using calibre for years, and didn't know about the column sorting tweak. Live and learn ...

Thank you!

[HarryT]

You're very welcome .

[pjmpjm]

Originally Posted by HarryT

"Preferences", "Tweaks", "Specify columns by which to sort the booklist on startup".

I have mine set to:

sort_columns_at_startup = [('authors', 0), ('series', 0)]

Hi Harry . . .

Sorry to ask such a basic question, but I wonder if you'd give me a similar setting example to always start up Calibre with the newest books at the top.

My current settings are 'None.'

Many thanks!

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by pjmpjm

Hi Harry . . .

Sorry to ask such a basic question, but I wonder if you'd give me a similar setting example to always start up Calibre with the newest books at the top.

My current settings are 'None.'

Many thanks!

Haven't tried it, but this should work:

sort_columns_at_startup = [('date', 1)]

[pjmpjm]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Haven't tried it, but this should work:

sort_columns_at_startup = [('date', 1)]

Thanks, Harry. Will try & report back.

[HarryT]

You're very welcome of course, but did you read the notes on the "Sort columns at startup" page of the "Tweaks" screen? It really is all very clearly explained! You really didn't need me, or anyone else, to do it for you.

[pjmpjm]

Originally Posted by HarryT

You're very welcome of course, but did you read the notes on the "Sort columns at startup" page of the "Tweaks" screen? It really is all very clearly explained! You really didn't need me, or anyone else, to do it for you.

"Provide a set of columns to be sorted on when Calibre starts. The argument is None if saved sort history is to be used. Otherwise it is a list of column,order pairs. Column is the lookup/search name, found using the tooltip for the column. Order is 0 for ascending, 1 for descending
For example, set it to [('authors',0),('title',0)] to sort by title within authors."

Once again, your assistance much appreciated, Harry. Yes, have been using Calibre since 2013 and have read the manual a number of times, but really needed a clear example of sorting by date and not by author or title. What I quoted above just doesn't give me what I needed and led me to enormous experimentation, in vain. So I had finally resorting to the default again. Sometimes my efforts worked and sometimes they didn't. My experience in these things (including non-computer matters) is that simple examples work best . . .

My apologies once again for the silly and easy question. This is exactly why I've hesitated so long in asking it. But you seem to have solved my problem and I'm happy now.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by pjmpjm

"Provide a set of columns to be sorted on when Calibre starts. The argument is None if saved sort history is to be used. Otherwise it is a list of column,order pairs. Column is the lookup/search name, found using the tooltip for the column. Order is 0 for ascending, 1 for descending
For example, set it to [('authors',0),('title',0)] to sort by title within authors."

Once again, your assistance much appreciated, Harry. Yes, have been using Calibre since 2013 and have read the manual a number of times, but really needed a clear example of sorting by date and not by author or title. What I quoted above just doesn't give me what I needed and led me to enormous experimentation, in vain. So I had finally resorting to the default again. Sometimes my efforts worked and sometimes they didn't. My experience in these things (including non-computer matters) is that simple examples work best . . .

My apologies once again for the silly and easy question. This is exactly why I've hesitated so long in asking it. But you seem to have solved my problem and I'm happy now.

Harry gave you that back 2 posts

#: Specify columns to sort the booklist by on startup
# Provide a set of columns to be sorted on when calibre starts
#  The argument is None if saved sort history is to be used
#  otherwise it is a list of column,order pairs. Column is the
#  lookup/search name, found using the tooltip for the column
#  Order is 0 for ascending, 1 for descending
# For example, set it to [('authors',0),('title',0)] to sort by
# title within authors.
sort_columns_at_startup = None

You change the old None to the value on the right of the equal

But I would do a double level, because you may have more than 1 entry per date. Date descending order with those sorted by Title

 [('title',0),('date',1)]

[pjmpjm]

Originally Posted by theducks

Harry gave you that back 2 posts

#: Specify columns to sort the booklist by on startup
# Provide a set of columns to be sorted on when calibre starts
#  The argument is None if saved sort history is to be used
#  otherwise it is a list of column,order pairs. Column is the
#  lookup/search name, found using the tooltip for the column
#  Order is 0 for ascending, 1 for descending
# For example, set it to [('authors',0),('title',0)] to sort by
# title within authors.
sort_columns_at_startup = None

You change the old None to the value on the right of the equal

But I would do a double level, because you may have more than 1 entry per date. Date descending order with those sorted by Title

 [('title',0),('date',1)]

Thanks very much, theducks. Will study this a bit further.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by theducks

But I would do a double level, because you may have more than 1 entry per date. Date descending order with those sorted by Title

 [('title',0),('date',1)]

That will sort by date within title, won't it? If you want to sort by title within date, shouldn't it be the other way around?

 [('date',1), ('title',0),]

I guess it depends whether the "date" column just stores the date, or a full timestamp. If it's the latter, you'll never have two items with the same timestamp, so there can't sensibly be a secondary sort column.